So a few nights ago I came home from football practice (I volunteer as a football Coach) with my oldest son to find the door of my house wide open. As I looked inside I saw a man I did not recognize chatting with my wife.
As it turns out it was a Kirby vacuum salesman and he had my wife sold. He had talked her into believing that our Dyson was worthless and we really needed his super high powered carpet machine.
His offer had all the elements going for it. Lifetime guarantee, and well, it shampoos and actually picks up the dirt. Soooo. Long story short I had to ask him after he was done selling me on how he canvasses.
He and his team doorknock....All day and into the night.
Now I don't know about you, but I have always thought doorknocking a bit beneath me. Back in my house selling days I was a Mike Ferryite and a couple of his Superstars was Daryl and Kim and they walked neighborhoods all day long. I thought that was stupid. They sold lots of properties, I struggled (until I started working expireds).
I then met an agent years later at a barbecue in the same town as Darryl and Kim. Long Beach. And that is all he did. Doorknock and he was doing deals. More than most.
When the Kirby guy was at my house it was smack dab on the darkest day of the recent bailout talks. He told me he sold 4 Kirbys that night. Ranging in price from $1600 to $2200.
Sales professionals don't starve. They prospect and they sell.
Tim,
If I remember correctly you are a So Cal Realtor. How were you finding your expireds? I tried quite a bit but always seem to arrive after they had signed up with another agent.And I was going off the MLS after homes that had expired that day.
Am I missing a trick?
Posted by: Roger Moore | October 8, 2008 at 07:14 AM
I am an ex Realtor.
I got the expireds off the MLS back then in the Colonial days. I would then call or show up at the owners house. I would leave material in Fed Ex envelopes or whatever to make it get noticed. Relentless Pursuit. They would lie and say they listed. I would keep going.
I sold the appointment. Thats all I need 10 minutes. I even showed up on their appointments with other agents sometimes. All I did was copy a guy here locally who did the same thing. He at one time was the number one agent in LA county. Might still be. Expireds is how he grew. He lived on the notion that the one who controls the listings controls the market.To be succesful with expireds is blood sport at times. But the numbers don't lie. IT works fast.
HouseBlogger Mentions of my Expired Presentation.
http://www.houseblogger.com/houseblogger/2008/08/did-you-cut-you.html
Posted by: Coach Tim SEO | October 8, 2008 at 10:33 AM
We've had the Kirby experience too and hopefully never again. As fate would have it, I was stopped a few months later at a gas station, with the car running, putting air in the tire, by another Kirby representative asking if they could come to our house! I nearly had a heart attack!
The cost of the Kirby Vacuum cleaners are more than most of the down payments that were required during the fast and loose lending environment that once was!
Posted by: Roger Billeci | October 8, 2008 at 01:23 PM