How to Eliminate Fear When Meeting With a Seller
Once you’ve become a pro on the telephone and aren’t afraid to call up strangers, the next most common fear is usually having to meet with a seller in person. In fact, to tell you the truth, the first time I met with a seller my hands were literally shaking on my steering wheel before I went into the house.
So how do you get over this fear? Well, first, you have to put things into perspective. You have to remind yourself that you are at that house because a seller invited you to set up a visit because they are interested in selling their house to you. It’s not like you’re “cold-calling†or door knocking this house. You’re supposed to be there. Second, you have to ask yourself, “what is the worst thing that could happen at this meeting?†When I used to ask myself this question the answer for me was that I would be unprepared, not be able to answer the seller’s questions and I would embarrass myself and lose the deal. Asking myself that question definitely put things in perspective, because the worse that could happen is I would not close the deal. That’s it. Nothing life threatening. Now, one of the best ways to get over your fear of meeting with the seller is to tag along with a successful investor and watch how they close a few deals. Find an investor at your local REIA meeting and just ask him if you can go with him to a few sellers’ houses. Tell him you won’t say anything, you just want to observe. I used to allow new investors to come observe me and I would just tell the home owner that this was a new person I was training. However, one time, I brought someone along with me and their cell phone rang during the meeting and they took it out of their pocket to see who was calling. This might not sound like a big deal, but it was extremely rude because we were in the middle of the deal and I could tell the seller was not happy about it. I didn’t end up closing that deal and I decided I will never have someone come with me to meet a seller again.
Lastly, one of the things I still do to this day is carry around a 3x5 index card with a motivational quote on it. Whenever you’re afraid take that card out of your pocket and remind yourself that you have nothing to fear and that you’re an amazing person who can accomplish anything. I usually switch up different quotes, but the quote I am using now is by a famous advertising man named David Ogilvy – “Don't bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.â€
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