How Property Managers Sell Before Saying a Word

What if we told you that the property management sales process starts long before you make a pitch? And what if we told you that you’re already selling even before you realize that you’re doing it? This revelation is why we’ve titled today’s episode “How We Sell…” instead of “How To Sell…”. Today on The Property Management Show, we’ve invited Todd Cohen to tell us what this means and how you can use this knowledge to change the way your team thinks about sales. Introducing Todd Cohen Todd Cohen is a keynote speaker and a workshop leader who is passionate beyond words about showing people how every one of us are in sales every day. He works hard to dispel the negative stereotypes that are often attached to the idea of sales. Those stereotypes hold us back professionally and personally. Since leaving his last corporate job 12 years ago, spreading the word about sales has been Todd’s mission. Before COVID, he was doing 90 appearances a year, and he’s still delivering online speeches and workshops about his thesis that everyone, no matter who they are and what they do, is in sales. Your Sales Process Starts Before You Say a Word In traditional sales training, there is a nuts and bolts methodology that says the first sales call is the most important moment in the process. It leads to getting the contract signed and the product delivered. That’s a very 1990s way to think about sales. Really, property management sales, and all sales, begin before you even say a word. We are all consumers. We all make decisions the minute we see something or somebody. When you encounter a human, you immediately form an opinion. Either you will feel good and you will feel like you’re in the right place, or something about the situation or the person will tell you that this isn’t the right place for you. It depends on how the person doing the selling shows up. This is what most people miss, and it’s to the detriment of organizations. Today, people have shorter attention spans and they’re making decisions quickly. Humans are disconnected from each other and busy with their phones and computers and moving on to the next thing. There’s a narrow window to start the sales process. Missing that window makes everything harder. The moment you show up to a person is where the sales process starts. It’s the most important moment. Readers form opinions. Podcast listeners make decisions. There’s an inherent bias that comes with your buying decisions, and that has to inform how you show up and how your team approaches every interaction with current and potential customers. The reality is that people make a buying decision initially and in a split second. If you’ve read the Malcolm Gladwell book, “Blink,” you know that there’s a moment when the buyer unconsciously realizes that they need to buy something. Everyone sells in all interactions. Sales People: Born or Bred? Trained or Talented? Are property management sales people are born or bred? Do they fall into those roles naturally or is it a product of their experience and mentors? Todd says yes and yes. More important is the question of how we define sales people. Some people chose a profession in sales. And then there’s the rest of us. Everyone has to sell themselves and make a decision about how to show up. We try to sell ourselves so people will build relationships with us. We try to influence others. Every human being does that. Choosing sales as a profession is a little different, and it’s not for everyone. People have a sense of not wanting to be in sales because they fear rejection or they have a hard time asking for things.