 |  | SALES MEETING TOOL KIT: REDUCING STRESS | |
|  Stress Reduction: Introduction Component 1: Facilitator Talking Points Component 2: Agenda Component 3: Activity 1: How Stressed Are You? Quiz Component 4: Activity 1: How Stressed Are You? Quiz Answers Component 5: Handout 1: A Dozen Ways to Reduce Stress Component 6: Activity 2: Exercises to Relieve Stress Component 7: Handout 2: Reduce Your Time-Related Stress Component 8: Activity 3: Identifying Your Stress Producers Component 9: Activity 4: Behaviors to Lower Stress Component 10: Activity 4: Behaviors to Lower Stress, Explanation Sheet | Component 10 Activity 4: Behaviors to Lower Stress Explanation Sheet Read each scenario below and then call on participants for their responses until one participant offers a strategy similar to the one listed for that exercise. If no one offers this option, share the solution with the group. Then explain the long-term strategy that will help participants successfully implement this stress-busting behavior in the future. Scenario 1: You have a listing presentation in 45 minutes and the new salesperson in the office comes in to ask for your advice. The Stress Buster: Practice being patient. Remember why this person is at your door. Not to make you late, not to screw up your presentation so you don’t get the listing, but because he considers you a great salesperson and hopes to learn how to succeed from you. Long-Term Strategy: Dr. Richard Carlson, author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff suggests holding “patience practice periods” of as little as five minutes and then build from there. Not only will you lower your stress by being patient, but you’ll keep everyone in the situation calmer. Scenario 2: You’ve had a very frustrating day. You got up at 5 a.m. to finish a listing presentation for a prospect, only to be told that the seller’s brother-in-law was a real estate salesperson and would be listing the home.You rushed to the airport and spent the afternoon showing out-of-town customers four houses they hated. Now, in one hour, you have to present a very low offer to a client whose house has been on the market for 90 days. The Stress Buster: Get some quiet time to calm down. Before you plan your strategy for presenting the offer, take 15 minutes of quiet time. Don’t let yourself worry about the day or the presentation ahead. Instead focus on pleasant topics—the beauty of the landscape, the great round of golf you had last weekend, the adorable drawing your child brought home from school. In no time, you’ll feel refreshed and ready to calmly and professionally discuss the pros and cons of the offer with your clients. Long-Term Strategy: Get some perspective. Most day-to-day irritations—the unresponsive buyers, the slow traffic—are just that, problems of the moment that you won’t remember a year, or even a month from now. Thinking about a minor problem in terms of the “time warp” of a year from now shows you just how unimportant most things that stress you out really are. Scenario 3: Following the principles of good time management, you’ve carefully plotted out your day—prospecting from 9 to 11 a.m., house showings from noon to 4 p.m., sending out your monthly e-mail newsletter from 4 to 5 p.m., then your son’s 5:30 hockey game. Unfortunately, the buyers arrive late, insist on stopping for a bite to eat as well as an open house you just happen to drive by. You finally drop them off at 5:25. The Stress Buster: Be flexible. Planning is important, but so is the realization that you can’t control every situation. Will the prospects that receive your newsletter really care if they get it one or two days later? Of course not. So slot your newsletter later in the week and cheer on your kid. In addition, accepting that something won’t get done will keep you from seeming rushed and edgy to the buyers you work with. Long-Term Strategy: Build in a certain amount of flextime every day to so that you can get critical things done. This flextime can be used to do non-time sensitive tasks, such as entering prospects into your contact management system, filing paperwork, or reviewing new listings on the MLS. By building in this time that can be used for a variety of purposes, you can lose or gain an hour in your schedule without feeling the stress of falling behind in your work. |