The Planned Surprise Strategy is a process based upon a remarkably simple premise. If you do what your customers expect, you get satisfied homebuyers. When you surprise your customers with unexpected experiences, you get elated home buyers.

I can hear that little voice in his head saying, “If the training is the same training they received 25 years ago, they don’t need it. They know how to shake someone’s hand, make their presentation, and ask for the sale….” But what if the training is different? What if it isn’t the same old sales training tips?

Sadly, far too many people hear the word “bold” and instantly think obnoxious. There is an inherent alarm in the word. Let me be very, very clear on this point. Boldness is NOT obnoxious bravado, flashy dialogue, or stealthy manipulation. I reject any such notion as being counter to the core of the message.

Consider the mental processing when a home buyer does not hear proactively from their salesperson. What happens when they cross the line into believing that if they don’t call for an update, they won’t be updated? The questions go unanswered. The doubts begin to appear, and then begins the psychological phenomenon called catastrophizing.

I’m sure you’ve had sales days like this. The type of day where everything goes wrong, and you feel like there’s not a stinkin’ thing you can do about it. But there is a silver lining in the middle of all this.

Your sales questions target what you need to know to help a customer accomplish their goals. Your customer has been trained (in countless sales situations) to release “chaff” in the form of distractions to the process. How you respond to these distractions will determine your success.

We salespeople love to make people happy. That’s great. Happy is a good thing. But sometimes, we go a little overboard in our desire to please. Maybe we get too optimistic about what we’re promising versus what we can deliver. That might sound like an innocent little misstep in the short run, but it can have some devastating results.

What if you offered an age-based home purchase program that has been proven to increase buyer capture rates and drive-up profits as compared to cash and traditional financing? And what if the program works well in an up market and even better in the midst of inflation, rising interest rates, and a drop in the stock market…are you intrigued?

Back in the day, they taught closing in a way that created animosity between salespeople and customers. People viewed closing as something you did to a customer. Heck… many trainers still teach closing as something you do to a customer. It is aggressive and fairly confrontational. There’s a better way!

It’s been 35 years in the business, and I’ve learned from some of the best. I want to share five lessons that have stuck with me over the years. Five lessons from five super smart people. They aren’t necessarily all sales trainers, but their messages are perfect for the sales world.