One of the most popular scripts out there for calling FSBOs is the Mike Ferry Script. He gives it away for free on his website. It is used in office training classes all over the country and is just used to death!!

I included it above for reference.

Here are 4 reasons I am not a fan and I do not think you should use this script to call FSBOs

1. First thing in the script is it is set up as “I am doing a survey of FSBOs in your area”. I do not like this. We are in a business of building trust. I don’t think this is very trustworthy to claim as soon as they answer the phone.
   
   Plus this script is so widely used there is a good chance that you are the 5th? Maybe 10th agent this week calling to do a “survey of FSBOs” in the area.
   
   Just be upfront and honest…. “I am calling you because you have a house for sale and my job is to sell houses”.
   
2. Question #4 “What methods are you using to market your home?” – We only have a few minutes on the phone. We already know their marketing is very limited. This has very little to do with anything. It is just an extra question that is not very relevant to having a first call with a FSBO. There are multiple questions like this.
   
3. The script is 14 questions… All you are doing on the first call is making sure it is still for sale. Looking for motivation and seeing how motivated they are. Then attempting to set an appointment or setting yourself up to follow up with them.
   
4. The close for an appointment is not very strong. It is a 3 question close. I just don’t feel like with sellers you will have the time to get through 11 questions before asking question 1 of 3 closing questions.
   

The whole script really should just be thrown away in 2024 or completely updated. This is a difficult script to get through with questions that are totally irrelevant to the actual sales call.

1. Don’t make your follow-up system too complicated. If it is too complicated, you will not do it.
   
2. Do not get too fancy. I know as agents we all love the latest and greatest toys and cell phones. However, most of our clients are not as up to date on technology as we are. If you are not getting responses from video text, my advice would be don’t send video text. Your client demographic may be at an age where they don’t know what to do with those texts when they get them.
   
3. Do not stop following up with a good prospect. I guarantee your competition is following up with your buyers and sellers right now. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
   
4. Do not try to use a canned drip campaign. Especially if it is with one of the more popular CRMs. Chances are, your client has already seen those emails, or they are just going to spam.
   
5. Do not forget to make notes with every follow-up. Use any motivating factors or information you can get on your next calls. 

For the purpose of this article we are only going to focus on telephone prospecting and making calls to expired listings.

For agents new to generating business on the phone, I want to make sure I set expectations for you.

1. All expired leads are from mined data. What this means is there is no website or 100% accurate way to get contact information for the owners of these properties. All of the number, email address and other contact information is generated using an algorithm and giant databases. So basically it is computer technology that makes the best guess on what number is correct for the owner of the property.
   
2. Not every number will be correct. Actually most numbers will not be correct, it doesn’t matter what service you decide to use. Your job is to sift thru those numbers and find the ones that are correct and FOLLOW up!
   
3. Follow up is the key to getting listings with expired leads. It may take 12 to 15 follow up attempts or more to set an appointment.
   

Tip #1

Use a Dialer!! You will get more people on the phone!

I would call Redx, tell them Jason Morris sent you and they will waive the set up fees. But a dialer is going to make your life so much easier. Here are a few reasons why

1. You don’t have to think about the next call. As soon as you hang up, it is dialing the next number. There is no procrastination. With a 1 line dialer, you can get through 60 to 80 calls and hour, where without one you might be lucky to get through 20 numbers. Lets face it, we all procrastinate when making calls. You will make more calls and get more people on the phone.
   
2. You can do other things while waiting on someone to answer. My favorite is listing to music or an audio book. But it makes it very easy to multi-task.
   
3.  A dialer makes it easy to log calls and track contacts, as well as follow ups. If you are using the Redx dialer called Storm Dialer this is all automated right in the crm that comes with your lead service.
   
   

Tip #2

Use a script. A good script! That actually makes sense. Some of the scripts I see that are popular (Like the Mike Ferry Expired Leads Script) have questions in the script that make about as much sense during the call as asking “are you taking your cat with you when you move?”

They are completely irrelevant to setting an appointment on the phone. You really have one main objective during the call and that is to set a listing appointment. I see agents all the time who try to get the seller to commit to listing their property with them on the phone. 

If you are looking for a 100% commitment on the phone then you are going to have a difficult time. You need to set yourself up to win! You can download my FREE SCRIPT book at www.JasonmorrisPrelistingpackage.com

Here is an excerpt from my Book “How to be a FSBO Master” that is on Amazon.

Scripts, this is my favorite thing to talk about with agents.

For some reason, we are the only profession in the sales industry that our salesmen don’t think they need to use sales scripts. Even doctors use scripts, do you think when they are doing heart surgery they get in there and just fiddle around until they figure things out? No, they have a script to follow, an exact list of questions and activities to perform the whole surgery.

As agents, we need scripts too. What you need is a script that you are comfortable with. I see a lot of trainers out there that are wanting to sell you scripts for crazy amounts of money. I have news for you, there is not a magic script, but there is a point where the magic starts happening when you are using scripts.

There is also not a magic question, but there closing questions you develop tremendous confidence in over time. My favorite closing question is “when do you want me to start working for you?”.

You do need a script you have confidence in. That confidence is going to shine thru when you are on the phone. The best way to get confidence in a script is to practice it.

I’m going to give you my script at the end of this section. I use the same script for both expireds and FSBOs. The reason I use the same script is because we are really having the same conversation. My script is going to feel more like a natural dialogue or conversation. Its nothing crazy or a whole lot of questions with no real purpose. It is not a “survey” script either.

You need to pick a script and use it, commit to it for 30 days. The reason most agents say “this script or that script doesn’t work” is because they didn’t use it or practice it long enough.

Here is where the magic starts to happen when you start using the same script.

What is going to happen when you start using the same script is you are going to start noticing you are going to get the same answers over and over to the same questions.

After about 30 days you are going to get really good at anticipating how people are going to answer your questions. You are also going to get really good at overcoming the objects you are going to get because you are going to get the same objections over and over. In 12 years now, I rarely do hear a new objection.

Another reason why you want to use the same script is because once you change the script, you will get new answers to the questions and new objections. Then you have to learn all of those answers and how to overcome those objections again. So every new script has a new learning curve.

Bruce Lee said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. This is the same principle. Can you imagine how good you will be on the phone setting appointments after going through the same script with 10,000 sellers? How about after you have had the same objection 1,000 times?

The questions and answers are going to get easier as you go, you are going to start responding more confidently and asking questions more confidently.

You want to sound as confident as you possibly can when you are on the phone. We will talk more about this in a minute when we talk about mindset. But you never want to “think” again, you want to “know.” I don’t “think” I can sell your house, I “know” I can sell your house.

Let me ask you, let’s say you were charged with a crime. Do you want to hire the attorney that is telling you “I think I can get the charges dropped?” I don’t want to hire that guy. I want to hire the lawyer that is saying “I know I can help you”.

Same thing with a doctor. If you have to have heart surgery, you don’t want to hire the doctor that says he thinks he can fix you. You want to hire the guy that knows he can. You want the doctor that has a proven plan. You go into his office, he lays it all out…We are going to cut you open and do this, this and this. Your recovery time will take 2 days, this is what you need to do, and everything will work like it is brand new in 2 weeks.

That is what home sellers want. They don’t want the agent saying “I think we can sell your home” They want the agent that is saying “Yes, Mr home seller, I can sell your house, this is my plan, here is my pre-listing package, here is how we market homes and this is how much you will walk away with after selling your home with me.

You need to get really good with scripts and your dialogue.

Practice them. Practice them by yourself or with another agent or your spouse. But the best practice is really getting on the phone and calling sellers. The best tool we have for finding practice partners are Facebook groups. You can make a couple post and find a different partner for every day of the week. If you need a practice partner go to My group “Real Estate agents that REALLY work” make a post in there and you will find one quickly.

The bottom line is, you need to get really good on the phone. The #1 best thing you can do for yourself, your family and your business is getting really really good on the phone. The phone is your best friend in the real estate sales business. I hear agents talk about only emailing clients. Those agents that tell you they never call buyers or sellers, ask them how much business they are doing. Ask them what their real conversion numbers are. In most cases, it isn’t going to be much. One thing I know for sure is, if you are not calling your leads, there is another agent who is. It does not matter what the lead source is, I promise it is not exclusive. I guarantee they have talked to another agent.

Now not only is making the initial calls important, you need to follow up. You need to follow up like crazy. Most of the expired listings and FSBOs are going to hire a real estate agent. They are going to write someone a check for selling their home, you need to follow up to make sure they are writing this check to you. The next chapter we will put together your entire follow-up system. 

When I make calls, I do minimum qualifications. I am calling for an appointment, not a listing. I list the home through my listing process. 

Tip #3

Build a tough mindset

I will tell you the truth, any sales job comes with a lot of rejection and objections. Some days, you make calls and everyone is nice on the phone, they are happy to talk to you and it is just great!!

Other days are sh!t. Nobody answers, everyone is mean and nobody really wants to talk to you.

So how do you build a tough mindset? (here is an excerpt from my book “How to be a FSBO Master” that is available on Amazon.

I believe most agents fail because of mindset and self-confident. A lot of this is not in the recordings that are on YouTube. I could have written a whole book on any of these topics in this section and maybe I will in the future, but right now I wanted to give you an overview. I want this book to focus on building your FSBO listing system.

How to Building Confidence

I wanted to write this section because I feel like this is one of the biggest issues new agents have. They lack self-confidence. It is easy to be confident around your friends and family. It can be tough to be confident heading into a new career or getting back into a career, where you start out pretty much flying by the seat of your pants and hoping everything turns out like some random broker that sold 3 properties last year told you it would.

Then if you are making calls to get listings, it is mentally exhausting at first. This isn’t a very physically tough job, it is a mentally tough job. Most of the problems you will have as you build your business will not be financial, it won’t be lack of knowledge, and it will be mental toughness and preparation.

Continuing to level up or 10x your business is mostly in your head. You will often have big breakthroughs and “Aha” type moments. A lot of it will depend on your desire to pursue self-help and self-improvement.

My business over the years has constantly evolved and changed. A lot of that has had to do with my goals and what I wanted from the business or my life changing.

I want to share with you some things I have done over the years to help me build mental toughness and a strong mindset.

Affirmations

When I first started the real estate business, I would have told you how dumb I thought affirmations were. I was right out of college. I thought self-help was for people who needed help, I didn’t need any help.  All I could think about back then was the Saturday Night Live skit with Stuart Smalley called “Daily Affirmations.” Which were hilarious, if you don’t remember those you can look them up on YouTube.

I did not think that standing in front of a mirror in the mornings telling myself how great I am and how it’s going to be a great day would help me at all. It just seemed really silly.

hen about 7 or 8 years later I learned affirmations are truly magical.

I want to tell you what an affirmation is, then tell you how to use them.

To “affirm” something according to Google is to declare it to be true. Now if you are declaring to be wealthy but you know you are financially going through hardships, or you are saying you are loved, but really deep down you are lonely; you are probably thinking “who is Jason trying to fool?”

What you are doing is declaring to yourself and the universe that you intend for these things to be true. Basically, you are creating a vision. Everyone’s brain acts like a filter that lets only information in that we need and often filters out information that we don’t. 

Our brain only registers to us what matters based on our goals, needs, interest and desires. For example, you are thinking about buying a new car, and you go look at a new red Mercedes, brand new one, you test drive it and love it. The next thing you know you are seeing new red Mercedes everywhere. This is your brain registering that this car, in the color red, matters to you.

The reason this is happening is because of something called your Reticular Activating System (RAS). This is the filter your brain needs so that it doesn’t get overwhelmed with stuff.

When you say an affirmation over and over again, it sends a message to your RAS that these things are important to you. Then all of a sudden this part of your brain gets busy noticing things that will help those affirmations (and goals) become true.

If money is at the forefront of your goals and affirmations, your brain will start filtering and looking for things that will help you make money. If you want to lose weight or just be overall happier, it does the same things.

These affirmations create a dynamic tension in ourselves. If your affirmations are not true today that tension is greater and your mind starts looking for ways to get rid of that tension. Your mind will start looking for ways to raise the bar and make that affirmation a reality.

I have read that it can often take 21 days of saying an affirmation to make it stick in your psyche. I feel like at different times in life when I started doing affirmations or a new affirmation it was almost instant. I truly have a mindset of abundance. I truly believe the more you freely give, the more you will get back in return. When I started saying things to myself like “I am a FSBO listing machine” it was like all of a sudden I started listing more properties like crazy. I started noticing FSBOs everywhere!

At the same time when the market was pretty much in a free fall back in 2008, my self-talk was a lot different, and I started looking for things other than real estate sales I could do. I never quit selling real estate, but I started building websites and doing rental leases. Things outside of real estate sales because I felt like the market was much worse than it was.

What I person do is, I look on YouTube for affirmations on abundance. You have to be very careful with the affirmations and self-talk you use. I have found several 3 to 5-minute affirmations that I use myself on a daily basis. I typically like to play them when I am riding in the car by myself, or I am at the gym on a treadmill. You do not have to say them out loud. Just repeat them in your mind.

The ones on YouTube usually have a little music in the background, they are free, and there are a lot of them. When you find a recording you like. Bookmark it or save it so you can keep going back to it over and over. I say them at least once a day. It won’t be very long until you start believing them. They will help you tremendously with mindset and confidence. 

Self Help and Self Improvement

I am a big believer in building a better you. I think everyone should look for ways and programs to be a part of to work on themselves. We can all become a better version of ourselves by just working on it a little each day.

I believe that all of us should be participating in some sort of self-help and constantly working on how we can become just a little bit better. I heard an agent say one time “I am working on how I can be a little bit happier every day.” That was a great line that really stuck with me. We should all be working on how we can be just a little bit happier every day.

All of us have some self-limiting belief or some certain area or thing we want to improve about ourselves. A lot of our habits are pretty deeply ingrained, many times they are learned or inherited. There are a lot of people that feel like they do not deserve success, more money or happy relationships. It is hard to change those habits or beliefs. You cannot change them for sure without working on them.

For me personally, I tell people all the time Tony Robbins changed my life. I borrowed a copy of his audio program called “Personal Power 2” I worked through the 30-day program and had what I felt like was constant breakthroughs. Part of me writing this book and my book “53 strategies to get more listings” was a result of the last time I worked through a Tony Robbins program.

I highly encourage buying one of his books or courses and watching his Netflix documentary “I am not your Guru.”

I do not want to limit you to just him. Zig Ziglar was an enormous influence on me when I first got into the real estate business. His book “See you at the Top” was fantastic and one everyone should read.

There are also countless others who have written books and self-help courses on almost any subject or problem you can think of. There is also so much free stuff available on the internet.

Whenever I feel like I have a problem, or I am stuck I start looking for an answer on how to get back motivated again or an answer to the problem I have in life.

Coaches and mentors

The quickest way to get over a hurdle or shorten a learning curve is to hire a coach or mentor. For most of the time I have been in the real estate market I have had a paid real estate coach. I currently just offer group coaching (see coupon in the back of this book to save 50%), but it goes over the problems and solutions I have had in the business. The agents that are a part of my program grow quickly because they can avoid those problems.

When I have gotten off track and needed help getting back on track, I have personally hired a coach. Not having a coach could be limiting your success. What a coach does is help you identify a problem and help you fix that problem. Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for all the trees.

A coach will help you focus on the things you need to do to accelerate your growth. A good coach is going to help you identify where your clients wants and needs are. Often times they will help provide your business with some structure and accountability.

The truth is most of us in the real estate business have a type A personality and will sacrifice relationships with family, friends and even our health thinking we are heading in the right direction. 

Mentors I find are often different than coaches. The word mentor is defined as a trusted advisor. Typically a mentor will help you too, but usually, they are not paid for helping you. Sometimes they don’t even know they are your mentor. This could really be anyone, another agent in your office, your broker or even an agent across the country. Typically it is just someone you can run things by where you trust their opinions. 

I recommend everyone finding that person that can be their mentor. Just someone you can run things by every now and then, talk about your goals, etc.

I hope these 3 tips help you all with your business. You can download my scripts at www.JasonMorrisPrelistingpackage.com 

I would like to assume that you are a real estate agent and already know what an expired listing is, but for those of you that do not:

An expired listing is when a listing agreement ends with an agent and it shows up on your MLS as being “expired” or is just no longer on the market. 

I know many of you reading this have tried to re-list expired listings before. A lot of agents give up or think there are too many people calling them.

The easiest way to get phone numbers, email addresses and an address where the tax bill goes to (or owner lives) is to subscribe to a data service like REDx. You can use the link www.JasonMorrisREDx.com and they waive the set up fee for you.

I want to cover a couple of other options you have to try to list them, other than just making calls.

1. Door knocking expireds
   
   If you choose to go knock on the door of an expired listing you need to make sure you are set up for success.
   
   1. Have a flyer or some sort of information that you can leave in the door. What you want is a call to action, not a marketing piece where you are trying to list it but one that they respond and contact or call you.
      
      I always recommend you keep it very simple. A hand written note that says “do you still want to sell your house? Call me (phone number)” works very well.
      
   2. If they are home, I would recommend the conversation starting with “do you want to sell your home?” if they say yes, continue the conversation by getting their phone number and email, then setting up a time to actually come back and list it. A stranger showing up at someone’s house asking to come in is typically not going to be a welcoming visit.
      
   3. Follow up is the key to getting listings with any lead type. A “no” is not typically rejecting you, it is them rejecting the idea that you are presenting to them in the moment.
      
2. Phone calls
   

I still feel like, even in 2024, the best practice is to get someone on the phone. The problem a lot of agents have is they miss the purpose of the phone call. The call is not to list the property, the purpose is to set an appointment to list the property.

Here are a few tips to help you when making these calls.

1. Always use a script. If you ask the same questions over and over, it does not take long until you know all the answers to the questions you are asking. Once you talk to 50 sellers, 100 sellers, 1000 sellers, you will almost be able to anticipate the response they are going to give you before they even give it to you.
   
2. Eliminate the word “listing from your vocabulary when talking to a seller. Instead of talking about “listing” their house, you should talk about “selling” their house. Remember they just “listed” with another agent, it didn’t work out. That is why it expired.

3. Watch your tonality when talking to a seller. If you are not confident about your plan and what you are saying. They won’t be confident about your plan and you either. 

4. Follow up is the key! I would be willing to bet just a small fraction of 1% of expired calls end in them saying “yes, bring the paperwork right now and let me sign it”. It may take 10 to 12 conversations or more before you set an appointment and actually list their property. This goes for all types of leads. 

5. Have a plan. Most agents are constantly just shooting from the hip and hoping things work out. You need a full sales process and plan to be able to consistently take listings. I wrote a book called “How to be an Expired Master” that is available on Amazon. In that book I go through an entire process to help you take more expired listings. 

3. Texting Expires

It is a busy world we live in. Most of us are used to just texting people rather than picking up the phone. The problem most agents have is they try to skip right to the point and send a huge text thinking that somehow this seller will be super impressed and just call them to relist the house ASAP. 

But just like when one of your friends sends you a HUGE text, the chances of you reading it before you get distracted by the next thing is very small. Here are some text scripts that you can use for the initial contact

1. “Do you still want to sell the house at (address)?” 
2. “Can you call me at your earliest convenience about the house at (address)?”
3. “Are you the owner of (address)?”

These texts are very simple with a “yes” or “no” response. If they respond with a “yes” your next text should always be 

“When is a good time to call you?”

Set up a time to call and call at that time.

4. Facebook ads

If you subscribe to a service like REDx you can take the phone numbers/emails and upload them to Facebook to create a custom audience. For just a few dollars a day you can have an ad running and showing up in their newsfeed on Facebook.

5. Direct Mail

The reason I included this as a way to get more listings for expireds is because there just are not many people sending mail anymore. 

I love this objection. I get to truly offer some guidance and really help my clients. 

Depending on the neighborhood, market and price range, many upgrades are nice, but provide no real additional dollar value when it comes to selling. 

I have seen sellers in the past over-improve a home thinking they will get more money, but learn that those upgrades were only important to them or they have appraisal issues.

I also have had sellers in the past remodel a home and just make bad choices. For example, painting the home bold colors that go with their personal decor and taste rather than colors that would really work for a wide range of buyers and compliment the home.

I would try to get face to face with the sellers as quickly as possible to assist them in this process. 

Here is the script:

Seller: We want to do some updates before we put our house on the market

Agent: Fantastic, I’ll tell you what, how about I come over and take a look? I have a lot of clients that do work before putting their home on the market. 

I might can help you make some choices that will save you some money and help make sure you get a return on the money you are investing in these upgrades.

(set an appointment, make sure to send your pre-listing package)

To get my entire script book for free Click here