Z_Definitive_Guide_to_Running_a_Successful_REIA_Meeting_Reduced_size

RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL REIA MEETING
reader. That's what's going to happen from now on. I'm not worried
about being politically correct here. I'm more concerned with
making sure you "get" what you need to get to have an awesome
association this year. Okay? In the same context, we may use the
term “we” or “I” or any other similar term to refer to us at any given
time. Moving on...
How about my friend, Anthony Chara? Anthony shared a story with
me once about a REIA with about 100 or so members in the
audience that he spoke to a few years ago. Towards the end of his
presentation, he did a closing strategy where he would build up the
value of his offering to tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of
training, then he would ask the the audience, "If all this did was
make you an extra $50,000 this year, how much would this course
be worth to you?" As he told me the story, he shared with me how
normally no one wants to be the first one to speak up, and he's
prepared for this. He said that he simply asks the question, knowing
there's going to be an uncomfortable silence, and then he just sits
back and waits for a response. He said that sometimes it's 5-10
seconds of absolute silence, and he does this on purpose. Eventually,
someone always speaks up and shouts out a number that's a lot more
than he's getting ready to sell his product for in his final close.
Under normal circumstances, it's worked well for him and served its
purpose of building up the value of his offer in the minds of the
audience. Only this time, it backfired on him. This time, after about
four or five seconds of uncomfortable silence, someone from the
audience shouted out, "Just say the F-ING price already!!!"
Anthony couldn't believe what he'd just heard. It threw him totally
off track. He had done that portion of his close dozens of times in
the past, and it had always worked to his advantage. Only this time
it backfired terribly. So much so, that it flustered him, and he had a
hard time finishing the closing portion of his presentation.
Finally, the night was over, and Anthony was in the car headed
home. As he was driving, he got a call on his cell phone from the
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