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286 of 288 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too much fluff, July 28, 2002
I'm not really sure why this book got such high marks from the other reviewers. The book is page-numbered to 281, plus the introduction and table of contents, but it really should have been only 100 pages, and can be summarized with "Set a goal, be persistent, find a mentor." In other words, there isn't a lot of substance to be found.Probably the best chapter of the book is Chapter 1, "Selecting the Right Company". In it, the book gives you a decent list of things to think about when you're looking for a broker to work under. There is also a helpful list of questions that you need to ask your potential brokers when you are interviewing with them. On the other hand, the chapter falls flat when talking about the questions that the broker is likely to ask you. While the book gives you a list of questions, it doesn't counsel you in any way regarding what you might want to say or avoid saying in your answers. The first sign that this book is going to be high on fluff and low on useful real estate sales help is the book's wide margins and line spacing, and large fonts. This makes for a low info-per-page ratio. Next you'll notice that there is too much of vague generalities about real estate, too much meandering talk of discipline and persistence and goal setting and self-affirmation. Illustrative of this point is the fact that the book makes no mention whatsoever about open houses. Nothing. If open houses aren't worthwhile then why wouldn't you at least spend a couple of pages explaining why and presenting some scripts for convincing your sellers (and perhaps brokers?) not to do them? Speaking of scripts, on pages 35 through 37 Mr. Zeller uses a lot of words to convince you of the importance and utility of scripts. In a sidebar he even lists 25 separate occassions in which one could, and presumably should, put scripts to use. Will you find any actual scripts in this book? Sadly, no, you won't. Another frustrating example is the small, two-paragraph section with the heading "How do I get more listings?" The answer given is basically, "Learn the fundamentals of prospecting," with absolutely no explanation of what those fundamentals might be, just the unhelpful assertion that you should "[b]ecome a person of action." Thanks. I didn't realize that. So, this book boils down to not much more than another book full of platitudes on general salesmanship and self-improvement. If that were what I was after I would have picked up something by Zig Ziglar or Anthony Robbins. To be fair, the chapters on "Mastering Your Sales Skills" are pretty good, but they don't start until page 143, and I found their contents to be so meandering and disorganized that I would often lose my patience as I read them. On top of that, I found everything in those two chapters in Mike Ferry's "How to Develop a Six-Figure Income in Real Estate"--in a more organized and, for me, far more motivational fashion, too. I suspect that this book is intentionally vague for a very specific reason. Call it bait and switch. In the back of the book you'll find an ad for Dirk Zeller's other tape sets and manuals, all of which are substantially more expensive, of course. I highly recommend you give a pass on "Your First Year..." and instead pick up a copy of Ferry's book--or, for a different perspective, Danielle Kennedy's "How to List and Sell Real Estate in the 21st Century". Both of those books are well organized and contain tons of helpful ideas (some presumably more lucrative than others). Best wishes.
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by Darryl Davis
by Kenneth W. Edwards
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