Today I will be in front of a class of real estate salespreneurs who want to be masterful at listing presentations. This is a topic that’s easy for me because I have taught it hundreds of times as well as performed hundreds of them. Given my experience you would think it would be a “no-brainer”. But actually I have a barrier to overcome first. I have this barrier regardless of the topic.
You see in this classroom are people from all different backgrounds, cultures, and age groups. They have very little in common except they all have preconceived notions about how a salesperson acts. The notion that is most prevalent is what I call “tell and sell”. Most of them believe that to be a good salesperson they must be good at talking. The idea of the better they can talk the more money they can make is very far from the truth.
In my last blog we discussed listening, which is a critical sales skills. However, you will not have an opportunity to demonstrate how wonderfully you listen unless you master another skill. The art of the question.
Picture this….a real estate sales person has just received a call from a potential prospect. They want to know how much is the house at 123 Main Street? She is very excited about this and wants to make sure that they know all the great things about this house. After spewing all the information about the house, the caller simply hangs up. Why? They caller heard enough to know they were not interested in that house.
Now let’s change this scenario. The same caller asks about the price of this house. The salesperson’s response is to respectfully answer the question, “That house is $299,900” but then follow up with the question, “Is that the price range you are interested in?” The caller responds that they prefer to stay around $250,000. The salesperson then asks, “What else is important to you?” In the turn of two questions this caller has become a potential client.
This is just one simple example but the point is learning to ask rich, deep, information digging questions is important….no, critical to being a great salesperson. So, let’s look at the anatomy of a question.
Questions come in two forms: opened-ended and closed-ended. The purpose of an opened-ended question is to get information. The purpose of a closed-ended question is to get a decision.
Open-ended or discovery questions are a powerful way to focus the client. These questions also accomplish the following for you.
• Differentiate you from competitors. They tell, you ask.
• Build cooperation and trust.
• Obtain useful information.
• Identify problems or concerns.
There’s also a structure to effective discovery questions. Here are some definitions to help you create and ask effective discovery questions. They are always…..
• Open ended – they cannot be answered yes or no.
• Start your questions with the words “what,” “how,” and “when” “who” “where”. Notice the “why” is missing from that group. Even though it is would qualify as open-ended it can sound judgmental.
• Non-judgmental—no right or wrong answer.
• Respectful.
Build a toolbox full of these discovery questions and commit to using them. For example, the next time someone asks you what your business offers instead of going into sales mode stop and ask a question that clarifies their needs. Would that make a difference to that potential client? Probably, because it indicates you are interested in them.
Closed-ended questions are simply those that can be answered with yes or no. In sales these are typically asked when closing. For example, “Is that something you would be interested in receiving?”
What I’m proposing is that the next time you find yourself going into “sales mode”, stop, take a breath, and ask a question instead. You will probably find that the person you are talking to will wake up and open their mind.