Readers…the following post is a continuation of last week’s post. If you did not read it, then start reading at the beginning of this post. If you did read last weeks’ start reading at “Lesson #3 – Finding Motivation”.
Several months ago I was approached by a real estate company to help them solve a problem. You see they had a team of agents that were assigned to families that were relocating to a different area. This agent (who was in competition with another company) would sit down with the seller and pitch the value proposition of their company and themselves. The seller would then make a decision regarding who they wanted to list their house. The problem was the team was losing more than it was winning.
This field of sales is very complicated and clearly there are multiple factors to this problem; most that were out of everyone’s control. BUT there was one thing the company could do…..help their agents become better at the listing presentation. Enter my services.
We began what I call “The Great Listing Presentation Project” or GLPP for short. At the core of this project was asking each agent on this team to perform their listing presentation in front of a reviewer. Using a check-list and a series of questions/objections the reviewer took the role of the seller. At the end of the listing presentation the reviewer would complete written feedback and send it to the agent.
Thirty-nine agents later there were clear common denominators in the weaker presentations and clear common denominators in the stronger presentations. This series of blog shares those lessons.
By the way if you are not involved on the real estate market there is still value here for you. Ironically, the majority of these lessons had no relation to a specific market but are about sales skills.
Lesson #3 – Finding Motivation
Most seasoned sales professionals will tell you that the single biggest factor to selling a house is the sellers’ motivation. An unmotivated seller means poor product condition at an unreasonable price. Both of which are critical to a house selling in this day and age. As a result, uncovering that information about the seller is just crazy important.
I’m not saying the participants of the listing presentation program didn’t ask questions about their motivation; they did. Most of the questions were regarding things like where are you moving, when would you like to be there, etc. All great questions….yet not enough.
To really and deeply understand the motivation of the seller, I advocate some additional questions. They are:
1. How do you feel about this move?
2. What is more important to you…time or price?
3. What would happen if your home does not sell?
Question #1: How do you feel about this move?
Most moves are a product of a life event….marriage, divorce, new baby, job transfer, no job, etc. Many of these events are joyous however some are not. If the owner(s) is having negative feelings about the move, it can create problems.
I can remember like it was yesterday a listing where the husband had received a great new promotion and was very excited. His wife on the other hand was not. The result was declined showings and a messy house.
Don’t be afraid uncovering these feelings. Awareness will assist you in moving the seller forward.
Question #2: What is more important to you….time or price?
This question will present a foundation when discussing asking price. For example, let’s say a seller indicated that time was critical because they wanted to start the school year in the new location. To do that the house had to be closed in time for them to close on a new house. BUT when you start presenting pricing information the seller wants to price the house substantially more than the market indicates, which will make the house be on the market much longer.
A technique you can use is saying….”I’m confused”. By using that phrase the seller will ask “Why are you confused”. You answer is “Because you said you needed to be in Dayton by the start of school and the price you are considering will prevent that from happening.”
Only by knowing what is important to the seller will help you counter act a bad asking pricing.
Question #3: What will you do if your house does not sell?
When I first heard this question I really disliked it. Would the seller mistakenly hear, “What happens if I can’t sell your house?” After I got over the initial objection my thoughts went to the power of this question. This question is about pain. The pain that the seller will have if the house is rejected by the market. That pain is important.
If their answer is “well nothing” then you know there is no real motivation. However if the answer describes real problems they will likely prepare and price the house correctly.
The three questions above I recommend adding to your repertoire of standard motivational questions. Are there any more that you would recommend?