Sell more houses by showing fewer Home Page
Sell more houses by showing fewer? Can that be right? Can a real estate agent actually
sell more houses by showing fewer? Absolutely. How? By never ever showing the wrong
house.
Two times in 10 years my husband & I purchased homes. First my husband was offered
a job that required a fast relocation to North Carolina. We identified a neighborhood
where we wanted to live, which had an inhouse sales office. Greeted by an experienced
agent, she told us about the neighborhood and got us even more excited that we were.
Our main request was a big kitchen that opened into a family room. I was seven
months pregnant with our first child. That added it’s own set of needs. HURRY! She
showed us several homes, none of which had the kitchen layout we requested. We
saw many homes we absolutely loved except for the kitchen, which only confused us!
And confusion is no condition for a mom relocating weeks before delivering her first
child. Then one day while driving around that neighborhood, we passed a real estate
agency open house sign and stopped. The exact kitchen design we had requested. And
during our several tours, we had not once looked at this particular home. We made an
offer that day.
A year later my husband quit the job that was not at all what we had hoped. We decided
to move back to Atlanta, and listed our home. With that decision, my husband no longer
had a “job” and decided to start a consulting company (self-employed). Thus our ability
to obtain a traditional mortgage loan became more difficult. Examining real estate
guides, we noticed an agent that specialized in owner financing. Perfect! One
particular agent caught our attention because she offered help to those self-employed.
We called that agent and began the process of relocating again. We informed her of our
circumstances and set an appointment for one Saturday morning. Our daughter
Reagan was now almost one, and would be with us when we ventured to Atlanta. We
drove up on Friday night and stayed in a hotel near our realtor’s office.
We were excited! It was as if we were closing a chapter on that time in our life and
readily opening a brand new one. Early for our appointment, we arrived at the office
to meet our agent.
Reagan crawled around and made a number of new friends. Then we entered into her
office to prepare for what we would be seeing that day. I noticed a stack of papers on
her desk. It was one of those dated computer print outs that had page attached to
perforated page with listing after listing on each page. No, that couldn’t be for us, we
were in from out of state and had one day to look.
She picked up that stack and began thumbing through. “I pulled up some listings that
are in the area you mentioned”. Some? I thought. That was an understatement.
There was no way we could look at all those listings. And Reagan? Still crawling about
she was having the time of her little life. All those office machines looked like exciting
toys for her ambitious eyes. Needless to say I was as tense as could be.
“Can we take a look at that?” we asked. She handed over the stack of listings. No notes
anywhere on that indicated our agent had narrowed choices based on general
information we’d given her—size, location, price, and school zones, etc. Nothing
about what we needed specifically a large home office. No reminders that we were a
young family that needed a baby’s room near the master bedroom. ‘We began marking x’s
on what we considered to be no’s. We did this until we were down to 5 homes to see that
day. And it was my husband and I who made those decisions. It was us who asked the
questions to determine what not to see on that day.
This agent was a top producer in the elite group of top performers for her company.
Personally, we liked her. But we did not have the time or desire to make this a long
process. And we were certainly shocked at her lack of understanding that we were any
different than anyone else she had helped. With that said, with a little homework and
preparation on the front end, you could save your self and your client a lot of valuable
time. Here are some basic steps that may help
Realize the Power in the Process of Elimination:
Never, ever show the wrong home. When doing any kind of training, I always say it’s
what you eliminate that counts. From your schedule, from your diet, or from your list
of homes to show. Before ever showing anyone anything, get specific. Probe more and
obtain specific information regarding the needs of your client.
a. Tell me about your family. (Be quiet and listen)
b. Are your children involved in a lot of activities?
c. What part of the home do you spend most of your time in?
d. Do you spend a lot of time outside?
e. Are there specific colors you will be looking for?
f. Does anyone in your family need a home office?
g. What is most important in your new home?
You begin to see how probing more on the front end can certainly help to determine
where not to go. This offers you a clear glimpse of their lifestyle, and if you don’t ask
ahead of time, they won’t tell you until you are in a wrong house. Simply said,
where not to go is as important as where to go.
Maximize your opportunities:
A few years back, I did a training series for a company, and my training was based
on the results of a recorded telephone shop for each agent. You may cringe
when you hear that, but there is no better way to assess your skills than to
actually hear your skills. Take time to record a few calls, and take an honest inventory.
a. Could you hear if I was smiling?
b. Did I offer my undivided attention or sound busy and rushed?
c. Did I ask specific questions to determine specific needs?
d. Can I reflect on notes in order to prepare for their appt?
e. Was I enthusiastic and offer encouragement?
f. Could I have earned this clients business based on this call?
To many experienced agents, this may sound elementary, but the most productive sales
people understand the importance of honing the basic skills in order to build stronger
relationships. Your job is not to sell houses, it’s to build relationships that result in
sold houses. And building relationships is about understanding the heart of your client.
There are many more tips to offer, but in order to respect the editor’s guidelines,
we’ll stop here for now. Take time to evaluate your “process of elimination”. Then
get back to what you do best, sell more homes but this time try showing a few less.
Let me end our story of moving back to Atlanta. Fred and I bought the first home we
looked at. Even though we looked at all five homes, we fell in love with one and
bought it. The question is, who sold it?