Savvy REALTORS® know how to work with demanding clients who seem to have a problem with every part of the transaction process.
Several years ago, Donna A. Fries, CRS, began working with an attorney whose determination to underbid the market had recently cost him his dream house. Fries tried unsuccessfully for the next two-and-a-half years to find her client something comparable. Finally, when the beloved property came on the market again, she used a combination of hard data and psychology to talk him out of making the same mistake twice.
Its not always easy working with a customer who thinks he knows everything, but if a customer has that type of persona, you dont want to argue with him or step on his toes, says Fries, a broker with Panhandle Beach Realty and Rental in Panama City Beach, Florida. Instead, Fries presented the attorney with irrefutable facts, such as the sale prices of other properties in the area. She also shared other eye-opening information, such as the amount the sellers probably have remaining on their mortgage. It helped to sway his thinking that a lowball offer $50,000 less than the listing price wouldnt work. From then on he trusted me and believed in me, and we ended up doing other business together, Fries says.
Customers come up with all sorts of objections during the sales process. These objections are often related to price, but not always. Many customers hem and haw about their ability to commit, the property itself and when the right time is to begin working with a REALTOR®.
Many future objections can be prevented by finding out upfront whats important to the customer using a question-based approach.
A lot of agents problems start because they do not meet with their clients upfront and walk them through the process, says Shawn Cunningham, CRS, a broker associate with RE/MAX Advantage in Las Vegas, Nevada.
To be sure, objections from customers have intensified as websites such as Zillow and Trulia have made home-value information more widely available to the masses. While knowledge can make for more informed buyers and sellers, some real estate professionals find they have to work even harder these days to talk customers down from the clouds or off the ledge.
How to Prevent Relationship Glitches
Maura Neill, CRS, a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Around Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, insists on having an initial consultation with all prospective customers. Not all real estate professionals are such sticklers for initial consultations, but Neill finds these meetings head off potential problems with know-it-all customers and set the tone for the entire relationship.
The purpose of the consultation is to help explain the buying or selling process from soup to nuts. Part of that is educating them about the difference between getting information from a REALTOR® and a third-party website, and to recognize that not everything they read online is true. The consultation also allows you to get to know customers what they already know about the process and what their objectives are. And its an opportunity to showcase your expertise: By sitting them down and explaining the process to them, youre establishing some trust and credibility, Neill says.
Whats more, the consultation process helps weed out customers early on who may not be the best fit. After all, You dont need to work with every single consumer who calls you, she says.
Strategies for Success
To prevent unnecessary confrontations with customers, REALTORS® have a number of tools at their disposal.
A solid first step is to meet in person with customers and educate them about the local market, being sure to present the information in a way that doesnt come across as overbearing. Often this requires patiently explaining to customers the limitations of data the client may have obtained from online listing aggregation sites. It also means gathering hard data, such as recent sales and property records, to corroborate their pricing recommendations.
Mike Parker, CRS, a CRS senior instructor and broker associate with HUFF Realty in Florence, Kentucky, finds it helpful to use visuals wherever possible. For instance, he often prints out MLS listings for sellers so they can get a clear sense of whats on the market, at what price, and with what amenities. I want them to touch the paper and the ink. When they can see it, feel it and touch it, you get a little more buy-in.
Another approach that seems to keep objections at bay is to encourage buyers to think like sellers and vice versa, according to Cunningham of RE/MAX Advantage. For instance, if a seller whose house needs significant work has grandiose ideas about pricing, Cunningham will show him another nearby house thats in much better condition and selling for less, and then ask which house hed choose to look at first as a buyer.
Seeing the Customers Side
When dealing with objections, its important to consider the customers motivations. Brandi Pearl Thompson, CRS, a broker associate with Keller Williams in Chattanooga, Tennessee, nearly lost a listing once because the seller had seen the comps on Zillow and felt her recommended asking price was too high. The seller ultimately reconsidered, provided Thompson agreed to the lower price. The house sold in about three months within $2,000 of the customers desired asking price, and the seller was happy. Never assume money is the total motivator, she says.
Whats more, REALTORS® should never be dismissive of a customers objections; a collaborative approach will get you further. Mike Wallin, CRS, a broker with RE/MAX Premier Group in Longview, Washington, recently worked with a seller who wouldnt budge from her asking price. Instead of digging in, he developed a strategy to meet the customers demands initially with the understanding that if there was no activity within a short predetermined period of time, shed drop the price, and she would be willing to work with buyers who needed other concessions. He kept the client, and his marketing plan worked the home sold quickly for her asking price. Wallin came away with a satisfied client and a friendly I told you so.
If she wasnt willing and able to negotiate concessions with buyers, it would have never worked out. As it turned out, the seller was more flexible than she let on at the beginning, and we were able to get her the price she wanted, but it wasnt without some other concessions to the buyers, he says.
Often handling customer objections is a matter of helping them find their comfort zone. Its about showing them they have options, says Parker.
For more tips, check out the book Values-Based Selling: The Art of Building High-Trust Client Relationships, by Bill Bachrach, available at Amazon.
