Patience, due diligence and a dash of humor turn know-it-all clients into allies.
By Donna Shryer
Every REALTOR® has met the know-it-all. It doesn’t matter that you’re a top seller in your market and highly recommended. It’s irrelevant that these self-proclaimed experts are working with last century’s information, half the facts or downright fiction. These super-powered masterminds believe they know real estate better than you.
However, an experienced REALTOR® has a pocket full of kryptonite that can drain a know-it-all’s super powers. It’s not a mineral, but a perspective: never take the smarty-pants attitude personally. “Know-it-alls are often people who want to seem smart—so no one takes them for a fool. It has nothing to do with me,” says Ginny Ollis, CRS, broker associate and co-partner with Carlson and Ollis, through Woods Real Estate Services, in San Diego.
To defuse the know-it-all’s defensive stance, Ollis recommends acknowledging and welcoming their expertise. “I never say anything about anyone being right or wrong. Instead, I boost the know-it-all’s ego by saying, ‘What a great point! Let’s talk more about that.’ And as we talk,
I burnish the client’s information with hard facts.”
Apply a little tweaking and this approach tames the beast within nearly every know-it-all—regardless of what planet they hail from. Here are a few types you might encounter.
Smarty Pants #1: The Internet Wiz
The internet can spin a tangled web of conflicting information for homebuyers and sellers. “Clients feel so enlightened by the internet. They spend hours researching online and by the time I meet them, they think they know everything,” says Alexis Bolin, CRS, broker associate, ERA Legacy Realty in Pensacola, Florida. “But just because it’s on the internet doesn’t make it true,” Bolin adds.
The work-around is to be prepared.
“I know that most people research home prices online. So when I first meet with a client, I’ve checked the websites, too. As they quote the internet, I’m prepared,” Bolin says.
Specific to buyers, Bolin begins by applauding the client’s hard work, saying, “Zillow and Trulia are great! They help narrow down where you want to live and what you want in a home. You have a broad spectrum of information and that’s really going to help.”
Then Bolin goes for the kryptonite, saying to the client, “What I’m going to do now is give you the local situation. We’ll narrow down Zillow and Trulia’s general information and I’ll tell you what they can’t possibly know.” In one fell swoop, Bolin compliments the client and piques their interest by promising the inside scoop—which of course she has at the ready.
Smarty Pants #2: The Armchair Agent
As the saying goes, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. For the REALTOR®, that often means an armchair agent. In McKinney, Texas, Melanie J. Hedrick, CRS, with Elite Texas Properties, worked with a buyer new to the area, and the know-it-all was the buyer’s relative, who lived halfway across the country and was a newly licensed, part-time agent who hadn’t yet figured out that the market sets a property’s price. “The relative meant well, but it was a challenge to overcome his arm-chair quarterbacking. He knew nothing about my market,” Hedrick says.
Without knowing the area, the relative pushed Hedrick’s client to take things slowly. Unfortunately, that meant the client lost out on home after home, since he was shopping the area’s hottest, fastest-moving price range.
To disarm the long-distance know-it-all, Hedrick never criticized him, but rather let the facts speak for her. “I remained consistent with my information and kept presenting solid, hard data specific to our area, our listings, our sales and average days on the market. It took a lot of patience, but my client eventually saw how knowledgeable and experienced I am in our market. Finally, he started trusting my professional advice.”
An armchair agent can also be someone whose knowledge bank dates back to another time. “They know virtually nothing about buying and selling in the 21st century, but they think they know it all,” explains Nadine Krasnow, CRS, owner/broker of Falmouth Fine Properties in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Citing an example, Krasnow recalls a client who indeed had his real estate license—but he got it 40 years ago and never practiced. “You can’t say, ‘What? Are you kidding me?’—which is what every REALTOR® thinks when we run into these people,” Krasnow says.
It’s important, Krasnow feels, to treat these folks gently, “because they really believe they’re right.” Then, she adds, you ease them into the facts, not only discussing average days on market and the percentage that listings are down from a year ago, but also an explanation of current real estate basics. “For instance, in my market we have mostly accompanied showings,” Krasnow says. “This means that the itinerary and schedule I set have little room for flexibility once confirmed by the various listing agents. In addition, the need for a pre-qualification letter from a lender and the advisability of retaining legal counsel once the offer is accepted are both items that were not always necessary 40 years ago. In general, the process is far more structured today than in the past. Helping people overcome their naïveté and into real estate 2016 is an important component of what I do.”
Smarty Pants #3: The Third Wheel
Often the know-it-all is a friend whispering in your client’s ear. “You won’t like that area.” “That’s way too expensive for that neighborhood.” “The kitchen is terrible.”
Working with secondhand opinions—many of which aren’t based on fact—can be frustrating, Ollis says. “The easiest way to handle this situation is to welcome the friend’s input. If the client wants to involve this person, I say let’s have them sit in on discussions.”
It’s an approach that’s particularly impactful with millennials. Research conducted by FutureCast, a marketing consultancy that specializes in millennial trends, reports that more than two-thirds of millennials won’t make a major decision without first discussing it with several trusted friends, while only about half of non-millennials ask for friends’ opinions.
Understanding this millennial characteristic is essential. The 2016 National Association of REALTORS® Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study reports that millennials make up 35 percent of all buyers, which represents the largest group of buyers.
Smarty Pants #4: Fact Masters
Not every know-it-all seeks approval or accolades. What they are, Bolin says, are fact gatherers. “It’s a personality type,” she says. “Often it’s this gift that makes them so good at their job. Once you identify this personality style, you can figure out how to best work together and avoid tension.”
Potential fact masters might include physicians, actuaries or accountants. In Bolin’s case, it’s navy pilots based at Naval Air Station Pensacola. “These people are well-educated, flying gazillion-dollar jets, and it’s their job to know absolutely everything about their jet. It’s only natural for this personality type to want to run the show.”
In such cases, Bolin leans on facts to bring a bumpy home search in for a smooth landing. “It’s important to have all the facts right there on the table—spreadsheets, reports and verifiable information about your housing market,” Bolin says. Fact masters as a personality type, she adds, need proof, act on probability over possibility and are realists.
Knowing what a new client does for a living—before that first meeting—may give you insight into how a fact master prefers to work. High-powered executives may favor fast, bottom-line oriented communication. The vice president of sales, known for building strong, trusting client ties, may want to gather facts in a warm and friendlier environment. The creative director might want to first gather facts about a home’s interesting architectural attributes and then move on to the new roof and basement sump pump. Between sticking to the facts and tweaking your style a bit, you may find even the most focused fact masters handing over the reigns in no time flat.
Are know-it-alls worth the TLC they require? Absolutely, Ollis says. “Once the know-it-all trusts you, they’ll tell everyone how you’re the best REALTOR® out there. They can be one of your greatest resources for new business!”
