Have you ever gotten off of a client call, only to immediately think of something you meant to ask? Or been on a cold call and all of the sudden, your sales script doesn't quite match the direction where your conversation is headed?
These situations can be quite stressful as you're learning how to relate to your clients and make sales in any industry. With how many factors influence a potential client's home buying and selling preferences, this can be an especially big hurdle for new real estate agents and Realtors.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you're just not sure what additional information you need, or where to steer the conversation, do these three things to bring your sales call back on track:
#1 - What to say to your real estate clients
Whether you have already signed a contract or are cold calling leads from your real estate database, your primary focus is on getting to know the nuances of a client’s situation and preferences.
Approaching new real estate leads
Before you get into the transational nitty-gritty, start your conversation off on the right foot:
Introduce yourself briefly
Explain how you got their information
Ask if now is a good time to chat
Ask what triggered their home buying or selling
Touch on current market conditions, and ask if they have any initial questions
This gives you an opportunity to provide immediate value by:
Demonstrating the kind of service your lead can expect from you
Getting to know your client and addressing their top-of-mind real estate concerns
Providing up to date market information and real estate expertise
When in doubt, stick with the fundamentals
If you suddenly blank on a call, take it back to the fundamentals until you have a moment to regroup. There are many frameworks you can find created by real estate coaches and sales leaders that can help you structure a meeting plan to do this on the fly. Our personal favorite is NUMERAL. We’ll walk you through what each letter means, but keep in mind that you don’t need to stick to any particular order of questions, or ask everything in one conversation. NUMERAL stands for:
Needs
This is the most important of all the question types, and is all about finding out the client's wishes, wants and needs. To get into specific needs for their home, ask questions such as:
What are your must-haves in your next home?
Tell me about your current situation - what’s not working for you right now?
Urgency
Urgency is your reminder to understand your client or lead’s time frame. Find out if there are any factors pressuring their decisions, and exactly what they are. For instance, ask:
When do you see yourself moving?
Motivation
Motivation is the big picture, the why in the deal.
What is the motivating factor here? Is it COVID-19 related? Is it a divorce? Is it a new baby? Is there a ghost in the house? Maybe they won the lottery! It could be a million different things, all of which impact your client’s approach to house-hunting, and their final decisions.
Expectations
Determining your client's level of expectation allows you to recognize and address potential issues before moving forward. To discover expectations, ask questions such as:
How much time do you think it will take to sell your house?
What asking price do you have in mind?
Depending on the responses you get here, you may also find you have to re-calibrate expectations to be in-line with current market conditions.
Resources
Resources refers to the money, or required equity, in the deal. You need to have a sense of any changes in your client's budget. This is an area where you need to be especially considerate and tactful. Ask:
How is your work going?
Depending on what your client’s job situation is, it may be in their best interest to hold off on applying for a new mortgage. In other cases, moving to a cheaper area could give them much-needed financial security. Also ask:
Do you already have the down payment lined up?
This matters for a few reasons. Some jurisdictions have first-time home buyers programs, or other sources of financial help that are especially important right now. Alternatively, Mom and Dad may be coming up with the down payment. If this is the case, they might want some say in final decisions, which means you now know to keep them in the loop.
Authority
What you really need to know here is, do your clients in fact have the authority to buy and sell? To find out, ask questions such as:
Who is on title?
Will the selling price pay off the existing mortgage?
Your client's ability to sell will be contingent on their existing mortgage. If the sale price in the current market is less than what they were hoping for, they might not be able to pay off their existing mortgage. This is something they may not have factored in.
Loyalty
Unlike the other topics we've covered, this one is primarily a question for yourself, rather than your client. When thinking of loyalty, ask yourself questions such as:
Have I done enough to earn my Clients loyalty?
Have I earned my clients' trust overtime?
#2 – Listen With Empathy
The questions we talked about above are only as good as your listening skills. It's easy to get so focused on covering all of your bases that you only listen with half an ear. While it's important to look at your meeting plan and make sure you're being thorough, a truly great sales call means making your client feel understood and well-served. How to be present during a real estate sales call?
Repeat back what you heard.
Repeating back the highlights of what you heard helps transition you away from just listening for keywords in your conversation. This technique makes you evaluate the information you hear, and dig through to what's being conveyed.
Not everyone's going to be perfectly succinct when talking to you. This way, you can cut through anecdotes and get to the heart of the matter.
Don't be afraid of pauses.
This is the downfall of many real estate agents (okay, maybe downfall is a strong word, but you get our gist). Many of us feel the need to rush to fill in every silence, every pause, in case things begin to feel awkward. Here’s the thing though – some people are simply slow talkers. What’s more, if you ask a question, the person on the other end may need a moment to think.
So don’t yammer on into oblivion. Give people a chance to respond. Of course, don’t take this to the other extreme either! After an appropriate pause, you can rephrase your question, ask something related, or move on with the conversation.
#3 – Trust The Process
Eventually, you’ll be able to naturally recognize the ebbs and flows in your client calls, and respond appropriately. It will become second nature to recognize that certain signs your clients give you are an indicator of what they are trying to say. And most importantly - even the most naturally people-oriented Realtors among us will have the occasional cringe-worthy call. That’s okay.
If you’re finding yourself running into consistent issues on the phone or via video, get a trusted mentor to conference in and give you feedback. Or, record the call and play it back. It’s difficult to critically analyze your own speaking patterns as you’re on a call. When you listen to it afterwards, you’ll be able to hear where you’re losing control of a conversation and making mistakes.
This is all part of the process. While we know all too well this can be frustrating at times, do not go into hibernation. Get out there, speak to your clients, show them you care, and offer value wherever you can.
Following these steps will create and strengthen your real estate client relationships and build a strong foundation for your business. Now is the time to really double down, build relationships, and take your real estate career to new heights.
Summary
Effective client conversations are the lynchpin of your success as a real estate agent and Realtor. Just focusing on these basics is enough to set you apart and put you on a path to becoming a top real estate agent in your market!
