You’re Not a Salesman, You’re a Therapist

A successful strategy always starts with all of the information. An agent can develop what appears to be a perfect strategy only to find that one little piece of missing information is introduced that makes the strategy ridiculous. Consider the agent that spends three days showing a buyer homes only to find out that the buyer must sell their home before they can buy or the agent who lists the property for sale and actively markets it for several months only to find out that the seller had just completed a loan modification with the bank and really doesn’t want to sell.

So why is it that “buyers are liars” and “sellers are story-tellers” ? You might want to take into consideration that when a client has complete trust and confidence in an agent, they feel comfortable sharing all of their information. Do your clients trust you with all of their information?

I many ways, an agent is like a therapist. The agent is expected to help the client come up with a solution to their real estate problem but, unlike with a therapist a client will not be completely open with an agent until trust them. How does an agent build this trust? Use the following:

1. Don’t make it about real estate until a rapport has been established. Talk about the “FOR” in FORBES:

• Family
• Occupation
• Recreation

2. Be an investigator. There is no such thing as asking too many questions. Only by having a complete understanding of your client’s entire situation can you be guaranteed to have a winning strategy. Use the attached buyer and seller strategic brief to determine if you know everything about your buyers and sellers. Remember, one small piece of information can make the difference between complete success and utter failure.