? by Bernice Ross
Inman News Features
Are you asking the wrong questions of your buyers and sellers? If so, it may be costing you tens of thousands of dollars each year.
Since 1997, I’ve been part of the faculty at Coach University. A consistent theme in coach training is asking powerful questions, yet new coaches seldom know how to do this. The correct question can unlock a treasure trove of useful information and cause the person who is being asked the question to make huge shifts in attitude and behavior. The wrong question shuts off discussion, lessens rapport and may even break the connection entirely.
Being able to ask powerful questions is a must for every coach, but it is even more important for real estate sales professionals. Asking the right questions gets us the listing, builds rapport with the seller or buyer, and results in the client feeling like they have been heard. Asking the wrong question means the business goes elsewhere and can even result in litigation.
Let’s take a look at some examples. The typical buyer’s agent will ask the buyer what price range they are looking in, where they want to live, and how many bedrooms and baths they want. This is where the questions stop.
In contrast, a complete “buyer’s interview” would include more than 20 questions about the buyer’s lifestyle, what’s important to them in their present property, what they dislike about their present property, where they spend their time at home, what types of activities they enjoy, etc.
Each of these questions uncovers important pieces of information that will lessen the time it takes you to locate the correct property for the buyer. These questions also build the buyer’s sense of connection with you.
Finally, if you write down the buyers’ responses and read them back to them, you have demonstrated that you have really listened to what is important to the buyer.
The same thing is also true for sellers. Most listing agents talk about the services they provide, how great their company is (the “We’re number one at something” conversation), and how the price they’re proposing is the correct listing price.
Few agents take the time to ask the seller what is important to them about their home. In fact, they’re so busy talking and trying to close, they forget the key point in obtaining the listing is making a personal connection.
Two of the most commonly heard complaints about agents are that we don’t listen and we don’t follow up. Asking the right questions, writing down the client’s responses, and following up makes a huge difference in terms of your ability to obtain more listings, close buyers and sellers more quickly, and negotiate difficult transactions.
To ask more powerful questions, you will need to make a shift in your behavior.
It’s called “shut up and sell” and it is one of the most effective and yet difficult sales strategies in the real estate industry. For example, have you ever been close to closing a buyer until the seller told them about the beautiful addition they did without a permit? Have you ever been in a negotiation where things we’re going well until the buyer’s agent made a casual remark that made the seller angry? If so, you know how devastating the wrong comment can be.
In truth, silence is one of the most powerful tools in your real estate toolbox. “Shut up and sell” also means never interrupting your clients, especially when you disagree. It also means that when you write or present an offer, that you give the principal the facts and then wait for the client’s comments before begin any type of closing.
Remember, no matter how good your ideas are your job is to hear the client first. Share your opinions only when they are asked for and if the client doesn’t ask your opinion, then remember—shut up and sell.
— Bernice Ross is an owner of Realestatecoach.com and can be reached at [email protected].