Setting the Stage for Successful Client Engagement in Difficult Times

Eden Sunshine

Vice President

Realty Executive

The real estate business is rather simple. A realtor’s job is to bring motivated buyers and sellers together to facilitate a real estate transaction. Simple as that. Unless a buyer and seller come together, there really is no other meaningful or relevant work an agent could be doing.

Bringing buyers and sellers together requires focus, intention, and sales skills. If you have read any of my articles in the past, you have probably concluded that I am a systems guy.

The key to success in any business is dependent on the quality of its systems. If you want to improve a business, you must improve its systems.

A good sales system helps to deal with objections or questions that arise that could potentially impact a sale going forward. For example, a couple common objections that real estate agents deal with include:

Will you discount your commission?

Can we list our property at a price much higher than you recommend?

In addition, realtors must navigate through challenges or frustrations driven or influenced by current market conditions, transactions, and situations.

Today, buyers are dealing with frustrations related to low inventories and a massive amount of competition from other buyers. Agents are feeling the brunt of that frustration and disappointment.

Understanding how to deal with common objections or frustrations will help you effectively navigate the sales process and maintain a positive working relationship with your buyer or seller.

Tips on Navigating Through Objections and Frustrations

There are three times you can address or deal with challenging questions, objections, or frustrations.

When the Question Comes Up. What do you do when a prospect asks you to discount your commission? For some agents this is a touchy subject. Some feel if they do not discount their commissions, they will lose the listing. Some agents have well-polished and detailed answers explaining why they do not discount that still leave the prospect unsatisfied or convinced. Before answering the question, take a moment to discover what the prospect is thinking and why they asked the question in the first place.

One of my favorite responses to a question like this would be:

That is an interesting question, why did you ask that?

You’d be amazed at what you learn about what motivates your prospect when you ask that question. It better prepares you for an appropriate response. If you want to be a bit more direct with your response to preserve your commission, try asking this question instead.

What if I told you I don’t discount my fees; would that prevent you from doing business with me?

Later in the Conversation. If you have a prospect throw out an objection but you are planning to deal with it later simply say “That’s a great question, can I answer that in a moment?” Doing so keeps you on track with the conversation while letting the prospect know that you value their questions and concerns.

Prior to the Objection Coming Up. Frankly, this is my favorite time to deal with objections. I prefer to deal with the tough questions or issues BEFORE they come up. These days I am encouraging our agents to deal with the reality of the competitive market up front.

Rather than going through the process of losing out on several offers and having to deal with a frustrated buyer, deal with this situation up front. The last thing you want is to have the situation reflect badly on you.

Trying to have this conversation with your buyers upfront.

Before we begin the process of looking for a home for you, I want to address a potential challenge we might experience together as we go through the process. You might be aware that the market is very competitive right now and homes in certain price ranges are in short supply. What that means is we might have to make offers on properties that you don’t get. This can be very frustrating, stressful and disappointing. Knowing we will have to deal with that together, how do you propose we handle this situation when it comes up so that you don’t get so upset that you give up on looking for a home?

Taking this approach will enable you to deal with tough situations in advance and come up with a plan before it becomes unresolvable.

Being intentional in the sales and client management process results in a more satisfied prospect and demonstrates that you are a well prepared and knowledgeable industry professional.

Eden Sunshine is an entrepreneur, the creator of The Level 7 System, a speaker, author and Vice President of Operations for Realty Executive in Phoenix Arizona. Eden has coached and consulted with over 300 of the top Real Estate agents and teams throughout the USA and Canada since 2003. Eden specializes in helping businesses become scalable, positioned for exponential growth and productivity while establishing a meaningful, high performing business culture.