Whether you are a new or veteran agent, it’s easy to become overwhelmed while you are working “in” your business, taking care of everything required of a working real estate agent including: prospecting, setting and going on appointments, meeting with clients, negotiating contracts, dealing with inspectors and escrow agents.What many agents neglect is to work “on” their business…they fail to work on sharpening their sales skills, this failure will ultimately cost them business. The following are 21 sales skills that you should be working “on” to maintain and grow your business.
Preparing for the Sale:
1. Insufficient market knowledge – Not spending enough time previewing property, studying home prices, market trends etc. As a sales professional, it’s critical for you to understand the features and benefits of your products. That way, you stand out from your competitor.
2.Lack of confidence – If you don’t believe in yourself, why should someone else? You confidence is directly related to your market knowledge and sales skills. When you come across as a person with low confidence, you will naturally send off a vibe of uncertainty. Buying and selling houses are most likely one of the biggest decisions a person makes in their life, any feeling of uncertainly can cause a person to back down or choose someone else.
3.Sloppy personal appearance – As a professional Real Estate Agent, the way you dress is an important factor in whether a prospect hires you or not. “Dress for Success”
Greeting the Customer:
1.Waiting for the customer to greet the agent – Have you ever held an open house and waited for the customer to ask you for more information? Do you find yourself more passive than active? Obviously you realize that passive agents are almost instantly surpassed by agents who are more active. Are you an active agent or a passive agent?
2.Using a closed-end greeting, ie. “May I help you?” – “NO” is the answer you will get 99% of the time, so why not ask better questions? E.g. “What’s important to you about moving?” “What would that do for you?”
3.Forgetting to smile – If someone you wanted to talk to was scowling, would you approach them? Smiling is probably one of the easiest things you can do and requires almost little energy.
4.Lack of enthusiasm – A lack of enthusiasm creates a very dull conversation. Your clients want to deal with someone who is upbeat and excited about working with them.
5.Lack of energy – Just like enthusiasm, energy is contagious; it can lead to a fun and exciting conversation. Energy sells!
Moving Into the Sale:
1.Not listening – It shows disrespect to your clients and almost instantly prevents you from establishing rapport.
2.Failing to hear the customer’s “Wants” and Needs” – If you don’t pay close enough attention to your customer’s wants and needs, you might have lost the information vital to close the deal.
3.Knocking the competition – Talking negatively about your competition really ends up making you look bad and disrespectful. It’s simply not professional and very childish.
4.Admitting failure too easily –Never Give Up!.
5.Inviting bargaining on price too soon – Have you ever discounted the price of something without anyone suggesting it in the first place? Why? Doing this shows weak sales and communication.
Meeting Objections:
1.Insulting the customer’s intelligence – This almost instantly takes away any rapport you have established with the prospect.
2.Inability to answer technical questions – You may have one fantastic presentation, but if you lack the answers to technical questions, you will lose your credibility. Learn how to present the numbers.
3.Getting too technical – Real Estate is filled with “jargon” which many prospects either don’t know about or don’t care about. Boring your clients with “jargon” or assuming they understand it is a turn off and a rapport killer.
4.Lying – “Always tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to remember what you said.” – Mark Twain
5.Losing patience – Sometimes people take a bit longer than you would expect to make a decision. Buying or selling is a major life event, be patient, yet persistent.
Follow up
1.Not following-up enough – 70% of all sales happen during lead follow up. How many deals have you lost by not following up?
2.Not calling back with information requested in a timely manner – You’re making several thousands of dollars off every transaction, each client needs to be treated with the highest amount of respect.
3.Over promising and under delivering – This will kill your business
Could you benefit from working on any of the skills discussed above? Perhaps you might have lost some deals due to any of the “reasons” above… How much is your average commission check? Multiply that amount by the number of deals you lost this year. How much is that? What if you had that money in your pocket right now? How would having that money now make your life a little less stressful?
What steps will you take today to stop losing money and take action?
The first step for San Antonio agents is calling CENTURY 21 UNITED-NORTHSIDE,
210-979-6700. We can help you learn and enhance the skills it takes to succeed.
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