Claudio Encina: Pivot, position, profit

Are you being fear-focused, unfocused or strategy-focused now that we’re in a much quieter real estate cycle?

Over the past week, I’ve talked to agents and principals to unpack their psychology, plans, and current experiences.

Most agents are experiencing some form of downturn with fewer buyers and vendors unwilling to meet the market in the face of a rising interest rate cycle, the likes of which haven’t been seen in 12 years.

I know from my 27 years in the industry that leadership equals sales.

Many sellers, when facing uncertainty, look for people like you to make them feel safe and create a level of certainty.

But if and how you do that depends on where you sit in the marketplace.

I have identified three types of agents:

The fear-focused agent/principal. This group is the most emotional, most concerned and most overwhelmed.
The unfocused agent/principal. This group is the most uncertain of the three. They don’t know what to do and are playing wait-and-see.
The strategy-focused agent/principal. This group is the most focused, adept at making the best of its hand and is still zeroed in on growth and opportunity.

So, how does this all break down?

Fear-focused

They’re consuming five times more media than the strategy-focused agent or principal.
They’re worried about the market and scared about interest rates rising and how that will impact their business.
They use the phrases “no buyers” or “interest rates” more than strategy-focused agents or principals.
They use negative future pacing words such as struggle, fear, hard or difficult.

Unfocused

They’re consuming 3.5 times more media than the strategy-focused agent or principal.
They don’t have a plan.
They want things to change and get on with it.
They hope more buyers will enter the market.
They avoid giving their vendors negative news.

Strategy-focused

They stay informed of interest rate changes but are not consumed by them.
They understand they can only control certain things.
They adapt their mindset from ‘victim of the market’ to ‘market leader’ and from ‘scared’ to ‘seizing opportunity’.
They’re four times more likely to have already made changes to their business.
They use the words ‘action’ or ‘opportunity’.
They can provide solutions to their sellers because that’s what they paid to do.
They challenge their clients’ thinking.
They use quality questions and frameworks to create influence and persuasion.
They have moved from having ‘transactional value conversations’ to ‘relational value conversations’.
They are developing systems to produce predictable results in their business.

We are in unique times right now, and what was common knowledge with buyer work and vendor management has become common practice.

So, how are you pivoting when buyers and vendors are challenging?

Ensure you don’t lose control of the process after you list property.

Doing call-backs the same old way won’t have the same cut-through. You need to humanise the call rather than jump into a script.

One way you can use the relational value approach during open homes is to look for ways to compliment someone in the call-back. It could be the bridge to connect with someone.

Also, beware of using tired dialogue. Instead of asking for feedback on the property, ask them what attracted them to the home or what they’d rate it out of 10.

If it scores a seven, ask what they think could be done to make it an eight or higher?

You can choose to have a more profound or shallow conversation when doing call-backs.