In an expansion market buyers have to act. Every three months they wait for properties to rapidly increase in price, whereas in a contractionary market, every three months a seller remains, their sale price declines.
In a slow-growth market, neither the buyer or the seller are compelled to act financially.
To win, you have to be an agent for all markets.
The secrets to pipeline progression lay in a simple three-part formula. The client has to have a problem, a timeline and a destination.
PROBLEM
There are 11 different reasons for moving:
– Deceased estate
– Divorce
– Nursing home
– Job relocation
– Bankruptcy
– Investor
– Developer
– Tree/sea change
– Downsizing
– Aspirational
– Growing family
Ask your client “What’s the reason for the move?” If they block with a vague answer, try one more time with “why’s that?”
If you know the problem type, then you know what to do next. Each one brings with it a specific set of jobs.
A deceased estate customer has the following problems:
– Have they been an executor before?
– Are there any beneficiaries?
– Does anyone in the family wish to buy the home?
– Is there sentimental value?
How do they determine the value of the asset?
– Is it based on market price or what the beneficiaries each need to be motivated to sell?
– Does everyone get along?
– Has probate been granted?
– Does the family live locally or do they need someone to look after the home during the sales process?
TIMELINE
Never nominate a timeline, test the client first.
Ask them “When did you need to do something by? Did you need to be in before or after Christmas?”
This forces the client to commit. The problem type will drive the timeline. For example, job relocations are specific, whereas downsizing is financially motivated to maximise the value of the asset base.
DESTINATION
People need clarity on what vision is, on what success looks like and on the problem solved.
Ask buyers “What locations are you considering? How much would you like to spend?”
When a buyer walks through an open and says “this isn’t it, but when I see it I’ll know”, what they are saying is that they are unclear on their vision.
Book some private appointments and show them three homes. That’s a buyer who is unhappy and wants to be sold.
To progress your pipeline, review your hit list and write out potential clients’ problems, timelines and destinations.
What has sold? Are there new listings? What’s in the media? Is there anything you should be talking to them about that would motivate them to transact sooner?
To drive buyer urgency, you need a specific set of criteria to move buyers to your buyer hit list. I look for triggers that move the client and show genuine motivation.
If they have booked a private appointment, are coming back for a second appointment, have made an offer or registered to bid, attended an auction, bid at an auction, need to buy by a specific date or have already sold, then they make it to my buyer hit list.
Understanding buyer urgency changes how you negotiate. We call it negotiation leverage.
The more you know about why the client is buying, the more you can apply your negotiation tools. The digital world is also changing the way agents play the game.
The goal is to subscribe buyers to receive your buyer alerts. Then you can measure if they open emails, watch videos, forward properties to friends, research recent sales or competing homes.
Digital amplification tools then allow you to generate automated call lists according to who is the most likely to move into an ‘offline world’ transaction.
Those who master markets drive their offline activities, like market appraisals and buyer and listing appointments.
Combine that with the right online systems, and you’ll have a pipeline that produces year after year.
The best thing you can do to drive your business is to schedule a 20-minute meeting each week where you review your buyer and seller hit lists.
Remember, if you don’t know them, then they don’t know you. The easiest way to progress a client is meet them face-to-face. And that’s the critical skill. The ability to qualify, to know what to do next, and how to approach each customer and drive their urgency.
