Winning over the client…with honesty

Winning over the client…with honesty
John Buetergerds The Sarasota Suncoast Team at Keller Williams Realty - Sarasota / Lakewood Ranch; http://www.sarasotasuncoasthomes.com

I received a call this week from a rental agent that had a warm buyer referral for me. Great! Referral! Can’t go wrong on this one, thank you very much!

I made the call, spoke with the husband, did some pre-qualification on the phone to be sure they were ready to buy and soon we had an appointment.  However, making the appointment was the easy part; it was the appointment itself that proved to me that basic and repetitive training is something to be thankful for.

When we finally sat down in my office prior to going out to see properties, we spent some time getting to know one another. Soon, I pulled out my trusty little loyalty agreement to let the client know how I would be treating them; Fairly, honestly, with care, etc. and there is a section that all I ask in return is their loyalty. I slid the document over to them and gave them a chance to read it as I stepped out of the room, knowing that at the end of the page, there is a line for them to sign on and agree to be, in essence, fair to me if I am fair with them.

It’s amazing how asking for a signature and a commitment like that helps draw out the truth. When I came back, the husband fessed up and told me he was working with a few agents and he wasn’t ready to sign quite yet. He also said he respected my time and that he didn’t want tome waste mine since he wasn’t ready to buy or commit.

From that moment there was some sort of freedom in the air. We discussed how agents get paid and how we could work together in a way that would be fair to the couple and to me. That little ice-breaker and moment of truth turned out to be the theme of the day.

We toured just a few homes, and by the end of the day he was ready to commit to me, even saying how he thought house hunting has been a painful experience in the past, yet somehow I had made it fun and he and his wife wanted to meet with me again.

 That is a reward that is priceless. I would have never won him over if I hadn’t trained on setting the appointment, offering the agreement, overcoming objections, highlighting the delema he had in having to fire the other agents and how I could help him with that.

Beginning the house hunt in the office rather than at the first property made a huge difference. In fact our ½ hr appointment probably saved them and me days of driving around searching endlessly. We now have a plan and an agreement to work together. As for those other agents, I may have to call them for him to tell them he’s hired another agent!

John Buetergerds The Sarasota Suncoast Team at Keller Williams Realty - Sarasota / Lakewood Ranch; http://www.sarasotasuncoasthomes.com http://www.sarasotasuncoasthomes.com/search/http://www.sarasotasuncoasthomes.com/