Succeeding in real estate comes down to skillful communication—scripts that are not only well thought-out, but also delivered thoughtfully. RISMedia’s recent ACE webinar, “What to Say and When to Say It: Scripts and Dialogues of Successful Agents,” sponsored by Homes.com and OutboundEngine and featuring Sara Guldi of The Guldi Group, Keller Williams, Mark Seiden of the Mark Seiden Real Estate Team, and Julie Timms of Hilton Head Island Real Estate Brokers, as well as moderator Verl Workman of Workman Success Systems, revealed a sizeable sampling of successful scripts from agents who practice and apply them every day.
We’ve rounded up some of the scripting tips shared in the webinar below. Wondering when the Pop Tarts come in? Read on!
Answer questions…with questions. Respond to every question that comes up in your listing presentations with a question. Questions not only turn the conversation back over to the potential client, but also give you control over the outcome of the appointment.
Seiden’s go-to question, which he uses to handle objections, is: “Do you think your home will sell for the same price no matter which agent you select?”
“It usually gets them to completely re-think everything, because they’ve never really thought about it,” said Seiden. “Great scripting always, without exception, ends with a question, never a statement.”
Check your “commission breath.” “Commission breath,” as Timms called it, is a no-no when approaching prospective clients. “You can smell it a mile off that somebody doesn’t care about you and just wants to get a commission,” said Timms. Don’t be that person!
“People won’t care what you know until they know that you care,” Timms said. “Look for the green flags, not the red flags. Make sure you’re listening to them and helping them as you would want to help a family member.”
Body language is key to conveying that sense of care, said Timms. She offered a tip: silently say to yourself “I love you,” which “softens your eyes, softens your tone.”
Isolate objections. Objections generally have nothing to do with you and everything to do with the client. True to Seiden’s mantra to answer questions with questions, Guldi responds to objections by asking, “Other than that concern, is there any other reason why you wouldn’t want to sign this agreement?”
“Isolate the objection,” said Guldi. “Take it out of the equation. Remind them that they can back out any time if they are no longer happy with your services—you know you’re going to wow them.”
Keep the Pop Tarts in the toaster. “How many times have you been burned by being a ‘pop tart’ agent?” asked Guldi, referring to the agents who immediately respond to requests for showings without taking the time to acquaint themselves—and, worse, sign a buyer agreement—with potential clients.
“Always meet the prospective buyers in the office,” Guldi said. “Set expectations, do a wants and need analysis…it’s important to understand what it is they’re looking for.”
Play the “stealth inventory” card. Expireds and FSBOs can be a dead-end with the wrong script. The “stealth inventory” approach, which Timms uses, is one way to win those listings.
The conversation goes a little something like this:
“Hi, is this Bill?” (“Always use their name,” Timms said.) “Hi, this is Julie, I’m a real estate agent, and I’m calling to see if your house is still on the market…”
“Yes—but we don’t want to work with an agent.”
“That’s fine! We’re actually looking for the stealth inventory out there.”
“Stealth inventory? What’s that?”
“Those houses that fly under the radar, like a stealth fighter bomber—nobody can see them in the MLS, even though they’re still available for sale. We want to make sure that the buyer clients we have know about everything available on the market.”
“It tends to work because it makes people think,” Timms said.
Scripts, ultimately, are one of the most important tools in your arsenal. Refine them, and you open yourself and your real estate business up to opportunities that may have been closed off by ineffective dialogue. Use these tips to start!
Learn more from the webinar, including how to “keep scripts at your tips,” the “Doctor/Lawyer” script and the “LP Mama” script, below.
This was originally published on RISMedia’s blog, Housecall. Visit the blog daily for housing and real estate tips and trends.
