2013 Presentations – Do You Know Enough About Your Clients?
The best real estate agents are like financial advisors. They must gather all of the pertinent information and then advise their buyers or sellers by sharing that information to help their clients manage financial and emotional risks. Unfortunately, most agents never get around to gathering all of the facts. Subsequently, the recommendations being made by the agent are questionable. An agent that allows their lack of information to impair their client’s ability to make the best decision is an agent that shouldn’t be giving real estate advice.
You must completely understand your buyers’ and sellers’ personal situations relative to their goals and objections. Listed below are general questions about areas that should always be covered to ensure your recommendations are top shelf. You must ask yourself,
“What do you know about:”
- Their family?
- Their occupation?
- What they like to do when they’re not working?
- Their financial situation?
- Their plans for the future?
- Their price range?
- Their down payment?
- Their credit history?
- Their real estate holdings?
- Whether they’ve been pre-approved for financing?
- Whether anyone else will be involved in the purchase?
- How long they have lived at their previous address?
- How long they want to keep the home?
- What they liked or didn’t like about their previous home?
- Why they want to buy a home?
- Why they purchased their previous home?
- What they liked or didn’t like about their previous neighborhood?
- Why they like or want to move to the area?
- Who will be living in or visiting the home?
- What it would mean if they were to buy today?
- Would they be willing to make a decision immediately if they found the right property?
- Whether there are any contingencies or special circumstances involved in the purchase?
- Whether they plan on using money from the sale of an existing property or other asset?
- If they have seen any homes or neighborhoods they really like, and why they like them?
- When they last worked with another real estate agent?
- How long they’ve been looking?
- What made them decide to contact you?
- What they know about you?
- What they didn’t like about homes, neighborhoods or any other areas they have visited?
- What they know about or how they perceive your Company?
If you don’t know the answer to all of these questions, you run the risk of giving bad advice that could harm your reputation, and you also run the risk of spending a great deal of wasted time on low priority, or unqualified buyers and sellers. In the future, you must recognize that being well-prepared isn’t just doing your homework about the area and listing inventory. It also means doing knowing everything about your clients.