Salesmanship – Quiz Yourself, “Did You Ask the Right Questions?”

The best real estate agents are like financial advisors. They must gather all the pertinent information and then advise their clients by sharing that information to help them manage risks. Unfortunately, most agents never get around to gathering all the facts. Subsequently, the recommendations made can be inaccurate. An agent that allows a 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.

How can you avoid giving poor advice to your clients? Consider the following:

1. You must have a deep understanding of market conditions, especially in the specific area or neighborhood.
2. 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 accurate.

1. Their family?
2. Their occupation?
3. What they like to do when they’re not working?
4. Their financial situation?
5. Their plans for the future?
6. Their price range?
7. Their down payment?
8. Their credit history?
9. Their real estate holdings?
10. Their pre-approval for financing?
11. If anyone else will be involved in the purchase?
12. How long they’ve lived at their current address?
13. How long they want to keep the home?
14. What they like or don’t like about their home?
15. Why they want to buy a home?
16. Why they purchased their previous home?
17. What they like or don’t like about the area?
18. Who will be living in or visiting the home?
19. What it would mean if they were to buy today?
20. Would they make a decision immediately, if they found the right property?
21. Are there any special circumstances involved?
22. Do they plan on using money from the sale of an existing property or other asset?
23. Have they seen any homes or neighborhoods they really like, and why they like them?
24. When they last worked with another agent?
25. How long they have been looking?
26. What made them decide to contact you?
27. What they know about you?
28. What they didn’t like about homes or neighborhoods they visited?
29. How they perceive your Company?

 

If you don’t know the answer to all the above questions, you run the risk of not only giving bad advice that could harm your reputation, but you could also run the risk of wasting a great deal of time on low priority buyers. 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 your homework and knowing everything about your clients.