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In an era of newly high mortgage rates and still-high prices, real estate agents run into buyer objections left and right.
How effectively they respond comes down to listening and preparation, Bianca D’Alessio says.
“You have one second to match the energy [of the client] and then to properly respond,” D’Alessio told a room of real estate professionals at the Inman Connect conference in Las Vegas. “The difference between you taking 2 or 3 seconds is the difference between you winning the business, or the person who meets [the client] before or after you.”
D’Alessio, New York broker and founder of Masters Division at Nest Seekers International, joined Aaron West, the owner of The West Experience Real Estate Group at PMZ, on stage to discuss how they prepare their agents for the various common objections that buyers will throw their way.
It can help, D’Alessio said, to frame the conversation in terms of how the agent can help the client make a plan to address their concerns, as opposed to explaining why those concerns aren’t valid. And it’s important to have that conversation as early as possible in the process, she added.
“I want to understand what your goal is,” D’Alessio said of working with conflicted clients. “There is a strategy to every single goal, and there’s 100 different ways that we could get to the end goal. Let’s work together to come up with the plan that makes sense for you, and for how I can best help you.”
West agreed with the importance of being prepared for the most common objections. If an agent is coming up with a response to a buyer concern off the cuff, then they’re more likely to say the wrong thing — and potentially blow the deal, he said.
“I think of objective-handling in this market as more of having a quiver of arrows,” West said. “You can shoot a shotgun, but if you only have one shot and you miss, you’re in trouble. Whereas if you have a quiver of arrows, it’s more of a focused, ‘Aim, ready, shoot,’ target.”
West said his team routinely meets to go over common objections they’re hearing, and game out potential responses. That way members of the team are less likely to be caught flat-footed with a new scenario while the market shifts under their feet.
It couldn’t be more important in the current environment, where buyers have plenty of reason to be antsy about rushing into a purchase. But agents who can navigate those concerns successfully today are likely to set themselves up for the long haul, he believes.
“It’s been 40 years since we’ve been challenged the way that we’re challenged right now,” West said. “And this is the market that, if you survive, your real estate career is — it’s made.”
