Don’t Waste Time With Buyers
If you are going to spend time with buyers, you must qualify them well before you decide to give them a piece of your life. Time is the most valuable resource you have. Once you waste it on an uncommitted, unrealistic buyer, you can’t get it back.
The market has been so hot that agents are getting frustrated constantly losing out in bidding wars. As much as I recommend you work mostly with sellers, I realize you will also work with buyers so I want to give you some strategies to ensure you don’t waste time.
These strategies are not theory based; they are sound, battle-tested practices that work. Agents can sometimes challenge me on using these strategies (often because they are fear losing their buyers if they do). They would rather work with uncommitted buyers than risk losing them, because they have no other clients at the moment. They are working from a position of scarcity. My answer is: “Yes, you might lose some buyers my way, but my way is quicker. If you are going to lose them by Friday, let’s lose them by Monday, so you can spend the rest of the week prospecting for serious clients.” Even if you were to sell one of your uncommitted buyers a house, the time it would take versus the money you would make would not be worth the effort. As they say in Florida “The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.”
How do we find ourselves tangled up with these types of buyers in the first place?
- When we don’t have any clients, we lower our standards, and we’ll work with anyone. Often in an agent’s mind, a bad client is better than no client.
- We trick ourselves into working with them because we prefer to do the busy work of researching properties than doing the hard work of prospecting for new clients.
- We seduce ourselves into these situations by focusing on the potential outcome, instead of searching for clients who can give us a guaranteed result.
- When agents meet a new prospect, they don’t qualify them. They are afraid if they investigate and ask the tough questions, they will offend the potential buyer, so they take them at face value.
Often agents see their job as driving people around and opening doors. The reality of it is, it is driving the RIGHT people around and opening the RIGHT doors, so they get the RIGHT results.
How do you only work with the RIGHT buyers?
PROSPECT: You must continually generate new opportunities to keep your pipeline full. When you generate a lot of leads, you’ll qualify harder. You let the suspects go and focus your time on serious buyers. When your pipeline is full, you pick and choose your clients. When your pipeline is empty, you’ll take anyone.
INITIAL MEETING: If a client is not willing to meet with you for a buyer consultation appointment it means they are not committed to making buying a house a priority. If they ARE willing to meet you and provide their financial documents to get pre-qualified, I would consider it a serious opportunity. Now you just have to qualify if they are emotionally ready to move.
TIME COMMITMENT: Will they book appointments to go out and look at houses? If they just want you to notify them of listings by email without booking time to view them, it should send up a red flag.
WILL THEY GET PRE-QUALIFIED: Will they take a few minutes to meet with your mortgage rep to get pre-approved for their financing? If not, it should send up red flags. If they do, you can now confidently narrow your search based on what they can realistically afford.
SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS: Educate the prospect on the home-buying process, current market conditions, your services and your availability. This is designed to build a case for an exclusive relationship at your set fee. If a prospect is not willing to sit and listen to you, they will never understand your value.
WILL THEY SIGN A BRA? At the end of your buyer consultation appointment, the natural conclusion of a great presentation is a committed relationship. If they are not willing to commit to you (in writing), then move them to your B-list. See them for what they are: an opportunity, not a client.
ARE THEY READY TO BUY? The most important question you can ask is “If they saw the right house today, are they ready to buy today?”
Review your Buyer Consultation presentation, customize it, and practice it with a colleague. Meet with your preferred mortgage rep this week and ask them for a checklist of required documents that potential buyers must submit to get pre-approved.
Spend your time wisely. Every hour you give to an uncommitted buyer is one you can never get back.
Chris Leader
President
Leader’s Edge Training