1. Establish your position: I would suggest you start every relationship by sitting with the buyers in your office, not in the field. The office sets the tone for professional discussions; use it to your advantage.
2. Prioritize: When you first meet with your buyers, express to them how hard you are going to work to find them a home. Separate yourself from the competition. In fact, let them know you will be spending a good part of your week in search of a home to meet or exceed their expectations. That will position them to be anxious to hear back from you. Be sure you do this and give “along the way” updates as to homes you selected and eliminated. This establishes control.
3. Know your audience: Hit the refresh button and along with your client analyze the features and characteristics of the first home they selected for you to show them. There is so much to be learned on what they anticipated in that home, and then the reality of the actual showing brings out more critical information.
4. Keep things very professional: One of the key ingredients to get to a closing table is not to allow your client relationships to become dominated by “friendship” only; otherwise, they might as well be just looking with a “friend” not a trained real estate professional. I have known agents who have missed out on sales because they became too emotionally involved with their clients to provide a clear path to the closing table.
5. Be transparent: Never show a home without stopping to discuss with your buyers exactly what they liked and did not like about the home. Process of elimination, selection of what is most important and “value” are subjects that have to be out in the open to make true progress in the home search process.
6. Adapt: The buyer will be influenced by family and friends during the home search journey. They may change direction many times but as an agent you must remain flexible and adapt constantly to the changes in price, expectations, towns and other critical criteria. If you fail to adjust, they may be heading on an entirely different “search” then what you first determined. When you call and they tell you they “found a house” with another Realtor, you know you lost the trail.
By Richard Ardia