By Debbie Hanlon
Along with the techniques and real estate systems I developed, the other skill that helped me become No. 1 in Canada was the ability to negotiate. Negotiating on behalf of a client, after all, is the most important skill we bring to the table in a real estate transaction.
Anyone with minimal training can fill out forms, although the error-filled paperwork we sometimes receive from other agents can make us wonder if that’s true. Anyone can stick a sign on the lawn and whether or not it’s perfectly straight won’t impact the price. Anyone with basic software can do an ad for the house and send it off to the paper. And pretty much anyone can walk people through a house and point out the great things it offers.
Negotiating is where we earn our money. That is the skill our clients are paying us for, so that should be our greatest strength.
Now, read any book on negotiating (and I highly recommend you read all you can find) or talk to anyone with experience in that field and the first thing that comes across is the importance of always negotiating from a position of power. It’s the old “never let them see you sweat” mantra transferred to a real estate transaction. Always negotiate from a position of power. It’s one of those statements that sounds bullet proof, but what exactly does it mean, and more importantly, how do you get to that position of power to start with?
To answer that, all we have to do is flip the old adage, “knowledge is power” to “power is knowledge and the more knowledge you have the more powerful your position will be.” It really is that simple.
Whenever I listed a house I immediately did research on it and the area it was in. Before I talked to anyone I found out what the market trends were in that particular area, if anything was looming on the horizon that would impact the house’s value and any other details I could dig up. This is all a part of my post-listing system so I wasn’t reinventing the wheel every time.
If you take the short time to do your research, you will uncover what I like to call negotiating nuggets. What’s the population movement in the area? Are older people moving in or younger families? Is there any development, commercial or otherwise, planned near there? Find out anything and everything you can and you will enter into negotiations well armed and ready to counter any argument that might arise. You’ll also impress your client and put them in the position of getting the most money for their property. If you do that, you’ve done your job as a real estate agent.
After power, the second P of successful negotiating is “pause”. What that means is simply this: when you begin negotiating, just sit back and pause.
Let the other person talk. The more they talk the more information you get and the more information you have, the more of a power position you establish. So ask questions and say very little in the first round of negotiations and you’ll come back even stronger in the second round.
Another P of successful negotiating is “professional”. Always remember that you are a professional and conduct yourself accordingly. That’s sometimes not as easy as it sounds because obviously there are personalities involved. You’ll often be dealing with people from the industry that you know and some agents will take things way too personally. You do not want to be one of them. Negotiating is not a battle of wills between two people; it’s the conducting of a business transaction between two parties.
There’s much, much more to power negotiating, but the remainder is another story for another day. For now keep these three simple and effective techniques in mind and you’ll do just fine in negotiations as long as you watch your Ps and Qs.
Debbie Hanlon is the president and founder of Hanlon Realty. She is a three-time top 50 CEO winner and was named one of the top 100 female entrepreneurs in Canada. She is currently an elected city official in St. John’s, Nfld. and is available for motivational and training seminars. Email [email protected].
Debbie Hanlon wears many hats (and sometimes a cape)! She is the award-winning Realtor, owner, broker and creative driving force at Debbie Hanlon Real Estate, based in St. John’s, NL. Debbie is also a very active city councillor, keynote speaker, published author and children’s entertainer. In her spare time she is completing an MBA and enjoying an active, happy life with family and friends at home in historic St. John’s. Contact her by email.
