When sellers ask what you think their home is worth, they are asking for your opinion. They intend to compare your opinion against theirs and/or their neighbours’ and/or one or more other agents, including their uncle who once sold real estate before he retired to Price Edward Island.
Giving your opinion may work occasionally but is usually a deadly trap.
When asked for your opinion on price, say this: “What I think you home is worth has no merit whatsoever. The only thing that counts is what people are willing to pay for this kind of home, in this area, at this time.”
By discounting your own opinion, you discount theirs and their neighbours and any agents hoping to “buy” the listing by suggesting an inflated price – and the retired uncle in P.E.I.
Keep this in mind: facts have merit; opinions don’t. Your opinion has no merit; your experience does. Your experience is that people have been willing to pay, say $250,000 and $252,000 and $248,000 for similar homes in this area at this time. Focus on those facts!
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Bad grammar – a costly habit: Many of us were raised in an environment where members of our families, friends and neighbours used bad grammar and to us, it sounds normal. “Me and my friend went to the movies” may sound correct, but it is not. Test: you wouldn’t say “Me went to the movies.” Therefore, it’s “My friend and I went to the movies.”
Another frequent faux pas is mixing who and that. “I met a man that said…” is wrong. The grammar rule is, people are “who” and things are “that”. Therefore, “I met a man who said …”
Big deal, you say? Many prospective clients, either sellers or buyers, will not notice bad grammar. Others will notice and let it slide, but others will elect not to do business with you because they prefer someone more educated.
If you lose just one big listing or sale due to a deep-seated habit of bad grammar, and that transaction is worth a $10,000 commission, you just lost $10,000 (plus potential referrals or repeat business) for saying “Me and my friend …”, or “I met a man that said …”
Ask someone you spend time with who has better grammar to alert you when you say something incorrectly. Work on replacing the old bad habit with a new good one.
Emotionally charged logic: Some of us make complete listing presentations yet still fail the get the listing. Sometimes it’s because we are factually correct but overlook one important reality: People approach decision-making logically, make most decisions emotionally, and then justify them logically. How many times have you heard someone justify a recent decision – even a bad one – by saying, “It just felt right at the time.”
What you say can be totally logical. How you say it can give it the “emotional charge” needed to get people to say ‘Okay, I will list.”
Jerry Bresser has been training and coaching real estate agents how to sell homes faster and for more money for over 35 years. He recently published his second book, More Money in Your Pocket. www.jerrybresser.com or for information about the book, www.moremoneyinyourpocket.biz.
