10 Tips for an Effective Buyer Counseling Session
Buyers are Liars.
Nope. It’s just a sad little expression someone made up after they lost one too many sales and got their feelings hurt. It’s unprofessional, unbecoming, and just plain untrue. It’s also a denial of responsibility that positions the Buyer’s Agent and their future buyers to fail again and again.
On the other hand, an effective buyer consultation positions the buyer and the Buyer’s Agent for success. Buyer consultations save us time, provide for better service, help us stay safe, and give us the opportunity to build value and loyalty while qualifying potential buyers to see how we can help them. Follow through and watch your repeat and referral business grow.
The first step is committing to the goal of setting up the consultation on first contact. If you’re meeting in person, do it in a public place such as your office or a Starbucks. Meeting a stranger at a listing is dangerous. Stop it.
So what’s in it for the buyer who simply wants someone to open a door for them?
The 2015 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reveals the benefit buyers most often cite when working with a real estate agent is they “helped understand the home purchase process.” This market intel is a cue for Buyer’s Agents to provide a valuable and in-demand service at the start of the relationship by explaining the home buying process and making it easier on the buyer.
You can explain the home buying process by shooting from the hip, or you can do it on purpose during the buyer consultation by asking questions using an intake sheet, using visuals and sample forms, answering questions, and talking about how real estate works.
Create deliberate steps to your buyer consultation in order to better understand and qualify buyers, build trust, demonstrate your value and expertise, comply with regulatory requirements such as agency disclosure, and decide if you want to work together.
If saving time, staying safe, and providing better service sound good to you, here are just some topics to consider for your buyer consultation:
- Explain fiduciary duties, how they benefit the client, and make agency disclosure
- Learn the buyer’s D.N.A (Desires. Needs. Ability.)
- Discuss financing, pre-qualifying, working with lenders, critical dates, proof of funds
- Set expectations and boundaries (what you do and don’t do)
- Explain market conditions
- Discuss finding the right home, search tools, MLS, showings, open houses
- Review contract and forms, provide samples
- Prepare for the negotiation process
- Explain how home values are established
- Secure Buyer Broker Agreement
Register NOW for Evan’s webinar Smart Start: 10 Points For An Effective Buyer Counseling Session from 12 to 1 p.m. MST on February 17, 2016.
Tags: buyer counseling, consultation