I often see agents struggle with clients, so I have put together some tips to help agents communicate better with their clients, present better and do better business!
Here are my top 5 communication strategies for real estate agents:
1. Perfect Your Dress & Style To Impress Clients
Dressing well doesn’t mean you need a thousand-dollar suit or a fancy car to succeed in real estate. A good salesperson can sell anything, anywhere, at any time without showing off before you have made it.
Fancy suits and cars are a bonus, a personal reward for actual results and achievement.
The most important thing for a real estate agent is dressing to the norm.
What does that mean?
For example, I’ve seen agents wearing wild and distracting earrings or a baggy loose shirt and jeans. These fashion statements and styles are not typical or normal in real estate.
Agents who do not conform to professional business attire (which is tried & tested!) or what is typically expected of a real estate agent are risking their ability to do the most amount of business, or any business at all!
If you want to look casual, sometimes like your clients, it’s an error.
You want to be visible and easy to identify as an agent- and a professional well put together agent.
I had a young man at a workshop ask me why he should get rid of his earrings, and his father was also there. I could tell everyone was interested in what I was going to say in response!
It is one of those moments. I know the community, in general, will look at those earrings and focus on that instead of you.
It is a distraction.
Clients will judge and weigh up very quickly what they want. There is no room to waste, risking their property sale.
I cannot see your value in doing that because working in real estate is mainly about the client, not you. What you say and do is more important, but a visual assessment is quick and final.
It may be acceptable if you have a relationship with the community, but it may take twice as long for people to warm up to you.
Poor dress can and will harm your chances rather than promote a focus on the subject at hand, which is the client.
Do you want to do business? Are we here on the job to do business?
Of course!
Wear whatever you like in your own time and with friends.
Forget the one client in a thousand who will think your new look is cool.
Unless you’re a well-known celebrity and that’s your iconic look, forget it.
The world says you have to accept my diversity. Yes, they will, and you will not get as much business, and that’s the important part.
2. Use the FORM Method To Keep Clients Engaged
If you’re struggling to make conversation, something helpful for property managers and sales is to remember the FORM method in making small talk and creating conversation if you are starting out or struggling for words.
People love to talk about themselves, and I’m sure you’ve heard that before.
So what are some things you can ask and talk to clients about?
In no particular order:
- Family/Friends – talking about their family and friends
- Occupation – talking about their work
- Recreation – talk about their hobbies
- Motivation – talk about what motivates them and their dreams
Step 3: Listen To The Client
It’s good to keep the conversation moving, but don’t forget to listen!
Agents often talk about topics that are of no interest to the client, such as how busy they are.
Agents flex all their industry knowledge when the clients are not interested in this information because they have unanswered questions, usually about a particular process or the property itself.
When building relationships with clients, I must be logical and easy to understand.
I must relax and listen; I must pause and respect the timing of your close-to-match, overcoming all the objections first and answering all the questions the client has.
Closing too early is like pulling the roast from the oven before it’s cooked.
As I said, don’t use real estate jargon to make yourself look good! Do not be shy to ask for business.
The agent also needs to hear what the client desires and their vision. Know their name and pronounce it correctly. Even if their name is hard to pronounce, they should make a visible effort to get it right.
The agent will turn their mobile off in front of them to demonstrate their focus and how important the client is to them.
Two people can talk, and nothing is connecting. It is like two separate conversations that do not gel. You must connect and gain an understanding, that is the key to moving forward to building trust, and you are on your way to earning the right to the client’s business.
Client’s reward effort, passion, desire and ability for sure. Acknowledging the client’s needs, wants and desires are crucial.
4. Answer Client Questions with Honesty and Integrity
Remember that your job as the agent is to find and bring out these questions from your client.
Answer those questions honestly, with a reasonable mix of facts to support your opinions.
Remove buzzwords, acronyms and avoid scripts if possible.
Teach yourself through a loss for what you can do better next time.
You should also be learning to build the capacity to handle what happens outside the norms. You may be delivering a well-oiled speech to a client, and then you are interrupted: someone asks questions, one person disagrees with you or the vendor wants to know more about something else.
Knowing how to handle objections is key to winning listings and getting back to the task at hand.
How you handle the situation is the key to winning more than you lose. Trust yourself.
5. Make Use Of Body Language
Lastly, remember there is unspoken communication to consider.
- Don’t cross your arms or turn away from the client. These are negative.
- Always remove your shoes before going inside, or at least offer- and don’t park in the driveway or on the owner’s lawn or next doors lawn.
- Mirroring is always an excellent way to create rapport with clients. Reflect and copy clients in where you are facing your body.
Reading body language can be a way to tell if the client is interested or not.
When showing the client something like a proposal, the client may lean forward in their chair or at the table, which shows interest or engagement, so you should do the same.
Get rid of nervous energy and replace it with focused energy, mind and body on the client and what they are saying to you.
This doesn’t always need to be a conscious effort on your part. Usually, we do these things unconsciously!
So good luck, keep a positive mind, you’ve got this!
See you in the next one 🙂
