You should know any property you show to a potential buyer as well as if you were buying it for yourself. Forget about your commission and keep your buyer’s interests front and center.
Step 1: Preview prior to the showing
You need to preview the properties before taking your client to see them. You will learn more about what you are showing and hopefully not be surprised by anything that pops up or questions the buyers ask.
This preview will reaffirm your buyer’s faith in your knowledge because you will be able to find the property quickly, and you’ll know where to park, find the lockbox, enter and walk them through without getting lost inside.
Step 2: Buyer showing and reactions
As you walk your buyer through the property, they will look, open and measure with their eyes. You need to gauge their reactions to develop a better sense of their ideal property, what gets them excited and what turns them off about any features of the particular property. This feedback will help you through all future showings and negotiations — if the situation calls for it.
Step 3: The buyer negotiations
Once your buyer has selected a property to their liking and is ready to have you present an offer, you should conduct meetings with the seller and their representative face to face. You will find that the negotiation process will come to a quicker conclusion in a meeting with them rather than if you negotiated through email throughout this part of the process.
You should always know what stage the deal is in, and be prepared to update your client regularly on things that aren’t necessarily your responsibility. These update topics might include mortgage brokers, home inspections, lawyers, moving companies and other professional services that happen with transaction completion.
Exceeding your buyer’s expectations
It’s easy to do the bare minimum and still bring a deal to the closing table. A lot of real estate agents do just that.
But you want your buyer to remember the great customer service you provided; you want them to be able to share their experience with their circle of influence; and you want them to refer future business your way — the bare minimum will not suffice.
You have to show them your professionalism, knowledge and dedication to their interests as a central part of the process every step of the way.
Only when a buyer has a positive experience that is above and beyond their expectations can you expect them to refer business to you happily.
James Hussaini is the founder and president of Realty Point.
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