Sorting To Find The Diamond Prospects!

In today's real estate market, there are sellers, who...

...can't sell, because they owe more than their property is worth,

...just want to use you for CMA information and then sell their property 'by owner',

...have a relative or friend "in the business", but they use you to gain insight to help 'them' list their property,

...interview many agents to see who will take the least amount of commission.

If one of these scenarios hasn't happened to you recently, you're not meeting enough sellers.

The reality today is that you really need to protect your valuable time for only those consumers, who you really expect to have a good chance of working with and not just pump you for information.

How do you do that?

Well, before you spend a couple of preparing a CMA and even running over to their property, it's important to ask a series of questions that will help you determine if you want to pursue this opportunity.

Remember, as a professional, you need to find out who's worthy of your time. Sellers often think they're the ones who decide if you get the job of representing them, but you should be 'interviewing' them as well to see if they meet your standards.

When a prospect contacts you, you need to let them know that prior to coming out, you need to ask them a series of questions to better help you understand their situation and see if think you'll be able to help them.

Do you really want to spend a couple of hours preparing a presentation for a seller, who just wants to know what their property is worth to see if they can re-finance?

Now, there's nothing wrong with that, if you find out upfront that that's what they want from you. Then you won't waste all of your valuable time.

Now, I always set a time over the phone to be able to ask my questions. Sometimes I can do it right then, while other times we arrange another time that works for both of us.

Here are some of the questions that I ask on the phone call: (you may have others & I'd love to hear them)

• Do you NEED to sell or do you just WANT to try to sell right now?
• Where are you moving to? When do you have to be there?
• What do you like best about your home?
• What improvement/major repairs have you made in past few years?
• How would you rate the overall condition of your home?
• Do you have any mortgages on your home? If yes, what are approximate balances?
• Are you familiar with recent home sales in your neighborhood?
• Where do you estimate your home's value to be? Not sure? Where would you guess?
• Which is more important to you: the highest price possible or a quick sale?
• If you didn't get your price, how would that affect your selling plans?
• What's your biggest concern about the home-selling process? (LISTEN!)
• What originally attracted you to buy your home?
• Have you thought about selling by yourself? (You know they have!)
• What are the most important qualities you're looking for in a real estate professional?
• Are you interviewing any other agents besides me?
• With your permission, I'd like to be the last agent you talk to. When's your last appt scheduled for?

Thanks for taking your time to answer my questions. Your answers will help me formulated a customized marketing strategy that best meets your needs.

By the way, I'll be emailing you some very imprtant information that we'll be reviewing at my appt. Please take time to go through it before we meet.


Now, with questions like those above, you'll get a pretty good idea about what the seller's motivation is, needs are and if you want to take the time to prepare a CMA and presentation.

If you currently use other questions, I'd love to hear them. What's working for you?

It's time to take control. Don't let others waste your time!

And one final point, don't tell me "I can't do a canned presentation." That's baloney! A well-rehearsed presentation won't sound 'canned'. The highest-paid professionals in all fields practice and rehearse their 'presentations'. You'll be having a dialogue with the seller, not a monologue. Let the seller answer questions and then if you need to go deeper with finding out more, you'll be able to.

This strategy takes practice, but once mastered, you'll be in the driver's seat and you'll actually end up helping the seller determine what's the best thing to do for their situation...whatever that is.

Keep me posted on how it works for you. I'd love to hear your results!