An agent who works with me fired a client yesterday. She had been working with these folks since 2008 and had shown them property a couple of times whenever they were in town. That is two years! Congrats to my agent for staying in touch for so long. She deserves a round of applause just for that.
My agent had built a nice relationship with the husband and wife buyers. They happened to be in town this week and wanted to see some property. However, they were not specific on what homes they wanted to see. Their situation had also changed. They now needed to sell their home prior to buying and their home was not currently on the market. My agent and the wife were on the phone a couple of days ago and that is evidently when the big bruhaha started.The conversation went something like this:
Client - "We would like to see some homes this afternoon" (was very short notice I might add)
Realtor - "Ok. great. Did you sell your home up north?"
Client - "No"
Realtor - "Don't you need to sell your home before purchasing?"
Client - "Why does that matter?"
I was not part of the conversation but that was how part of it was described to me.
When the client responded, "why does that matter?" it shows that they either have little respect for the Realtors time and/or need to be educated a little in the home buying process and how a professional Realtor works.
Also in the conversation the buyers mentioned that they would be ready to buy next summer yet needed to look at property today. Next summer? Yet, they NEED to see homes today? I don't know about you but if you have too many clients like this you are sure to burn out.
I have been selling real estate in Sarasota for about 10 years. I have done my fair share of playing tour guide. Sometimes you just cannot avoid it and sometimes it is necessary to get the sale. I played tour guide to people who eventually bought down the road. You cannot put every buyer into one box or system. They buy at their own pace. Sometimes people only need to see less than 5 homes to make a purchase while others require 35.
Playing tour guide is part of being a Realtor. You cannot always get around it. Here are some tips to weed out time wasters and minimize the number of times you put on your Tour Guide hat:
1) When you are taking on a new client you need to pre-qualify them with plenty of questions. Not only does the information help you determine how to handle the prospect but it also lets the prospect know that you mean business. You are a professional and your time is valuable. By asking questions and taking a professional approach it creates the aura that this is not just a hobby.
2) "When are you looking to make a purchase?" - why not just be direct? Ask them when they plan to buy. Again, this lets the prospect know that the end result is a successful purchase and sale.
3) "Have you been to Sarasota before?" - This is a good question. Would you rather work with a person who has been vacationing or visiting in your area for many years or someone who has never been there? When someone tells me that they have never been to Sarasota I know they are going to need more educating.
4) "Is this trip exploratory or are you prepared to buy?" - Since I am in Florida I get a lot of people who call me up wanting to see property while they are on vacation. Do you really need to show someone 15 properties that is on an exploratory trip? I don't think so.
5) "Have you been pre-approved for a mortgage or do you intend on paying cash?" - If someone has gone through or is willing to go through the mortgage pre-qualification or pre-approval process then you know they mean business. That is a good sign.
6) "Would you like to speak to one of my lenders?" If their response is "well....I really don't want to jump through a bunch of hoops just yet" then you know that they are probably not ready to buy. However, that does not make them a bad lead. You need a little finesse here. I had 2 sales this year because the prospect was turned off by their previous Realtor who insisted on seeing a pre-qualification letter before showing them property. The funny thing is both clients paid cash.
These are just a few of the ways to eliminate the time wasters. How do you prevent from putting on the tour guide hat?
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