If You Don't Ask, You Won't Know

If You Don't Ask, You Won't Know.

One of the latest Crowdsourcing Challenges is about Scripts and Dialogues. When I was new to real estate I remember having the script cards and the written responses. We agents practiced with one another trying to trip each other up. I practiced until I didn't need the cards and began putting it in my own words so it sounded like me.

Today, I don't have any script cards but I do follow the same basic series of questions that I've developed over the years with each and every buyer or seller. The secret to scripts or dialogues is to make them sound like you. They must come across naturally. The best way to do this is to internalize them. Then they become you.

When meeting with a buyer for the first time here are some questions I blend naturally into the "getting to know you" process. I will do this each and every time and get so much information I need to be able to go to the next step.

Are you working with another agent? (I want to know if they are committed to another agent or how long they may have been looking.)

How did you find my contact information? (This is so I can track my marketing efforts and send a thank you note if there is a referring party.) 

Please tell me about your past buying experience? (I want to know if they are a first time buyer or experienced buyer. I also want to know their feelings and general impression of their past experience.)

Let me explain a little about how I work. (I tell them about buyer's representation, my processes and my commitment to them and ask for a commitment from them.)

Have you been prequalified or talked with a lender? (I generally do not show property unless the buyer has been prequalified.)

If we find the right home today, are you prepared to make an offer? (I want to know just how serious they are, if they are ready now or whether someone else will be involved in the decision process.)

If You Don't Ask, You Won't Know. However you go about asking the questions or getting a commitment, it needs to be done in a friendly very natural manner so it doesn't sound scripted.

Photo courtesy of Ambro/freedigitalphotos.net.