Easily Obtained, Seldom Desired

As Real Estate Professionals, we must remember to be successful we must be marketers and salespeople first. Sometimes we just have to get back to the basics of selling.

Remember anything easily obtained is seldom desired, this is true no matter what you sell and right now this is especially true with property. The buyer  believes all Real Estate is easily obtained (as far as prices are concerned) so there is no urgency to buy or they expect the seller to give it away.

So how do you create urgency to sell your property in a buyers market?

First of all change your mindset, stop believing you have to drop your price to sell. Yes I know we are in a buyers market, but dropping the price seldom produces the outcome you are wanting. What happens when you drop the listing price and someone has an interest in the property? They think they can get it for even less, which many times they do, driving prices down further and creating a snowball effect. So if you use the same methods you have been using you are pretty much assured of getting the same results you have been getting. Now you certainly can't over price either, but how do you get the actual market value?

Make the buyer think it is a bargain, create urgency, make the property different, it must be unique. Every home has something unique, use it to create a USP (unique selling proposition). Now couple this with the biggest motivator for action "The Fear Of Losing" nothing will create urgency to act more than the fear of losing. Create the fear of losing by running a limited time offer, for instance instead of lowering the listing price, run a price promotion or add-on for two weeks, but you must give them a reason to act now!

Get the customer emotionally involved in the property (make them take mental ownership) & then start taking it away from them (fear of losing). 

The biggest mistake you can ever make is to come across as being desperate to make a sale, this is the opposite of what you should do, and you will very seldom if ever get the results you want with this approach. You must have the attitude that this is great deal and won't last long and then back it up with the USP. The buyer must actually feel you are doing him a favor by making this property available to them.

We have implemented several of these strategies here at Lake of the Ozarks with great success.

If you get creative you can come up with all kinds of different ideas, by simply changing the way you approach the sales process. Why do you think auctions work? They create urgency and the Fear of Losing. You can use the same principles, without an actual auction and for much less expense to the seller. (There is an idea for you right there). Start thinking outside of the box.

Here is an example:

I have asked several people if I called them at 2:00am woke them from a sound sleep and told them I knew a way to make a $100.00 if they would get out of bed right now. The answer I received was No Way or Your Crazy, etc., then I asked what they would do if I called and told them I just saw someone stealing their 100.00 lawnmower out of their garage and got a totally different answer, most people would immediately jump up a chase the thief down the street.  What's the difference? "Fear of Losing" is a bigger motivator than simply gaining something. Use this to your advantage.