Her heart is broken. She feels rejected. She wants to hang up her real estate license and crawl under a rock.
Why? Because her $700,000 buyer prospect choose another agent.
She's beating herself up. She's asking herself, "Did I not dress the part?" "Was my car not nice enough?" She wonders if she should have worn her fancy leather boots and more make-up (this is Texas, after all). Maybe she should have borrowed her sister's Mercedes SUV.
No, no, I assure her. It's not your dress or your car. It's actually worse than that. Worse, as in, it's going to be a little tougher for her to swallow.
I'll bet 100 pennies that the Other Agent knew the market better than my broken-hearted friend. I'll bet that when the Buyer met with this Other Agent, the Other Agent was able to speak intelligently about the $700,000 market and even mention a few of the listings she was familiar with. I bet she got the Buyer all revved up and excited. I bet she said "Oh, you must see this new listing that just came on the market yesterday! It has two master suites, both with Jacuzzi tubs, a beautiful view and the most amazing gourmet kitchen!" She probably then clinched it with, "Are you free on Saturday? Around 10:00?"
Now that, my friend, is how you capture a $700,000 Buyer. By knowing the market and speaking intelligently about it. When you know the market, confidence oozes from you. And confidence draws buyers to agents like bees to honey.
And of course, closing the deal by making an appointment. As soon as possible.
But here's the good news. For my friend. Before discovering that the $700,000 Buyer had ditched her, she previewed, previewed, previewed. She now knows an awful lot about the upper end market in her Texas town. The next time a high-dollar prospect knocks on her door, the conversation will go much differently. My friend will know how many bedrooms and baths $700,000 gets you. How many acres and how many garage spaces. She'll know. She'll speak with confidence. She'll make the appointment. She'll get the buyer.
When you're new in real estate, you can't know the nuances of every neighborhood, of every price range. That takes time and experience. But you can hurry up the process with aggressive previewing. As your career matures, you will be familiar with more and more neighborhoods. You'll speak more intelligently about them, more of the time. Your buyer closing ratio will improve every year. It's something to look forward to...!
One thing I should add...this $700,000 Buyer found my friend from the Internet. Internet buyers are fickle. They tend to vaporize. Sure, some will pan out, but many will not. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this Buyer ditches her new agent, because she's probably still calling around. Heck, she might even end up back with my friend, you never know.
In any case, my friend is resilient, and I bet she wakes up this morning with a renewed commitment to becoming the expert in her market. Today. Let's see, it's 6:21 am on Sunday morning. I bet she already has her game plan in place.
copyright Jennifer Allan 2007
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