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Listen for the Sale
By, Corey Wells

The top-performing real estate agents know the value of listening. Good communication is a crucial part of any successful sales presentation. In order to effectively communicate with a prospect, you must offer the proper responses to what your prospect is saying. You need to be able to maximize your responsiveness by practicing effective listening skills.

Paying attention is the first key in practicing good listening skills. By paying attention, you’ll be able to understand exactly what problems a prospect wants to solve. As a result, you’ll be able to use that information to help your prospect make a decision. A lack of attention on your part can create conflict, confusion and mistakes, all of which will serve to distance the prospect from the message you’re trying to send.

When you’ve mastered listening, you’ll be able to not only hear what the prospect is saying, you’ll be able to understand what they actually mean. Once you know what the prospect actually needs to hear, adjusting your presentation to address these needs will become second nature. There are several ways that you can improve on your ability to listen. Here are only a few:

• Always be receptive.
• Listen to every sentence.
• Analyze what’s said.
• Never interrupt.
• Ask questions.
• Write down important points.
• Block out distractions.
• Stay calm no matter what’s said.

You should not only be listening with your ears, but your eyes as well. By observing your prospect’s nonverbal communication you’ll be able to better understand how the prospect feels about what they are saying. Picking up on these clues will help you pick out key points that the prospects considers to be of greater importance.

Don’t be in a hurry. There is no bigger mistake you can make when speaking with a prospect than rushing them or finishing their thoughts. Not only will the prospect be able to pick up on this, but you’ll miss the opportunity to fully understand what’s really going on in the mind of the prospective client. When you hurry your prospect, you’ll tend to make erroneous assumptions about what they truly want and need.

Another practice that hinders the ability to listen is the “top this” syndrome. This is where you are always interrupting the prospect after they mention a concern by trying to explain how you are going to address that concern. Wait until you have a complete picture of the prospects real wants and needs and address their concerns at the end of the interview. Unfortunately, far too many agents are guilty of the “top this” mentality. Don’t be one of these people or it could cost you the deal.

A good prospect interview will involve listening carefully and finding out every little detail of what your prospect is looking for. Hear what the prospect tells you. Ask questions only to elicit more details. Then, structure your sales pitch to directly address those concerns. Make sure you stay close to the topics that the prospect is interested in rather than trying to introduce new information. When you overcome the prospect’s deepest concerns, you’ve made the sale. In the end, you’ll be able to sell more homes if you just take the time to listen carefully.

(c) 2008 Leading Example Enterprises Inc.

Corey Wells, is the founder of Leading Example Coaching which offers Real Estate Agent Coaching, Books, Audio, Scripts, Packages, Software & More.
Visit: Leading Example Coaching
This article was originally posted on LeadingExample.com/Blog

Tags:   Attitude · Listening · Real Estate · SkillsNo Comments