Three Steps To Getting Hired

Getting hired is the result of guiding prospects through the process of selecting you as their agent and becoming clients.

From a sales perspective, it is asking for the order or closing the deal.

Step One: Understand Prospective Clients’ Needs

Logically, real estate clients need agents who are competent. This competence is demonstrated by such observable behavior as:

• Diligence
• Expertise
• Flexibility
• Helpfulness
• Networked
• Patient

This behavior reassures clients that you, as their real estate agent, are good at your job. As a result, they are comfortable with you because you know what you are doing.

Emotionally, clients need agents they like and can trust. If prospects like you and believe they can trust you, they might hire you.

If they don’t like you, or question your trustworthiness, they will not hire you, regardless of your real estate skills and knowledge.

To get hired, demonstrate how you can meet both needs. By all means talk about and demonstrate your competence as an agent.

Prospective clients need to know this.

But above all, be honest and be yourself. Prospective clients also need this if they are to like you enough to hire you.

To succeed at getting hired, you must meet prospects logical and emotional needs.

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Step Two: Address Any Concerns

In raising concerns, prospective clients may have some legitimate issues to be resolved. Or they may be simply testing you to see how you respond.

Regardless of what you think the motivation may be, treat all concerns as genuine. The following four elements will help you address prospects concerns honestly and effectively.

1. Empathize With Them

This means that not only do you understand how the prospects feel, you tell them.

“Yes, I understand deciding which agent is best for you can be a difficult decision.”

2. Clarify Your Understanding

To clarify the concern, repeat it back, using your own words ask focused questions.

“As I understand your concern, you think that agents who work with small, neighborhood brokers might know more about local market conditions than agents who work with a large multi-national real estate company. Is my understanding correct?”

3. Ask Permission to Offer a Solution

By asking permission to offer a solution, you demonstrate that you take the concern seriously.

This puts your prospects in a better frame of mind and allows them to be more open to your response.

“May I explain how these two kinds of agents are very similar?"

4. Offer a Solution

The solution should be factual and focused specifically on the concern.

It should be worded in such a way that the prospects do not feel stupid or put down by having raised the concern.

“All agents have access to the same information about specific markets. Although I work with an office that is part of a large real estate company, my primary focus is the area you want to live in. I live there and spend most of my time working in that neighborhood.”

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Step Three: Tell Them How To Become Clients

If prospective clients want to sell their homes, they must sign a listing agreement. This agreement authorizes you to act as their agent in the marketing and selling of their property.

In many areas it is common for buyers to sign an agency agreement to formally establish the relationship.

As part of the process of getting hired, it is your responsibility to understand, prepare and explain these documents.

It is also your responsibility to tell prospects to sign these documents. Never assume that they will initiate the signing process.

This is the ‘ask-for-the-order’ stage of the selling process. If you don’t ask for the order--tell prospects to sign the required documents—-it may not happen.

Once the prospects have signed, it’s your turn to sign and add the date.

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After They Sign...

Reassure them that they made the right decision. And confirm that you look forward to helping find the right home or buyer.

As soon as possible after you’ve been hired, put this reassurance and confirmation in writing. Send your clients an email or letter reinforcing the soundness of their decision and how you will help them.

This reassurance and conformation will help prevent buyer’s remorse. This is an emotional condition in which a person feels regret after a major decision such as deciding to buy or sell a home.

In the phase before purchasing, the prospects felt the positive emotions associated with the decision. Afterwards, having made the decision, your new clients might experience the negative aspects.

The negativity of buyer’s remorse can seriously impact client’s attitudes. Your reassurance will help overcome this negativity and reinforce the soundness of their decision to buy or sell.

And of course, once the necessary agreements have been signed, you can get on with what you do best… looking after your clients.

One final comment on getting hired.

It is your first of two closings with these clients.

The second is closing the transaction by which your clients buy or sell a home.

This means that considerations similar to those regarding getting hired also apply to closing your clients’ transaction.

Looking at the big picture, getting hired energizes your client pipeline.

Your success at getting hired increases your confidence. This increases your willingness to do some more prospecting.

And each new client adds more value to your pipeline.

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