At The Preview Appointment -
Objective - Gain access, establish a relationship with & continue to qualify the seller.
The Tour: While walking through the property, take notes on the home's features and benefits. In a casual, yet deliberate manner, ask questions to determine what the situation is with this particular lead.
Greeting: Introduce yourself, hand them a business card and thank them for having you over to take a look at the house. (Notice, I say house a lot, not home. Why? Home is emotional, a house is not). Also, assure them you won't be long which should send a message that you aren't going to overstay your time and push them into listing w/you.
Create a casual conversation as you tour the house: Ask we walk through the house, I have a list of questions to ask you, do you mind if I take some notes? (They always will say ok, sure that's fine) This allows you to relax, just read your questions and take notes...they gave you permission).
Remind me, how many bedrooms/bathrooms? Square footage? Lot size? Year built? (get the answering/talking easy common questions)
Can you point out what you've done to improve the property since you've owned it?
So, when you sell the house, where are you moving to? Or You said when you sell the house you're moving to ___...correct? (How'd you happen to pick that area?)
If a buyer was looking to close in 30 days, would that pose any challenges for you?
Have you been successful selling other houses of yours in the past? I am always curious...what caused you to sell the house yourself vs. hiring a professional, like myself?
So, how'd you determine your sales price? (sourcing, valid or not) Zillow vs. CMA.
Are you prepared to adjust your price down when working with a buyer?
I'm sure it won't happen, if the house didn't sell, what would you do? Would that be a problem? (must be sure to say this with the right tone of voice)
You know, this is really a nice property...are you sure you don't just want to keep it? (giving it back to them tells you about their commitment to sell. Do they go along with it or immediately give it back to you?)
Before You Go - After gathering the general information, make your way back towards the front door. Before leaving, stop and ask…"Mr. Or Mrs. Seller, I have to ask...I know you're planning to sell your home by owner. However, if you actually felt you could sell for more money, a quicker sale with less hassles/liability and meet your timelines by hiring a powerful agent like myself...would you at least be open to considering it?
(find out where they're at, this will help flush out where they really stand)
How much time would you take before you would consider hiring someone, like myself for the job of selling your home? (Get a timeline to work towards) Two weeks, 30 days.
So, just to be sure I am understanding correctly...if you're not able to (and I am sure you will) sell the house in 30 days, you'd then at least be open to having a meeting to discuss solutions and a fresh approach I can bring to the table to help you get to ___?
Follow-Up - Well, thank you for having me over to preview your house. I will keep it in mind and see if any of the buyer leads we have could be a match. In the meantime, I will check in with you ...say...maybe once every 5-7-10 days to see if you were successful in selling the house. (explain the only way you can keep accurate status of the house is to keep in touch with them. Time frame to f/u based on motivation/market conditions.
Now, do your follow up moving closer to that timeline established. Each call ask "I know you mentioned 30 days and its been ___ so far...are you sure you don't want to just go ahead and meet now? This way I can help you get to ____ by ____. LA/January.
Don't forget it takes practice -
I can't stress it enough...P,P,P,P,P.
Write the entry script out by hand 2-3 times per day.
Chant the script out loud as fast as you can, 4-5 times a day.
Roleplay at least 2-3 times a day, with the script in hand. You can do this as long as you are comfortable since you are always on the phone and the person selling their home can't see you.
Keys To Success:
Be willing to struggle a bit, before you become great:
-
Like anything, it's a process, and we have to accept being uncomfo
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.