Real estate investors wear many hats. They are part accountant, part problem solver and part financial manager. Perhaps the biggest characteristic of successful real estate investors is that of a salesperson. Whether you know it, or like it, sales is a huge part of the business. There is a large degree of selling involved in every deal you entertain. You are either trying to sell the homeowner to work with you or trying to sell the bank to accept your offer. You are always selling yourself to the people in your network or with potential contacts. The bottom line is that there is a lot more selling in the real estate business than you may think. Here are five ways to improve your sales skills.
- Personality. People tend to work with others that they feel are confident can get a job done or personally like. If you can ever combine the two your sales success will skyrocket. When most people think of sales they think of the slimy used car salesmen ready to sell them whatever is in the lot. There is definitely a negative stigma associated with sales. To combat that you need to use your personality. As simple as it sounds people want to work with someone who is nice. People can tell when you are genuine and when you are faking it. As a rule of them if you always put the other person in the transaction first you will get more results. Instead of thinking about how you can get the homeowner to agree to a deal think about what is best for them. This makes your personality much more likable and increases the chances people will work with you. Personality counts in the world of sales.
- Preparation. It is important to be prepared with every person you come in contact with. There are many investors who feel they can simply wing it and have success. It takes a very unique individual to have the ability to think and sound prepared on the fly. Without preparation you will be faced with a question you are not ready for. Instead of having an answer you scramble around looking for something to say. This makes you come across as phony and insincere. Neither of these traits is very appealing. On the flip side by being prepared you give confidence to whoever you are speaking with that you are the best person for the job. Your answers are direct and assuring. For however long it takes you need to be as prepared as possible in every conceivable situation. A few extra minutes can mean the difference between a sale and disappointment.
- Motivation. One of the real keys to sales success if discovering the motivation of the other party. Whether you are working with a homeowner, bank, attorney, contractor or tenant you need to find out what it is the other party wants out of the transaction. By knowing this you can center the rest of your presentation on achieving this goal. Even if you can’t make it happen you will know whether or not it is worth your time and effort to move forward. Different people are motivated by different things. A seller can be motivated to close for the highest price. A bank may want the close by a certain date. An attorney may want some concessions made on your end. Whatever the motivation is once you know it your work is 80% finished. The other 20% is you building a clear case to get them to move forward with you.
- Balance. There are several different styles of sales. Some salespeople use the full court press method where they smother the other side until they get an answer. Others take the opposite approach and lower their tone and try to educate the other party. What works for one person may not work for you. What you need to do is find a balance between constantly pushing for an answer and knowing when you take a step back. As much as you want to get a homeowner to commit there are times when taking a step back is the best move to make. You never want to push too hard for a commitment that ends up backing out a few weeks down the road. By backing off you give the other side a chance to catch their breath and gather their thoughts. If you are forthright with what you say and present facts this should not be a problem at all. As long as you set a specific time and date to follow up you should be fine with letting the other side think for a day.
- Honesty. The best salespeople believe what they say and always speak the truth. There is nothing worse than a bad reputation. You can try to fool or deceive the other side but you won’t be successful. There are too many sources of information available to pull one over one someone. If you get caught in a lie you ruin any chances of an immediate sale but even worse word will spread on social media. You may be surprised at just how quickly and how wide bad word of mouth travels. By being honest you may not get every single sale but the ones you do get will be much more solid. Additionally you may get a referral or two that you never would expect.
Like anything else the more you practice your sales skills the better you become. There are dozens of blueprints you can follow but the best advice is to be yourself. If you are comfortable with what you say and how you say it you will find sales success.
