“I’m going to ask for your assistance as we do our walk through today. I NEED you to SHARE with me what you as the owner LOVE AND HATE (the words love and hate are triggers to their emotional system – don’t use e.g. good and bad) about this property. This will show me the value your property offers as well as prepare me to deal with any negative reactions potential buyers may have.”
Another reason you want them thinking about what they hate, is because hate is a stronger trigger than love and you want to start the process of detaching them from the property so they agree to sell it.
“After this walk-through I will think about all of the things you will tell me about your home, my perceptions as I see it with expert eyes and then combine that with research back at my office and finally my personal knowledge of the market. I can then give you the most rounded assessment of the value you can achieve if we take it to market now.”
As you do the walk-through ask lots of questions (which I am sure you already do) and take lots of notes, especially on what they love and hate about each and every room separately.
Don’t make any assumptions about what is or is not important in the hearts of the home owner.
Comment from Jon: When I was selling my last property (15 acres) I was rather overly focused on the sheds we had, not because they didn’t look like any other work sheds, i.e. a shed is a shed. However in the middle of the shed was my prized 1978 Ducati motorcycle (loving rebuilt by me). When I was showing the first couple of agents around the home I said “Ok I’ll show you the sheds”. They replied “No, its ok, we got a good look at those when we drove in”. They missed the opportunity to emotionally engage with me on something I was passionate about and create emotional alignment with me. They didn’t get the listing.
Make sure on that first visit that you say each of the following things at least twice:
• You’re the area specialist from Blue Bay Real Estate.
• Your reputation is on the line with every sale.
• You know what you are doing.
• You are well past the trial and error stage of learning to sell.
• To get the best sale price they NEED the best sales skills available working on their behalf.
• The purpose of the walk-through is to understand the value of their home, to give them a realistic assessment of the market price you can achieve and to prepare you to sell that value to prospective buyers. “I want to position myself, so I can use my sales skills to best effect for you”.
• Quote your most proud selling moments (emotionally significant situations as well as homes similar to this one).
• It’s an absolute honor to be here.