Proactive Listening

RAT 127 (Rawlings Agency Tip)

As you may know, I’m not normally one to focus too much on the basics of estate agency, preferring to explore the “remarkable” instead. However I have been shadowing a number of estate agents in the field recently, and have observed a common trait that has been severely hindering their ability to gain an instruction.

In essence, we know that the ability to listen is a key skill in any sales environment. However, many agents fail to harness what they have heard in order to get the most out of a conversation. The problem is that agents approach and instruction with an agenda. Clearly, you want the instruction, but you only have a very limited amount of time in which to sell your services and make yourself look good in comparison to your competitors.

Most agents have the same type of questions which they ask the seller, such as “have you lived here long”, “when are you thinking of moving”, “where are you moving to”, etc. They then note down the vendor’s responses as if ticking boxes, rather than using each response as a stepping stone to a more interesting discussion. Remember this is not a presentation - it’s is a conversation, which should be engaging, enjoyable and meaningful.

What you’re really hoping to achieve out of this meeting is to generate a new relationship based on sincere interpersonal trust. Such trust ALWAYS comes before an instruction. It’s best achieved when, not only do you listen to the vendor’s replies to your questions, but when you actively demonstrate an interest in those responses by engaging further - just as you would when having a conversation with somebody to whom you had just been introduced at a party.

It’s called getting to know them better. In doing so they get to know you better and you become professionally attractive to them because you’ve taken an interest in their life rather than just being seen to want the instruction. They have to want you more than you want them!

So take your time, engage, and think “relationship” almost as if you are chatting them up (without being creepy!!) Take your time. If they offer you a cup of tea, accept, even if you don’t drink tea! Love their dog and find ways of loving their house. Don’t flatter the house but flatter them for the way in which they have improved the house.

On writing this, I feel it is so basic, and of course there are loads of other aspects to an appraisal that leads to success. However, having had the experience of watching agents in the field simply failing to engage maybe a pointer towards the art of conversation in the Internet age is what’s required. This is a theme that I explore in greater depth during my bespoke training sessions as well as at www.AgentMasterclass.co.uk, my new online professional development service for estate and letting agents. If you haven’t enrolled yet, you might just be missing out on powerful material that your competitors could be using against you! Check out my video overview HERE. (Sorry, that sounded really salesy, but there you go!)