Posted on: Friday, May 4th, 2012
I was recently in San Diego looking at houses with my son, Kevin, and his wife, Amanda. With the market turning in favor of sellers—and with a little nudge from yours truly—they’ve decided now would be a good time to look for something to buy. As much as I love looking at homes, the sales trainer and sales critic in me comes out. But rather than me ramble on about the experience, here’s what Kevin had to say:
“We pulled up to this one house with an immediately obvious… well, lets call it a ‘feature’. That feature was a close proximity to a freeway… a very close proximity. The house was nestled at the bottom of a hill, and just up at the top of the hill laid the 78 freeway. We could see the cars zipping past. It wouldn’t have been difficult to hit one with a 7-iron.
The sales agent, who I will call ‘Don’ (because I can’t remember his real name), came right up to us and started talking about the thing that obviously must be on our minds: the freeway. He pointed out the benefit of living so close to North San Diego’s main thoroughfare. He touted the advantage of knowing that nobody will be coming in and doing any more developing around my home. He even gave an amateur physics lesson to help us to understand that being below the freeway is far better than being above it because sound travels up. He said all these things.
But, what had we said?
We had said: NOT A SINGLE WORD! We hadn’t mentioned the freeway. We hadn’t even told him our names. Yet, his entire sales presentation had begun by refuting an objection he only assumed we had. And the truth is, I didn’t even care about the freeway! Neither did Amanda! Yeah, we noticed it, but it didn’t really bother us at all.
Don was projecting his own objection onto us. He assumed we would immediately be turned off by the freeway and thought that combating that negative opinion was of premier importance. In doing so, he sacrificed his chance to make a good first impression and build a healthy relationship with us.”
Don’t ever counter an objection the customer has not raised. Be disciplined in this. It’s too easy to project the things you don’t like about your community to the buyers.
Think about your community. Are there any items about your homes or neighborhood that you would consider a problem? Now ask yourself, do you ever find yourself guilty of projecting that problem to a customer who was otherwise undaunted by it? Tell us about your objection and how you avoiding projecting it in the comments section below. And remember, you can never refute an objection that they don’t have; you can only create one that they previously didn’t.
I completely agree! Too many times I see salespeople, Realtors and Onsite Sales, project their opinions of the home onto their customers. Once it is out there, you can’t take it back! After all, who is the one planning to live in the home and make the monthly payment, you or the homebuyer? In my opinion, silence is your best option, but have your response ready for any that might object.
Thanks for that valuable insight. I think it would be wise for sales professionals to be extra careful here. We send dangerous messages in really subtle ways if we’re not careful.
Get back to the BASICS… God gave us 2 ears and one mouth for a reason. And for that ’Don’ to go into it before even welcoming them in, poor salesmanship and I doubt h changes many peoples lives!
My problem in the neighborhood nI am in is no pool or other amenities. I let them bring it up, then honestly answer them with a relieved ‘NO- and isn’t that great?”. Puzzled, the ask me how that is great. I go into the problems of super high HOA dues and the inevitable special assesment that comes form time to time when you have the amenities. Keep the HOA fees in the wallet- join the YMCA- and never have to worry about paying for something you might not ever use.
I might one suggestion, Don. If you’re not already doing so, try to preface that explanation with “The people who live here tell me…” Anytime you’re overcoming an objection it is helpful to use what the psychologist Robert Cialdini calls the Law of Social Proof. In this case, it relies on the testimony of people who have actually had the objection, purchased anyway, and are happy with the decision they made. Make sense?
When prospects ask me whether we have a pool, I say, “No, is that something important to you?” MOST of them say, “No, not really; I was just wondering.” (I swear — That’s what almost all of them say!! They were just wondering — It’s like they think they’re SUPPOSED to ask that question!) If someone says it IS important, then I can talk about what pools, gyms, etc. are nearby for their use (and also talk about the condo fees, etc. as well).
Reminds me of another sales person that was given a community that was hard to sell because the previous sales person said that becasue there were power lines close by, nobody wanted to buy the homes. So the new guy being “proactive” so he thought made flyers that told all buyers that power lines DO NOT cause cancer!!!!!! Funny stuff. I agree that we need to listen and there is no need to add objections, there will be enough to go around. Great story Kevin! Thanks for sharing Jeff
“Tell us about your objection and how you avoiding projecting it.”…My objection is personal. The community and company are amazing. I represent a sleepy community in a desirable area, with beautiful homes, great views and wonderful neighbors. I am a single mom and am always trying to find ways to stretch a dollar. My objection is that everything is so expensive, so I assume that everyone else thinks so and is on the same budget I am. I immediate start going over how I’m going to help them keep the cost of their home price down before we even know what the price is and if they even care about spending the extra dollar to make the home that much more beautiful. I am doing my best not to suggest ways I am giong to help them build their home on a budget (My budget), and take control by asking more questions, listen to their whole story and get to know what’s important to them before I start trying to teach them how to build an affordable home with us, and before I even know if they”re going to build with us. I use to manage and buy inventory for my department as well as other departments and was always complimented on how I spent the companies money like it was my own. In another position I held, I helped people learn how to budget. In my position now, lol, I am not spending anyones money or trying to teach them how to budget, I am just consulting home buyers on building an eco-smart energy star home that will help them cut costs on their bills, so they can spend more to have the home they really want. Anyway, I’m not doing too badly, but it is something I would like to work on. What do you suggest?? Sincerely, me
My mindset is to present the home based off the information I have and will discover through asking plenty of clarifying and open ended questions, all the while remaining keenly aware that I am in control the conversation and their emotions. One thing will always be true when selling our homes; we have hundreds of great things about our homes and if it is determined that this home is the right home for this buyer, then there isn’t an objection that the buyer will not overcome on their own. Allow your posture to be one of confidence in our product and our “built around you” concept and help the buyer fall in love with not just our home but also the process of buying our home.