With buyers being hot and cold at the moment, it is the perfect time to create a system to make sure no buyers fall through the cracks and that you capture every single one to hopefully serve their real estate needs one way or another.
The first thing is to make sure you have the correct recording system. What I mean is, every single prospective buyer needs to be recorded. I used a log book that recorded every buyer who called, emailed, or who I met at home opens. I still have all of those log books, I never chucked them out. I even had a little pocket note book with me wherever I went instead of carting my big log book around. Now I know these days everyone has phones, iPads, and laptops, yet I will always say that nothing works better than the old-fashioned pen and paper. Once I got back to my office, every single buyer I had met or spoken to was then transferred into my CRM system and classified as either A, B, or C buyers. This is a simple yet very effective system that works.
So, let’s look at what A, B, and C buyers are:
A Buyers – An ‘A Buyer’ in my opinion is a SELLER DISGUISED AS A BUYER, someone that is looking for a property but cannot buy until they sell their own. However, sometimes these types of sellers are hard to recognise because they are very cagey and usually like to keep their cards close to their chests because they don’t want to be hounded by Buyers Agent just yet. So, you need to service them and ask them lots of questions in order to identify that they indeed are ‘A Buyers’. If you suspect that they do fall into this category, show them everything and anything you have in order to build rapport and trust.
B Buyers – These buyers have already sold their property, have already been pre-approved, or have cash and they are READY TO GO. They do not have any strings attached so to speak. A good question to ask these buyers is, “What would you do if I showed you a property that ticked all the boxes?” If the answer is, “I would buy it”, then they are your ‘B Buyers’. The first thing you do is show them ALL of your personal stock, because you just never know, they might fall in love with something even if it’s not exactly what they thought they were looking for. Money does burn a hole in the pockets of buyers. If your personal stock does not suit, then show them all your office stock and hopefully they buy one of those. If not, then depending on your resources, you could start looking for stock with other agents. However, unless you have a PA or no personal listings, I would recommend against spending a great deal of time on this option as it doesn’t pay very well!
C Buyers – These are the buyers that are genuinely interested to buy and have begun the hunt yet have not yet spoken to a bank or broker. They could be first home buyers, renters, relocators, Neighbours, friends or family of the seller, or just researchers. A lot of these buyers end up buying or selling, they just normally take a bit of time. They usually would appreciate a bit of advice and love being steered and educated in the right direction. This will go a long way when they are ready as they will always remember you, especially if you’ve stayed in touch, when they need to sell. Sometimes it is nice to give-to-get rather than always looking for the low hanging fruit.
It’s important to remember that there is no such thing as a tyre kicker or a time waster. Every person you meet is an opportunity to build a relationship with the possibility of hopefully one day serving their real estate needs.
Come along to my upcoming FREE half-day Real Estate Brilliance webinar and I will be happy to discuss more of these!