Building Rapport

Everybody has their own style to get that first important yes, the first “right” yes. I’m not going to tell you what to say; if a real estate agent is negotiating with a potential client over the price of a house, it doesn’t make sense to say, “Do you want me to be honest with you or lie to you?” What might work for her is something along the lines of: “Are you ready to buy, or do you need more information?”

“I need more information,” says the potential buyer.

The real estate agent gives it. Now the key there is not—as real estate agents and buyers sometimes think—that the additional information represents an obligation to buy that house. That’s misreading what’s going on, even though quite a number of sales trainers will urge the salesman to phrase the question exactly that way because they think it makes it harder for the person to walk away. In their minds, the goal of getting that first yes and then giving the information is to sell that house.

It’s not.

The goal of the first yes is to establish a rapport, a basis for negotiating. And negotiating is not closing. You negotiate all the points, then you close the deal.

The real estate agent provides information until the client is ready to start negotiations on that specific house. If the client is not interested in the house after the agent has done something for him or her, it isn’t a lost sale, it’s a postponed one—on a different house.