A Survival Guide for Realtors: How to Deal with Difficult Clients
March 26th, 2009 by eCommissionAny business that involves interaction with the public requires a certain amount of patience and understanding. In the real estate business, you come across people from all walks of life, so you need to be prepared to deal with clients who are demanding and fickle. While most clients are friendly and great to work with, there are those that can make the days drag on.
Below are profiles of some of the industry’s most formidable clients to work with:
The Know-It-All
The know-it-all is a seller who has done a little bit of research on their own, perhaps by talking to friends and family about their real estate transactions, and then regurgitates this information as though it were the gospel truth.
While it’s great when clients are proactive in terms of learning about the market, it can be tough to deal with when the client starts telling you (the realtor) how the industry works.
Know-it-alls often become a problem when it comes to setting the sale price of a home. He is adamant that he knows the market value of his house, and says that there’s no chance that he’ll lower the price. Besides, he says, he knows someone who recently got an offer for more than the asking price, so there!
When dealing with a know-it-all, you’ll have to haggle with the client to get the property listed for a reasonable price. Otherwise the house won’t sell, and both of you will end up wasting your time.
But how do you win over a know-it-all? Agree with him. The know-it-all wants to feel heard and respected. If you try to argue with him about his industry knowledge, he’ll respond defensively, and you’ll end up at an unpleasant stand-still. Egos will get involved, and it won’t be pretty.
As the agent, you need to let your client know that you’re impressed with his initiative and know-how. Make him feel like he’s making a valuable contribution by sharing his knowledge with you and you’ll find that he’s suddenly more open to your suggestions. It’s also important to show the know-it-all comparable properties in the area so that he can see for himself what other homes are selling for in the current market. By showing him the reality of the market, you can make great strides in getting him to trust you as the professional that you are.
The Entitled Buyer
An entitled buyer is a client who expects you to jump through hoops for her. She feels that it’s her right to call you any time day or night, will ask for impromptu home tours, and has a never-satisfied attitude. Yes, everyone in the customer service industry has met this person.
As with the know-it-all, listening to an entitled client and appearing to agree with her is your best bet in terms of maintaining a cordial relationship. However, it’s important to set boundaries early on.
Set parameters for your dealings, and tell her it’s inappropriate to call you after 9pm or on holidays. If you aren’t firm with your boundaries, you’re giving the entitled buyer a green light to walk all over you. You have other clients, and family and friends who need your attention also, so don’t give all your energy to this one person.
The Browser & the Indecisive Seller
The browser is a buyer with a “just looking” attitude. He attends open houses, gets information from multiple real estate agents, and then never contacts the Realtors again.
The browser is a frustrating client to deal with because he isn’t actually a client. You may spend time doing work for him, but the reality is that he has no intention of buying.
If a buyer gives you the impression that he or she is are just mulling around the idea of purchasing real estate, give them your contact information and be friendly, but don’t go out of your way to do work for them; they could be wasting your time. It’s best to follow-up with a simple email or a telephone call so that you keep them as a potential client, but you’re not utilizing a lot of your time and energy to do so.
A close cousin of the browser is the indecisive seller. This is a client who says that he wants to sell his home, but hasn’t quite made up his mind yet. He may get a lot of information from you, only to decide that he’d prefer to go the FSBO route, or he decides not to sell after all.
Like the browser, the indecisive seller may see a real estate agent as a free resource; a person that he can tap for information, with no obligation to pay.
Indecisive sellers are a tricky bunch to deal with because you won’t truly know if they’re committed to the sale until after you’ve put in a lot of work. If you think you have an indecisive seller on your hands, give them a solid sales pitch, and be ready to follow up with them. You want to stay on their minds so that if they do decide to sell, they’ll turn to you and not to somebody else.
Remember that all clients–including the difficult ones–deserve to be treated with respect and consideration. Communicate with them regularly, and always make sure that they feel like they’ve been heard. This simple act of attentive listening can turn even the most difficult client into a lifelong customer and a solid source for referrals.
by Justin Havre at Calgery Real Estate
March 27th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Suffice it to say that a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing! I agree that the underlying issue with Know-It-Alls is that they don’t feel heard or respected in other areas of their life. So I agree completely that giving them the recognition they crave is the most important way to put this kind of behavior to rest. Then you can get on with dealing with the facts!
The Entitled Buyer is a real problem. I’ve never been good at telling people it’s not okay to call after a certain hour or whatever. I know it’s exploitative but if I really don’t want to talk to them, I know I can turn off the phones. Most of the time it’s not a problem though. I guess I need a life!
Developing techniques to recognize the Browser & the Indecisive Seller early on in the process is one of the most important things a Realtor can learn to do to save time. The problem is that you rarely know you’re dealing with one of these until the writing is on the wall, so-to-speak, and you’ve already made a major investment. Recently I’ve been brainstorming ways to get paid upfront (reimbursable if there’s a listing that goes to close) for consulting to people who I feel are wishy-washy (e.g. at risk of changing their mind about listing). It’s tricky but it can work and already has. It’s a little harder to do with buyers but can be done and should be, especially when one senses there might be a lack of commitment. Open houses are notorious for producing “professional browsers” so Realtors should be especially on their toes to ask the right questions upfront. A quick, “Are you from the neighborhood?” can help weed out these time-wasters so you can quickly move on to better prospects.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I had a couple “entitled buyers” a few months ago. luckily I only went our looking with them a couple times before I realized I was too busy to work with them.
They would call but leave no messages. They would ask questions over and over, not remembering the answer I gave them previously. And They wanted to buy a house at such a low price they’d be practically living in it for free, even though they were able to buyer about double that amount.
Plus, they wanted to make 70-80% list price offers. I said thanks for the time, and moved on.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Showing the market comparables to the know it all is great, but if they still think their house is worth more and aren’t willing to listen to your professional advice, walk away. You aren’t doing anyone a favor by taking an overpriced listing that you know won’t sell.
It’s hard enough to sell houses that are priced properly let alone overpriced ones.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:02 am
It’s always about finding out who your customer is. Having been in sales and real estate for many years it seems like I still am learning how to “pigeon hole” my clients so I know how to deal with them. the longer I am in sales the easier it becomes to figure out the best approach to use with them.
One of my all time favorites is to simple do a “match and mirror”. Knowing that people like buying from people they can relate to, I simply try to become like them. I match their voice in both pitch and speed. I even try to match their body language without appreaing like a copycat.
In selling rent-to-own homes, I am often times dealing with people who are excited about finally being able to get into a home of their own. So, I try to match their enthusiasm. Works for me!
May 8th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
We live here in one of the biggest vacation-home markets in the USA. And we are all the time having issues dealing with difficult clients.
One of our biggest problems we face are the clients who fall under the “entitled buyer” category.
While we are always striving to provide excellent service to all of our clients, these guys make it so hard becuase it’s almost like they are playing games with us and ultimately wasting our time.
I think the key to remember is that it is vital to seperate the serious buyers from the window shoppers.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:41 am
I think this type of information is invaluable to realtors. Here in Henderson, realtors can be so snoody sometimes. If more realtors took this sort of advice more often I think more homes would get sold. More times than not I see it from the buyers agents. It feels strange saying it since it used to be the listing agents I saw it from the most. But it makes sense since a good buyer is a dime a dozen now. But its still no way to treat people.
I really like to hear this type of advice. I think more agents should take note of it.