3 Phone Objections You’re NOT Handling
Objections are a normal process on the path to a successful sale. When a prospect has an objection, it just means they're not convinced by your offer which means you haven't given him or her a compelling enough reason to accept what you've offered. There aren't thousands or even hundreds of different objections. Most of what a prospect will question boils down to less than ten. If you don't know how to answer these objections, the conversion process stops cold.
When you get an objection, you need to answer it with a compelling reason to do business with you. The better you are at handling objections, the more appointments you'll have. The more appointments you have, the more sales you'll have. The more sales you have, the more money you'll have in your bank account.
We train agents on effective lead generation that makes cold prospecting unnecessary. The marketing we teach is so compelling that it actually reverses the prospecting process (i.e. prospects make the first call to the agent requesting help).
When most agents get on the phone with a prospect they wing it, but make no mistake: exactly "what" you say matters because some words work better than other words and over the years I've scientifically put the right words together in the right order to get me the right result. All you have to do is copy.
Your first step, of course, is to establish their timing and motivation and after engaging literally hundreds of thousands of buyers myself in this first conversation, I developed a universally effective script to do just this (The Universal Call Back Script). Once you've established that this prospect is qualified, it's important to create a connection with them that gives you permission to keep in contact until they're ready-to-act.
Let's take buyer prospects as an example. We offer qualified buyers a daily list of homes (or weekly or monthly, depending on their timing) that match their homebuying criteria.
"What?" you may say … why would a prospect ever want this given how easy it is to see houses online?
Well, this is likely exactly what your buyer prospect is thinking, and you need a way to answer this.
Here's the right way to handle these objections like a pro:
1) I can go online to find my property - I don't need an agent
Agent: Mr./Mrs. Prospect, is it important to you to get a good deal on the home you buy?
Prospect: Yes. Agent: Well, then, we want to get you priority notification. When you're looking online, that information could be weeks old. As you know, the best deals go quickly, so if you rely only on what you're seeing online, you're potentially missing out on the best deals. Receiving priority information on homes that match your criteria is free and of course you're never obligated to buy a home. Would that interest you?
2) I already have an agent sending me properties
Agent: I'm not sure what the other agent is sending you, but our list includes Bank Foreclosures, Company Owned Properties and Distress Sales. Would you like to get information on these properties as well?
Prospect: Sure, I guess so.
Agent: Great, it's a free service and of course you're never obligated to buy a home.
3) Why do we need to meet?
NOTE: Your answer to these first two objections should elicit a "yes" from any prospect who is remotely sincere about looking to buy a home in the near future. The next questions and responses will further qualify these prospects.
Agent: When can we get together so we can take down exactly what you're looking for?
Prospect: Well, why do we need to get together? Why can't I just tell you right now over the phone <<or email you>> what I'm looking for?
Agent: Rather than emailing you dozens of homes each week which may or may not match your criteria or, more importantly, risking you missing out on the perfect one, if we can get together for 20 minutes, I can take down exactly what you're looking for.
NOTE: If the prospect is sincere in wanting to get together, this response should handle the objection. If they're not really sincere about agreeing to meet with you, they'll immediately invent another reason why they can't set up a time to meet such as the following.
Prospect: I can't set up an appointment to meet with you right now because I have to check my work schedule <<or I have to check with my spouse>>.
Agent: Well, since we're on the phone right now, and we're both really busy, why don't we set up a tentative time and if that time doesn't work, you can give me a call back and we'll reschedule.
NOTE: Some people will still try to get out of setting up a meeting and the dialogue will follow something like this.
Prospect: Well, I don't know if I'm quite ready for that yet. We're really busy.
Agent: Well our service is perfect for busy people like you because you're going to receive daily emails of homes that match your criteria and you can drive by the ones that interest you when you have time.
The Best Real Estate Coaches in the Industry