Do You Have to Be Aggressive to Make Sales?

Not too long ago I recall Ari Galper sharing with me an interesting incident he had with a company he was doing some sales training for.

It especially reminded me of the slumping market we are in and the tendency for real estate agents to become desperate in tight times by trying to aggressively pin down real estate buyers.

The story goes that after one coaching session, one member of the sales team came up to Ari and said, “Ari, your approach makes complete sense–but I’m afraid I’ll lose sales if I stop being aggressive and start being passive!”

Eliminate These Behaviors and Languages

Now, whenever I hear a comment like that, I want to scream, because it means that the person just doesn’t yet understand that removing pressure from the sales process doesn’t mean being passive.

The point behind using a sales approach like the one that Ari teaches is that it’s an active attempt to create pressure-free conversations with buyers.

However, to do that it’s essential that you eliminate behaviors and language that buyers can perceive as “aggressive.”

We all know what these are — continual e-mail and voicemail “followups” in which agents try to pin down the status of a potential real estate buyer– is one common example. [And of course it’s becoming more and more difficult to nail down a potential buyer in this market.]

The problem is that prospects react to aggressive–or perhaps we should say “overaggressive”–sales behaviors by withdrawing and evading us.

In fact, what you have to do instead of being passive or aggressive is this: you have to take the “middle ground” by being authentically unassuming, yet effective–and that this is the most stress-free and effective way to sell.

What do I mean by “authentically unassuming, yet effective”?

How to Discover a Whole New Effectiveness

For starters you have to shift away from assuming that every buyer is a fit for your any of your listings.

It’s sort of like the legal concept of “being innocent until proven guilty.”

You can’t afford to make any assumptions about “fit” until your conversation with the buyer indicates that you two mutually arrived at that conclusion.

The aggressiveness that turns off buyer sets in when you assume, every time you pick up the phone, that you have a solution for them.

Your tone of voice and language gives them that message long before they’ve even had a chance to agree that you have the home that they want.

But if you can manage to find that middle ground of not assuming anything while also communicating in a low-key, unassuming manner, you’ll discover a whole new effectiveness you could never have imagined.

Flawed Logic

Can prospects sense when you’re assuming too much?

Sure they can–because most of us have been conditioned to present or talk about our solution as a way to engage prospects so they’ll reveal their problems to us.

But that logic is completely flawed.

When you launch into your speal to someone who doesn’t trust you yet, all you do is allow them to pigeonhole you as a stereotyped “salesperson.”

How to Become Unassuming but Effective

First, learn to start conversations by focusing 100 percent on generating discussions around your prospects’ problems, rather than pitching your listing inventory the second you hear an opening.

Second, learn to begin those conversations by converting the benefits of your homes into problems that your homes will actually solve.

Third, after you and your prospects have identified a desires or needs, you can then engage in a discussion about whether meeting those needs is a priority.

It’s only at that point that prospects have finally given you implicit permission to share your inventory with them.

Jumping in with solutions prematurely will only land you back in the trap of being perceived as “aggressive.”

What Do You Think?

Have you found yourself having to get aggressive? Do you approach this market differently since buyers have tightened the purse strings? Or are you in one of these bubble-proof markets? Finally, are you familiar with Ari’s method? If so, have you been effective with it?

Let me know what you think.

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