Sherri Johnson – Keep Your

Keep Your Scripts Up to Date With These 4 Tips

By Sherri Johnson

The person that can adapt the most will succeed the most. In our fast-changing, highly competitive market, your agents need to be ahead of the curve. They can start by taking a quick inventory of their strategies and determining which are effective or ineffective in today’s environment.

Real estate agents often use outdated, irrelevant scripts and phrases to navigate new issues facing us weekly or even daily. Scripts from two months or even two weeks ago may be completely irrelevant and cost your agents time, money and lost opportunities.

Many markets are seeing a drop in value, with homes sitting on the market longer. In contrast to the multiple offers we’ve become accustomed to, we’re seeing homes sell within 10 days with one offer. This shift requires your agents to be ahead of the change. This is a lot easier for the agents who have been in the business for more than three years. But regardless of your agents’ experience, what they were saying 30 days ago, or even 14 days ago, is most likely not effective in today’s market.

Therefore, it’s necessary to train and coach your agents on how to use more successful strategies to win and sell more listings, negotiate better and convert more leads into closed business. Use these methods to provide your agents a way to speak confidently, add more value—and most importantly—get hired:

1Train using new scripts and dialogues. Conduct a workshop on how to deliver an impactful listing and marketing presentation. Teach and train your agents on the best scripts to use in this changing market to best manage expectations.

2Determine seller motivation. Help your agents learn how to ask leading questions to determine seller motivation. With home values resetting, it’s important for agents to discuss strategies for obtaining the highest fair market value that meets the seller’s timeline.

3Discuss pricing strategy options. It’s important to have a pricing strategy that achieves the seller’s goal. Talking about their options, and the risks and benefits of each option, allows your agents to hone in on what is most important for the seller. Instead of bringing all the comps, discuss a competitive market analysis where your agents can position their home at the highest fair market value to achieve an offer.

4Manage expectations with a negotiation strategy. Teach your agents to cover the negotiation strategy before the offer comes in. They should discuss the price at which the offer may come in and what the next course of action will be. This will help your agents manage expectations more effectively, removing the emotional reactions that can hamper a win/win negotiation.

The truth is, it’s still a good time to buy and sell. It’s important that your agents communicate an enthusiastic, value-added and solutions-based message that displays confidence. Provide options that equip clients with solutions and effective strategies to accomplish their real estate goals. Your agents can practice and roleplay these strategies so they can compete at a higher level and win. RE

Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. Johnson offers individual and group real estate coaching, and is a preferred coach for multiple national brokerages. She consults and speaks for many leading organizations, including RISMedia, NAR, McKissock Learning and Homes.com.