In my last post, I discussed the importance of the information gathering stage during the client buying process and why you should focus your marketing materials on educating prospects at this stage.

In this post, I’ll discuss the sales process, or what is going through your prospects’ minds when they evaluate different real estate options, hire a real estate agent, and begin the process to buy or sell their home.

Stage 1 – Evaluate Solutions

When your prospects have gathered enough information to feel comfortable moving towards a purchasing decision, they then take the next step, which is to evaluate the solutions. At this stage, your prospects have gathered all sorts of information about real estate. That doesn’t mean all the information they’ve collected is good – or right – but they’ve collected enough to know that they can’t do this buy themselves and are ready to consider hiring a real estate agent to guide them through the process.

That doesn’t mean that all prospects are ready to buy at this stage – they’re just weighing their options and trying to decide if they should buy or sell right now. So, they call you to learn more.

Why do prospects call you?

  • They may not know what to do next
  • They may be interested in a home and want to know the price
  • They may have heard about an open house and want to check the time
  • They may have seen a home on your website they’re interested in viewing
  • They may want to know what other homes in their neighborhood are selling for
  • They may need help finding financing and need options
  • They may be interested in looking at various homes in the neighborhood
  • They may be pricing shopping real estate services
  • They may have seen your marketing materials and are requesting your free guide
  • They may be interested in attending a seminar you are conducting
  • They may be interested in hiring you to list their home

In other words, prospects may contact you for a bunch of reasons – and some of them won’t involve hiring you at this point. Some may still be back in the information gathering stage and need to be educated before they’re ready to buy. Others may not understand how real estate agents work. They might think you should take them out to look at homes for an afternoon with no intention of buying a home. Or they may tell you a number of features they’d like their potential new home to have – though they could change their mind at any time.

Regardless, it’s your job to start building a personal connection with prospects so that when they move forward with their purchasing decision, you’re the agent they hire to get the job done.

Stage 2 – Hire a Real Estate Agent

Once your prospects have evaluated all options they are considering, it’s time to make a decision. At this stage, they will either hire you, hire your competitor, do it themselves, or decide now is not the time to buy.

At this stage, the negotiations have been hammered out. They’ve agreed to pay your fee. They are pre-approved for financing. They feel comfortable working with you and believe you will do everything you can to serve them. And they are ready to buy or sell their home.

Stage 3 – Re-Evaluate Their Hiring Decision

Once you’ve been hired, the real work starts. With services, getting prospects to sign on the dotted line is only the first step in building a working relationship with them. You now have to prove to them that you can do what you said you would. Your client will have specific expectations for what services you’ll provide, what their new home should be like, and how much they’re willing to spend during negotiations.

Often, they won’t be able to get everything they want or something will go wrong during the process. It’s up to you to manage their expectations every step of the way and make sure that they are happy with your service.

By understanding how clients buy real estate services, you can shape your marketing messages accordingly.

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