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4:30 a.m. Thinking, April 7th, 2010

Do You Know What Your Customer Needs?

There are times when you have to give a customer what they need. There are times when you have to give a customer what they want.

Routing Number THE LAKE BANK

Either way, you have to understand what they need AND what they want.

As real estate professionals we often know what our customer needs. For some reason it’s harder to find out what they want right?

Maybe it’s because we don’t ask them enough.

We often go into a meeting with a prospect and can’t wait to tell them how great we are. We love telling them our references, past successes, and how great our company or office is doing.

We ask them a bunch of questions that are mostly designed to make it easier for us to make the sale right? And there is nothing wrong with that, you need to be able to close them. But if that isn’t working great for you all the time, maybe you need another approach.

One of the things I’ve noticed as we work with more and more potential coaching clients from a lot of different industries is that the sales process goes smoother, and ends in a win-win for both parties if we simply ask them what the want.

“Mr./Ms. Prospect, I’m glad you’re looking into coach with us and we may be a good fit, but tell me, what is it you want us to do. What do you want us to provide you?”

If you keep encouraging them to tell you what they want, instead of interrupting to tell them how great you are, they will be so appreciative. They will feel understood.

Once you do understand them, and they recognize that you understand them, you can then present a solution and a plan to meet what they want (probably with a little of what they need mixed in).

We’ve had a lot of current and potential clients tell us they want help managing their social networking, and on-line presence, so we’ve created that solution for them. We will be rolling this out as standard product offering soon because we understand people need it. But we would have never known  they needed this if we didn’t know what they wanted.

Do you know what your clients want or only what they need?

Keep encouraging them to tell you want they want before telling them how great you are. This approach will result in them wanting, and needing, to work with you.

I read this article on John Alexandrov’s blog and I was immediately taken back to a time a few years ago when I was on a listing presentation. The client had found me online, filled out the form on my web site, and there I was, sitting in front of him.

I had a process that I followed on appointments, and as I was going through the process, the client said ‘you know, neither of the other agents I spoke to before you asked me what I want or what I need. I am so glad you asked me those questions’.

We continued through the process and I left with a signed listing at a full commission, plus a signed buyer representation agreement. I was competing against 2 agents who were charging 4% less than me, so I was very pleased with this outcome.

as it turned out, the most important thing for this particular seller/buyer was his needs, not his wants. If I’d done what some agents do, I would never have known the needs he had! A further point he made to me was that I was the only agent who asked him the question “Is there anything I need to know that I haven’t thought to ask you?”. He proceeded to tell me a bit about his personal style and habits that would end up making a big difference in our working relationship. Again, I sure was glad I thought to ask that last question.

Do you need help knowing what questions to ask to determine the wants AND needs of your prospects? Give me a call – I’m here to help!


 



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Wed, April 7 2010 » 4:30 a.m. Thinking

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