The Hard Sell

When did the hard sell ever work?

There was one time a sales person ran out of a furniture store to give me his card and tell me about a special offer he can give me if I just call him. Result, I’ll never step foot in that furniture store again.

Or the sales person at the Toyota dealership on Frank Lloyd Wright who insisted on trying to sell me a suped up Avalon with flashy rims even though I told him I didn’t want to buy an Avalon. Result, I’ll never buy a Toyota.

Why are people still hard selling? How does it lead to long term happy satisfied customers?

Apple create desire for their products, then build shiny stores for people to touch and experience the products. They never sell me anything. Yet my house is full of their products.

Target ask me “Is there anything I can help you find today?” They layout the store and help me to find the things I want to buy. That’s it.

Real estate still seems obsessed with the hard sell. Below is a quote from an article on what is supposed to be a cutting edge think tank of real estate thought, marketing and technology discussion.

3. Script practice is vital. Practice different objections regarding your online presence and never be embarrassed by it.

Source Inman Next.

Still REALTORS are being advised to learn scripts like a parrot of how to handle customers objections.

What happened to just listening to your clients and help them make the right decision for them.

Quite recently we bought a house.

Here was the process.

1. Decide on the price range, location and key features of the home we wanted.

2. Search the MLS for possible homes to view.

3. View homes from the possibles list.

4. Fell in love with a cute little family home.

5. Wrote up an offer.

6. Bought the home. Moved in happy.

Maybe I am missing something but where in that process is there room for a hard sell? No one could of ever made me fall in love with a house that I didn’t want to.

Real estate should be about information and negotiation. Information to allow clients make good decisions with all the facts they need to come to the right choice for them. Negotiation to make sure clients get the very best deal once they’ve made the decision to buy or sell.

If your real estate agent feels like a sales person, run. If you need to be sold real estate you probably don’t want buy it.


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