Be informative, not authoritative!!

As a professional agent, a large part of your job is to provide clients with informed advice and share your expertise about the property industry.

After all, they have hired you because they cannot do this job themselves - and are therefore looking to you to provide direction.

However, closing sales in real estate is almost always a two-way street - you cannot find the best solution for your clients unless you open the lines of communication and allow them to inform you about what they want.

If you are too authoritative in your approach, they may not feel comfortable expressing their own thoughts and this could cause confusion or discontent later down the track.

Discontentment from either side could threaten the sales process and even lose you valuable work, so it is important to keep your wits about you when entering into new professional relationships.

By being informative, you are tailoring your expert knowledge to meet their needs.

From responding to questions appropriately to offering advice and a range of possible solutions, you are helping them to make the right decisions.

In order to be able to do this effectively and consistently, it is important to stay up-to-date in your training - attending regular property conferences and real estate training seminars can help you keep up with market trends.

However we know that even with the best training, some clients can be difficult to please.

Not everyone is forthcoming with their ideas and in some situations clients simply do not know what they are looking for - making it especially hard for you to find the appropriate solution.

While it may sometimes be tempting to assert your own authority this does not always end well.

There is usually no question that you know more about the property industry than your clients, but this doesn't mean that you can tell them what to do - at the end of the day, they are the ones looking to invest their hard-earned money into real estate.

If certain clients are set on making an investment that you do not agree with, the best thing you may be able to do is provide a substantial amount of informative and educated advice.

Disagreeing to the point of no return could result in them looking for a professional agent's service elsewhere - and they may speak about you negatively in the future to other prospective clients.

Fortunately, in the long run an informative agent with integrity wins the race - it may be worth keeping that in mind next time you come across a difficult client.

Source:  http://www.tret.com.au