In an industry with strong competition, thin commissions and big promises, your selling skills need to be on point to get traction, build rapport and keep more clients.
No amount of sales training, script following or processes driven CRM prompts will compensate for a salesperson who is not aligned with their sales style.
When your beliefs are not aligned with your actions, you will feel conflicted. That feeling is known as cognitive dissonance.
You will struggle to follow a plan, commit to a script, or execute a conversation flowchart when you don’t believe in what you are doing.
For real estate professionals to have more impact in their sales conversations and business development, they need to ensure that their sales mode fits with their personality and belief system.
Below are a few sales modes that real estate professionals take on when engaging into a sales conversation or creating a relationship with a new prospect.
The Beggar
The Beggar mode is housed in humility, respect and takes a gentle approach to their sales conversations.
They don’t wish to be intrusive, pushy or demanding and hence they may start their conversation with being apologetic and can be overly accommodating to their client’s needs, whims, mannerisms and personality.
Also, when a real estate professional doesn’t have full confidence in themselves, their product/service or their sales process, they can fall into the Beggar mode.
The Beggar strives for validation and approval, and hence their behaviour can reflect this
By not prioritising themselves as important or as valuable as the prospect and hence they can often be treated with less respect, value or interest, as they are seen more as an interruption rather than valuable interaction.
As a result, the Beggar often pleads for the sale. They are somewhat nervous and needy for the sale and hence they ‘smell of desperation’.
In the Beggar mode, selling can feel like a long game of patience requiring a tremendous amount of time and effort.
As a self-reflective question, ask yourself ‘Am I trying too hard to get the client’s approval?’
The Persuader
The Persuader’s strength is their strong belief in themselves and a confidence in their product/service.
The Persuader is fairly results driven, self-motivated to achieve their targets and have a competitive nature.
Their need to win and achieve drives their interaction style.
Accomplishments fuels their self-esteem and is their currency of self-worth.
The Persuader believes that selling is mostly about finding the right angle to hook the client in or the most effective script/process to get the deal across the line.
Hence, they are persistent and have a lot of knowledge about their product/service.
In the Persuader mode, however, you are likely to talk more than you listen as you present information, product detail, and compelling reasons to buy from you.
Your hunger for the sale can border on trying to convince the client to make a decision, resulting in over-selling and having what is commonly known as ‘commission breath’.
As a self-reflective question, ask yourself ‘How much convincing and talking am I doing in my sales conversations?’
The Befriender
The Befriender’s superpower is the connection they make with the client.
They invest into people and believe that great rapport is the backbone of a good sales relationship to get better sales outcomes. Clients trust Befrienders and believe in their integrity.
The Befriender can shy away from selling and closing strategies because they feel that their friendliness and connection will be sufficient enough motivation for the client to self-initiate the sale or the deal.
They are weary about progressing a sales conversation at the expense of compromising the connection.
The Befriender mode knows the client’s birthdays, anniversaries, children’s names and pastimes – they just don’t get the deal over the line as often at the risk of fracturing the relationship.
As a self-reflective question, ask yourself ‘what might this prospect need that will help them make a buying decision?’
The Selector
The Selector approaches their sales conversations in the same way that a head coach or talent scout would go about picking the best players for their team.
The Selector comes from a position of conviction and value.
They approach each meeting by deciding if the client/prospect is the right fit for them, much like treating them as an entrance exam which decides if the client is eligible to do business with you.
They are interested in the sale, but not needy.
They will explore needs and find out if they are the right fit for the client and also whether the client is the right fit for them.
The Selector has to relinquish the need to get the sale to ensure that they are providing the right service to the right client.
As a self-reflective question, ask yourself ‘How am I able to add value here?’
Conclusion
There is value in each mode, however the greatest alignment of confidence, connection and value often comes when you are in the Selector mode.
Each sales mode will influence your choice of words, your confidence and your process of engagement.
Frequently asking yourself the self-reflective questions listed above is a great way to understand the subtle changes to make in order to shift sales modes.
