Real Estate Scripts for Agents
I don’t believe in Real Estate scripts.
When I was starting out, I learned them all. And for many years I even taught them even when I stopped using them myself. The reason? A lot of people get into Real Estate with little or no sales background and have no idea how to handle conversations and communicate with clients and prospects. I felt it was better, even if not optimal, to arm agents with something they could say.
But eventually I found a better way. One that is a lot more authentic, spontaneous and likely to get agents closer to the results they want.
For the basketball fans out there, think of it as a motion offense compared to a set offense. For everyone else, what I am talking about is a way to be more spontaneous, authentic and in control of whatever situation you are in.
I do this by incorporating certain foundational structures in my communication whether it is written or verbal. I can modify those to fit whatever situation comes up.
Let’s examine a few examples.
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF……
I use this one a lot. Here’s how it goes:
There are two kinds of buyers
There are two kinds of sellers
There are two kinds of investors
There are two kinds of lenders
etc
Let’s say I’m working with a buyer who never seems to find the right house. I might say something like, “you know there’s two types of buyers. Some will keep looking for something that just doesn’t exist. Others will find the best blend of price, location, condition, get into escrow and after closing make that house into their home.”
You could reasonably ask how that’s not a script. Great question. By working with the format of there’s two kinds of (or two types of), I can modify what follows to the specific situation.
Let’s say my buyer client is always looking for the house where everything will be perfect when they get the keys (doesn’t exist). I might say, “you know there’s two kinds of buyers in the market right now. Some are like you and don’t want to do anything after they get the keys and I totally get that. Others see the opportunity to do what they want to a property and not be paying a premium for someone else’s updates.”
Or I might say “there’s two types of buyers. The first group keeps looking for exactly what they want - whether it exists or not. The second group gets it that no house is perfect and realize that no matter how long they look, that’s not likely to change.”
This works really well with “I’m not in a hurry, I can wait.” A lot of agents who aren’t cashing commission checks just say “OK, here’s my card, call me when you’re ready”. How about this instead:
“There’s two types of buyers, those that say they can wait and the others who lock in a house so they can stop paying rent and start enjoying the benefits of being a home owner.”
The point here is rather than convince your clients or prospects to do something specifically, you present them with two scenarios: one which maintains the status quo and the second which is the decision or realization you want them to make.
IF - THEN
A large part of success in real estate is finding out what someone will do - what’s their motivation and commitment to buying or selling.
A structure I use exploits the hypothetical. Here’s what I mean.
“If I showed you a house today that checks all your boxes, are you ready to write an offer?”
“If I brought you an all cash buyer today that will pay your price and give you a long escrow or a lease back, would you be ready to accept an offer?
Here’s the important part about this structure. You are not saying that you have the listing or the buyer, you are just asking what they would do. And you can modify this to whatever the situation is.
Now usually the answer you get is not an unequivocal yes. It is usually qualified which lets you ask the next follow up question. It is more likely that you get a no. And at that point you can ask the questions to further qualify the prospect so you can decide if it is worth working with them.
So let’s say that you ask the seller the second question above and they say “no”. Your follow up with something as simple as “why is that”, or “when will you be ready”. This helps you decide who to work with and not only waste less time but shorten the time between commission checks.
So let’s say that the seller prospect says they won’t take the offer and you ask “why is that?”, you may find out all kinds of things. Maybe they are waiting to sell until they find a place to move to, or retire, or their kids move out. You need to know that.
ACKNOWLEDGE - RESPOND - PIVOT
This is also known as “ARP”. It’s very simple. You first acknowledge what they are saying, “I hear you, you want a 4 bedroom house that doesn’t require any work and will sell for $1.8M in (fill in the neighborhood”. That’s the acknowledgement. Then you respond (answer). “The last time I saw anything that would check all those boxes was 3 years ago”. And then you pivot to - guess what, one of my other structures. How about there’s 2 kinds of buyers? “You know there’s two types of buyers. Some wait and wait for a property that isn’t likely to ever hit the market. Others, realize that they are only chasing the market up (chasing rates up, paying rent longer) and reset their expectations.”
ACKNOWLEDGE - RESPOND - CLOSE
This is a variation of ARP which I refer to as “ARC”. Instead of doing the pivot, you just go for the close. In the above example you would say as a close “So let’s go ahead and write the offer for the house we just saw.”
A lot of people in sales have trouble closing. It makes them uncomfortable. Well you can be uncomfortable because you aren’t getting any commission checks or you can be uncomfortable because you are asking closing questions and the response may be a “no”.
What I can tell you is there are two types of agents.
The first group never have enough sales to make being an agent worthwhile to say nothing of paying their bills.
The second group goes beyond their comfort zone when interacting with clients and prospects but they get to cash the commission checks the first group never sees.
Did I just do “there’s two kinds of….” with you? Yes.
INTRODUCTION - FACT - QUESTION
ARP and ARC work well when you are fielding objections. But how about when you are the one initiating the conversation like when following up with an online inquiry or calling someone you met at an Open House? I use the IFQ structure in those situations.
Here’s how it would work with someone you are calling that you met at an Open House.
(Introduction) “Hi this is Ellis Posner. I’m a local Real Estate Broker.”
(Statement of Fact) “We met at the Open House at my listing at 123 Main Street last Sunday.”
(Question) “I’m calling to see if their are any more properties you would like to see.”
The nice thing about this structure is they can’t say no to your first two statements.
As for the third - the question, many agents are worried that the person will just say no. That’s ok. Let’s say they say “No, there are no other properties I’m interested in” or something like that. Your next question would be “Have you stopped looking or are you working with another agent?”
Let’s say they responded that they stopped looking. You simple reply would be “why is that?”.
If they say they are already working with another agent, you could pivot to the “if-then” format as in “if I brought you a great property that checked all your boxes but isn’t listed in the MLS, would you work with me?”. Now if they say no, and many do, you know there is no opportunity there. But if they hedge at all, that means the door is open.
About your intro.
I’m an independent Broker. If you work for an agency, you would say “Hi this is John Smith from RE/MAX” or something to that effect.
The fact statement should strongly anchor them to something specific. It might be that you met them at an Open House, or they were referred, or they filled out a form or registered on your website.
The question should definitely lead them in a direction you want to go in.
THREE OPTIONS
This is one of my favorites and not just because people like to think they are in control. Everyone likes options.
Many agents start their statements with words like “I think” and “You should”. Unless someone asks what you think best to keep your opinions to yourself. And no one likes being told what to do - particularly with their money.
So I use, the 3 options formula. Here’s how it goes…..
Option One is always maintaining the status quo.
Option Two is whatever the other person says to put you off.
Option Three moves them in the direction you want them to go.
Here’s an example with a Buyer who you’ve been working with for 6 months and still isn’t ready to write an offer:
There are three options.
One: we can keep looking at properties until the absolute perfect one comes along even though we haven’t seen it yet and don’t know if it will ever come along.
Two: you can keep renting and hope your landlord doesn’t sell or raise your rent.
Three: we can go back and make an offer - maybe lower than the list price, on one of those properties we saw that didn’t check all of your boxes but checked most of them.
After you present this, just shut up and wait.
If they go with option one, your response is “there are two kinds of buyers….”.
If they voice option two and say “well I can keep renting” (or living in my parent’s basement), you might consider telling them that if anything changes please get back in touch.
A lot of agents won’t do this because - as they tell me “but what if they go to an open house and see a place they like and just use the listing agent?”. Well, hate to break it to you, in that case they weren’t going to use you anyway. Remember you are not telling them you won’t work with them, only that if they decide they don’t want to rent to recontact you.
The response you really want to elicit is option three. They may ask “how low” or “which one”. At least then you are discussing an offer as opposed to another six months of showings.
I often lead off the three option structure with “there are three options”, or “you have three options”. If I know (from an NLP perspective) that the person is visual, as most people are, I might say “I see three options”. If they are physically oriented, my statement would start with “it feels like there are three options”. For the people who are more auditory, my opening is “it sounds like there are three options”.