Sherri Johnson – 6 Tips to

6 Tips to Coach Your Agents to Greater Success

By Sherri Johnson

When navigating highly complex, multiple-offer negotiations, it’s important for agents to be prepared and proactive in order to provide clients the best chance to win a bid for their dream home.

Your agents should employ strategies that will give them and their clients a leg up in the market. For best results, host a training class or have a sales meeting discussion to review the following strategies.

Over-communicate how to compete as a buyer in today’s market. Agents should over-communicate to their buyer-clients that they need to be motivated, financially prepared and have a sense of urgency to act on a home they want to purchase. They need to be ready to go when they see a house they want.

Over-prepare on pricing strategies in advance. Agents should educate their buyers on a solid pricing and negotiating strategy before they write an offer. Explain that the “over ask price” may be based on the price point of that home and neighborhood. By doing this, buyers will be prepared to present their highest and best offer.

Be relentless and resourceful. Help buyers write the best offer by contacting the listing agent to find out their preferred terms for closing dates and occupancy, rent backs if necessary and financing or cash options so that they can put the best terms in their initial offer.

Over-prepare buyers to be creative and flexible with terms. It may take an escalation clause for buyers to offer more than those they’re competing against. Other options include using an appraisal gap guarantee or inspection cap on repairs to keep the buyer’s financial interests intact while being competitive and attractive to the seller. Focus on today’s market price. Explaining the benefits of buying in today’s market to help a buyer maximize their buying power with low interest rates—or for a buyer to maximize the current value of their home as-is and sell at the peak of the market—provides agents with great financial real estate advice to share with their clients.

Go find the inventory for your buyers. It takes more than waiting for the right home to appear in the local MLS, and in today’s highly competitive market, it has never been more important for agents to go find listings for their buyer-clients. Going after listings is a way to reengineer your real estate brain to stop relying only on the MLS. Network with the agents in your office or surrounding offices and send out consistent messaging that you’re taking new listings in specific neighborhoods because you have qualified or cash buyers for their home. RE

In today’s highly competitive market, it has never been more important for agents to go find listings for their buyer-clients.

Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. Johnson offers individual and group real estate coaching, and is a preferred coach for multiple national brokerages. She consults and speaks regularly for many leading industry organizations, including RISMedia, NAR, McKissock Learning and Homes.com.