When the Market Turns

During the boom, I heard many salespeople talk up their results. Many of them are quiet now that the market has turned. Now I see many leaders and salespeople in a state of panic. They’re not making sales and they’re blaming the buyers.

It’s time to get out of panic mode and get to work.

Do you have listings? How many are you personally managing? If you have stock, you can talk to the owners about the state of the market. If they want to sell, they must understand that their properties are commodities on a market. Overpriced properties don’t sell.

Are you prepared to recommend that people withdraw their property from the market if they won’t reduce to a price that sells? What good is overpriced stock and stubborn clients? They demotivate you and give you false hope. Some sellers need to be politely ‘fired’.

Are you prepared to prospect to increase your chances of having motivated sellers to work with? Inaction has consequences. So does action.

Don’t blame buyers. They will buy properties that are priced fairly for TODAY’S MARKET. You are not paid to get yesterday’s prices.

If you want to motivate your buyers, motivate your sellers first!
Properties that are priced right sell.

The days of “If we get our price, we’ll sell” are over! This is not the market to ‘try’. This is print-age mentality. In the days of print, about 1 in 30 used to buy the properties they enquired about. In the age of digital advertising, it’s more like 1 in 6. Sellers who sit on the market overpriced, burn good buyers.

Consider the Digital Footprint – if buyers see an overpriced property sitting on the market, they begin to wonder either of two things: What is wrong with the property, or

What is wrong with the owner?

They think that something is wrong with the house, or that the owner doesn’t want to sell. Either is not a good reputation for sellers to have, about themselves or their property.

In the days of print, sellers could sometimes find a naïve buyer who would pay over the market value. They don’t exist anymore. Buyers do their research online and know current market prices as well as agents. Holding out for a price is an outdated strategy, especially in a falling market where the longer you wait, the lower the price you will receive.

The skills you needed during the boom are different to the skills you need when a market turns. Now you must have those tough conversations with you sellers. Put price on the table and address it head on. Avoid those conversations and you’re sure to fail.

Sales success still comes back to this one question:

“If your listings were half price, would they sell?”

A good question to ask your sellers, too.

Gary Pittard