« | Home | »

Mastering Commercial Real Estate Client Objections

By Jim Gillespie | November 13, 2008

I think every commercial real estate brokerage company should have scripts for overcoming client objections that the office gives to every single agent who works for the company. I would hope that there is at least one brokerage company or office out there that’s doing this for its agents, but if this company exists no one has yet mentioned it to me.

And if you’d like scripts like these written and developed for your own brokerage company, this is an area I have great expertise in, so feel free to contact me directly if you want to discuss this with me. We could even include audio CDs for all of your agents where I’d explain the overall process and strategy to them, and deliver the responses with the perfect timing, syntax, and tonality that will maximize effectiveness.

If agents were given scripts for overcoming client objections in the very beginning of their career, they could then rehearse these scripts so they’d deliver these responses on autopilot whenever it’s appropriate for them. This certainly would beat the heck out of feeling like a deer in the headlights whenever a client feeds an agent an objection they wish they had developed a better response to.

Here are two examples of potential client objections and responses that can be utilized to redirect the client’s mind and reframe their objections:

Client Objection:

“The owner wants too much money for the property.”

Super Broker Response:

“What’s more important to you…the money you’re investing in the property or the total amount of value you’re receiving for the money invested?”

This above response will soften the client’s objection and have them begin to look at value instead of just price. But you also need to be able to explain to the client why the properety is in fact a good value for the money they’re investing in it.

Client Objection:

“The amount of commission you want me to pay you in your listing agreement is too much.”

Super Broker Response:

“If I were to tell you that I have an attorney who will do all your legal work for just $25.00 an hour, would you want to hire that attorney to do all your legal work for you?”

Then wait for the client to answer “No” to the above question before continuing on with…

“Similar to a $25.00 an hour attorney, you get what you pay for in commercial real estate brokerage. Now do you want to work with another broker who’s so desperate that he’ll cut his commission just to try to get your business? Or do you want to work with a broker who’s clients feel he’s worth every single dollar they’ve ever paid him, and get a price for your property that you’ll be absolutely thrilled with?”


Topics: Persuasion | No Comments »