Trust – The definition from the Oxford Dictionary is ‘Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something’ and 1.1 in the Dictionary says: ‘Acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation’.
Estate Agents, Bank Personnel, Teachers, Police Officers, Solicitors. They all are in areas where you have to put your trust in them.
Trust also means to believe. Do you trust your estate agent?
Of course you do. You have trusted your chosen agent with your home, trusted them to get you to your new home, or on your new life path. If you didn’t have complete faith in them, or believe they wouldn’t sell you wouldn’t have used them. So great stuff you can now sell, right?
Possibly.
Let me show you what you may have not considered.
Do your buyers trust your agent? Not all buyers trust all estate agents – If trust is not there it can lead to uncertain sales, lower offers, and ultimately no offers at all.
How can you ensure your estate agent is a trusted one?
They need to build face to face relationships – Viewers get to see them all the time, so being able to be honest in their answers and also make meaningful suggestions helps keep the faith. Your buyers will then trust their opinions and look to them as a support, so when the right house comes along they’ll trust their judgement. I once took over a property that had been for sale for some time. in just a matter of weeks we sold it for £12,000 more than the offers they had received previously. They told me they needed my help again to find them something to buy, a 3 bedroom family home in Lancaster. Okay, and the challenge was accepted. I knew this couple well, we had talked, met many times and I knew their likes and dislikes, we’d built a foundation of trust so when I told them I had the perfect house for them they were delighted. I told them they had to come and see it, found out when they were free and they accepted. They never asked where it was, nor what it was like, they just said ‘yes’.
They bought it. They trusted my judgement, came to see it, and had an offer accepted the very next day.
The thing was, this home was a two bedroom bungalow in Morecambe, not the 3 bedroom family home they were after. I explained my reasons for selecting this for them and suddenly it all made sense. He worked around the corner and didn’t drive so his lovely wife drove from Lancaster every night to collect him. They needed something finished and ready to go, they loved character and they only wanted one child, and their budget was ideal for this area. It really was the perfect home. Plus the log burner helped! When all is said and done they trusted my judgement.
So how can you ensure the agent you choose is trusted with your buyers?
The ability to hear the voice and see the face and body language creates a memorable visual. It’s about body language, eye contact, words. All of these together build a well rounded feeling of trust. It becomes second nature to you to read someone’s non verbal signals, the ones where you know they can hit asking price, the eye contact they make between them to say that this is the one! The ones you can see are dis-interested and are just being polite but it’s not really their thing. Your house might be their thing, so you must trust that your estate agent can see this, so when choosing a property for the couple to see next, they trust the judgement of that agent. Meaning you are more likely to get them to view, and ultimately, buy.
Telesales is one of the hardest jobs in the world, to try and get someone to trust you over the phone is very difficult indeed. Building rapport is hard and finding common ground is equally hard. Consider this when you are selecting an agent, especially an online one.
Face to face is easier to find common ground, it may be their badges that adorn their collars, or the handbag they have. They may come straight from work and be in a uniform, being able to establish trust will start with meeting them, finding something to talk about in a way that the buyer will be able to resonate with. A man in his plumbers uniform, may well prefer to learn about the home’s tradesmen they used, the certificates they have for the boiler and the garage for his tools, a busy mum with a I AM 5 badge, suggests a young child, so they’ll love storage and space for some R&R. By establishing the trust from early on makes a sale much more likely.
So when you chose your next agent, see what they pick up on, see how they build rapport and trust with you, ask around and secret shop. It’ll help in getting your home sold faster and for more money.
I hope this helps in making the right decision for you.
Good Luck
Ps: Visibility builds trust. It is important that your estate agent hosts the viewings, this is where we see the secret smiles, the gentle whispers, and the pointing at the dirty grout! We can gather a lot of information based on their actions in the house and the questions they ask. It’ll make a big difference to your sale…tustt me, I’m an estate agent!
Want to know HOW having the right viewer makes a difference – see this Client Showcase: How the right ESTATE AGENT VIEWER can make the biggest difference
Interestingly after writing this Julian O’Dell (Estate Agent, Estate Agent Trainer and one of the leading industry experts) has released a piece on trust. It’s a big issue, but how do you rate it? I’d love to know.
