Answering Inquiries
1. To generate more inquiries, don’t put everything about your property in the ad. This gives the reader a reason to call and find out more.
2. Remember your objective in handling inquiries is to cause the caller to want to see the house. You can’t sell a house over the phone.
3. If you are running an ad in the paper, make sure you are available to handle inquiries during peak response times, especially evening and weekends. Always put your phone number on your yard sign, so that drive-by shoppers know how to contact you for showings. If you are running an ad on the internet, respond to email inquiries with an invitation to call for a showing appointment.
4. Always thank the person for calling about your house. It’s a polite and friendly way to start a conversation.
5. Always trade names with the caller, and ask for their phone number, so that you have a record of who inquired for follow up.
6. The caller will usually ask you questions about your house right at the beginning of the call. Always give a direct answer to a direct question, and then, to keep the conversation going, ask a probing question of your own.
Example
Q: How many bedrooms does your house have?
A: We have three bedrooms. How many were you looking for?
7. Invite questions from the caller by asking, “What can I tell you about the house?”
8. Before agreeing to an appointment for a showing, always ask the caller, “Have you been pre-qualified by a lender in my price range?” This will avoid getting tied up in a contract with a buyer who cannot afford your home.
9. Before agreeing to a showing, always ask the caller if they have to sell their present home first in order to buy yours. Studies show that 7 out of 10 buyers are really lookers who cannot buy until their home is sold, and their home isn’t even on the market yet.
