Do you find it hard to deal with conflict in a client situation? I find that most of the time the conflict has nothing to do with your relationship with the client. I find that you usually start to see conflict arise when a listing becomes stale and it isn’t selling.
I recently dealt with an agent who was trying to figure out a situation exactly like this with their client, and I think this happens to all of us at one point in time. This agent was very worried that the conflict in the relationship due to the listing not selling was going to lead to them switching agents – a valid concern.
I asked this agent about their level of communication and level of relationship with the clients they were dealing with. They said they had a good relationship with one person from the couple and they had been communicating through email, text and voicemail.
My first suggestion to this agent and my suggestion to you if you are ever in this situation, is to try to be very proactive and get ahead of this situation by coordinating a meeting where the client has to physically come to your office, so everyone can sit down and talk through it together. I also said, “You need to do your homework. You should have all the feedback from showings and why the home isn’t selling. Even if you’ve presented that to them over time, they’ve probably forgotten a lot of that.”
Getting to meet your client in person is the perfect opportunity to present the consistent feedback and the property valuation report data again, so that they understand why the property is not selling and the solution.
And when you present them with this information, give it objectively. Don’t say, “I think…” or “I can see that…” Make sure that this is not perceived as your opinion! “Based on the empirical evidence…” or “The feedback from the market shows…” is a lot better.
Then, the most important thing to do is to ask open ended questions.
What I mean by that is, once you have presented the feedback from the showings, and the data on what the market is saying their home is worth – Ask them what they think is going on with the home, based on the data why they think it’s not selling, what they think needs to happen for it to sell based on the information you gave them.
You should ask these questions and then… be quiet.
Watch their body language. Wait for them to process the information and think about it. It sounds strange, but every time I do this I lead the client to understand and say the problem aloud, and it allows them to make the decision on what needs to be done – instead of me telling them what they need to decide and what to do (people don’t like being told what to do).
It is so much more powerful for the client to decide they need to lower the price or get that renovation, because then I am not the bearer of bad news or the bad guy in their eyes – but their friend who is there to give them information and help them to make a decision together, as a team!
Note that you should always have the solution mapped out physically or in your head, but you want to get them to say it. Then, after that is established you can take all of this showing feedback, information, and your team decision – and put it into an action plan. Most likely this action plan includes a price reduction, and is your job to fulfill on.
At the end, don’t be afraid to ask your clients what THEY believe you can do differently! Ask if there’s anything else on their mind that they want to talk about. You need to be able to have an open and candid conversation.
So, to wrap it up and summarize – if you feel there is conflict or friction in your client relationship you need to physically meet with them and find out what the problem is. You cannot move forward and serve them at the highest level if you don’t know what they are thinking and they don’t know what you’re doing. Be open and candid and you will see that clients trust you more and they will feel more comfortable making decisions because you have served them at the highest level!
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