Does making sales in your real estate business feel like a constant struggle?
Maybe you have leads coming in but you just can’t seem to close them.
Or maybe you’ve been posting content on social media, but you’re only hearing crickets in return.
There’s nothing worse than putting a TON of time and effort into your business only to make nothing in return.
The reality is that most agents haven’t been taught how to think about sales strategically.
So today, I’m sharing some key insights to rethink how you sell online so you can master your real estate sales.
Are you ready to stop spinning your wheels when it comes to sales?
Then let’s get into it.
Why People Have a Skewed Sense of Their Sales Skills
There’s a common belief in real estate that if you’re good with people, you’re automatically good at sales.
Good people skills MIGHT be enough to convert repeat and referral clients.
When prospects come to you already warmed to your services, much of the sales work is done for you. All that’s left to do is close and congratulate.
This is because a baseline level of trust has already been established. Even if your sales process isn’t super strategic, you can rely on your people skills and existing rapport to close the deal.
This can lead to the misconception that excellent people skills alone will lead to consistent real estate sales.
But when it comes to cold leads? That’s a whole different ball game.
Actively selling to someone who has no idea who you are and what you offer is very different than selling to leads who come to you hot and ready.
With cold leads, you have to do the legwork.
Show them exactly what they can expect when they work with you, then make it clear how this can lead to a future even better than they’ve dreamed of.
When agents realize that people skills alone don’t cut it for cold leads, it’s a HUGE wake-up call and a sign that it’s time to reevaluate their sales skills.
Becoming a Master at Sales Requires Shifting Your Mindset
Think of your online presence – as your physical storefront.
How good are you at making each person stop, notice, and walk into your store?
This is the first part of the sales process.
If you’re not attracting and engaging potential clients effectively, your sales process is broken early on.
You need to be enrolling clients into your vision instead of them enrolling you in their excuses.
Stop asking yourself, “Why didn’t they choose me?” or completely writing off clients who didn’t rehire you.
Instead, shift your mindset and take ownership of the situation.
Ask yourself, “Where is my sales process broken?”
Take accountability and responsibility for what you are (or aren’t) doing in your sales process.
For example, if you’re struggling to sign repeats or referral clients, you might want to create an email nurture sequence. It’s a great way to keep in touch, continue building the relationship, and gently nudge them to think of you when they’re ready to make a move or know someone who is.
On the other hand, if you’re finding it challenging to sign clients off social media, you might want to do an audit of your online presence and make sure your ‘digital storefront’ is brining in the right people.
Get your sales process right, and you’ll see more leads turning into clients, firmly placing yourself at the top of your market.
4 Reasons You’re Struggling with Real Estate Sales
Hitting roadblocks in business is inevitable. If you’re struggling to make progress in your real estate sales goals, here are 4 common reasons why you might be hitting a wall.
1. Thinking You Sell Real Estate Instead of Real Estate Services
One of the biggest mistakes real estate agents make is believing that they ONLY sell real estate.
In reality, real estate agents do not sell real estate. They sell services.
This is often the first misstep agents make in the sales process.
While most agents associate sales with warm leads and listing presentations, your sales process actually begins with your marketing. And when you position yourself only as “someone who sells houses,” you turn yourself into a commodity.
Instead, give your audience a reason to choose you over any other real estate agent in your market.
Position yourself as someone who sells services and then consults on the sale of real estate.
Start by showcasing your authentic self in your marketing and grow your audience from that foundation.
Soon, you’ll have a captive audience who knows, likes, and trusts you. And when they finally need an agent?
You can be sure you’ll be top of mind!
2. Focusing Too Much on Logic Instead of Tapping Into Emotion
Always remember: people make decisions emotionally before they make them logically.
For a sale to be successful, you need to be able to tap into the emotions of your ideal clients.
No matter what you’re selling, every sales conversation is about creating a gap.
The gap is where they are now and where they want to be.
Your services need to become the bridge between the two.
Think of it like selling a car. Any old junker will get you from point A to point B.
However, no one buys a Porsche or Lamborghini just to have a way to get from one point to another.
They buy them because they crave what owning a Porsche represents – status, wealth, class.
That’s why car dealers let you sit inside the car. They let you get a taste of how it would feel to be driving the car of your dreams.
Then they tell you that you look good in it.
All of these things play to your emotions. They give you that little ego boost needed to nudge you towards the sale.
Real estate is no different.
People don’t move because it’s fun. There’s always something motivating them.
Maybe it’s wanting a better school district, a bigger or smaller property, or even just plain ego behind their desire to move.
Get to the bottom of what’s driving them to move and bridge the gap.
Only focusing on the features of the home, the facts and figures, and the numbers behind the deal is only the logical side of the sales puzzle.
Tap into the real reasons behind why they’re moving and the emotion that’s driving them.
3. Neglecting Your Marketing
I get two types of calls in my business:
Sometimes, I open up the Zoom room and the person on the other end cries in excitement.
They’ve been binging my content and have already started to buy into my process.
On the other hand, I’ll get calls where it’s clear the person is completely new to my brand. They clicked something online and booked a call but have no idea who I am or how I work.
Both of these calls are from online inquiries, but the type of conversation that I would need to have with them is entirely different.
The person on the first call already knows me and my approach to business. They’ve already made an emotional connection to my brand and booked a call mostly ready to buy. We’re mostly meeting to sort out logistics and details.
Or they might just need a final nudge to sell them completely.
But the second person will need a lot more convincing. Not only will I have to explain what I do and what I offer, but I also have to build an emotional connection from scratch.
Think of it like painting a picture. Either you start with the image already outlined and you just have to add color, or you start from scratch with a blank canvas.
It’s the same when it comes to sales conversations.
The difficulty of the sale depends entirely on the quality of the marketing that brought them in.
Good marketing will bring in leads and will start conversations of an even higher quality than a referral.
Even though referrals come from glowing recommendations of past clients, they still know nothing about you. All they know is you sold Sally her house.
Leads that come from inbound marketing are superior because they’re already fully bought into you and your process.
Your content has pre-sold and pre-qualified them before you even get on the phone with them.
When you stop neglecting your marketing and commit to creating top-notch content, real estate sales become easier than ever.
4. Over-relying on sales scripts
When it comes to navigating real estate sales conversations, avoid the temptation to rely on a script.
Scripts are meant to give an inexperienced person confidence.
But every sales conversation is different. Scripts imply that all sales conversations go exactly the same.
They take the human and emotional aspect out of the conversation – leaving the interaction cold and robotic.
And not to mention, any average person with an ounce of emotional intelligence can tell if you’re reading off a script.
Instead, I believe in using frameworks.
A framework will give you a mental checklist of what needs to happen to move the conversation toward making the sale. But when you’re working with a framework, there’s much more room for organic, natural interaction.
You’re able to feel more authentic in the conversation and create an emotional connection instead of coming across as robotic.
I teach my members an 8-point framework for closing real estate deals every single time. Here are the Coles notes:
- Warm-up
- Setting expectations
- The promise
- Qualify
- Personal questions
- Enroll them in a vision
- Offer presentation
- Close & congratulate
This framework is meant to illustrate the psychological journey from stranger to client in an organic way. Parts of it will stay in the same place but the rest can ebb and flow in a way that moves naturally with the conversation.
Want to learn more?
Read this post for a detailed explanation 👉🏼 The Ultimate Guide on How to Close Real Estate Deals in 8 Simple Steps
The next time you’re struggling to close sales, remember that successful sales begin long before the sales conversation.
Sales start with high-quality marketing.
In The Listings Lab, I teach agents the principles of persuasion and the marketing psychology needed to build trust and create an emotional connection with their ideal clients.
We give our members a step-by-step marketing framework designed to teach them how to dominate their market and become the top-of-mind agents they want to be.
Ready to start crushing your sales and revenue goals? Apply to book a free call with our team HERE to see how we can help you land more listings and scale your business from 6 to 7 figures.
