Seller Objection: My Spouse Can’t Make It
Summary
What do you do when half of the couple doesn’t show up for the listing appointment?
RULE #1) Do Not Present to Half a Couple.
RULE #2) Do Not Blame or Get Irritated for them wasting your time.
RULE #3) Reschedule.
RULE #4) If they insist on meeting, refer to RULE #1.
If you agree to meet with just one of them, you will NOT get the listing. It is simple to solve this problem and reschedule with all decision-makers. You just have to have the courage t o do it.
The script for doing this and many others is in The Book of YES.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
There’s a myriad of reasons why a couple, whenever you’re going on a listing appointment, that half the couple doesn’t show up. “My husband’s already transferred, already gone there,” and so forth. Hi, there. It’s Kevin Ward, the founder of YesMasters Real Estate Success Training, helping you get more yeses and more successes in your business and in your life. And one of the scariest moments for a new real estate agent is when you show up at a listing appointment, you’re all excited, you’re all prepared, you’re ready to go, and half of the couple is not even there.
“I’m so sorry, my husband got stuck at the office. He’s not gonna be able to join us tonight.” “Oh, we completely forgot about, my teenage boy’s got a soccer practice, and my wife’s there. She’s” dah, dah, dah. Or, “They are on a field trip,” or whatever. There’s a myriad of reasons why a couple, whenever you’re going on a listing appointment, that have the couple doesn’t show up. “My husband’s already transferred, already gone there,” and so forth. How do you handle the objection of, “My spouse can’t make it”? Now, there’s two places you will run into this. First is, you will run into it on the phone before you come out, when you’re pre-qualifying the listing appointment. So, first is, you have to communicate to them that, “Both you and your husband will be there for our appointment, correct?”
So, let me just kind of show you, I’m going to break down the rules for how do you handle this, “My spouse can’t make it”? How do you avoid this situation from ever coming up? What I’m gonna just share with you is, I’m gonna just call this The Rules. This is The Rules for how you handle this, because sometimes you just gotta have rules of how you do stuff.
So, here are The Rules. Number one, if you want the listing, and I’m assuming you want the listing. And it’s also true with buyers, but I’m focusing right now on listing appointments. Number one, first rule is, no half couple meetings. You don’t meet with half a couple. If they are married, you don’t just meet with the husband or the wife. If they are a couple, and she bought the house a few years ago, and then they got together, and he moved in, and now they’re living there together, she’s on title. He’s not. She’s on the mortgage. He’s not. It doesn’t matter. They are both decision makers now.
And now you go, “He doesn’t have to sign, he’s,” He’s a decision maker, and here’s the reason. When they move, he’s having to move, too. If they sell the house, he’s moving. That makes him a decision maker, because his input in the decision to sell the house is gonna become key. So, whether they are legally both owners, married, whatever, it doesn’t matter. What matters is, who are the influencers that together are gonna make this decision.
And here’s how it showed up for me, was, I would talk to a For Sale By Owner, or a referral, or an expired. And great, we set up the listing appointment. I pre-qualify it. And go, “Both you and your husband will be there for our meeting, correct?” Well, first issue is, when they go, “No, my husband’s not gonna be there.” “Well, I want your husband to be there.” “Well, he’s not gonna be there.” “Well, I want him.” “Well, he’s not.” So what do I do? And that’s that dilemma you get into, right?
So first, you gotta decide, they have to be there. All right? And here’s why it doesn’t work, because I’ve gone on, and understand, I’ve gone on over 1,000 listing appointments in my career. And the one thing I have never been able to do is ever list half a couple. If you go on half a couple, it does not work. Because here’s what’s gonna happen. Even if they tell you, “Well, I’m the decision maker. My husband said,” or, “My wife said it’s okay that I’m gonna to meet with you, and it’ll be fine with them whatever I decide. So I’m the decision maker.”
And then you, “Okay, cool.” We go through it. We do the listing presentation, and you present, you present. And it’s all awesome, “Okay, you ready to go?” And they go like, “No, you know what? I really appreciate it. I’m gonna talk it over with my wife and I’ll let you know.” “But you said you are the only decision maker.” “Well, I am the only decision maker, but I still want to talk it over with her.”
No half couples. Here is the formula for how you get listings and how you don’t. Here’s the formula. It is one, which is you, times the husband, times the wife equals one listing. When you do a listing presentation, this is how it goes. It’s gotta be you times husband times wife equals, and now again, if they are single, this doesn’t matter. If there is just one owner, one decision maker, then it’s 1×1. 1×1 still equals one, right?
So, it doesn’t matter how many decision makers there are. If it’s a probate sale and there’s four kids, and they’re all making the decision, then it’s you times all four of them. But here’s what happens, if it’s a husband and wife, and it’s you are there, and one of the couples is there, but the husband or the wife is missing, what is 1×1×0? It is zero, every time. You don’t get the listing. That’s just the way it goes.
So, what do you do? Well, number two, first rule, no half couples. The second is, no problem. Don’t make it a big deal. Don’t act like, “Oh, you gotta be there.” And especially, if you do a listing appointment and you’ve asked them, “Will both you and your husband be there for our appointment?” “Yes, we’ll both be there.” And then you show up, and one of them’s not there. “Well, you promised you’re gonna be there.” Don’t get frustrated. Don’t get upset. Don’t get bent out of shape. No problem.
So, here’s what you do. And I’m going to just let you know that if you do not have a copy of The Book of Yes, this objection handler is actually in The Book of Yes. So, there’s two parts to this. First is the pre-qualifying conversation, which is the seller sheet in The Book of Yes. So, it’s the seller sheet, which has you ask all the questions that you need answers to, to meet. And one of the questions, “Both you and your husband will be there for our meeting, correct?” The reason that’s important is, if they don’t know they both need to be there and one of them’s not there, it’s your fault, not their fault. Okay? So, you gotta be clear that they know. They know both of them need to be there for our meeting. Awesome. And then if you show up and they are not there because they got stuck at work or whatever, the actual objection handler is right here on page 116 of The Book of Yes.
So, if you don’t have a copy of this, you can go to thebookofyes.com. We’ll put the link down in the description below. Go to thebookofyes.com. You can get a free copy of it. All you do is pay for shipping. Tell me where to send it, and I’ll ship you a copy of the book. You need this book if you want listings. And it tells you how to deal with this. So, you show up at the house. They said they were going to both be there. You get there. The wife answers the door, she says, “Oh, my husband got caught up. His flight got delayed,” or whatever. They’re not necessarily lying. It may have really happened.
And you go, “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. No problem. While I’m here, why don’t I go ahead and take a quick look at the house, and then let’s set up a time to meet when all three of us can be together so we can sit down and go over everything.” Now, notice what I did. I said, “No big deal. No problem.” And then if they tell me what happened, I’m, “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. No problem. Here’s what let’s do.” If they don’t tell you what happened, they just say, “My husband’s not gonna be here,” “Oh, your husband’s not gonna be here. I hate to hear that. What happened?”
I need to find out what’s up. And they go, “Well, he got delayed. He’s caught at work, in a meeting, or whatever.” “Awesome. No problem. I’ll tell you what, let’s do this. Let’s set up a time when all three of us can meet, and we can all be here together. So I can either come back later this evening around 7:15, or would tomorrow at this time around 3:15 be better for you guys?” So notice, I do not give them an option of saying, “Can we reschedule?” I don’t do that. I say, “Let’s set up a time when we can all three meet.”
So, the next thing is, I didn’t make a big deal about it. It’s not like I’m mad at anybody, or bent out of shape. And I’m just gonna say, “No problem. When can we get together where we can all be there?” I am going to reschedule. Period. Now, if she goes, “Oh, no, no, it’s okay. He said just go ahead, and let’s, you and I can sit down and we can talk, and then I’ll go over everything with my husband when he gets in late tonight,” what do you do then?
“You know what, I really appreciate it. And I would love to be able to do that, however, it’s really important that all of us be able to sit down together and meet together, since obviously, I’m gonna be working for both of you. And I want to make sure I can answer all of your questions, both yours and his. And frankly, I want to make sure that we are all on the same page. Does that make sense? And plus, we are going to be working together. I want to make sure we all like each other, in addition. So, I could again, come back this evening around 7:15. Or would tomorrow at 4:15 be better?”
So, I’m gonna let them know, “I appreciate that, however, we gotta all meet. Because number one, I’m working for both of you, number two, I want to make sure that all questions are answered and we are all on the same page, and number three, I want to make sure we all like each other.” And that last part is just kind of fun. It’s a little playful. And that’s the way you do it. So, I reschedule with that simple explanation that, “It’s very important that all of us be able to sit down together and make this happen.”
Now, 99% of the time, that’s it. They’ll say, “No problem. I’m sorry to put you out.” “No problem. I’m going to just go ahead and take a quick look at the house while I’m here, so that way we’ll at least have that done. And when we get together tomorrow, when we can all get together, and we’ll sit down and we’ll actually go over the process and show you guys exactly how we are going to help you get the property sold for top dollar and all of that. Cool? Cool.” All right, cool. And then I’m going to do that.
Now, for the 1% of the time this does not work, and they go, “Well you know what? If you’re not willing to meet with just me, that I guess you don’t need to work with us. I’m not going to reschedule. My husband’s not gonna do that. He’s too busy,” or whatever. Then what do you do? So, if they insist, if they insist, see Rule Number 1, which is, don’t do it. Don’t do it. “You know what? I appreciate that. I wish I could. Unfortunately, it’s just not the way I work, because legally, I’m gonna be representing both of you. And I simply have to meet with both of you. It’s just the way it goes.”
Because here’s what’s going to happen. Number one, you’re gonna give in, and you’re going to meet with them and you’re not going to get the listing. If you sit down with half of them, your chances of getting that listing drop dramatically. And this is somebody who’s taken hundreds and hundreds of listings and sold them, and who’s gone over 1,000 listing appointments. And I’m telling you, and I’ve been coaching agents, and without exception, when I train this, I’ve had agent after agent, I always ask them, “Does anybody want to rebut this? Has anybody had a different experience?” They are, “Nope. This is the way it goes.” If you fold here, you’re not gonna get the listing. Don’t think you’re that special. You’re not going to get it. If they insist, then you say, “You know, I’m sorry. I just don’t work that way.” And if you’ve got value, if you’ve connected with them, they’re going to go, “Okay, well, let me talk to him.” And they’ll reschedule. It’s just the way it goes.
Now, the one last thing, the one last issue that comes up here is, what about the time where the husband is already relocated, or the wife has already relocated, and they are literally out of town. And they’re not going to be back, and I can’t meet with both of them. What do I do then? Zero problem. No problem. Let’s get on a conference call. You can use Skype, you can use FaceTime, you can use Zoom. There’s so many ways now, it is so easy these days to get on a video conference call were you can do a listing presentation, and where you’re sitting there with one of them and the other one is on the computer monitor or on a Smartphone. No problem at all.
It’s the same thing for non-owner-occupied houses. If you are in a resort market, or if you’re in a market where, or a situation where they’ve already relocated and their listing expires, and you got a hold of them, and they’ve already moved and they’re not gonna be back for a month, you can go ahead and do the listing presentation on video. It’s live, interactive. You can use Skype, you can use Zoom, you can use your FaceTime. And you can present the listing, you can present the market analysis, you can do all of it. That’s a little hard on FaceTime. Best, is Zoom or Skype video conferencing, where you’re actually doing that. But it’s a piece of cake to do that. The key is that you’re able, with all of the decision makers there, to lead them to a decision.
And what happens when that happens, you can always expect to get the yes. So, if you like that video, make sure that you give it a thumbs up. If you have not yet subscribed to my channel, make sure you hit the subscribe attend. That’ll be right down here, the subscribe button. I’m putting a link right now, right here. If you have not yet got your free copy of The Book of Yes, go right there, click on it. Get your free copy of The Book of Yes. You’ll just pay the shipping. I’ll ship it to you anywhere in the world. Right here, click on it. This book will make a big difference in your business. And I look forward to seeing you on the next video.