Why FSBO Preview Appointments are A Huge Mistake
SUMMARY
Preview appointments are a mistake…Because most agents do them wrong.
1. They’re BS if you’re pretending to have a buyer.
2. They’re training the Seller NOT to hire you.
3. Value, not rapport, is what will make them hire you.
Should you do them? If it’s the only way I can get them to talk to me…
#1) Tell them “I’m not looking for a specific buyer…I just like to know everything that’s on the market…because you never know…”
#2) Use it to find motivation and get a real appointment: If I could help you get as much or more money in your pocket, would you be willing to talk about it?
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Preview appointments are a mistake because most agents do them wrong.
This is a question today that I get asked and that a lot of people out there talk about doing, and that is setting up a preview appointment with a for sale by owner. The title of this video is ‘Why, for sale by owner preview appointments are a huge mistake’.
First, let me say it this way, preview appointments are a mistake, because most agents do them wrong. Inherently, it is not a mistake or anything wrong about going to visit a for sale by owner to preview their property. But there are things that we do and ways that we approach it that make it a huge mistake. And that’s what I want to talk about in this video, is how to not let preview appointments be a huge mistake and that you can do them in ways that are effective. Most of the stuff that I hear and that I see, out there on YouTube, Facebook, or groups, most of the training I’m hearing and seeing, and I’ve seen a lot of it, is bad. And it makes preview appointments with for sale by owner a huge mistake.
Number One: It’s B.S. If You’re Pretending to Have a Buyer
So if you’re using one of those scripts that go like, “Well, I want to come see if it’s a fit for one of my buyers, I want to preview it because I may have a buyer.” That kind of stuff. If you are pretending that you have a buyer, that is crap. That is dishonest, it is deceptive, and you want to actually win their trust and get them to hire you when you start out with a lie? Come on. I hope I don’t have to say anything else about that. So number one, it’s a huge mistake if you’re pretending to have a buyer. That is total B.S. Don’t do that.
Number Two: You’re Actually Training the Seller Not to Hire You
That’s right. Think about it. If you talk to a for sale by owner, they go, “Well, we’re not going to list, but if you have a buyer you can bring them.” You go, “Okay, cool, let me come see if it works for one of my buyers.” Set up a preview appointment and you go. That script right there, one, if you don’t have a buyer then it’s b.s., two, is the moment you do it and you approach it in that direction, then what you’ve just told them is, “You don’t need to ever list with me, you never need to hire me, because if I have a buyer, I’ll bring him.” That’s what we’re training them.
And it’s the craziest thing to me that we don’t think about what is the message, what is the outcome of what we say? And if we say, “Well, I have a buyer, I’ll bring him. I’m going to come preview your house to see if it works for him.” You’re telling him that you don’t need to list with me, because if I have a buyer, I’ll bring him. And they’ve been telling all the other agents that have been calling him and talking to him, they’re like, “We’re not going to list you, but if you have a buyer, you can bring him, we’ll pay you a commission.” “Okay, well, thank you very much, that’s awesome.”
So what we’re doing is we’re training them to not hire us, when the reality is, that’s a mistake. For them. It is a mistake for them, because when they say, “I’ll hire you if you … I’ll pay you if you bring me a buyer, but I’m not going to list.” Number one they’re already working against themselves, because they’re only going to work with, “You bring a buyer.” Well, you’re representing the buyer. Your legal fiduciary responsibility is to help your buyer get the lowest price on that house. The best terms and price for the buyer. So that means you’re telling them, for them, that the only people they want to work with are the agents whose job it is to help them get less money, not more money. Isn’t that interesting? Why would you train them to think that way?
See, let all the other agents, all the other amateur agents, the untrained agents, or the poorly trained agents go in with that angle, and when you understand that, you can go in with a totally different message, and a totally different outcome, and you can inspire them to hire you because you can get them a better result. And because you’re going to represent their best interest to get the most money in their pocket.
Number three: It’s Value not rapport that will make them hire you.
And one of the common reasons given for why you should do a for sale by owner preview appointment, is you just want to get there where you can meet them and build rapport with them. And then once you build rapport with them, then they’re going to hire you.
Well, see, here’s the deal. Very rarely does a for sale by owner go, “If I like you enough, I’ll pay you a big commission. I just need rapport with you. That’s really what I need. Give me some rapport, and I’m good. I’m good.” No, they don’t want rapport, they want value. The reason they don’t want to hire you is not because they don’t like you, it’s because they think you’re going to be an expense for them. And so when you go in, you’re trying to build rapport, you’re not doing the thing they want, which is put more money in their bank account.
So the preview appointment is most of the time is self-defeating, because most agents don’t know how to do it. So now, if you’re going to do it, okay? Well, first, when should I do it? Here’s the only time you should ever do a preview appointment. If you use my scripts from the ‘Book of Yes’, and you master them, and you use the for sale by owner script, and they will not meet with you, you cannot get a logical conversation with them, or they won’t give you the time of day, like they won’t listen to you, they won’t let you have a conversation with them, then a preview appointment may be the only way you actually get a conversation with them. So that is the only time I would say a preview appointment is legit.
And when you get it, here’s how you get it. You let them know, “Look, I’m not looking for a specific buyer, I just like to know everything that’s on the market, because you never know.” Right? So I’m being totally honest, I’m not looking, I’m not coming to see your house because I have a specific buyer for your house. Now, I’m not giving them any indication that I’m bringing them a buyer. I’m not training them to not hire me. Okay?
And then when I go, on the preview appointment, I’m not going to try and do a bait and switch, and turn it into a listing appointment, because you’re not going to get a decision, you’re not going to get a signature, you’re not going to get them to hire you on the spot, and if you do that, that’s going to be your only shot. So what you’re going to do, I’m going to use it to find their motivation and then to get a real appointment. That’s how I’m going to do it. How do you do that? Use the for sale by owner script. While you’re there, I’m just digging and finding out more about why they’re moving, how soon they want to be there, and then I’m going to ask them a very simple bottom line question. “If I could help you get as much, or more money in your pocket, after commissions and everything, than you could do by doing it yourself, would you be willing to at least have a conversation about that? If I could help you get a better result, would you talk to me?”
That is a straight forward, honest question because here is the beautiful, powerful reality that most real estate agents still don’t know, because they don’t know how to do it, and that is that you can, actually help a for sale by owner get more money in their pockets, even after your commissions, than they can do by doing it on their own. If you’re in a seller’s market, and a market like many, many of us, and sell by owners can actually sell it themselves. Not a question. Trying to convince them they can’t sell it themselves is b.s., because they can. But when they do, a lot of times they’re going to lose money. A lot of times they’re going to run into hassles they don’t know about. But the main thing they think about is money, and you can help them get a better result, if you know how to do it, and then you know how to communicate to it.
So, in this video, I just wanted to lay out for you a framework of saying, “Let’s get a better result.” Now, if you want to find out more that, I’ve put a link in the description of the video below, so that you can find out more about my advanced training on For Sale By Owner and Expired it’s called FX Extreme. If you want to master these conversations, and more importantly, you want to master leading them to say yes to you, without the B.S. Leading them to say yes to you, inspire the hire so you can help them get a better result, they get a better result, they make more money, and you get paid, then click on the link on the description below, and that’ll help you.
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