On this Friday’s Partner Call, Director of Expansion Katie Benson interivewed Oregon based Xperience Partner Nate Sanford about how level two listening, identifying keywords and pushing to close helped secure a sizable FSBO listing.

Nate was the fifth agent who called upon the for sale by owner. He admitted that all five agents had a lot of similarities, especially because they came up with the same estimates of the home’s value. Nate felt like he was lumped in with the others…until he flipped the script. 

He did not argue with the FSBO option. He just simply presented another option and moved straight into the value that he would provide the seller. His script, “Why don’t you put it on the market first and then if it doesn’t sell, you can sell it yourself?” 

Nate asked the right questions and then he sat still and listened. He knew the owner was proud of all the work that his wife had put into the house and he wanted her to be compensated for that. The owners had a unique tax situation and had to sell by the end of a few months. He dug deeper with questions to get a clear picture of the motivation. 

As he discussed the value he brings as an agent, he also shared a story of when he listed and sold a FSBO. That story gave the owners trust and confidence in his abilities. 

In coaching, we learn about the acronym, AWE. It stands for, “And, what else…is important to you? Nate said he did not take the first answers to their questions to make sure he understood the why behind the answers. 

Nate admitted that the close is hard for him. 

“I want everyone to like me and I hate rejection,” he said. “If it’s an opportunity for someone to say no, I pull back and say ‘Think about it’ or ‘I will follow up.’” 

In this case, Nate thought about the competitive and shifting market and that he was one of five agents in this conversation. He knew that with Xperience’s marketing plan, he could truly help them and was the best agent for the job. He knew he had to close. 

At first the owners didn’t say anything. He remembered from coaching, he who talks first loses and if you close and they don’t say anything, the silence means they are thinking.

Nate won the listing and received relevant feedback from the owner. The note started with that they are happy he is taking the listing because they like him. (He is quite likable!) They then demonstrated that they were listening and why Nate stood out from the others. 

“The market will give us feedback within 7-10 days. This is a speed game…The interesting thing is we talked five realtors who all said the same thing and told us to call them if it didn’t work out. They followed up with market reports, notes, texts and emails…You did something different, you said, ‘Sure, whatever makes you happy but here is what I did with another FSBO. You can try this first and then the cheaper FSBO option’. That flexibility was brilliant. You listened to what I wanted and came up with a solution that was better than I could think of.’”