Barrier of Entry

Selling in the new millennium has moved away from transactional based selling to relational based, or values based, selling. For many years, real estate Agents could focus on “doing the deal” – get the consumers into the home and the loan, and move on. Consumers are looking for more than the “slam transaction”. I define a “slam transaction” as one in which we slam them into a home and a loan, and move on to the next consumer. It’s when we don’t focus enough on long-term and value-added service to our clients.

We could get away with doing slam transactions in the past because we controlled the information. If a consumer wanted the information, he had to come to us. With the advent of the Internet, the information is (to use a term from the movie Mission Impossible) “out in the open”. Consumers can now get the primary service we have been providing for years without our assistance. The consumer is now reassessing our value in a transaction. They are more confused than ever, and the barrier of entry is even higher for the real estate Agent.

By barrier of entry, I mean their willingness to give us the information we need in order to provide exceptional service. It’s also their willingness to create a trusted advisor relationship with real estate professionals. Understanding the barrier of entry and learning how to lower it with prospects and clients will create long-term success for you.

Here are a few techniques to help you lower the barrier:

1. Get all leads to your mortgage originator immediately. Studies have shown that the mortgage originator has a much higher rate of trust by the consumer than the Agent does. Use that level of trust to your advantage. Turn over the leads before you build the relationship with the prospect. If your mortgage originator can convert the prospect, you get a deal. Use the natural trust the consumer has for your mortgage partner to your benefit.

2. Get all prospects in your office for an interview. Don’t just go out and show them a house. That is what other Agents do. Get in front of them, face-to-face, with no distractions. The showing of the house is a distraction. This “buyer interview” will enable you to connect and build a bridge to being a trusted advisor, rather than a transactional salesperson.

As real estate professionals, we must work on tools and techniques to lower the barrier of entry to our prospects’ world. It is critical that we use our strategic partners, like our mortgage originators, to cross the bridge of trust early in the prospect/client relationship. Set up a partner-planning meeting with your mortgage originator and create specific action plans to service your prospects and clients better. Work together to lower the barrier of entry in order to raise your income today.