Facebook
X
Pinterest
Copy Link
Real Estate Real Talk: Top 4 Soft Skills of a Standout REALTOR®
My early career aspiration was to work in policing. More specifically, I wanted to be a crisis negotiator. To me, that lifetime goal might have been the ultimate test of my people skills. There would be an urgent need to make a connection with someone, to earn their trust in a very short period of time. I may have been onto something.
It turns out this kind of skill set is crucial in my work as a REALTOR®. Along the career path that brought me here, I held various management roles in security organizations that helped develop these essential traits, but it wasn’t until becoming a real estate agent that I understood how the soft skills so crucial for negotiation (hostage-driven or not) are key to being a successful real estate professional. I’m sharing what I have found to be the top four soft skills to nurture to become a standout REALTOR®.
Rapport Building
Critical to the role is building a rapport with your client. You’re inside someone’s home or talking about where they’ll be making their new home – that’s as personal as it gets when you’re just meeting someone and it behooves you to be sensitive about it.
Sometimes clients may have their defenses up, and it’s the job of a REALTOR® to gently crack the tough exterior in order to understand the crux of their needs for selling or buying a home. When it comes to talking a client off the ledge of listing too high or low, for example, they need to know you’re looking out for them, making honest suggestions that’ll work in their favor. They have to trust you’re operating with their best interests in mind. Maybe they show you a home they’re excited about buying, but you know the neighborhood isn’t right. Maybe they’re thinking they don’t need four bedrooms, only two, and you have to ask the hard question, “are you okay with having the kids downstairs?”
Clients may not want to hear certain things, even if they’re true. But it’s your job to share what you can to help them make the best decision. And the only way to have these difficult conversations is to put in the work to build trust and an open line of communication between you and your client.
Communication Skills
This brings us to the next crucial soft skill. How do you win rapport? By being a good communicator. This includes being an active listener, asking questions, non-verbal communication, being present and so much more.
To start, look for common ground with your client. I tell the REALTORS® on my team: no matter how much data you give a client, how right you may be, if they don’t like you, they’re not going to listen to you. But the solution is simple: to interest someone in listening to you, just be interested in listening to them. Get someone talking about something they’re passionate about, and you will learn a lot.
Take the short time you have with a client to be observant about their environment. Look for cues that can give you good talking points. Is your client holding a child the whole time? Does a pet seem precious to them? Are there sports jerseys all over the house? A cared-for car in the driveway? I’ve had conversations with clients about the wood and finish of their custom coffee tables. Whatever it is, connect in a genuine way. Pick something you’re also passionate about or can share genuine interest in, and it will come across.
The bonus of strengthening your communication abilities is you and your client will benefit from this skill at all stages of the selling and buying process. Of course, the one who should be doing the most talking is the client, so make sure to keep the conversation about them.
Intuitive Thinking
Now that you’ve got your client talking, use intuitive thinking to anticipate the type of relationship the client wants with you. If they’re more feeling-driven, that could be enough to create a trusting bond. But if they’re keen to tap your expertise, be prepared to pivot to a data-driven approach.
As much as possible, you should be knowledgeable about the neighborhood your client is buying/selling in. Have the necessary information for the home you’re at, as well as for similar homes in the area. How you choose to relay this information to your client will depend on what you’ve surmised about their expectations of you. A lot of this can be shared in the form of storytelling; for example, “Let me tell you about the home that sold close to yours and how it went.” Or emotionally: “I understand your hesitation, I had a similar situation with a client not far from you.”
If you haven’t been in the client’s neighborhood before, you can still earn their respect by doing your research beforehand. Pull some relevant data and align it to your client’s specific concerns: “You know how you said the drive to the kids’ school was 45 minutes? Well, now it’s just down the street – and it’s a really good school, it scores very well.” All of these techniques show the client you know what you’re doing without saying the actual words, “trust me, I know what I’m doing” and without asking your client what they want from you.
Resilience
I’d be remiss not to mention that sometimes all your best efforts don’t work. In that instance, it’s important to remember a great agent quality to cultivate is resilience.
Over the course of your career, you’ll walk into odd situations and trying conditions, from having to provide IT support/troubleshooting for a client (and that’s another agent quality to nurture – being tech savvy, especially for virtual showings and client communication at a distance), to delivering messages between separate rooms of the selling home as a mediator for divorcees, to coordinating the estate sale of a property that could really use an update by siblings who are not on talking terms. If there are two people involved in listing a home, sometimes one party is happy to have your services but the other isn’t. It’s all part of the job. Keep your thick skin on and your wits about you. Negotiate like the “hostage” is a successful sale or purchase, and strategize to ensure everyone’s needs are met.
