When a stranger contacts our office looking for a buyer’s agent, we get only one chance to make a first impression. I get the feeling that the first impression that we make is different than other agents from other companies.
One of our professional organizations, the Massachusetts Association of Buyer’s Agents, sent us a lead last Friday. The prospect gave his email and phone number and marked that email was his preferred method of communication. I emailed him, introducing the company; one of my agents followed up with a second email. Both emails were short and not sales-y.
When my agent, Pearl Emmons, got a reply, they spoke. He said that he had been text bombed by agents from other companies. He didn’t like it. He asked for email. He got text from everyone except us.
Time pressure and communication:
The buzz in our business is that the first person across the communication threshold will get the business. It forces me to drop everything when a prospect comes into my phone system, email, or text. If someone asks for email, I’ll be emailing. If someone says call after six, I call after six; I do not call at three.
I sometimes wonder how often the agents who text or call a prospect without invitation actually get more business. It doesn’t make sense to me that consumers would prefer an agent who ignores the very first instruction that they gave. Maybe it is some kind of test about how much of a go-getter the agent is. In that case, we fail. But at least we fail in the name of following our client’s instructions.
Whether the rush is truly necessary depends on the prospect. Some people want to hear from an agent immediately, so that they can get on with the plan. Others are collecting information and want a less rushed atmosphere in order to make the best decision without pressure. As agents, we don’t know what the prospect wants until we hear from them.
Communication and bidding wars
The other place where we see time pressure is in relation to offer deadlines during so-called bidding wars. Frequently, the seller’s agent will say that the seller will be reviewing offers after a certain time, for example, “offers will be reviewed after 2 PM on Tuesday.”
There are tactical considerations about whether offers will be collected on a Monday or a Tuesday or not on any deadline. Too much pressure, and some buyers might drop out. Too little pressure the house loses the momentum that manipulates buyers to overpay. Once a deadline is set, it is hard to pretend it wasn’t there if no one presents an offer. Seller’s agents make those decisions with their clients.
The next layer of time pressure for buyers is when a seller asks for another offer during a bidding war. Our agents will get communication something like, “There are three offers that are similar, so we are asking for best and final changes to your offer by 6 PM.” When that notice comes at 5 PM, our clients expect that the negotiations will be completed that evening. When it is not, they are disappointed. We are disappointed along with them. Recently that exact things happened; our clients had a one-hour deadline to create a best and final offer. The seller did not respond to it until the next evening.
It is disrespectful to ask buyers to hurry, then take another day to decide which offer is being accepted. I hope our clients remember which agents acted that way when they hire someone to sell their house in the future.
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