I’ve noticed that many newer REALTORS® (and some not so new REALTORS®) struggle to start a conversation, especially with prospective clients. You don’t know anything about them and they don’t know you. They don’t yet trust you and they are indifferent to you.
The FORD system gives you a basic framework to dance around and open-up the conversation. If you ask questions gently and in a friendly non-threatening way, most people will open-up and start to tell you about themselves. They are after all their most favorite subject (study Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends & Influence People).
Now back to FORD. To be able to help and advise people properly you need to know them, you need to have a keen understanding as to why they think what they think and why they want what they want. Try building your knowledge around the following acronym.
F – is for family.
Ask for how many people are they shopping for a home? Will their family grow? Will it shrink?
O – is for occupation.
Ask what they do for a living. Do they like it? Will it change? How important is where they live relative to work? Are they shopping up based on higher income? Are they shopping down due to job loss or retirement?
R – is for recreation.
How do they like to spend their free time? Do they need to be close to gym, dog walking, trails or perhaps somewhere to play hockey?
D – is for dreams.
Ask them to describe their dream home. Ask them where they want to live in 5, 10 15 year’s time. Ask them anything that seems to make sense at the time.
People love to talk about themselves. All you need to do at the start is to push a little bit, by asking smart questions. The FORD system can help you do that. Once you get the ball rolling, building trust and rapport with your prospective clients will be so much easier.
About the author:
You can read more about the author of this blog by clicking this link - Stuart Neal, Broker, Career Coach, REALTOR® & Team Lead.
You can watch and hear Stuart share other ideas on his You Tube Channel: Stuart Neal, Edmonton Real Estate Career Coach.
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Want more information about becoming a team member or Associate REALTOR® with Ambergate? Call Stuart our broker owner at: 780-760-2014 ext. 3 or go to our Careers page - Ambergate Realty Advisors Careers.
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