Exceptional customer service skills and smart sales tactics are certainly critical to being a successful agent, but so is having a keen understanding of your buyer’s mindset. Especially when it comes to real estate, the psychology of the buying process is driven by emotional experiences, money, and timing. Read on to learn more.
Buyers Combine Emotions and Impulses with Logical Facts
The brain has two sides, and people often describe themselves as left-brained (logical and analytical) or right-brained (intuitive, emotional). The truth about gray matter isn’t so black and white. Even if your buyer might lean one way or the other, both sides of the brain still matter in their thought processes, and certainly in their buying decision. They’re not robots, so they will never make purchase decisions based solely on logical factors, such as economics or politics.
Buyers Have Egos (As They Should)
When making purchase decisions for themselves, buyers will naturally think about what they stand to gain by buying—as they should. As an agent, this means playing to this mindset and even stroking your buyer’s ego to make them more comfortable with the purchase decision.
Think about addressing a buyer’s egocentric tendencies by answering this question from their perspective: “What’s in it for me?” When you can definitively and satisfactorily answer that question for them—before they even ask it—you will have gone a long way towards getting them to take the action you want them to take, like putting in an offer.
Buyers Care More About Loss Than Gain
Pointing out what a buyer stands to potentially gain from buying a home requires a leap of imagination on their part—they have to picture themselves in a new and better place by having purchased the home. This type of imaginative and creative leap isn’t always easy to take, and can be tenuous.
However, claiming that they will no longer suffer the existing pains that they currently do is much more grounded in reality, based on the very human notion of fleeing losses. They already have this very real pain point, something they live with on a day-to-day basis. Once they have the conviction that you relate to and understand this pain point, and that you have the power to remove it, they will be much more convinced.
Buyers Are Naturally More Suspicious
And why shouldn’t they be? Most agents have agendas of their own (the quickest process possible for the highest commission possible), and buyers should, of course, be suspicious that these are self-serving agendas that don’t necessarily benefit anyone but themselves.
It’s why expert agents always preach the importance of establishing a relationship of trust and credibility. Consultative selling has emerged precisely to overcome these natural suspicion barriers of buyers and position the agent to not just sell something to them, but to actually help them.
Buyers Crave Value
Psychologically, buyers are perked up by the prospect of somehow “winning” the battle against the seller, by getting as much value as possible. Remember, value is not a fixed number—it is totally relative, depending on what the buyer has to gain and what they’re willing to pay.
As an agent, you want to appeal to the buyer’s psychological need to “win” by demonstrating as great a value as possible, relative to price. This isn’t necessarily just about ROI—there are a great deal of intangibles at play as well.
Buyers Travel in Packs
Buyers—and human beings in general—have a herd mentality, opting to move together in large groups. They will naturally be swayed by what a great number of their peers have done. This is why social proof has become such a powerful selling weapon today.
Demonstrate to your potential buyer how others have bought and benefited, and they might start to see things from that other herd’s positive perspective as well.
In Conclusion
Understanding the way buyers think involves seeing things not from your perspective, but from your buyer’s mindset. You’re not selling to emotionless robots—you’re selling to real people, with feelings and impulses. Appeal to those, and you will be more successful and close more deals.
