Everywhere I look I get the down side of the market. Prices are dropping.
In fact, I just got an email this morning from my Pal Mike passing on a recent Inman story.
However, it was my dear ole Dad that emailed me proclaiming that sales have actually increased. What was that? Positivity in this real estate market?
After some prudent use of my Google skills & calling forth all the Boolean logic I could muster, I found it.
Sales of existing homes held steady with a modest gain last month, another indicator that the housing market is transitioning into a more normal market in contrast with unsustainable activity last year, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Now the naysayers will say, " yes but prices have dropped."
As a marketer, really who cares?
I know most of you have been used to selling based on price. That is why you might be having trouble in this market.
This isn't the danged stock market. Real Estate prices have gone up over the long term for, well... always.
So why sell it like it is a commodity? Where will that leave you? The market knows they don't have to get in now. And they know that if they wait, they have a pretty good shot at a lower price.
What they do not know is that they might not get the home they want right now.
So you have to find value elsewhere. In sales 101 you all should have learned that people buy for emotional reasons and justify with logic. So now that you don't have money lust as your primary driver you will have to find other just as emotional drivers for your prospects to buy. Their logical justifier is long term value, and the greatest logic of all is the tax savings.
As a side note: I always can tell when a company has gotten lazy when they stick the hot 19 year old babe up as the front of their campaign. They got lazy and cannot think of anything else so they go for the hottie. Once the attraction is felt viscerally, the feeling is attached to the company or product. BINGO it works. Sex sells.
( This reminds me of the Long Beach California Realtor who ran a Billboard size picture of herself in a bikini. I wonder if you hired a bunch of Chippendale's dancers for an open house if you could get some play? Hey I'm not gay but I know that women make most of the home buying decisions. But I digress...I really have to stop enjoying my evening Rum & Coke while blogging :-)
I have always felt in a hot market that sales agents get lazy in the same way and immediately go for the money lust driver. Hey it works.
But what happens? Pretty soon everyone is selling on the same driver. After that, what else do ya got? Go after their most important emotional reasons to buy now and your sales will continue to rise.
If I may be so bold to state that you are their salesman, and your fiduciary responsibility does not, & in fact last I checked, it precludes you being their financial adviser. If they come to you, then they want a house. Sell it to them without reservation.
