How are you ending your buyer showings right now?
“Let me know if you’re interested,” hands your buyer an easy exit. Your buyer needs to actually process what they just walked through. Coach them to think analytically about whether the home is a real fit, instead of letting them drift off into “Let me sleep on it.”
Over the years, I’ve worked on this process, integrating what I’ve learned from top team leaders and refining it with my own buyers.
It all comes down to four questions: two after the showing and two before writing an offer.
Here’s how it works.
Two Questions to Ask After a Showing
Here’s the simple question I use to close out a showing and get a buyer thinking critically about what they saw.
“Hey, John. Hey, Tina. Thanks for the time today. It was really great looking at these three homes with you. Out of curiosity, if you were to rate each one of them one to 10 and you can’t pick seven, what would you pick?”
Then you stop talking. Let your buyer answer. Let them give you a real rating.
Taking seven off the table forces an honest number, since seven is the rating everyone defaults to when they don’t want to commit to anything. It’s documented and proven, so don’t let a buyer hide behind it.
Wait for the rating. If they land above a seven, here’s how you respond.
“Hey, great. That’s exciting to hear, because anything above a seven is offer territory. I’m not sure if this would be for you, but did you want to pursue an offer on this property?”
Stop talking again.
What you’re doing with this question is getting your buyer to really think about what they’ve seen and whether it fits, then giving you a specific rating tied to actual math.
From there, you can move them through each stage of the funnel.
Two Questions to Ask Before Writing an Offer
Once a buyer tells you they want to write an offer, resist the urge to jump straight into paperwork.
Here’s what to say instead.
“Perfect. So, that’s exciting. You want to write an offer. Rather than jump right now, here’s what I’d like to do.
“I’m going to call the listing agent and get as much color and intel as I can on what’s happening with the home. I’m also going to talk to your lender and get a real live rate quote for today so that we can see exactly where your payment’s going to come in.
“And what you can do in the meantime is take like an hour or so to think about it. And I want you to ask yourself two questions and text me the answer or shoot me an email, whatever is going to be easier.
“The first question I want you to think about is that we know they’re asking $500,000 for the property right now. If the property sold for $500,000 within the next 30 days, would you regret not submitting an offer, thinking you might have been willing to pay that price or maybe even offered a little more? That’s question one.
“Question two is, if the property sold for $500K or a little higher than $500K, would you feel relieved about walking away because you didn’t think the home was worth it?
“Answer those couple of questions, get back to me, and then why don’t we set up a call? Why don’t we plan on talking around 4:00 pm if that works for you, and then we can discuss what I’m able to find out, and you can really think more about the property.”
While your buyer sits with those two questions, you’re doing two specific things to arm yourself for the offer conversation.
- Calling the listing agent for real intel on what’s happening with the home.
- Calling the buyer’s lender for a live rate quote, so you know exactly where the payment lands.
This pause also buys you time. You want your buyer critically thinking through what they’d actually offer and getting clear on what they’re willing to do.
A lot of agents skip this step. They ask “What do you think,” hear “Great, let’s write an offer,” and jump straight into action without the intel to back it up.
This is just the setup. Next week I’m walking through the actual phone call, breaking down exactly what to say once you’ve got the listing agent’s intel and the lender’s numbers, so you can write the strongest possible offer.
What I gave you here really comes down to two questions you’re asking your buyer in different forms.
- How would they rate the home they just saw?
- How would they feel if they lost it at a specific price?
This way your buyer never feels sold. They’re the one answering the question, not you.
