Many real estate professionals think negotiating only occurs when an offer comes in.  In reality, negotiating is always happening, whenever you communicate with anyone, whether it be friends, family, prospects, or clients.   These are mistakes real estate professionals make when negotiating:

Too Much Talking

You derail the negotiating process when you talk too much.  Talking too much gives you less time for understanding a prospect and gaining their trust.  The best negotiators do much more listening than speaking.  They plan their words and limit what’s discussed.  Your goal should be to keep asking questions of your prospects until you fully understand them and their needs.  After that, factually respond to their needs.

Intimidation, Threats, Fear For Motivating People

Real estate professionals often are totally unaware they intimidate and threaten their prospects in their negotiating.  Here are some examples:

-    “You won’t get a higher price than this”
-    “This is the most these buyers will pay”
-    “Don’t counter offer on this contract.  If you do, we will lose them”
-    “If you reject their offer, are you willing to wait a long time for another offer?”

Negotiating is always a big reason people hire real estate professionals because they don’t want to negotiate on their own.  So the above statements convey you’re not willing to keep trying to them what they want.  If you do that, they’ll think you can’t do your job effectively.   You simply can’t motivate anyone with this sort of pessimism.  Positivity, perseverance and optimism are the hallmarks of strong negotiatiors.

Giving Up Too Easily

When clients say, “I won’t pay a dime more than that price” or “I won’t take a cent less than that price”, real estate professionals all too often believe them.  You must realize every buyer or seller will say this at some point, but they usually don’t mean it.

Always know that both the seller and the buyer are motivated to make a deal, no matter how unmotivated either party seems.  The trick is keeping the negotiating going.  It keeps both parties moving closer and closer toward a deal everyone is happy with.  Be patient with this process, it’ll be well worth your time and effort.

Here’s a rule of thumb for negotiating: if the other party hasn’t said no at least five times, you’re giving up too easily.

Bad Timing

Good timing is an important part of negotiating.  However, many real estate professionals don’t know how to time their negotiating well.  For instance, some don’t take sufficient time to explain something about the contract or the negotiations to their client.  Some real estate professionals make great points to their clients, but at not at the right times.  Some reps overbook their schedules and consequently lack the time for completing a presentation.  This puts pressure on the client and doesn’t help the negotiations at all.  Some reps give up on the negotiating at the wrong time.  The worst sin reps make is leaving commission dollars on the table.

Learn a lot more about what to do (and not do) during the negotiation process in my course Power Negotiating.  This course has been approved by the Registrar, REBBA 2002 to qualify for 6 credits.