Why Can’t I Make The Offer On The First Phone Call?
From Tom Nardone, Millionaire Mailman …
On a recent mentoring call with a student, a student asked: Why can’t I make my offer while I have the seller on the phone for the first phone call? In many cases, when talking to sellers for the first time, the very first call you have with the seller is designed to simply gather information.
In order to present an offer to a seller to buy their house, you have to have enough information to know that you are making a competent offer, and that you are making an offer to the right seller.
When you’re going through the questions with the seller using the Property Lead Intake Sheet, the questions are designed to do 3 things:
#1 - Warm up the call;
#2 - Gather the facts and info. you need to find the After Repaired Value; and
#3 - Find out if there is a strong motivation to sell.
Baby, it’s cold outside…
It’s important to warm up the call you have with sellers.
When you establish the first phone call with the seller, and you find out if they have any uncomfortable circumstances surrounding the ownership of the property, you need to show a genuine interest in the seller’s situation. This means showing compassion for the hardship they’re enduring.
No one sells their house 40% to 50% below the market unless they have some pain in the ownership of the property.
When you find their pain point in the ownership of the property, it’s a chance for you to make a connection with the seller, which will allow you to build rapport with them that will allow the seller to know, like and trust you. All, super important!
The more you build a bridge of understanding that you care about the seller’s situation, then the likelier you are to get that deal on that house…
The fortune’s in the follow up.
This is especially true since most of the deals you will acquire are going to come from a system of follow up that allows you to add layers of rapport with each additional phone call.
In most cases, when you present an offer on the first phone call when talking to a Craigslist seller, the seller will know that you haven't even left the conversation to do computer research based on the information they just gave you about the house.
The seller will likely not trust your offer, because they will feel as though you just “plucked a number out of thin air.”
If you call the seller back in an hour or two, or the next day in the morning if you are talking to them in the evening, then when you connect the second time, they already know you and the trust level is much higher and this will be the conversation where you present your offer.
Also, you need to put at least 10 minutes into searching surrounding sales so you can come up with an accurate After Repaired Value.
If the seller agrees on a price over the phone and commits to signing a contract via email, then if the house needs a lot more repair than the seller led you to believe, you can always renegotiate with the seller while you are in the inspection period stage.
And in the event you are able to have a face-to-face meeting with the seller for the inspection, your rapport with them will be added tenfold when you can look them in the eye and also shake their hand.
Unless you know the values of the area neighborhood in your head, and you know the seller is an absolute “10” on their motivation, make the offer on the 2nd call.
Remember, it’s all about getting the seller to know, like and trust you.