When you get an objection from buyers or sellers, make sure that you hear clearly what they are saying. If you interpret the objection wrongly, the answer you give, no matter how eloquent, will not be sufficient to overcome their area of concern. Let me give you a few techniques I have used to turn objections into dollars. I would pause to make sure I clearly understood and repeat what they said or ask them to explain further. This technique will do a few things for me. First, I could confirm what their objection was to insure I had understood it properly. Second, it would enable me to be well prepared when I responded. I had bought myself a few seconds while my brain prepared my answer. I was able to respond in a powerful, well-planned manner. Third, I would avoid the big mistake of trying to answer the objection before the buyer or seller gets the objections completely out of his mouth, as if stopping the buyer or seller from stating the objection completely will stop the objection and it will go away. The objection is legitimate to that person, no matter how ridiculous it may sound. He feels it is legitimate, so it is legitimate. Interrupting can cause the seller or buyer to become irritated with you. It may not matter how well you handle the objection if you interrupt him.

Your mental approach to an objection will determine your success or failure. Most agents dread hearing an objection, but most objections result from one of two situations. One is the seller or buyer has legitimate concerns regarding the property and/or your skills to sell his home. The other occurrence of objections is because your presentation was not good enough. You did not convey the confidence that you are the person for the seller to hire for the sale of his home. You did not make a convincing enough presentation for the buyer to purchase the home you showed him. The clients’ desire to work with you is a natural ending to a good presentation. If the presentation is weak, the objections will flow like a river. There are really only about forty possible objections in the selling process of real estate. The question is why haven’t you learned them all? If you wrote them all down and practiced them for half an hour a day for the next six months, you would know them automatically. You would be prepared for any situation in selling. You would then have the confidence to say, "Bring them on; I am ready for them. There are about 10 to 15 that are the most common objections that will stop unprepared agents in their tracks 90% of the time. How difficult would it be to learn just those ten in the next 30 to 60 days?

The problem is we do not regularly practice countering objections in real estate. The Dallas Cowboys spend four to six hours a day practicing football. The players and coaches spend a couple more hours a day reviewing film and studying their play books during a two month span in spring training, then they play four practice games in pre-season to prepare for the real NFL season. Next, the players and coaches they spend a few hours a day practicing and watching films, five or six days a week to prepare for one 60 minute game. They will spend 40 to 50 more times practicing and preparing for the game than actually playing the game. How skilled in sales would you be if you adopted that regiment? How about if you practiced even one hour a day on your skills at overcoming objections? You would become an unstoppable real estate sales person.

The second observation regarding objections is they truly are an opportunity to get a signed contract. When a buyer or seller gives you an objection, he is presenting you an opportunity to close. He is basically saying, "I like this, but there is one factor I do not like." The buyer might say, "If the home you are showing me had a larger patio, it would be right for me." All you have to do is get him a larger patio and you have made a sale. You must put your problem-solver hat on. If you solve his problem, then you get the opportunity to ask him to buy. The client can say, "Yes, or give you another objection. If he gives you another objection, you get another opportunity to solve the problem and ask him to buy. This procedure may continue for a few objections. Do not give up; you are getting closer to a sale. As long as you are able to continue to solve his problem the client will buy. Remember, you are the problem solver.

Too many agents turn into a deer looking in the headlights when an objection comes their way. These agents have a negative mental attitude to objections. They view objections as a big wall between them and the sale, a wall so tall they cannot see a way around, over, under, or through.