Bridging the Gap, Part 2: Scripts to Help You Close More Deals

How many deals grind to a halt when they are less than 10% apart?

We've all been there - managing an offer that's getting close, but as you creep closer to a sale, buyer and seller both stick their heads in the sand and won't move another inch.

Bridging the final 5-10% between vendor and purchaser is both a skill and an art form. Mastering this key aspect of the real estate game not only leads to more sales and increased income but also client-for-life relationships with sellers singing your praises for years to come to anyone who will listen.

In part 1 of this guide, we covered the trap that many salespeople fall into when they reach an impasse in negotiations. Which is, they start offering reasons and justifications why the seller should bite the bullet and make a deal.

The problem is, that this plan of attack moves you into an adversarial situation. It automatically puts your owners on the defensive. As soon as you present reasons why they should take an offer lower than their original goal price, their brain will naturally start coming up with counter-reasons why you are wrong, to help convince themselves that they are right.

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Sellers sell with emotion, then justify with logic.

In part 1, we also covered the mindset you need to embrace, to turn more of those close-but-not-quite offers into commissions.

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Mindset: Owners have to want the sale more than you need the commission.

Once we free ourselves of the sale-focused mindset, we create space for empathy. Rather than barraging the owners with reasons why they should take the highest offer available, we can be in the foxhole with them, remonstrating on the state of the current market which has produced this less-than-appealing offer.

Once we show owners we are on their side, and that we'll back them up whatever they decide to do, they can abandon their defensive mindset and open their minds to the benefits of accepting the offer and moving on with their lives.

Please stop here and read that last sentence a few times. It's the critical point of this entire guide.

Prove to owners you are on their side, and they will often surprise you with their willingness to accept an offer well below their initial expectations.

Or like one of my mentors, Colin Dick used to say:

Great service makes the unacceptable, acceptable.

In my mind, great service includes being on your owner's team at all times.

To demonstrate this in practice, work these statements into your conversation when presenting offers: