15 Dec How to Make Sales Calls
Knowing how to make sales calls is one of the most important skills you can have as a real estate investor. It’s important to find the right balance of being friendly and knowledgeable while also being able to accomplish your task. Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases most people will make in their life and they want to feel secure in their decision. Coming across as a trusted source can help you close deals and will allow you to have open conversations with your buyers when it comes time to discuss how much money they can put down.
The tips we recommend below are a great starting point. We delve deeper into how best to structure your seller calls and buyer calls for our members of Wicked Smart Academy here.
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Sales Call Timeline
In order to close a deal, you’ll need to make quite a few sales calls. Below is the general timeline laying out all of the calls you will have and what the next steps will be.
Initial Call
Your sales process will start with an initial call from a buyer. They have likely seen one of your signs or online postings and are calling you about a property that they are interested in. After answering the phone and establishing what they are calling about, inform them that not everyone is the right fit for rent-to-own. To make sure that they are a good candidate, direct them to your website where they will be able to watch a video that goes over the entire process. Ask them to watch the video on their own time and give you a call back if they still think this is the right decision for them.
Setting Up a Viewing
A day or so after you’ve had your first call with the prospective buyer, they may call you back and decide to proceed with the rent-to-own process. On this sales call, you’ll be directing them to view the house. Make sure to get all of their contact information and establish a good time for them to do a walkthrough of the house. Ideally, you’ll have a lockbox set up at the property so they can do a self-guided tour and you won’t have to go out of your way to be there. If the property owner is still in the home, let the buyer know that your “partner” will be at the residence. Establish that you will be the one handling the financial side of things and to make sure to ask you questions and not your “partner.”
Going Over Next Step Forms
If the buyer views the house and is looking to move forward, your next step will be to go over the next step forms. With the contact information they’ve provided, send over all necessary documents to move the process forward. Once you get the forms back, give your prospective buyer a call. Most importantly, go over the monthly expenses and make certain that they will be able to afford the monthly rent. On the forms, they will have put a number down that they are willing to put down on the house. Utilize tax refund season and the competitive nature of the market to see if they can add anything to the down payment.
Arrange a Buyer’s Meeting
If everything checks out with the forms, you will then move forward to meet face-to-face with your buyer. Before having the buyer’s meeting, have them pre-screened by a credit specialist to ensure they will be mortgage-ready within a reasonable timeframe and can be approved for a loan. If that all checks out, you can move on and get them closer to closing. Here, you will go over all of the information about the property and answer any questions they may have. Be transparent about monthly costs, taxes, and the rent-to-own structure. If they are confident and ready to move forward, you can proceed to the letter of intent.
Attend the Closing
Your final step in the sales process is closing. Here, you will have your attorney represent you and close the deal. They will go over all of the terms and information in the lease and make sure your buyer is informed and ready to sign. Once they sign everything, the sales process is over and you get paid!
Making the Most of the Sales Call Process
As you can see, the sales process is quite lengthy. Don’t be afraid to be upfront to potential leads about the unique nature of a rent-to-own property. You don’t want to get to the buyer’s meeting section of the sales process just for them to say that they didn’t understand what was involved and no longer have an interest. Make sure you are clear with leads right at the start and make sure they educate themselves through the introduction video and other resources before proceeding.
To learn how to make sales calls, we recommend enrolling in the Wicked Smart Academy and listening to our live buyer calls.