Real estate agents have to deal with a myriad clients – sellers and/or buyers – with different motivations, needs and negotiation styles. In order to close prospects and keep clients happy, especially in turbulent times, it’s imperative real estate agents can diagnose the influence archetype of their clients to better influence them with their communication.
Diagnosing the influence archetypes is part of a bigger strategy of effectively applying influence as a real estate agent, as well as as a specific use of the Four Influence Archetypes, and we will focus exclusively in this component in this article.
Tailoring and Communicating
We can split prospects/clients into the four usual combinations:
- Logic and Fast-Paced: The Dominants;
- Logic and Slow-Paced: The Analysts;
- Emotional and Fast-Paced: The Passionates;
- Emotional and Slow-Paced: The Nurturers;
These four have specific communication types:
- Dominant: Cares about logical achievements, titles, goals. Will focus on selling or buying a property at a specific price to achieve a specific goal. Probably the most ambitious, ruthless, short-term oriented. Want a big win;
- Analyst: Cares about facts, numbers, repeatable processes. Will probably care about using a repeatable, trusted, detailed process for buying/selling;
- Passionate: Cares about the vision, stories of success, the big picture. Will care about having a sufficiently compelling vision of life after buying/selling. What they will do, what kind of life they will have;
- Nurturer: Cares about preserving relationships and making others feel cared for and taken care of. Will care about feeling taking cared of, and possibly that the other side is cared for as well. Feels deeply, cares deeply;
And we tailor communication specifically for these four types:
- Dominant: Talk about achieving the goal. This will usually be related to price. Whether it’s the target price they want or not, focus on how they will have achieved the goal of having purchased/sold and how they will have won with this deal. There’s not much to do here – they want the facts, they want them quick, and they want to get things done;
- Analyst: Be very careful about the pricing and the values that go into their prediction. Never let them be caught off-guard, and always prove that you know all the details and are on top of your game. Expect to spend more time with these and provide more details;
- Passionate: Sell them a compelling vision. Paint a vivid picture, share stories of other clients that have achieved success with you;
- Nurturer: State that they will always be taken care of, that you’ll hold their hand, that they will feel well-treated and cared for. Possibly, that the other side will be as well, and that everyone’s life will improve with this transaction;
If you are not connecting with the customer, or if they are thinking of going with another person, be it another agent or friend/family, this just means somebody else is probably tailoring their communication to their influence archetype better than you currently are.
A good question to immediately detect their archetype is to ask them: “What is your dream home?“:
- A Dominant will give you the facts very plainly. Here’s the size of the home, here’s what we will buy it for, probably at this date. Done. They will be very direct and to the point;
- An Analyst will be similar, but go into extreme detail. They will tell you exactly how many square feet, what reparations and renovations will be done, and any other relevant information without missing one fact;
- A Passionate will talk about the stories. They will talk about the memories they expect to build, the inspiring story they wish to live, the broad vision and with vivid pictures;
- A Nurturer will talk about their family and community. They will talk about the people around them, how they will be well off. Maybe they will mention good relationships with neighbors, having nearby hospitals, police stations, activity centers, and/or any places they can contribute to and people they can interact with;
Case Study
One of the agents I coached was losing a client to them going with a family member. After listening attentively to one or two conversations, the agent reached the conclusion they were an Emotional, Slow-Paced type (A Nurturer). How easy is it for them to feel more cared for and taken care of by a family member than by an agent they just met?
So, winning them over was just a matter of properly making them feel taken care of by the agent. The agent had some subsequent conversations where they made a conscious effort to tailor their communication to this type, making a huge effort to make them feel cared for and arranging conversations with other clients who emphasized specifically how they had their hands held the whole process and were taken care of. The client was persuaded to go with the agent, who used this technique countless times to convince several more clients than usual that year.
Conclusion: Towards an Effective Customization of Communication
In order to close more and better deals, a real estate agent must develop their influence and persuasion capabilities, of which assessing the target is a big component of. Customizing communication for the person’s type is a powerful technique that can establish an agent above others, as well as bring in a higher number of deals and more revenue.
