For Sale by Owner Marketing
The FSBO Personality
It has been proven that if you can identify the personality of your prospect and adapt your presentation to fit their personality, you have a greater chance at converting the lead. Since this approach generates greater results, why would you abandon it in favor of approaching all FSBOs the same?
Four archetypal personalities:
- Analytical: Not physically demonstrative. Slow to make decisions and requires proof and details to substantiate claims. Appears to be quiet and in control.
- Dominant: Not physically demonstrative. Quick to make decisions, controlling, concerned with the bottom line. Appears to be hurried.
- Likeable: Physically demonstrative. Agreeable, team player, empathetic. Appears to be easy going.
- Expressive: Very physically demonstrative. Outspoken, animated, and constantly physically moving. Desires to be the center of attention. Appears to be multi-tasking.
Of these four distinct personalities, the vast majority of FSBOs are analytical with the remainder being dominant. Analytical types possess a primary motivation to save money. Dominant types believe they can sell their own home easily.
The analytical FSBO is going to require that you show them physical evidence of why you will increase their net on their home sale. They are likely not going to list with you immediately as they are slow to make decisions, so you are going to have to exercise some patience.
The dominant FSBO believes they can easily sell their own home; although they also possess a secondary motivation of saving money. They likely made the decision to list FSBO as an experiment to see if their home would sell on its own. Dominant personalities represent the listings you may be able to obtain on the initial meeting.
Properly Gauging and Increasing the FSBO’s Motivation
Whether you sell widgets or homes, all successful salespeople are efficient. Consider the efficiency model:
Efficiency = Effectiveness/Economics
Efficiency is the key element to your real estate success. If you list a home with a highly motivated seller and price it right, you likely will sell it quickly with minimal ad dollars and time invested. Conversely, if you list a home with an unmotivated seller and price it too high, in retrospect, you will wish you had not even taken the listing. You may have either spent considerably more money on your advertising or time pacifying the seller relative to your net commissions, or simply never sold the listing.
You must properly gauge the FSBO’s motivation so you do not become susceptible to becoming inefficient. To properly gauge the prospect’s motivation you have to ask the right questions.
Saving money is the primary motivation with an analytical FSBO. So you must address return on investment in a quantifiable way.
- How can I exceed the FSBO’s expectations on meeting their needs?
Possessing the belief that the FSBO is capable of selling their home themselves is the primary motivation of the dominant personality. So you must expose the challenges of selling a home to them without belittling.
- What problem is the FSBO trying to solve?
- Why would hiring me versus my competition benefit the FSBO?
The scripts provided in the this FSBO module, will assist you in specifically addressing the above motivations. Because the prospects’ motivations are different, SCRIPT II branches to emphasize different values. The analytical script provides you with proof to convey to the FSBO concerning why they will net more money on their home sale if they list with you. The dominant script provides you with solutions to common challenges faced by the dominant FSBO.
The quicker you increase the FSBO’s motivation and earn their trust, the sooner you will be able to obtain their listing. When evaluating the FSBO’s motivation, consider the following model:
Motivation = Attention + Relevance + Confidence + Satisfaction
- Attention: in the first thirty seconds that you are addressing the FSBO, you need to capture and sustain their attention.
- Relevance: once you have obtained the FSBO’s attention, the FSBO is going to wonder how your message pertains to their interests and goals.
- Confidence: the FSBO has to be confident that you can complete the task. They understand that success is not a guarantee, but they must believe you are up to the challenge.
- Satisfaction: if the outcome of what you say is consistent with or exceeds what the prospect expects, they will be satisfied and list with you.
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