Sales and Negotiation Skills:

By Jordan Taylor

Why would anybody sell a property for under market value? Why would anybody agree to a creative financing arrangement? Why would a lender or lien holder be willing to accept less money than what they are owed on a note?

Their specific motives are varied and many, but one thing is probably true: The person who put together the deal these people agreed to likely had strong sales and negotiation skills.

As important as it is to know the investment techniques and understand how the numbers work, it's also important to recognize that interpersonal skills play a key role in real estate investing. As an investor, your first “product” is yourself. People want to do business with people they like and trust, so you need to show them that you are likeable and trustworthy. You need to sell yourself to buyers and sellers, tenants, fellow investors, funding sources, and all those other people who play a role in the process. It's important to recognize that this isn't about manipulation or deception, it's about communication and fairness. It's about finding out what the other person needs and showing how your proposal will meet that need.

You're probably involved in sales more often than you realize. Whenever one person wants another person to take a particular action, something is being sold. In commerce, the action is usually the purchase of a product or service. But sales also occur when a teenager is angling for an extended curfew, when a parent is trying to coax a toddle to eat vegetables, when one spouse works on convincing the other that a vacation at the beach is better than a trip to the mountains—essentially, whenever two people are communicating, elements of the sales process are occurring. That's why it makes sense for everybody to learn selling skills, whether you see yourself as a salesperson or not.

A good way for a real estate investor to approach sales training is to look for a program that teaches sales skills along with negotiating and also touches on marketing. If you aren't marketing your business, people won't know to contact you when they have a real estate problem you can solve— and you'll miss out on a lot of potential deals. If you find the deals but can't get sellers to accept your offers or buyers to pay your price, you won't be able to close on the transaction—and if you don't close, you don't get paid. If the other party is receptive but not entirely satisfied with your proposal, you need to know how to negotiate so you can work out the details.

Selling your strategy

A common real estate investment technique is to look for motivated sellers—people who are in financial difficulties up to and including foreclosure, people dealing with personal crises including divorce and serious illness, people who own distressed properties, people who for whatever reason need to sell quickly—whose problem can be at least partially solved by the sale of their real estate. While approaching those sellers can be a challenge, you can make it easier for everyone if you sharpen your sales and negotiation skills.

The reason is simple: one of the biggest parts of selling is listening and comprehending, and then using what you have learned to construct the deal. When you know how to gather information by asking questions, hearing what is said, and understanding what isn't said, you will be able to present your offer in a way that will meet the seller's needs as well as your own.

If you have any preconceived notions about the honesty—or lack thereof—of salespeople, it's time to get rid of them. You can develop strong sales and negotiation skills and still maintain your ethics and integrity. And knowing and using solid sales techniques will help you perform better in all aspects of your life, business and personal, public and private. Your family as well as your bank account will benefit from the effort.

For more information about Real Estate Sales and Negotiating Techniques advanced training from Wealth Intelligence Academy, visit www.wiacademy.com or call 1-800-570-2050.