How to Make the Most Out of Screening Calls

Mike: Welcome back to the FlipNerd.com REI Classroom where experts from across the real estate investing industry teach you quick lessons to take your business to the next level. And now, let’s meet today’s expert host.

Andy: Hello and welcome to the REI Classroom. My name is Andy McFarland and I’m with Treehouse Investments. I’m here to give you guys another tip today on the most important thing you can do or the most important thing you need to remember while you’re screening phone calls from, hopefully, motivated sellers.

Mike: This REI Classroom real estate lesson is sponsored VirtualStaffNow.com.

Andy: When you’re screening phone calls, I get this question a lot from new investors. They say, “What do I say on the phone? But when they call me, what am I supposed to say?” Especially the people that just sent out their first set of mailers, their first marketing, they have signs out and the phone rings and they get paralyzed with fear. They go, “No, this is a call from my marketing.” And they don’t want to answer it because they don’t know what to say, they’re a little bit nervous about it. Well, I get people that say, “Give me a script. What’s your script? What exactly do you say to them?” Or, “What’s your list of questions? What exactly?”

They all just want this exact thing to say. And here’s the deal. Although some of that stuff . . . I’ve seen lots of different scripts and they’re all good, but they all have one thing in common. And if you remember that one thing, you don’t need to worry about how to get exact list or script and you don’t have to be worried when you answer the phone. These are all human beings that are calling you and you relax on your phone when you’re talking to your friends, of course, so you don’t need to worry when these people call you as long as you remember this one thing when you answer the phone.

And that one thing is this, and don’t take this lightly. It’s to get the story. Get the story. When they call you, they’re going to want to tell you . . . they’re going to be really stiff and they’re going to say you had this advertising and they’re going to try to posture and be maybe a little bit weird about things. It’s going to feel weird. Just relax, talk to them like a human being, but remember in the back of your mind, get their story.

So you can ask . . . you don’t have to have a specific way of asking this, but you can say things like, “So what makes you interested in selling your property?” Or, “Why did you give me a call?” And then start digging for what their story is. And you can say it any number of ways. Say it however it works for you. But you want to know exactly what’s going on in their life that is causing them to want to sell the property.

And when you ask that and you get that type of story built around that, then you’re going to recognize are these people motivated or not. And you’re also going to hear in there what it is they need help with. Because not every motivated seller’s the same so you need to determine what it is their why is. Why are they selling? Is it money? Do they need time? Do they need to move quickly? What exactly it is? And if you listen to their story they’ll tell you that stuff.

Now, all of the other things that you’re tempted to ask on the phone, what’s the square footage, how many bedrooms, bathrooms, does it have a pool, is there a garage, is it on a busy street, all of that stuff you can ask them that and if they go there that’s fine. But, all the while, you really just want to listen for their story because that’s what unique. Every seller is unique in that they have their own story, their own reasons for selling. All those other things you can find out later. But building the rapport with them through asking their story and relating with them and listening to their story is going to be the thing that’s going to separate you from everybody else and really that’s the most important thing to get on the phone with them.

So, in summary, remember this. When you’re taking calls from motivated sellers, you don’t have to have a script in front of you, you don’t have to remember exactly all the list of questions to ask. Just remember to relax, be a normal human being, be their friend and get the story. Make sure you get their story.

Once again I’m Andy McFarland. I want to thank you guys for listening to this session of REI Classroom and I’ll talk to you next time.

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