In this changing market there seems to be an excess of inventory, and buyers have a tendency to want to look at every home before they make a decision."? If you only have a couple of clients this might work for you, but for busy Realtors it's important to get them to make a decision so you can get on to the next client and closing."?

My buyer's agent, Jeff, had been working with a couple for about two weeks and had looked at literally dozens of homes but found something wrong with every one."? Jeff was frustrated because these buyers kept changing their minds and simply could not make a decision to present an offer'even though he had shown them several great homes which fit the criteria they had provided.

We decided to take them to lunch and as they talked about their experience so far, Jeff and I realized what the problem was! "?The husband wanted different things than his wife did! "?They had not come to a meeting of the minds on what they were looking for and didn't even realize why they were at odds with each other."? We were not going to be able to help them until they came to an agreement.

Being the high tech junkie that I am, I pulled out my trusty notepad and asked each of them to make a list of the most important features they felt they needed in their home."? Once each had made their list, Jeff and I compared them then asked them to rate each feature in order of importance."? This was an interesting exercise because it really allowed them to see how far off they were from each other."? Then we asked them to work with each other to create a list they could both could agree on and to rank this list in order of importance."? This entire exercise only took about 10 minutes and resulted in a happy balance between their two objectives.

Jeff then took out his laptop and plugged in his Sprint PCS internet card and proceeded to do a MLS search using the exact criteria that they had both agreed upon."? This is where it gets interesting."? As we narrowed their search, Jeff and I both knew there would be very few, if any, homes in the area they selected as their first choice with all the features they desired.'As expected, the result was zero homes that met their criteria."? You might think this was bad, but actually it was a huge eye opener for them and helped them understand that they had an unrealistic view of what they could afford in the area they desired.

Jeff and I then started to ask a few questions."? Is the size of the home more important than the area? How important is the size of the lot"?? They had to make the decision that the size of the home and yard were more important to them than the east side location where they had been searching."? We then added 2 areas to the search and 15 homes now showed up."?

We looked at the homes with good virtual tours and deleted the rest right there while sitting in the restaurant."? We were left with three homes they were anxious to see."? We called the agents and made appointments then went to see them."? When we got to the 3rd home they fell in love! The area, the lot, and the home was everything they had hoped for with the exception that is was 70 blocks west of their original desired area (which didn't have any homes that met their criteria.)"? We made an offer which was accepted and the couple is now living in their new home!"? This all happened the same day.

Jeff could have easily spent another couple of weeks driving around and searching for something they had not clearly identified, but with the help of a little on-the-spot technology and some basic sales skills we were able to complete the sale and help this family."? Here are the key steps to making this work:

1. Always do an in-depth needs probe in writing to have your buyers identify what they really want. It is a good idea to have the husband and wife do this individually and then compare lists
2. Take your laptop with you and make sure you have the ability to go on line every time you are with your clients
3. Become a power user of your MLS so you can quickly do searches and refine them on the fly so you can change the homes you are looking at if they don't meet your client's needs.
4. Preview properties online (via virtual tours) with your clients before driving all over town."? (Listing agents: you must accept that you are losing showings and potential buyers by not providing great"?visual content on every listing -- both panoramas and still photos."? Gen X'ers and others fully expect online content so they aren't wasting your time or theirs."? This is a critical marketing tactic as a listing agent!)
5. Don't be afraid to ask them to make a decision."? Once you have shown them the homes on the market that meet their criteria, ask them which one they want to buy. "?You will be surprised how many people are just waiting for you to ask.
6. Learn to love the selling process."? We are sales people!"? This is a sales business, and as a professional sales person you can master dialog and closing techniques that will help you in these difficult situations and allow you to move your clients along without feeling pressured.

If you have similar experiences and ideas of how your technology has helped you in difficult situations please share them here on this blog.

For now, keep selling and loving your high tech tools, they really do make a difference.