I want you to imagine that you have just “made a date”with that really cute guy (or gal) that you’ve been hoping to go out with for months. You’re decided to plan the date and are excited about going to a new seafood restaurant that you’ve been dying to try. That is until you discovered, as you’re standing in front of the restaurant, that your date doesn’t like seafood.
Now what? Would you still insist on sticking with your original plan and eating at the seafood restaurant?
My guess is that you would “shift on the fly”and find something that would work for the both of you. Maybe that’s taking your phone out to see if a great restaurant is nearby; or just walking down the street until something appealed to the both of you. Whatever you decide, I’m sure you’d choose to be flexible,so that the date could be successful.
Be Flexible
In leasing apartments, you also need to be flexibleduring the sales process! Take this example…
A client walks in (obviously in a rush) and asks to see the model. You offer him some refreshments, which he refuses, saying he only has a few minutes before he has to get back to work. You grab a guest card and try to get him to sit down, so that you can fill it out and go through the normal information gathering process.
He looks at you and says, “Can you just take me to the model??? I’m in a rush and just want to see it…”
So, what do you do?
• Option One: You tell him that you really need to have the guest card filled out before you can take him to the model.
• Option Two:You choose to be flexible, ask him for his ID, grab the guest card and a pen and head on to the model, knowing you can gather information on the walk over, while still working with his time crunch.
Which one do you think would be more positively received by your prospect?
Don’t Get Stuck!
I can’t tell you how many times during my career and now in my speaking and consulting business that I’ve seen sales associates refuse to be flexible with their prospects. Instead of accommodating the prospect (when applicable) they choose to say “No, this is how it must be!”even at the expense of making the sale.
Then when the prospect walks away they often tell themselves, “Gee, what a jerk!”, not knowing they actually triggered the behavior and response in the customer.
If someone doesn’t want to see the model and just wants to see the vacant apartment, why insist on showing her the model?
If a prospect has no interest in the tennis court, do you need to show it to her?
If a client is in a rush, do you really need to show him all five laundry rooms ?
If a customer seems to need some “space” why not let him roam the rooms of the model alone for a few minutes before re-engaging, instead of being stuck to him like Velcro the entire time?
One Size Doesn’t Fit All!
The great leasing professionals are the ones that know when to bend, shake, shimmy and roll with the situation in front of them. So, the next time you find yourself trying to fit a square peg in a round hole with a prospect, consider throwing the peg out and playing a new game!
