As you may suspect, the commitment to buyers differs based upon location, type of product, market conditions, and the real estate agent. We have always received evidence that top producing real estate agents work with fewer buyers and more sellers. Even in this age of instant information and aggressive technological-tracking, this still seems to be a pretty safe bet, especially in our “new” market.
Agents work in markets where buyers have different needs and different personalities. Some of the main buyer personalities are as follows:
1. The Investor Buyer
This buyer usually has time for research, is not afraid to talk to “For
2. The Immediate-Need Buyer
This buyer needs to live in your community, has considered renting a poor option, and has set a time limit by when she wants to be in a home. This may be considered as the golden buyer and should be considered as important as a seller.
3. The Casual Buyer
This buyer will be ready to buy when he or she finds what he or she really wants. Sometimes the goal of this buyer is fuzzy, and it is difficult to constantly deliver products that meet their needs. Frequently their needs, or bulls-eye, are floating. These buyers will be a source of much frustration, causing you to hate the business when they end up buying something you never dreamed they would like.
4. The Do-it-Yourself Buyer
This buyer, being technologically savvy, has access to the majority of the listings in town, reads the paper, and goes to open houses. As the saying goes, “He finds homes the old-fashioned way -- he earns it!” This buyer is frequently working with multiple real estate agents and is hard to pin down to a delineated, benefit-packed Buyer Brokerage Agreement. Your presentation has to be compelling to capture their loyalty and must never be worked with outside of a contract.
5. The Sweet-as-Pie Buyer
This buyer looks at the home as a fun commodity, hangs on every word you say, is a joy to work with, and can usually make up their mind after being shown three different properties. They are just happy being fortunate enough to get a home. The details will take care of themselves. They are another golden opportunity.
6. The Always-in-the-Market Buyer
This buyer is always ready to buy, has not yet, and maybe never will. The wonderful thing about real estate is that this buyer can have anyone or more of the above attributes; therefore, it is a priority for real estate agent to develop that certain sense of “smell.” This process will allow you to differentiate the motivational patterns of buyers and work with those who have the most profitable attributes.
It is necessary for us to determine how much time you will devote to the acquisition of new buyer clients, which types of buyers, and how to hold them accountable. We do this by determining what percentage of buyers and sellers you want to work with. We understand that if you are a new agent you will probably be working with more buyers because the acquisition of buyers through walk-ins, sign calls, the internet, and open houses are some of the first activities of a real estate agent’s business plan. Since sellers seem to come from reputation, referrals, advertising, signage, focused demographic lead generation, and other attributes of a well-entrenched real estate agent, you will find that as you become more established you will be working with larger percentages of sellers. Taking your proposed percentage of buyers vs. sellers into account, I would like you to work backwards to determine how much time you really will devote to the buyer aspect of this business.
My suggestion is that you create your business by having 20% of your gross yearly income generated from buyers and 80% from sellers. Use these numbers to see how many lead generation systems to put into place and what types of clients to generate.
