We all know WHAT information we need from our customers to assist them in finding the best home to fit their needs, but HOW we do that matters!

Over the last few years, we’ve forgotten one of our most influential superpowers in online sales - relationships! It's no longer just gathering general information and pushing them through to the onsite advisor. Rather, we are back to rapport building, and we can do that because as the OSC we are the non-threatening, non-biased side of the business. We have to earn the right to ask personal questions and try to get an appointment. We get so excited that the customer either wants an appointment right off the bat OR we are so focused on overcoming the objection that the customer gives us that we miss the “journey” and focus only on the “destination.” So how do we build that rapport? By asking open-ended questions! It seems so simple, but the execution is a different story!

If we don’t build rapport throughout the conversion, we turn our qualification questions into a checklist and it becomes transactional. **Bring on the hamster wheel.** But when we take time to learn who the customer is and why they decided to reach out to us, we can then discover the best next step for them and it now becomes relational! If we don’t position this correctly, we will find ourselves pinned in a corner asking yes or no questions. 

Here are a few examples: 

 “This community/home is around $450k. Does that work for you? - Yes/no VS. “Is there a specific budget that we should be mindful of when considering options for your new home?” 

“This community is in the ____ area. Is that where you are looking to live? - Yes/no VS. “What has you interested in the ____ area?” 

“This home that you’re inquiring about is going to be complete in around four months. Does that work for your timeline?” - Yes/No VS. “Tell me a bit about your current living situation. Is there a specific date that you’re looking to move into your new home?”

One REALLY effective way to start communicating with your leads and take control of the conversation is to ask questions that get the customer talking. The more they’re talking, the more information you’re getting. Try asking “What’s most important to you in your new home?” That way you know how to overcome some of the smaller objections by reminding them that you have something that checks the boxes on their most important requirements. 

So brush up on questions that open up a conversation where one area of qualification often does (and should) bleed over into the next. This way, we can bring down the level of threat, increase the human element of this part of their journey and transfer the trust and emotion that you’ve built over to the onsite advisor who will **hopefully** take it through to the sale! #winwin