LUXURY REAL ESTATE: GOLDEN RULES FOR LUXURY REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT
There is a rule that any real estate consultant can see when looking at a luxury real-estate product that is the luxury does not come from the price which is much higher than usual real-estate product, it comes from the very high standards that are always applied rigorously: from planning, architecture, to the build process, from choosing the design agent to the construction contractor which is reputable and successful in the market or not. In addition, the high-end standards are shown in building materials, furniture, companion brands, and the operation also has its standard equal to the high-end segment where the product is positioned. And surely the facilities around, the customer care, service models must all be in the highest standard. In short, every element that builds up luxury real estate, must all be luxury.
GOLDEN RULES FOR LUXURY REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT
Many argue that a real estate product is luxury when it’s located in a beautiful and central location, it’s true but not enough in our unstable and charging market. Many real estate projects are not in a central location in the big city but also are counted as luxury real estate because the key point is these projects are built based on the special needs and interests of the customers. Investors had researched and found the “insight” of the luxury customer, from that can create trend and exclusive product for this type of customer. For example, the need of owning property near the beach, on the mountain, on the island,… and apparently, besides elements build up a luxury property product are listed above, luxury real estate products are invested in a very methodical strategy and spend a large budget in building a brand image of the investors and the project.
We can see, the nature of the luxury real estate project is tried to be built and expressed around the word “high-end”, so… to consultants who are considered as representative for investors, for the product should know what to do to show and convey the luxury to the customer?
“Building a FOUNDATION is the first step in consulting for luxury customers”
Everybody knows FOUNDATION is something very important, necessary and it is a must, can’t build anything without the foundation. And the first thing a luxury real estate consultant needs to build in the foundation category is “project presentation skill”, a skill that must train to become a tool, a must-have part, and can’t be separated from the premium seller. Read to this point, you might think this is normal and apparent but you must know, with the products have the high price beyond normal, even sometimes are considered absurd when the customers haven’t understood and the reason why there is this number, the way you present like a robot about the basic information of the project or too much emotional will be useless because there is no easy to persuade this type of customers like you usually do with normal customers. I believe you know this.
In mass-market, we don’t attribute but most customers correlate with demand and insight, but customers in real estate luxury market, each person has different demand and concern level, because of that reason, when present about the project, to this type of customer, the consultant needs to pay attention:
- Know who the customer is, then identify correct the insight, the things that make them most interested, excited, and curious about the project. The more detail you know about your customer, the more you reach to them.
- Always remember: High-end customers have everything, what they don’t have are time and patience. So, the more lengthy and rambling the presentation is, the lower the chance of “touching” the customer, and that’s why there is rule No.1.
- Next step: after identified and analyzed the insight of the customer, if you lack this step, the chance to reach them is still not high. Build a consult script and make it become a story, a “Story Telling” to lead your customer. This is the reason why I mentioned Project presentation skill as a foundation above. Not just listing and talking. It does not work here, with this type of customer, we can’t just list all the functions and talk like a machine, you must build a story, this story based on the concern and question of the customer and what the customers want to hear to eliminate the boredom and especially to create your differences between you and other consultants, from that you can increase a chance to close a deal. Don’t forget Rule no.2 when building a consult script.
- Besides presenting, to increase attraction and impress customers, you have to be well-prepared about the tools, visual help you in your presentation to make a difference. A successful consult specialist is a person who has the ability to prepare information about the project that is rare and hard to find. That could be a document or information you collect by yourself to create focus, highlight for customers when you present the project. A small tip for you, besides the highlights that are provided by your investor, you can give what customers want to see through video made by yourself (of course it must be the truth). What will they think?
- At the beginning of this article, I said that the consulting specialists are representative of the project, and I mentioned the word “luxury” too. Make sure that you are also luxurious and suitable when being a representative for investors, and have “power” to sit next to and consult for this difficult type of customer. Make sure your business etiquette is prepared because it will invisibly affect your customer mind to evaluate the project you are consulting, is luxury or not. It is the same as when you buy a watch or pair of shoe of a luxury brand, before seeing the product, the packaging itself will create a certain emotion and assessment of the customer that the brand and the product inside is high-end or not – the business etiquettes, the outlook of consult specialist is the “packaging”, the face of the project you are consulting. Caution, our outlook is professional, and should not be cumbersome that loses the naturalness of communication, it must be neat, professional but comfortable. I want to emphasize one thing, this caution not to push your business etiquettes to become too far but it must be a standard, a thoroughness in appearance, speech, communication way when interacting with customers.
The next thing I want to talk about besides the project presentation skill, The art of Negotiation is also a skill that can’t be missed that a consulting specialist must equip.
In fact, each consulting specialist have their own way to negotiate and close the deal, you don’t need to follow anyone’s way, but there are some factors you need to pay attention and it’s almost the key factors when you consulting in high-end real estate:
1/ Listening more than talking. When presenting or negotiating, you need to get to the heart of the matter, create a story then lead to the problem without rambling.
2/ The method to sell luxury products is:
DON’T SELL, MAKE THEM WANT TO BUY AND HELP THEM GET IT
3/ Always research, update, prepare,… every question the customers could ask you. I call it establishing a question bank or Q&A bank. When researching the insight of the customer as I said in No.1 at the beginning of this article will help you.
4/ when you catch the signal and expressions that customers are interested and love the product:
USE IT BUT NOT IMPATIENT
…because the more you rush, the higher the chance of dropping the deal.
5/ Always prepare script if the customer says BUT… because the customers will always ask questions or problems after saying the “but” word. As luxury real estate product consultants, we should not too worry about this and on the contrary, be happy about it. Because you will understand the problem your customers are having even though they really like the project. Then you can easier access and give them your solution. This is a lot better than the case that why we presented well, smooth conversation but the customer haven’t spent money and we don’t know the reason. Now you can see the value in Rule No.3.
“A SUCCESSFUL SELLER IS WHEN HE CAN SELL MULTIPLE TIMES FOR ONE CUSTOMER, NOT THE PERSON CAN SELL FOR MULTIPLE CUSTOMERS BUT JUST ONE TIME” Mr. Nguyen Le Hai Dang
6/ Parallel to the process of building the foundation in developing skills, don’t forget that we also have to build Personal Branding for ourselves to create the uniqueness and highlights when we are luxury real estate consulting specialists.
The Personal Brand I mentioned here is not famous like a celebrity or an actor, the personal brand should be based on your professional knowledge and capacity as well as the image that you want your customer to remember. The Personal Brand is also located in what segment you are in and it makes it easier to reach and interact with the customer suitable with your professional knowledge. In addition, personal branding helps you to have a certain level of reputation in the market, in case if the customer wants to know more and research about the consultant before meeting, this is also the basis for customers to trust and listen to you more. As I shared, the customers are judging the luxury brand through many factors, and premium packaging of the product is a must and never is the exception. As a customer, the external appearance of a Salesperson will also be a prerequisite that we will evaluate whether the product they are consulting is high-end or not. If the external appearance of the Salesperson is not reached the standard, we will be underrated and also the product, investors that we are representative for. Remember, “Salesperson does not judge the customer through the external appearance but the customer absolutely can judge us are luxury real estate consultant or not.”
7/ Using method F.E to succeed in selling career in high-end segment sustainably. I will explain more clearly in the next article, but you can understand simply there are 2 levels in this method that you need to keep in mind:
Friend & Expert: In the early stage, when building and maintaining a relationship with the customer, you have to become a Friend to them, make them feel like you’re ready to listen and share from them and vice versa, they listen and share from you. Don’t come to the customer with a selling mindset, you understand that it won’t make you close the deal with them. As a friend, you and the customer easily share, the defense or unpleasant views about Salesperson in the customer’s mind will be decreased. And with a relaxed atmosphere like a social conversation, prepare for yourself knowledge, information and needed professional skills, then as an expert, the information in the conversation will be useful, valuable and easier to get into the ears of customers. Because of these factors, you will not be merely selling anymore, you are sharing and consulting to help customers find the right product and make a decision.
Family & Expert: after building “Friend” relationship and creating a certain trust, you have to try much more to develop this relationship closer and tighter, they always welcome and be happy when you share, always listen and want to hear your consult from you for their decisions, at this time, the relationship has been upgraded to “Family”. This relationship is not meant family members, I will roughly translate it as a close relationship above normal, there are no distances or concerns, barriers, and you are still as an expert, you are there to support and help them make their best choices. It is easy to say but not easy to do. And as I said above, this issue I will share in a later article.
To summarize, what I want to say is for being a successful luxury real estate consultant, come to your customer by your heart and your capacity, Don’t approach customers and make them see you just want to sell. Heart meaning in the letter F above, your Capacity comes from letter E we keep on researching, practicing, cultivating. Never be satisfied and complacent with your present ability. Many young salespeople talk to me:” This project is so hard, I haven’t consulted with any customer. How to become like you?” I said:” I’m not better than you or you can’t be like me, you just haven’t practiced more than me. The speech that you complimented me, I had to practice more than 500 times, how many times did you study and practice for your presentation?”. Selling high-end real estate is not as simple as selling ordinary real estate, but some criteria force salespeople to learn and upgrade. In particular, the first step to master is to build a foundation and build a suitable personal brand. And, with the development potential of high-end real estate projects in the future, building and training a team of senior professionals is a story not only investors need to pay attention to and create a methodical and complete path, but also each salesperson needs to seriously develop and build for yourself. In an extremely competitive and volatile market today, remember to “BE UPDATED OR DIE!”.
