This document provides tips and strategies for real estate agents to improve their negotiation skills. It emphasizes finding common ground between parties by understanding each side's positions and interests, focusing on goals rather than positions, and problem solving to find mutually agreeable solutions. Agents are advised to ask questions to gain understanding, remain calm and flexible, and create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation. Conducting negotiations via email requires sensitivity to response times and establishing rapport while leveraging technology. Overall, the document stresses the importance of active listening, educating clients, and adapting to different communication styles and situations.

1. Improve Your Skills
SESSION 2

2. Find Common Ground
 See both sides.
 Look at each position from the other side’s
perspective. Try to understand what led the
parties to take their positions and why they
don't accept your position.
 Go back to basics.
 Remember that the most basic needs in life
are the most important. How do needs for
security, economic well-being, a sense of
belonging, recognition, and control over
one’s life influence a person's positions?
When the buyer’s
position is very
different from the
seller’s, it may seem
that the two sides will
never agree. But in
fact, the problem may
not be that the
parties have different
positions, but that
they have different
ideas, needs, and
desires. It's your job
to help them find
common ground.

3. Find Common Ground
 Talk about interests, not positions
 Focus on underlying interests that both parties share
—such as getting into a new home before the
school year starts. Often focusing on underlying
goals emphasizes how compatible the two positions
are.
 Understand the goals
• Ask the parties what outcome they would like to
achieve. Sometimes people become so attached
to their positions that they lose sight of their main
objective. When the parties see how they can help
each other meet their objectives, the negotiations
will get back on track.

4. Stay on Track
 Know what you have to lose. Say, “Let’s look at
what will happen if we don’t reach agreement.”
Then list the disadvantages for both the buyer and
the seller.
 Focus on the positive. Maximize the areas of
agreement and minimize the areas of
disagreement.
Sometimes negotiations stall because one or both
parties believe that if they hold out, the other side will
give in to their demands. Always encourage further
discussion.

5. Ask questions!
 Ask for further explanation. For example, to a seller,
say, “The comparable properties I’ve looked at
don’t seem to justify your asking price. Perhaps I
don’t understand something. Why are our numbers
so far apart?”
 Ask questions…can you help me understand…?
 Break the problem into its components. See if there
are points of agreement within the area of
disagreement. Assume, for example, that the
problem is a repair…do both parties know the cost
of the repair? Did you take the time to explain
repairs on your listing appointment?
 Itemizing from the beginning- line item repairs on net to
seller

6. 12 Ways to Become a Better Negotiator
 Learn everything you can about the
situation, the issues, and the participants.
 Understand all the participants’ needs and
interests.
 Set reasonable goals for what you hope to
achieve during the negotiation, and rank
them by priority.
 Help your buyer’s and seller’s do this before
putting house on market or writing an offer
 #1 Top Priority – getting to ____ on time,
smooth transition, find right house… normally
is NOT price that is #1, even if they tell you it
is.

7. 12 Ways to Become a Better Negotiator
 Work within a range that includes
minimums, targets, and maximums.
 Don’t be afraid to ask the client these
questions!
 Anticipate the other parties’ comments
and prepare your responses.
 Remain calm, pleasant, and unflappable.
 Build trust by clearly stating what your
client wants and respecting what the other
parties want.

8.  Create an atmosphere of joint problem solving
that focuses on the benefits to all parties.
 Remain flexible and open to a range of options.
 When other people speak, listen attentively and
hear them out fully.
 Use sympathetic comments, gestures, and facial
expressions to smooth over difficult situations.
 Always underpromise and overdeliver.
12 Ways to Become a Better Negotiator

9. Millennium Selling
 How has this impacted real estate selling strategies?
 Our more organic outlook has changed the way we
sell and how we handle relationships. The role of the
real estate salesperson has changed from persuader
to helper. High-pressure, manipulative sales tactics
are a thing of the past. Selling today is focused on
building trust and meeting the client's goals in the
real estate transaction.
 “I’m here to help”.
 Help them set goals on paper
What's different about the sales environment today versus
twenty years ago?
Relationship Selling:
The Key to Getting and Keeping Cu

10. Millennium Selling
 What are the characteristics of today's real estate
consumer?
 First, today's homebuyers and sellers are better
informed than in the past because they have
access to information from many sources. However,
that doesn't mean they are more knowledgeable.
Knowledge comes from organizing, interpreting,
and using information, and that's where the
modern real estate practitioner comes in.
Educating clients is a big part of our job.
 Ask them where they got their information from?
Neighbor, Trulia, Zillow?

11. Conducting Negotiations Via E-mail
 How can real estate sales associates succeed in this
new environment?
 Salespeople have to keep up with new client
expectations. Those who aren't willing to learn new
technologies and new sales techniques are really
saying, “I'm ready to retire.”
When face-to-face negotiations are not possible given busy
schedules or geographic proximity, e-mailing back and forth may be
your only option. In fact, because e-mail is probably most convenient
for busy clients on the go, most negotiations you handle will be
conducted in this way. Learn how to shine when all you have is a
computer screen or smart phone to guide you

12. Conducting Negotiations Via E-mail
 If the person you are e-mailing calls you to
respond to your message, e-mail is probably not
that person's preferred medium.
 Respond how the client communicates.
 Leverage the anonymity of e-mail to ask
questions you might not be comfortable asking in
person.
 "Don't simply wait for the old game to return;
learn the new one. The only constant is change,
and the only real job security today is our own
bank of relevant skill sets." —Don Huston and
George Lucas, "The One Minute Negotiator"

13. Conducting Negotiations Via E-mail
 Be sensitive to time. Using e-mail indicates you
expect a fast response and will give one in return.
 Try to establish some “human” contact by making
small talk during an e-mail negotiation. Again, if
the other person never responds in kind,
discontinue the practice.
 Use a framework to analyze clients' motives. Are
buyers seeking prestige or financial security from
their home investment? Are the homeowners
trying to raise capital quickly to secure another
investment? Use this information to craft your
negotiating strategy.

14. Bright Ideas: The Art of Negotiation
 If you can, convince sellers to accept electronic
signatures on an offer from out-of-town buyers. If you
can’t, build in sufficient time into the acceptance
schedule for overnight deliveries.
 When negotiating with a couple, don't assume who
the decision-maker is based on who dominates the
discussion.
 Connect with both clients.
 CC in emails and text messages.
 Keep the end result in mind. If sellers balk at certain
terms in a buyer’s offer, remind them how relieved
they will feel when the stressful process of selling a
house is over and they can get on with their lives or
move to their new home.

15. Bright Ideas: The Art of Negotiation
 If buyers won’t respond to a counteroffer
realistically, use a reverse strategy of telling them
that they should forget about the house. If they
really want the house, this may get them to
budge. —Danielle Kennedy International
Speakers Bureau, Dallas.
 Keep the earnest money check or copy in your
hand when you are telling the sellers about the
offer. —Bob Deutsch, Listing and Sales
Success,Real Estate Education Company,

16. Bright Ideas: The Art of Negotiation
 Learn as much as you can about the personalities of
the principals and sales associates you’ll be
negotiating with, either through personal
conversation or by talking to other salespeople who
have worked with them.
 If you’re not sure you’re getting the best deal, stall.
Many buyers and sellers get nervous and show their
hands when the other party hesitates.
 In a hot market, don’t be afraid to underprice.
Competitive bidding will bring the price up to where
it should be, or higher. —Malin Giddings, TRI Coldwell
Banker, San Francisco
 Don’t be afraid to give buyers a nudge. Remind
them about all the great qualities the property has
to offer.

17. Communication is KEY
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YxXsQMAvWg
 Make sure you understand your client.
 Don’t worry about IF they like you, like them first
and the rest will come together.
 Stay positive and engaging using FORD