“Pitch is like a bit of a dance” – Peter Hutton

22 Jul “Pitch is like a bit of a dance” – Peter Hutton

In today’s show we talk to Peter Hutton, Brisbane real estate agent and the author of the book, “The Best Price For Your Home is the Love Price.” In the first part we talked about love price, now we talk about the importance of the pitch to the buyer.

Transcript:

Kevin:  Peter Hutton has written a book called “The Love Price,” and I’m talking to him about that this morning. A great book for buyers or sellers, if you want to know a little bit of inside knowledge about how agents work and how you can get the best price if you are selling.

I continue that talk with Peter Hutton.

There is another point I want to raise with you. In a part of the book, you talk about the importance of the pitch to the buyer. What do you mean by that?

Peter:  The pitch is like the pointy end of the whole process. You’ve promoted the property, you now have your open home and buyers are coming to the property, and that’s where a pitch starts. You’ve probably heard of the term elevator pitch, where you have 30 seconds to convince somebody to buy your service of product.

That’s pretty old school, actually, when you’re thinking about pitch. We’re not in a rush. We have more than 30 seconds, so there’s no point trying to hammer a buyer in to buyer a property they moment they walk into a property.

Pitch is like a bit of a dance, really. They come in to the property, and how you manage that process, and how you help them understand the property, and how that then moves towards closer to them, asking the kind of questions that signals that this buyer is somebody who has got a deeper interest, and how you follow up on them as an agent in those critical conversations that we have in the days after a buyer has gone through a property is crucial, and that’s part of the pitch.

Then the pitch rolls into now the buyer is getting closer to making a buying decision, and how do we move them towards the negotiation table? Then once they’re at the negotiation table, how do we actually help move them so that it’s natural, it’s not manipulated, but they are opening up their pocket, so to speak, their wallets, to actually buy that property and get that property? That’s what pitch is all about.

There’s a real art to it, and I think one of the key things that an agent should learn is how to negotiate. I don’t see enough of that in the industry of education. They get taught how to list a property and do listing presentations and be really good at prospecting, but negotiation, to me, is the critical part of the whole thing.

Kevin:  Yes, a great lesson is for agencies to be able to demonstrate how well they’re going to negotiate. There has been a lot of training around that over the years, for agents to be able to show sellers how they can negotiate, and even for a seller to ask a question like, “If someone comes in with an offer that’s $50,000 below what we’ve already told you we’ll accept, how will you negotiate those people up?” A good agent should be able to tell you that.

Peter:  Yes, exactly. That’s right. There are various schools of thought about that, and when I wrote the book “The Love Price,” Kevin, one of my best friends is a prominent barrister – I won’t mention his name because he’ll get embarrassed.

Kevin:  He’ll probably sue you.

Peter:  Yes, he’ll probably sue me. I asked him to have a read of my book first, because he teaches negotiation all around the country, and I have a thorough listing of dos and don’ts in the book about negotiation. It’s very good for a homeowner to read them, because they’re in the negotiation, as well, obviously. He just gave it a big thumbs up, which is fantastic.

Kevin:  Yes. It’s a great read, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone. We’re going to round this chat out very quickly, mate, but I just wanted to touch on a point that you did raise, and that was people choosing their agent.

I was surprised in that CoreLogic survey to read that 38% of people said they only interviewed one agent. Is that changing? Do you think people are becoming more attuned to the selection of the agent, so therefore, they only need to talk to one?

Peter:  I think, unfortunately, the world has become so busy and we make decisions quite quickly. In interviewing somebody, we go, “Okay, we’ve seen their signs up. They have good listings.” There’s a lot of social proof of an agent’s success, but as I said earlier on, Kevin, that actually is no indication that they’re actually the best agent.

What I would suggest to any seller is, yes, interview that agent, definitely. Why not? You’d be crazy not to. But, also, choose at least one or two others that are different to them and get some balance into your decision making. Yes, it’s going to take a little bit more time – you’re going to have to spend another hour or an hour and a half with each of those agents – but it’s well worth it.

Kevin:  Speaking of time, we are out of it. Pete, thank you so much for your time. The book is called “The Love Price,” and you can find a little bit more about it by going to Pete’s website, HuttonAndHutton.com.au.

Pete, once again, thanks for your time, mate.

Peter:  Thank you, Kevin. My pleasure.