The greatest and most successful real estate agents are masters at overcoming the objections that their clients and prospects toss their way. They weren't always great at overcoming these objections but they learned over time how to handle them in the most effective ways possible. Now you as an agent, no matter what level you are currently at in your real estate business, can learn how to become a master at overcoming these objections also.

Overcoming objections is often easier to learn how to do than you may now believe. The main component that you need to bring to the table is your desire to make it all happen. Once you have this desire you can then follow these three easy steps:

1. Make a list of all the objections your clients and prospects are giving you that you would like to learn to effectively overcome.
2. Write down what you think are the most effective responses you can give to overcome each of these objections whenever they are thrown at you.
3. Rehearse your responses to these objections until they become so natural that you can deliver them spontaneously whenever it is appropriate to do so with your clients and prospects.

The question is - where do you get these great comebacks to objections?

Consider approaching another agent in your office and ask his or her opinion on how to best overcome some of these objections. You might also consider doing a process similar to one that I often do when I am leading real estate trainings:

• In one of your weekly sales meetings, suggest that your colleagues write down on their own sheets of paper a list of objections they would like to learn to overcome with their clients and prospects.
• Collect the individual sheets of paper from the agents and begin looking for similar objections that a number of the agents would like to learn to overcome.
• Select one particular objection to work on with the group and ask for two volunteers from the group to role-play the situation. One of the agents will be the client who will have the objection and the other agent will be the agent faced with overcoming the client's objection.
• You can then repeat the process for other objections that you think would be helpful for the agents to learn how to overcome.

What's great about this process is you get great feedback, interaction, and enthusiasm among all the agents as they observe the other agents in action giving their best in situations that everyone in the room can identify with. It's also a great learning process for everyone as all the agents attending the meeting get to learn new skills, ideas, and approaches for overcoming objections that they will definitely have to deal with in the future.

Learning how to effectively overcome the objections of your clients and prospects can be very easy. You just need to be willing to do what is necessary to make it happen.

Published: November 26, 2002

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