When an owner asks you if you'll reduce your commission, don't be so quick to agree.

Regardless of whether you're signing a listing or negotiating an actual sale or lease you must be willing to go to bat for yourself in this situation. Rather than be unprepared for this scenario when it arises, rehearse how you will respond in advance of being faced with this discussion.

Determine all the possible reasons an owner might give to you about why you should reduce your commission, and prepare great responses to them. In most situations if you have prepared for this brilliantly, you will walk away with your full commission intact.

For example, going from a six percent commission rate to a five percent commission rate means a difference of 20 percent in the income you will receive on the transaction. Does your seller realize this? You work very hard for your commission as a real estate agent. Do everything you can to protect your right to earn and get paid what you're worth.

If you're about to have a listing signed and you sense that the owner definitely will not sign the listing unless you reduce your commission, utilize the concession you are about to make in the commission to receive something in return for doing this. Oftentimes in this situation the owner will be willing to negotiate - giving you a longer listing period in exchange for your reducing your commission. If you're going to be making less commission on the transaction, it surely is nice to at least have the property listed for a longer period of time.

Published: July 30, 2004

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Jim Gillespie, Ph.D., is America's Premier Real Estate Coach℠. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate sales and is a past president of three different real estate companies. His FREE real estate E-newsletter with tips and creative ideas to help agents make more money is now read by over 35,000 agents nationwide. You can subscribe to his FREE E-newsletter by visiting RealEstateSalesCoach.com or contact him at Jim@RealEstateSalesCoach.com.