Hammer Talk – Get more buyers to your auctions
By Leon Axford In Blog On March 21, 2017
Our clients hear it all the time from buyers, “we don’t want to buy at auction”. Most agents will just move on and say, “we will find you something else”. It’s the high quality agents that are prepared to do the extra work and ask further questions. The most important one is the one parents hear from their children multiple times of the day “why?”. Simple but effective.
The first way to handle the objection from a buyer is to have dialogue prepared. My favourite is “it’s not my fault that you have such great taste in property, the best homes go to auction.” Once we get passed that, let’s ask the question of “why”?
This week we sat down with Mark Vella of Starr Partners Blacktown to find out how he continually delivers more buyers to his auctions.
Mark describes the process of an auction as “spending 4 weeks writing the script and the auction is the movie premiere.” All the work is done before the day and there is a clear strategy to go from Listed to Sold.
Mark puts the success down to buyer meetings pre-auction. He currently conducts between 4-6 meetings with different buyers in the lead up to the auction for several reasons.
The main reason that buyers don’t want to buy at auction is just a lack of understanding of the process. A pre-auction meeting is an opportunity to make sure they understand how the process works and know all of their responsibilities to be able to compete effectively.
Firstly, the pre-auction meeting serves to set their mind at ease, knowing that auction is a much more transparent and comfortable process than any other.
Secondly, the pre-auction meeting is an opportunity to discuss their strategy and easily explain to the buyer “the fact is the seller has a strategy and is prepared for all situations, are you?” This is something that is seldom thought of by buyers.
Mark will discuss strategies and every scenario they may face from:
· If somebody opens with a high bid, how will they react.
· Somebody opens with a low bid, how they react.
· How to handle the momentum of the auction in their bidding strategy.
· What the process is if they are the highest bidder yet the property isn’t selling at that level. Mark will explain that there may come a time that you the buyer will need to increase your offer to entice the owner to sell.
The by-product of this meeting is trust. By having a “how can I help?” attitude, not only is Mark assisting buyers but he is building the trust of that buyer so that when it comes to the important moments of the auction they will perform.
With these strategies, it enables you to deliver an extra buyer to an auction, to give our owners the best chance of selling for a superb result.
