8 Tips for Success with For Sale by Owners

INTRODUCTION

How to get FSBO listings

Many top-producing agents include For Sale by Owner (FSBO) leads in their prospecting portfolio. While FSBOs can be a potential source of lucrative revenue, agents must use a more nuanced approach when connecting with FSBO homeowners.

We’ve written extensively about For Sale by Owner Leads in this blog. In HOW TO GET FSBO LEADS, we discussed finding the most viable and profitable FSBO leads (starting, of course, with Espresso Agent’s industry-lead FSBO leads.).  In 14 FSBO OBJECTION SHUT-DOWNS, we did an in-depth review of the most common objections agents face from FSBOs, and how to handle those objections.

In today’s post, we will step back and look at FSBOs from a broader perspective. We’ll review the benefits of prospecting FSBOs. But we’ll also look at the challenges agents might face by lead-generating FSBOs. Finally, we will summarize common strategies to use when prospecting For Sale by Owner Leads.

HOW TO WIN FSBO LISTINGS

The benefits of prospecting FSBOs

If you are new to the industry or have never worked with FSBO prospects, here are a few of the benefits worth considering:

• The FSBO market tends to be less competitive: Many agents ignore the value of working with FSBO leads, assuming that these homeowners are selling independently because they don’t want to pay commissions. Indeed, FSBOs usually cite commissions as their reason for going it alone. But if you realize that more than 90% of FSBOs eventually decide to seek the help of a real estate professional, you’ll want to make sure you are positioned to be that professional.
• FSBOs tend to be easier to work with. Here we will use expired listing leads as our frame of reference. Expireds can be frustrated, angry, and impatient after having failed to sell with their previous agent. This can be challenging for newer agents to handle. But FSBOs usually are more relaxed and open to talking to agents when they first put their house on the market. This provides the agent (especially if you’re newer to the industry) with the opportunity to practice your relationship-building skills.
• Building your value proposition. Because FSBOs are easier to work with, you can build rapport and trust with the homeowner. Take the opportunity to provide advice (if asked for) and even to help the FSBO homeowner with their paperwork and other administrative aspects of selling a home. The more help you provide, the more the FSBO will trust you, and the more they trust you, the more likely it is you’ll be near the top of their list when it comes time to listing with a professional.
• Practice handling objections. Check out the post referenced above about the 14 most common objections you’ll face working the FSBOs. The best practice you can get as an agent is to learn how to handle objections smoothly and confidently. And be clear: you will ALWAYS face objections. By projecting confidence as you address the FSBOs objections, you’ll prove to the homeowner that you have what it takes to guide them through the most important financial decisions in their lives.

BEST WAY TO GET FSBO LISTINGS

It’s important to recognize that FSBO prospects require a bit more TLC than the average homeowner.  With that in mind, the remainder of this post will cover eight tips to consider when prospecting your Vulcan7 FSBO leads.

1. STAY IN TOUCH

Do your best to keep your name top of mind because FSBOs often get frustrated quickly when trying to go it alone. By staying in touch on a regular basis, you stand a better chance of being their go-to agent once they’ve had enough of going solo.

2. TAKE GREAT NOTES

Or, maybe a better way to say this is: listen carefully during your initial prospecting call. Listen for motivation. Or opportunities to get in front of the homeowner. For example, you might find out your FSBO prospect is having an open house that weekend, which gives you a natural entrée to see the property.

3. VALIDATE TO BUILD TRUST

Affirm your FSBO prospect’s decision to so solo: “Great idea to sell on your I think you’ll have a lot of success. And if you need any help, let me know.” FSBOs need to discover, on their own, that they need a professional. By being patient and positive, you put yourself in an excellent position to get the listing when that decision is finally made.

4. GUIDE FSBOS WITH SOLID QUESTIONS 

Open-ended questions help to uncover the homeowner’s motivation. For example, if the FSBO says “I’m selling on my own to save money,” you might respond with: “That makes total sense, but let me ask, what does saving money look like to you?”

5. EASE UP ON THE HARD SELL 

Yes, persistence is important. But, an overly-aggressive approach might suggest to the homeowner that you think they made the wrong decision by selling on their own. 

6. PACE YOURSELF 

Newer agents, in particular, can often be over-eager, assuming that it might be easier to get a listing from FSBOs who tend to be friendlier, and more accessible. But that attitude can backfire. Take it slow and steady.

7. BUILD RAPPORT BY BUILDING VALUE 

You want to build rapport and trust early on. By supporting a FSBO’s efforts to sell in the short-term, they’re more likely to remember when they’re ready for a pro. Offer to help with paperwork. Give them advice on creating curb appeal. Show them you want to help.

8. LET THEM DO MOST OF THE TALKING

Your instinct might be to do as much “selling” as possible in your initial contact. Instead, ask open-ended questions. A great rule-of-thumb is to allow your FSBO prospect to do about 70% of the talking in that first conversation.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Turn to Vulcan7 for FSBO success

It takes FSBOs about a month to appreciate how time-consuming it is to sell their own home. With a patient, value-added approach, you can set yourself up to be the “go-to agent” when the prospect finally throws up their hands and says: “It’ll be worth it to pay a commission!”

Vulcan7 is widely regarded as the leading resource for superior, proven FSBO leads. And, while FSBO is an acronym for For Sale by Owner, savvy agents know it often stands for Fastest Single Business Opportunity.

But in addition to superior FSBO leads, Vulcan7 supports your business-building efforts with assets such as:

• A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform that keeps you on task with prospecting and lead follow-up. To learn more about the importance of CRM, check out our blog post THE VALUE OF REAL ESTATE CRM.
• Vulcan7’s best-in-class dialer maximizes your efficiency by helping you to make four times as many calls per session as you would be manually dialing.

CONTACT VULCAN7 to learn how our lead generation system can be a game changer for your business.

Doug Spak

Doug Spak has over four decades of experience as an advertising copywriter, agency creative director, blogger, and content creator. He joined Vulcan7 as a Content Specialist in 2016. In addition to ongoing website copy refreshes, Doug has produced over 300 blog posts while developing content for Vulcan7’s social media platforms.