As a real estate investor, you will develop skills that you never considered before. The longer you stay in the business, the more these skills will develop naturally. But what if you decide to focus on developing one of these skills, say your sales skills?

You can become a better real estate investor much faster by doing this. I want to shine a light on one skill in particular: Sales. 

From years of being in the business, I can say something for sure: A good salesman is much more likely to be a GREAT investor. Let’s discuss why.

What are sales skills

Communication: The ability to communicate effectively is crucial for sales. This means being able to listen actively to clients, understand their needs, and clearly explain the benefits of a product or service.

Persuasion: To convince potential clients to buy your product or service. This means you can identify the key selling points of your product and use them to your advantage.

Relationship building: Salesmen need to quickly understand and build trust with potential clients. Building a good relationship will also increase the chances of generating repeated business. 

Resilience: To make sales you need to be consistent. Remember that it is said that most sales are made after the fifth follow-up. This also means to have the ability to bounce back from rejection and setbacks.

I’m sure that after reading about these skills you can see how they are useful to real estate investors. But let’s talk about it a bit more in-depth with some examples.

REIs and Communication

The real estate business is, at its core, a business of dealing with people. So, it is only expected that you are a master at communicating with the people looking to sell their houses. 

Communication starts from your first interaction with the seller, that is why a good script and good marketing are so important. When cold calling, REI experts always recommend that you have a script. A script allows you to have some control over the conversation and the possible ways it could go. With a good script, you can encourage the conversation to go the way that you want it to. 

If you take more of an inbound approach, your conversation starts the moment that a lead sees your ads. Everything from the color that you use, the placement of pictures, and your wording can affect how an ad performs. But after this first interaction, always have a script to guide the conversation.

REIs and Persuasion

People who want to sell their house are rarely 100% ready to do it. And even if they are, how do they know that you are the best person to sell it to? That is where persuasion comes into play.

It is your job as an investor to present the seller with an offer that truly speaks to them. To do this you need to understand what the seller is looking for, what the problem he is trying to solve is, and what you can do to solve it for them. When you have a great understanding of these things you can shape up an offer that will change a seller’s mindset from: ‘I'm thinking of selling’ to ‘I want to sell right now’

REIs and Relationship Building

As a real estate investor, you need to excel at building relationships with sellers in short amounts of time. The faster you build trust, the faster you’ll close a deal. 

However, there’s another important part of relationship building – Growing your network. 

Growing your network brings you opportunities for business, education, and support when you most need it. Joining real estate investing communities like Facebook groups and masterminds is the first step to growing your network. But what’s most important is what you do AFTER you join these groups.

Asking questions, participating in conversations, and positioning yourself as an active investor in your community will help you grow your network. 

REIs and Resilience

As in any other business, real estate investing is full of ups and downs. When you first get started, chances are that weeks or months will go by before you close your first deal. And even after gaining some experience, closing deals on a regular basis is not a given.

What’s more, in most cases you won’t be closing a deal after only one call with a seller. Closing deals is a process that takes consistency and resilience. Investors need to be ready to face ejection time and time again before finally closing a deal.

Summary

Real estate investors need to develop sales skills to succeed in the industry. Communication, persuasion, relationship building, and resilience are crucial skills that can help investors negotiate deals, build relationships, and close more transactions. By focusing on these skills, investors can improve their marketing efforts, expand their network, and bounce back from setbacks, ultimately achieving their investing goals more efficiently.