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It might be counterintuitive, says one of the country’s top agents, but learning to say nothing at all turned out to be everything her career needed to properly take off.
“I’ve learnt just shut up and listen to people and answer the questions that they want answered,” said O’Brien Real Estate’s Tanja Neven-Jones, ranked 38th in REB’s Top 50 Women in 2017.
“When we’re speaking to people, we’re there to listen, we’re there to help meet their needs.
“They want you to listen to them and sometimes we just don’t.”
Speaking on the REB Secrets of the Top 100 Agents podcast, Ms Neven-Jones said that this is the time to park the “ego-based” marketing.
“What I really love is when people invite me into their homes to help them make that decision: Do we stay? Do we go?
“It’s not about the egos and what car we drive and all of that.”
Ms Neven-Jones said that when you first get into real estate, you’re trained to go through scripts and dialogues.
“But that’s got to be adapted,” the agent added.
“And, more so, a listing presentation just should be mostly listening.”
Ms Neven-Jones said that it is “incredibly” important to have a point of difference.
“Being a woman in real estate, people will know that we’re caring and that we have empathy,” the agent said.
“[And that] we’ve got an incredibly good eye when it comes to detail and styling property.”
She also said that women are a little bit softer when it comes to negotiations.
“We really listen to what it is that they’ve loved about their home, and we’re very willing to share that with the next buyer or people that come through the door.
“One of the questions I ask is, what have you loved about your home? I’d like to share that with the people that come through.”
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