Developing a sense of urgency

I showed a guy and his wife a mobile home a couple of days ago. At first they weren't sure that this was the home for them but at the end of the showing the said they liked it but wanted to talk with their lender before they wrote a contract. I suggest to them that if they wanted the home that we should write a contract immediately and make it subject to financing but they still went home without writing a contract.

The next day they called and scheduled an appointment to come in and write the contract but when I called the agent again for availability he said that they had just accepted a contract.

I don't think they felt a sense of urgency to write the contract that night and I don't know if this is my fault or what I could have said to develop a sense of urgency. So how do you do it? How do you develop a sense of urgency?

I would suggest Desire and/or Consequences.

When the buyers desire is high enough it is not likely that they are going to wait especially if they are preapproved and have money burning a hole in their pocket.

Help the customer evaluate the upside gain vs. the downside risk of waiting. Also, when the PAIN of the downside risk (Consequences) is high enough it is not likey that they are going to wait.

Who needs carrots, where did I leave that stick?

What carrot and what stick would you suggest?

Thomas,

Here's one idea. When they refused your suggestion to write a contingent offer, you could ask them "How will you feel if the house goes under contract before we do write an offer?"

If they say they won't care, then I don't think you could generate a sense of urgency.

If they say they'll be disappointed, then you could explain that while it may seem like a small possibility to them, your experience is that it happens much more often than they might think. And, really encourage them to write the contingent offer.

You could use this most recent situation as an example. I think often buyers think that since a home has been on the market for a while, the odds of someone else making an offer to beat them out is small. But, I think that home sales go in cycles. Once the home has been promoted for a period of time, the people who are interested in buying it probably do come all at once for a period of time.

Were they pre-approved for a mortgage? Maybe that would have helped.

Kathleen

Thanks Kathy for the suggestion. No they were not pre-approved. We're still working on that.

"Scarcity" is a good motivator. Here are some examples:

• Contract coming in on the same property.
• Only five bedroom in that exclusive area.
• Rates might go up making the payments too high.
• For the next 24 hours only the sale will include the appliances.

So here's a question on creating "sense of urgency"...Is there a fine line between using the examples suggested by Calvin and pressure selling? Would the customers feel they're being pressured to buy/write an offer? How does one create a sense of urgency, but not appear to be pressuring customers for the sale?

--Scott