Handling buyer feedback without emotion
Buyer feedback is a normal part of the selling process and can be invaluable when it comes to pricing and marketing your property, so it sells quickly and without stress.
But sometimes feedback can be challenging to receive, particularly if it’s not what you want to hear.
So, let’s look at how to handle buyer feedback without succumbing to emotion.
The power of feedback
Selling a home can bring up a whole range of emotions. After all, people are coming to ‘inspect’ the space that’s been your personal sanctuary, and no-one likes to feel judged.
The thing to remember about feedback when selling, is that it’s not personal. Instead, it offers an insight into market perception which is critical to the sales process.
Your agent can then use this feedback to hone your selling strategy by identifying potential barriers that might hold people back from buying.
It allows you to adjust your property marketing and presentation, confirm or alter your pricing, and strengthen engagement with potential buyers.
Ultimately, feedback can help you tweak your property’s sales campaign so it targets the right buyer and sells quickly.
But first you have to set emotions aside…
It’s not about being judged
Nobody likes to feel like something they have loved, cherished, or even built themselves is being critiqued.
And it’s not unusual for sellers to find feedback a bit challenging to take. Typical reactions to feedback include:
- Feeling personally judged
- Feeling defensive or discouraged
- Believing buyers “don’t appreciate the home”
But here’s the thing, for you as the seller, the home has memories and emotional attachment. Potential buyers haven’t yet forged that emotional connection.
Instead, they’re looking at the property from a different perspective, considering what it might deliver to them.
How to reframe feedback
When handling feedback, it’s important to appreciate that not all comments or critiques are valuable. Some might just be the isolated opinion of one potential buyer.
Instead, look for patterns. If one person comments on the house feeling dark, it might just be a one-off opinion. If multiple parties mention that, it could be time to consider ways to lighten the interior with a fresh coat of paint, new window finishes, or trimming back exterior foliage that might be blocking the light.
Ask your agent to help with this, by filtering feedback into actionable insights.
Meanwhile, try to separate personal value and pure practicality. For example, a comment about the layout, and size of the home is not a comment about you, the owner.
Focus on what you can control, such as minor upgrades, small staging tweaks, pricing strategy, and campaign adjustments.
How great agents manage feedback
A great real estate agent will actively seek feedback from potential buyers in the knowledge it allows them to hone a sales and marketing campaign to ensure the best result possible for your property.
But they will also protect you in the process, ensuring that feedback is valuable and not overwhelming.
They will sort the feedback, looking for trends, rather than isolated opinions, then use it to make suitable recommendations regarding the property’s marketing, presentation, and price.
Their role is to help you remain focussed on the big picture of selling your home, and they will utilise feedback from the market to build momentum, realign expectations, and ultimately extract the best result.
How we can help
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