Seller Psychology | How to Overcome Unrealistic Pricing Expectations

In this episode of The Elite Agent Masterclass, James Humphries-Stone and Jack Durkin tackle one of the hottest and most frustrating challenges facing estate agents right now — pricing.

With overvaluing more common than ever, and sellers often chasing inflated figures, James and Jack go deep into:

• Why price reductions are hitting record highs, despite asking prices still rising
• How agents can confidently educate sellers without fear of upsetting them
• The psychology of seller decision-making — loss aversion vs gain seeking
• The difference between winning instructions vs actually selling homes
• How corporate business models drive overvaluing to chase market share
• How to position pricing with confidence, using stats, data, and real authority
• Why some agents must learn to walk away if terms aren't right
• The importance of DISC profiles in valuation delivery and client conversations
• How emotional intelligence and empathy create long-term trust and conversion

This is a masterclass not just on pricing, but on how to build authority, trust and long-term pipeline strength in an increasingly competitive estate agency market.

✅ If you're struggling to compete with agents who overvalue, or find yourself caught in difficult price conversations with sellers — this episode will give you frameworks you can immediately apply.

James and Jack also break down:

• The "Then What?" approach to educating sellers.
• How to isolate the problem and sit on the same side as your client.
• Why understanding your client's real reason for moving is critical.
• How to balance tough conversations while maintaining strong relationships.

Whether you're new to self-employed estate agency or already established, this is an essential listen to help you elevate your pricing conversations, secure stronger instructions, and ultimately deliver better results for both your clients and your business.

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Transcript

Welcome back to another episode of the Elite Agent Masterclass with me, James Humphrey-Stone and co-host, Mr. Jack Durkin. How are you, mate? Very good, mate. Very good. Today, we've had a good little meeting over at the office this morning, so I'm feeling refreshed. Had a good catch up with some of the agents, which was good. Had a lot to talk about, which I think will be really valuable for this episode. All around the market, what's happening in the market. So, yeah, really looking forward to sharing that, but it's good to meet with everyone this morning. How are you, mate? You had a nice week last week? Yeah, very good, thank you. I had a little week away. The weather was a bit iffy. It was a UK break. A couple of days were a bit rainy, but we were just outside Skegness, so we went to Skegness for the day. And if anyone listening in has ever been to Skegness but hasn't been to the aquarium, I highly recommend it. There's two top tips off the beginning of this video. I'm just going to give these away for free. Skegness Aquarium, absolutely brilliant, and Lincolnshire Wildlife Park. is the best place I've been that has zoo animals in the country. It's so good. Nice, mate. You just can't pick the English weather, unfortunately. You've just got to make the most of it, haven't you, when you can. But yeah, no, really nice week away. Lovely time with the kids. I'll be honest, it's Monday. I've been off for a whole week. And I'll be honest, it's now what we record in like half two on Monday afternoon. I'll be like, I'm missing the kids and Ailey a little bit. You know, don't mind admitting that. But, you know, we'll crack on. Good, good, good. I saw Stanley running around in his new car over the weekend as well, which he was enjoying. Mate. Yeah. So just for those listening in, his granddad went to the tip to get rid of a load of rubbish. He's been clearing out his garden and locking down trees and things. And on his way in, there's this fella offloading a what is a Land Rover Defender thing, a kid's car, electric car. And Alex, my father-in-law, is an ex Rolls Royce engineer. So as soon as he saw it, he said to the mate, mate, you like, you know, why are you throwing that away? It doesn't work. And Alex, can I have it? And the guy was like, fill your boots. I'm only going to put it in the tip. So Alex took it home, spent three days tinkering with it. And now Stanley will not leave his grandparents' house. Honestly, he's like the left one driver in it. Something that was, I suppose, not a value to that person was highly valuable to Stanley. And I'm sure having seen the enjoyment he's having, probably would have paid a fair bit of money for that experience. Best present ever. He absolutely loves it and it was completely free. Which is good because it kind of leads us on to this episode of the pod, which I suppose we want to focus around pricing and value in the current market, which I think is a big topic at the moment. Lots of people that I'm seeing on LinkedIn are sharing property's been overvalued, property's not been priced correctly and I think it's a challenge that a lot of agents are facing at the moment, isn't it? Yeah, it's a hot topic. I think it's quite a... It's quite a consistent topic. I've been in the industry since two thousand four and it's always been a thing. It's always been a problem that there are agents in towns and wherever that always have a tendency to overvalue and overpromise, etc. But it seems like you just said it seems a lot more prevalent at the minute. A lot more people are talking about it on LinkedIn and in various Facebook groups. So, yeah, very hot topic right now. Yeah, I read some stats earlier and. And it's interesting, but having seen the stats, according to Rightmove Zoopla and the other portals, asking prices are increasing month on month by not point six percent. However, the number of price reductions is the highest it's ever been. So it kind of tells you a lot about what's happening in the market, doesn't it? It's very telling. It's very telling. And right now, I suppose this is straight out the gate. Elite agent masterclass. We want to share gold, want to share value. If I was an agent in possession of that data, I would be making sure that my local marketplace absolutely knew what that meant. And the data speaks for itself, right? House prices, asking prices are rising according to the UK's largest property portal. Yet price reductions are an all time high. that tells you one thing and one thing only. Yeah, I think that being armed with stats and data, going into appointments and being able to share that with your clients, It's one of the key drivers or key ways that you can help your sellers understand what their property is actually worth in the current market. It's very easy to overvalue for sellers to be blinkered by the fact that they could get X amount more for their property than what other agents are suggesting they could get for them. But does that necessarily mean to say that they're going to sell? I think there's a lot of agents out there that want listings, whereas Is it not more important for agents to have sales over listings? You could take properties market, but is it necessarily going to sell? I think it really depends on the nature of the business model. You and I both know we've come from a past of working in varying business models. And we've worked in business models where the focus was on grabbing market share. Now, market share is dictated by the number of boards. And so the rationale and the reasoning behind the overvaluing process won't ever go away all the while that that's the mentality for these larger corporate style entities. They aren't going to stop encouraging people to get properties on by any means necessary. It's not going to go away. So I suppose my attitude towards it is, It's always been that way. It's unlikely to change. What can we do as agents to help the public? And I think that data you've just shared, if agents aren't using that data after listening to this or if they've already got possession of it and creating multiple bits of content, not just one short form, thirty second video that they pop out and hope that people see. If they're not getting multiple bits of content that they can pump out into their local community, local Facebook groups, advising the public of what that means. then they're mad. Educate your audience before you get to sit in their living room so that they understand what they're going to be facing ahead of time. Yeah, I think showing them the stats of the day, yeah. like I said a moment ago, is key, isn't it? I think understanding, the one thing that I found, especially in our local area and speaking to our agents in the field, understanding their competitors is really important. I mean, as an agent, you can go on to Rightmove, you can see the stats and the data, you can see how many price reductions other agents are having and how many times, if you add your Google Chrome extensions on, you can see how many times it's been reduced as well. Going in armed with that data, knowing that some of these clients that you're going to be speaking with are going to have agents that are going to be inflating the prices, making sure they're fully aware of how many properties you're selling on a percentage basis compared to your competitors and how many properties you're reducing the acting pricing of compared to your competitors. And having been armed with that data, I think is really, really valuable for any agent that wants to go in and win the business at the right price, with the right strategy, with the right plan, wants to give honest advice to the client. I totally agree. It's about making sure that the terms are agreeable so that it's a win-win for you and the client, isn't it? And I think some of the agents out there, this may be a thought that's at the back of their mind, or when I say it out loud, they're going to go, that's exactly it. That's the problem. Most homeowners will invite, on average, free agents out to give an appraisal, right? And so let's just be a bit fictitious here and say that two are purposefully topping the price because that is their skill. They have nothing beyond simply overvaluing and so therefore they're going to tease the owner with an overinflated asking price. In the homeowner's eyes, they've had three experts out to see them. Why is it that they should believe that the one that is the outlier, who by the way is telling me my house is worth less, should be deemed the expert over the two that have told me more? And that's more common than the other way around. Yeah, I think I would probably say that most, especially if the seller gives an indication as to what the other agents are valued at, or even an indication as to what they're hoping it's worth and what they're hoping to achieve, then I think it's very common that agents don't want to upset their clients and they don't want to give sellers the truth because they're fearful that they might upset them. And we've spoken to many agents and, you know, pitching and how to deliver price to a client that has got an overinflated expectation can be challenging, can be difficult, but there is ways to overcome that, isn't there? There are, there are. I think coming back a step as well, I think in that education piece, As estate agents, we know more than the public, right? It's a bit like going to see an accountant. The accountant knows a shed load more than we do. So when an accountant explains something, you need them to explain it in a, when this happens, this will trigger that. And when that happens, you need to consider this. And I think as estate agents, we need to get into a similar headspace. And I'm going to explain what I mean. Do you get that just now? According to Rightmove, house prices are rising by point six percent month on month. But in the same breath, asking prices are being dropped by the most that they ever have been. Now, to us, we know what that means. to the home move in public, they might just go, well, that's just the market. And so if I put my house on the market, I may have to expect to reduce my price. But if I don't try the overinflated price, I'll just never know whether I'll get it. And so I think what agents need to come away from this with is the then what attitude. They need to be questioning then what. If I educate my homeowners in my local community that by dropping their price or going on at an overinflated price means they're going to have to drop, a lot of homeowners will go... I don't care. Like, that's fine because there's a percentage chance that I might get the overinflated price I've been told. And all the while that there's that question at the back of their mind, I may get that number is all the while that you're on the back foot. Right. So the then what is OK, but what happens if I have to reduce my price? So if I have to reduce, then what happens? Am I susceptible to selling for less? Because there is well-documented data that the longer a house is on for sale, the lower the price gets. And on top of that, the longer a house is on for sale, when it does sell, the chances of it falling through are exponentially higher as well. So all I'd encourage agents to think is, then what, when they're doing the education piece? Because a lot of homeowners aren't in, how often do we hear, oh, I'm in no rush, so I can try the higher price. Yeah, I feel a lot of homeowners, it's the fear of loss, isn't it? They feel as though they're going to lose out on a certain price that they could potentially achieve in the market rather than focusing on what they'll gain if they're able to get that all important sale, which for many homeowners on the market currently, it's a challenge to get their properties under offer and sold. And as I said, probably because many of the properties have been inflated on their pricing. But what they haven't focused on is if they get that all important sales, what that could lead to. There were a lot of competition on the market. There's a lot of other properties. That means that they could potentially save a lot more on their onward purchase and in turn, them making an extra five grand on their property is irrelevant, especially if they're upsizing, because they could save ten, twenty, thirty, forty thousand on their next property if they get themselves in a more procedural position. And I suppose the agents need to explain that rather than focusing on the fear of what they'll potentially lose on their own home. Yeah, and I think that does feed into, you touched on it a minute ago, the fear of the agent, coming back to the agent, the agent fearing... the loss. So if the homeowner has given a steer, I think I know that you and I, and this is fine, by the way, this is perfectly healthy. There are a couple of things that we don't always agree on, which is perfectly healthy in a relationship, right? And so the one thing I don't always agree on, and I think this is something you are a supporter of, and I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong or vice versa, is finding out what the owner wants for the house. I know that that is a topic of conversation that's been contentious throughout time. I'm not interested personally, and this is my view, I'm not interested in what the homeowner wants because that's irrelevant. The market will dictate what the house is worth. And this is my personality profile shining through here because I can be a people pleaser. I like to make sure people are happy. So if I already know what they want for it, there is a risk that that my need to make them happy will tell them that I think I might be able to get them that price, even though it could be completely pie in the sky. Now, within the realms of realism, because what we do a lot as agents is we throw a lot of shade, don't we? We throw a lot of stones at the glass houses that these other agents live in where they seem like they're purposefully overvaluing. Now, when they've got ten houses on the market and nine of them are overpriced, there is clearly either a problem with their education around how to value or they're intentionally overvaluing. But we all get one wrong. We might get two out of ten wrong. I think if you venture fast three or four, you're starting to take the mick a little bit. True, right? But that's my personality. And this comes back to disk profiling and everything else. Anyone that's an IRS profile should never find out what the homeowner wants for the house. I suppose in that case, in that scenario, how would you position the price of the sellers? Obviously, you have no idea what they're expecting or what they're hoping to achieve for it. So how do you position the price? And if you position it to them and it's not something they're happy with, how do you overcome that? And how do you make sure you can still maintain a strong relationship with them despite you not being aligned on their expectations? It's a really good question. I think this is the thing. So for me, and this isn't something that's been part of my character throughout my career. This is something I probably, I think, to be honest, since we launched the Avenue and we started to get into a place where we started to become a very recognized local brand and we were getting called out more and we built a strong reputation. And I started to develop the whole Daniel Priestley with or without you energy. And that was that. And this sounds really, really like the wrong side of the line. But my attitude is, is unless this is going to be on the right terms for everyone, there is no point me doing business with this person. So if they have if I valued the house, let's pick a figure out of thin air, six hundred K. And I've said to them, look, I believe your house is worth between five fifty and six hundred. Top line, six hundred. Bottom line, five fifty. My suggestion is we would enter the market offers over five fifty. And here's the reasons why. And this is how we would run a strategy behind that. And they then turn around to me and say, we want six fifty. They're nearly ten percent out. I would sooner lay the groundwork for them to go with another agent. And what I mean by lay the groundwork is essentially say, look, I can't support that figure. I do not believe it's in the market. I want to work with you. I think we're a good fit, but we're misaligned on price. Someone else is telling you they can get you more money. And I respect that because someone else may be able to. But here's my recommendation to you, Mr. Client, Mrs. Client. Don't sign a contract that's any more than six weeks in length. And also ask for the agent to put a clause into the contract that if they ask you to reduce the price, you are free to walk away from the agreement. And if they agree to those terms, I wish you well. And let's stay in touch. If I can be of any help, then I'm only at the other end of the phone. I'm quite comfortable. I was always quite comfortable with that mentality because I don't want to be the agent that goes, yeah, I'll take it at six fifty. I'm not going to get it anywhere near my price. And what's going to happen is I'm going to get touted, touted, touted by someone else. It's going to get taken off me. They'll then listen to the advice, drop it and sell it. Yeah. We, um, we had one that we did the opposite on. We took it on a little bit higher than what we, what we wanted to, um, And maintaining a good relationship with the client. The other agent actually valued it a lot higher than what we did. And reluctantly, we agreed to take on that agent's valuation because it was an incredible listing. But we ended up losing back to the agent that actually overvalued it because we're the ones that took it on at the higher value. We're the ones that paid the penalty for having it marketed for such a long time at the wrong value. And it went with a different agent and they reduced with the other agent as well. So in hindsight, We should have allowed them to go with their agent, like you said, sign a short-term contract and come back to us if they're not able to achieve the price that they were hoping they could achieve. I suppose for a lot of people listening, I know you do a lot of groundwork in the rapport building process at the very start and the lead up. You're very good with people. You're very good at building relationships. So I'm expecting these people are going to trust you when you're expanding price and positioning the price to them because of the relationship that you've built with them up until that point as well. One of my things, and I remember you and I having a conversation about this a little while back. I don't know whether we talked about it on a podcast episode or whether it was offline. And you and I are almost the opposite when it comes to valuing. And what I mean by that is I know that I will, because of my personality profile, I know I will look to find a way to build a relationship with that client. Whereas you naturally, because you're more authoritarian than me, probably I'm a bit more animated. You're a lot calmer. And so you're naturally going to get trust quicker than me. So you work on getting them to like you more and building a relationship with them. Whereas I focus more on becoming the authority and building trust. I lean into that because I know I can get them to like me, but I need them to trust me. I need to be more Jack. Right. That's my attitude when I was valuing. And so, yes, the rapport build bit comes naturally. But the bit I really worked on over time and look, by the way, for anyone listening in, it is everything is between the ears. It is purely mindset. Everything is mindset. Because as soon as I decided to make that change, where I looked for ways to become the authority in the appointment, everything changed for me. I've never had a problem in my career winning business. But what I used to have a problem with was winning it on my terms. I think this is. so so important and we've said it on numerous podcasts but understanding this profiling understanding personality profiles understanding your strengths but also understanding your weaknesses as well like like you said I'm the opposite I really focus on building rapport because I know it's not something that naturally happens for me because I focus more on well naturally i you know it's more the authority piece it's a building trust piece because of just naturally who I am so I have to focus more on making sure that you know they like me enough to to work with me and want to work with me um but I think that I'm very different than in the appointments I'd accept when it comes to delivering price but I I have to be because I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset the client I don't want to um come across as too direct because my profile is a direct yeah is a deep profile, so I want to make sure that I can overcome that. So the way that I position pricing, I do like to get an understanding of where they're at, but only from a point of view of being able to then position it in a way that is understanding of their situation. So for example, and I went through this with Laura the other day, She had one she was going out to. She knew she was going to get challenged around the price. But when delivering the price, I always use a phrase and I'll say, look, once they've given me their expectations and we've looked over what they're hoping for, I always say to them, look, now I appreciate this isn't what you were hoping for it to be or this isn't what you were expecting. But my job as an estate agent is to be completely honest and transparent with you. And this is what I really believe the market is dictating or suggesting that your property is worth. And I feel that that line, that statement has helped me massively in making sure that I don't just chuck the price down, throw a number at them and say, look, this is where we need to be. Because as I said, my profile, I need to make sure that I can be direct. I can also be understanding. Yeah. And this is the point, right? And this is why it's really important for people to understand us and our profiles and equally some of our vulnerabilities and our weaknesses, because if you didn't work on your delivery with a client, then there is the potential that you could come across as maybe rude or even condescending, possibly, because of your direction. Arrogant, you know, confidence can sometimes come across as arrogance and it's, you know, making sure that you're positioned in a way that it isn't seen, you know, seen in that way but but it's you recognizing because it wouldn't be it's not it wouldn't be intended it's just your natural delivery is quite direct for me I could have it would be very easy for me to come across as salesy and for people to kind of back right off Because I am excitable. I am very positive. I am super like, you know, high energy, I guess. And by the way, just for those listening in, this is kind of me naturally. But when I'm with clients, I am more of a... I do... according to the people similar to me, then I will communicate similarly. If I'm with a slightly older demographic of client, I tone it right down. I slow my tonality. All of these little nuances are really important. So when we're talking about price, it's all part of the bigger picture. I will intentionally leave pauses at certain points because I'm waiting for feedback. We promise we haven't tied you down to the chair just to record the podcast. Exactly. But I can be a little bit like Tigger. I get very excited and animated, especially about topics that I'm passionate about. And so tailoring according to the client. But I will work that out from when I've spoken to them on the phone, not when I arrive. Like how long they've lived in the house will tell me roughly how old they are, the way they speak, the way they communicate. If they're really slow and timid, then I dial it right back. If they're a bit more high energy, I match that. If their body language is quite closed, then I won't lean in. I will be very laid back and relaxed. All of this plays a part to building that trust. So when I come back to that pricing point we just talked about, For me, there's so much work that's already gone on beforehand to get them to subscribe to me and trust me. But actually, when it comes to talking about the price, it's very much like this is the lay of the land. Like this is what the market is telling us. Yeah. My role here today is to be the expert, not to please you. Yeah. But that sentence would probably only come out if they challenge the price because it doesn't need to come out otherwise. Because otherwise they're assuming I'm going to try and please them, right? So yeah, it's a very interesting one. But I think there's so many little nuances that feature into that. We talk a lot as well, don't we, about choosing your hard. And you can either have a hard and a difficult conversation with the client at the very start. four, you can have a difficult relationship with that client for weeks and weeks and weeks when you're trying to chip the price, reduce the price. Having a conversation around price, you can't just go in after four weeks and say, we need to reduce the price. There's a lot of work that has to go into that. You have to show them all the work you're going to put into marketing to justify why a price reduction is important. Obviously, there's some honesty around the fact that you tried it at a price that's that wasn't in the market. So you can either do that and spend weeks and weeks trying to reduce the price and get it onto a more attractive price. But like you mentioned earlier, it becomes, I'm sure the stats, I think Simon shared some with us, a twenty percent less likely to sell if you reduce the asking price. again that's then more difficult to make more hard work for yourself or you have a really difficult and honest conversation right at the very start and tell them honestly where you think the market price needs to be at to get them the results they're looking to achieve it's like you say choose your hard at some point it's got the potential to be hard so choose your hard either have the the choice at the beginning or at the end or in the middle, but somewhere there will be some hardship. And so, yeah, I think it's really, really important to get into that frame of mind of don't take it for the sake of it. And I also think this is something that, I don't know where I read this, but it really, really hit home. And it's very relevant to this point around pricing and getting on the same page with the client. So if the price is, in inverted commas, the problem, rather than it becoming a challenge and we challenge the client on their point of view or they challenge us on our valuation or whatever, isolate the problem. So in context, I'm here to work with you on how we fix that problem. So you want six fifty. I personally believe the market suggests five fifty six. So how can we overcome that together? How can we find a way forward? Here are my suggestions. And so then you're working on the problem together. And I think one of our agents, there's probably several, but one that springs to mind because we had a conversation with him about this is Chris. He will always address a situation with a client from the perspective of I'm on your side. This is a problem. Let's isolate the problem. How do we address the problem? yeah yeah we we spoke about before with him didn't he and he likes to make decisions as if he's making it with with the clients so you know he's on there he's on their side yeah he suggested we'll even move across the room and sit alongside them to to make you know to to show that um you know physically that he's making this decision with them and it's a joint decision it's collaboration and which I think is really really important And all of these little things, all of these little things count, all of these little nuances, these little one percents, they make such a significant difference to the relationship. And so I think if people can really think about this, It's so easy, really, to articulate in real terms. Just learn to show empathy. Work on your emotional intelligence. Like, if you can put yourself in that person's shoes and walk their life for that moment in time, let's say they're separating. It's a fractious divorce. And they want the extra fifty grand because if they don't get it, they can't buy their next home. They're going to have to rent. And that for them is a real wrench or that they won't be able to buy in the village where their kids go to school and they've got family ties. They'll have to move to the next village. And then all of a sudden it creates all these other problems. If you can show empathy, you sit alongside them, you you travel the road with them. It's a completely different conversation. It's quite often the case, isn't it? The reason many sellers or some sellers want a certain price for their property is they've already decided what they want to buy. They've already decided what the next... What life looks like. Yeah, what they need to be able to achieve that. And then ended up working their asking price off what they need to achieve rather than what the market is actually determined the property's actually worth. So working backwards rather than working forwards. And I suppose then it's an education piece, isn't it? For the clients to help them understand that. Totally. And so that then presents a whole bit. This part of the conversation that we can have beforehand, isn't it? It's like, how important is this next step to you? And so if it's divorce, well, it's critical because we're not going to reconcile. This is not in a good place. Or if it's downsizing because of health issues and mobility issues and whatever else needs to get rid of the stairs and get to a bungalow, their health isn't going to improve. So the importance of this move is high. Yeah, focusing on the problem that you're solving. Absolutely. But then having an extra dimension to yourself as an agent. And honestly, I could wax lyrical about this whole topic for so long because it impacts so many other parts of the relationship with the client. If you're able to represent them and support them in their onward purchase and help them negotiate and secure a better price on their onward purchase, then as long as the book's balanced, the price they get for the house is irrelevant. If in my scenario, they need six fifty because the next house they want is on at four hundred because they're downsizing because of divorce. And I help them negotiate. Thirty five, forty grand off. And they have to take balance and allows flexibility on this thing, doesn't it? And as agents, again, I come back to the point I made earlier as agents, we know that. But we need to be better collectively at educating the public on these things. I think there's very few agents out there, though. I'm sure many self-employed agents are doing it now. But it's never been a huge thing that agents would help with their onward negotiation. Most agents, and I'm being really facetious here, but most agents are too bothered about having the most boards in their town and showing off their right move pie charts to being the number one agent. They haven't got time to be supporting their clients in their onward venture. I think that's probably the big issue around pricing and why agents do over inflate prices because it is about market share. And I think that then creates a real issue in our industry where there isn't honesty and transparency and clients yeah they're they're sold on the fact that their property's worth x when it's really not and we have to be more honest and transparent in our industry if you know we want to do right by the people we're working with um so that's having honest conversations around around price having honest conversations around how the process is going to look and how it's going to work and also honest conversations around what's in the contract I said there's need to know what they're tying themselves in for um as well. There's lots there that we've shared. This is going to be a shorter episode. What would be your top three tips to an agent who wants to try and bring the property on at the correct price and overcome the challenges of overvaluing that they're facing amongst their competitors? Okay, cool. Great question. So number one, get ahead of the curve. If overvaluing is a problem in your marketplace, then get ahead of the curve. Make sure all of your outbound marketing has some reference to pricing correctly and the impact. See, human beings fear loss more than they crave gain. fact science proves it over and over and over again so play on the potential loss aversion rather than the potential gain so rather than saying okay so for example the avenue we achieve ninety nine point four percent of the asking price of everything we sell across the brokerage the national average is ninety six point four we can get you three percent more for your home and so therefore for a typical five hundred thousand pound house we're going to get you fifteen grand more flip that all upside down Because we get more money for the homes we sell, we're going to help you avoid losing fifteen thousand pounds when you sell. Which is more impactful? People don't want to lose. They fear loss more than they crave gain. So I think first off, make sure you're educating your your marketplace. Primarily, it's going to be through social media, but your written copy could also include that. I think next up, it's understanding how important the move is to the client. so that you can lean into the importance of the move to help them understand the downside. Again, help them understand the downside. Don't preach to them about the upside. focus on what's important to them absolutely a hundred percent focus on their motivators how important the move is and so that you can lean into that and you can then help and advise them around what they potentially stand to lose and I'm not saying we want to put the fear of god into people but you need to help them understand what they stand to lose by making the decision that they could be about to make um the final one would be the one I alluded to earlier in the episode and that is be willing to walk away but make sure that you educate that client around if they are going to go with someone else make sure they don't sign a lengthy contract and make sure there is a clause in that contract if the agent asks you to reduce the price you are free to walk away because as soon I've had that several times whilst we've had the avenue I've had it several times where I have suggested that and the agent in question has refused to do the clause to be fair, I'm speaking to a lot of the agents in the business currently as well. We've had a lot of properties over the past couple of months that have been re-instructed off the back of them, valuing them months and months ago. They've been on with agents and now they've came back and they've actually came back on much better terms, much better pricing, much more understanding and, um, much more belief in what we do as a business. And they can see the difference now because they've already had, um, an initial experience with a different agent that offer what we offer. So, um, In actual fact, it works, doesn't it? And we've seen it work across our business. Totally. What would be your top three? Very similar, I think. I suppose for me, having been able to position the price to the client in an understanding way, I need to, it's one thing I focus on. So having a way of positioning it that it's understanding and having, I think the second thing to that Being armed with stats and data. I'm much more of a logical thinker, so I also need to be mindful of how the clients are thinking, whether they're logical thinkers or not. And that may differ in terms of how I present to them. But definitely have been armed with stats and data to back up what you're saying, to show them proof and evidence and case studies of your previous experiences and previous experiences of the agents that they're up against as well. Not to give them honest feedback. And we met with a client, me and Chris, we met with a client last week. And I shared some stats and data with him. He was like, look, I'm really keen. Can you share that with me? I said, look, the only stats and data I've given you is what's available on Rightmove. You can quite easily go on to Rightmove. You can have a look at what the agent's got. They've got listed and you can compare how many properties they've got sold, how many properties they've got available. It's very open to see. So armed with stats and data, understanding how to position it to the client. And I think, like you said, it's uncomfortable walking away if it's not in the right terms. Yeah, yeah. I think it's quite key if people can start to learn to develop that, as Daniel Priestley would coin it, with or without you energy. Stay the right side of the line, because like you said earlier, it could be easy that if you develop with or without your energy, you could slip into arrogance. So it's making sure you stay the right side of the line, but it's helping the client understand, look, this is the reality. I would love to work with you, but the terms have to be right. And I don't want to give you advice that is wrong because my relationship with you and the trust we're building is way more important to me than telling you what you want to hear. And so that with or without your energy is so, so key. I feel like this is the type of episode where before we hit record, we're like, I feel like this one will be like a bit of an interlude type episode, a bit shorter. Thirty six minutes in is a typical average length. And I feel like we could keep going. But I've had loads of ideas as a spinoff. I know we've got a bit of a rota as to what topics we're going to be talking about in the coming weeks. But I've had a few spinoff ideas from this conversation that would be, I think, quite valuable. But on that note, for those listening in, you have got the ability on Spotify, I'm pretty sure Apple as well. You can text us with any topics that you feel you're facing at the moment, any challenges in your marketplace. Maybe it might be challenges with stock or generating more viewings or whatever the case may be. Drop us a line or contact us directly either on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram. And we'd love to hear what topics you would like us to be covering off to help you create the elite agent experience. But until next time, that was that's a wrap. That was a brilliant episode. Thanks, Jack. Thank you, man. Good chatting through it.