Have you ever wondered why your profession even exists? Particularly with the internet now available to almost everyone, it would seem the need for real estate agents would disappear like travel agents and even stock brokers. But it hasn’t happened. Ever wonder why?

Complexity

Some will tell you we need real estate agents because the world of buying and selling homes and property has become so complex everyone needs a guide.

There’s some truth to that. Buyers and sellers do need help understanding financial instruments and real estate title papers.

Even when a buyer has found the homes she likes best on the net, she usually turns to an agent – in fact according to an article in the Washington Post, some 89 percent of home buyers use a real estate agent.

What’s going on? And why should you care?

The reason to understand why buyers and sellers use real estate agents is so you can do your job better. You are, after all in a service business and knowing about your customers is key to your success.

There are three fears that your clients have that you can help them overcome:

• Fear of change
• Fear of making a mistake
• Fear of the unknown

Fear of change

It seems human beings are basically afraid of change. It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a big change or little change, or a pleasant change or an unpleasant one. We’d really rather not.

This  gets magnified when it comes to purchasing a new home. After all, even if the kitchen is ideal in the backyard is truly low maintenance just as the couple has imagined for years, it’s different. All sorts of decisions have to be made and a great deal of work has to happen before the transition can be made. It’s pretty scary stuff actually.

Your role as the real estate agent is to bear witness to their fear of change, usually without drawing attention to it. Exactly how you do this will depend on your personality and on your clients.

Mostly it’s an opportunity for you to pay close attention and notice how that fear comes up. As a general rule just acknowledging either silently or spoken the fear of change goes a long way towards mitigating it.

Fear of making a mistake

Just look at yourself honestly and notice how many times you’ve hesitated because you are afraid you were going to do something wrong. It’s another universal human characteristic.

Making a mistake real estate mistake is a big mistake. If you couple chooses the wrong home, for example, they’re stuck at least for a while. On the other hand there’s really no way to guarantee any home they buy will truly suit them over time.

Again your job is to listen and watch with discernment. You can hear in their questions and see in their faces when the fear of making a mistake starts to run rampant.

Your job isn’t so much to talk them out of fear of making a mistake as it is to hear what they have to say and help them identify exactly what they’re feeling. You don’t do this as counselor might, but you do bring your wisdom about real estate and the home there considering to the situation. You can help them put the whole thing into perspective.

Fear the unknown

Fear of the unknown may actually underlie the other fears your clients may be experiencing. It’s a primitive reaction buried deep in the unconscious portion of our brain. It’s automatic and something were not likely to notice until the fear has actually happened.

As the agent your job is to make the unknown known. You’re shining the light of illumination, if you will, showing them that there’s little or nothing to be afraid of.

Listening is your most valuable tool so you know when the fears arise; then you can bring your knowledge and reassurance to bear.

Helping clients deal with the fear of change, the fear of making a mistake, and the fear the unknown is probably the reason real estate agent still exist. The handholding you do is exactly what the client needs to move forward. Yes, this is sometimes referred to as the psychology of sales.

Why do you think real estate agents are still so popular?