The Moment You Realize It’s Not About the Sale.
I recently worked with clients who owned a property in a building where units sell quickly.
I had brokers asking me if they might sell, and the market had finally turned at the right moment. The timing looked perfect. So, I did what we all do. I ran the comps for both sale and rental.
Selling showed a strong profit.
I went into the meeting thinking, this is it. They’re going to sell, but to my surprise, they didn’t. They decided to keep it as a rental. I was genuinely surprised.
In my mind, it was obvious to strike while the iron is hot and to simplify things. The family member who had been managing the property had passed away.
So I did what most salespeople do next. I explained all the reasons they should sell. They still said no.
Rookie mistake.
Instead of getting curious, I doubled down on what I thought made sense.
I went to the property, walked through it, and gave them a list of updates to get it ready for rental. And then… nothing. Weeks turned into months. There were no updates and no progress.
Silence.
At that point, I started telling myself a story. They’re overwhelmed. They don’t want to deal with it. They just need to sell.
So I went back and asked a simple question:
“Is there any reason you’re not selling?”
They wanted the rental income for another family member. And in the meantime, a different family member had moved into the apartment temporarily.
None of that had come up before, and none of my “reasons to sell” mattered.
This is the part of sales that doesn’t get talked about enough. You can have the right timing, the right data, and the right strategy, but still be completely off.
Because you’re solving for what you think makes sense, instead of what actually matters to them.
The pitch isn’t the problem. The assumption is.
The moment you stop trying to convince and start trying to understand, everything changes.
