Converting Site Visits: What to Do Before, During and After

A site visit costs you two to three hours including travel. It is the most expensive thing you do, and most agents put no preparation into it at all.

Qualify before you drive

Three questions before agreeing a visit:

1. What is your budget, honestly?
2. When would you want to move?
3. What else have you seen?

If someone will not answer these, they are not ready to view. Being firm about this is the single biggest time-saver available to an agent, and it does not lose real buyers.

Prepare the sequence

Show two or three properties, ordered deliberately:

• First: decent but flawed, slightly under budget
• Second: the one you think fits
• Third: slightly above budget, better

Buyers decide by comparison. Showing one property gives them nothing to judge against, so they leave saying they want to see more. The sequence produces a decision.

Before the visit

• Confirm access the day before, in writing.
• Check the flat will be presentable, and the lift working.
• Send the buyer the address, parking and a photo of the gate.
• Have the numbers ready: maintenance, tax, transfer charges, floor rise.

During

• Let them walk it alone first. Two minutes of silence is more productive than two minutes of features.
• Do not oversell. Buyers discount enthusiasm; they trust the agent who mentions the drawback.
• Watch behaviour, not words. Returning to a room, opening cupboards, measuring against furniture, taking photos, calling a family member — those are buying signals. "It's nice" is not.
• Name the flaw before they find it. "The third bedroom is small — I'd use it as a study."

The question to ask at the door

Before they leave, at the property:

"Against the others you've seen, where does this sit?"

Asked there, you get an honest answer. Asked by message that evening, you get "we're thinking about it."

After, the same day

Message within four hours summarising what they liked and disliked, and propose the next step. If they liked it, propose a second viewing with the decision-maker who was not there. If they did not, ask what specifically was wrong and use it to refine the next set.

When to stop showing

If a buyer has seen eight properties in their range with no offer, stop and have a direct conversation. Usually one of three things is true: the budget is unrealistic for what they want, a decision-maker has not been involved, or they are not actually buying this year. All three are better addressed than driven around.