Multiple Offers? How to Take Your Seller from Confused to Confident

Every agent dreams of getting multiple offers on a listing. Am I right?

When that happens, you probably can’t wait to tell your seller.

You’re probably pretty excited…and you assume they’ll feel the same.

However, more isn’t necessarily better, and it isn’t always simple for sellers to navigate.

In fact, it can sometimes be downright overwhelming. That’s why it’s crucial to use Tactical Empathy when guiding your seller through a multiple offer situation. 

Last week, I walked you through a framework for presenting one offer. Now, let’s imagine you’ve already presented more than one offer, and it’s time for your seller to take the next step in the process. Here’s how to approach this conversation with Tactical Empathy.

▶️ Start by soliciting their thoughts and feelings:

“You’ve probably been doing a lot of thinking about the various offers. Would you mind walking me through your thoughts?”

In multiple offer situations, our clients most often begin by asking us what we think they should do. As always, stay focused on extending the Tactical Empathy olive branch first: 

“It sounds like you really want my guidance as to how you should proceed. I will absolutely share all of my thoughts with you. First, would you object to sharing with me how you think you might like to proceed?”

I recently had one of these conversations with a seller who started the conversation insisting that she needed me to tell her what she should do. 

I asked her that question. Her response was:

“What do I think? I’m flummoxed and overwhelmed! I went from being on the market last time with no offers at all, and now you’ve brought me 4. I have no idea what to do. It feels wrong not to give it to the people who bid first. They seem to really love it, and the board would probably approve them. But the cash buyer would be so fast and convenient, and I really need to get this over with quickly, but I’m worried that if I go with him the board might reject him because of the guarantor, and then we’d have to start all over. And there’s the highest bid that’s also cash, but those buyers need to move too fast. I can’t do that, but I’d love that number. I have no idea what to do!”

That was a ton of varied and vital thoughts and worries that I wouldn’t have received if I had jumped in first with my best plan for moving forward. All of that information helped to focus my attention on what type of information my seller needed from me in order for her to make the best decision in terms of her goals. And it served to clear her very worried mind so that she could focus on the information I was going to ask her to consider.

▶️ I responded by labeling her concerns:

“I know this is all overwhelming.” 

(Remember the progression in the wording of labels: “It seems”, “You seem”, “You probably”, “I know” depending on how sure you are of their feelings. In this case, given what she’d said, I know this is overwhelming.)

“It sounds like you’re really afraid of making the wrong decision.”

“You didn’t mention buyer B, the lowest bidder. It seems like that offer doesn’t interest you.”

“Buyer D needs a quick closing which doesn’t work for you. Would I be wrong to assume you’d like to eliminate them as well?”

“It seems like you feel guilty at the idea of not giving it to the enthusiastic first bidders.”

“It sounds like you have concerns about buyer C gaining co-op board approval.”

Throughout these labels I received several “That’s right” responses. That showed me that she was feeling understood and ready to digest new information.

▶️ So, I asked for her permission to share my thoughts:

“Would you object to me sharing my insights on the board in respect to the strengths of Buyers A and C?”

(If you’re outside of New York City, you’re probably unfamiliar with the process of co-op boards. Consider yourself lucky, and suffice it to say that it is a major factor in determining the “best” offer. You may have an equivalent factor in your specific market which impacts the strength of a buyer’s offer. If so, make sure you’re factoring that into the landscape your client has to navigate in these decisions.)

▶️ I shared the information my client needed to consider, and asked how she would like to proceed:

“You have options:

You can accept one of the offers outright.

You can give a counter-offer to one buyer.

You can invite some or all bidders to submit their best and final offers.

What feels most comfortable to you?” (This seller is an Accommodator, so ‘feeling’ labels are most effective.)

She asked how a best and final offer process might work. I walked her through that process, and with the labels and calibrated questions, below, we determined who she would like to include in that best and final round of bids:

“It sounds like you definitely want to invite both Buyer A and C.”

“Would it be a bad idea to include buyer B, the low buyer, to see if they might raise their offer?”

“What would happen if Buyer A gets another chance to bid, and they’re still not the highest? Would you still feel guilty not accepting them?”

▶️ I wrapped up with a Summary:

“So far we’ve discussed that you’d like to include Buyers A, B and C to participate in the best and final bidding. Buyer D is out because of the quick close requirement, even though you liked their number. You’re hoping buyer B might raise their bid. You feel that by offering Buyer A a second chance, you would no longer feel guilty in letting them go if they don’t have the strongest offer. You’re now feeling comfortable with Buyer C’s chances with the board. You’re actually hoping that his bid will be the highest because of the cash factor. You’d like to set an offer deadline of 5 PM tomorrow. We’ve discussed that your ideal offer would be all cash with a quick closing and a strong candidate for the board. As a result you feel like the best and final offer process will give you the strongest chance of obtaining the closest thing to your ideal offer.”

Remember, in a Summary you are presenting “the world according to them” in your words while labeling their emotions and the dynamics of the situation. A summary has a distinct structure. It begins with “So far you’ve told me” or “So far we’ve discussed,” and it ends with, “And as a result you feel….” 

If you are listening closely and putting all of your focus into understanding your client, you can apply this structure to all situations. There is always information to summarize, and your client always has a feeling about the situation. The very act of creating a summary forces you to look at the world through your client’s eyes, and delivering a summary is the ideal vehicle for articulating your understanding of their thoughts and feelings.

Something to keep in mind…

As you know, we are about to see a new term showing up in offers: buyers requesting that the seller pay the buyer broker commission. 

This may happen if the seller does not offer a buyer commission on the listing, or if the commission offered is less than what the buyer has agreed to in their Exclusive Buyer Representation Agreement. We don’t yet know how prevalent these offers will be or what unintended consequences will arise as a result of this change. 

Our fear around this unknown is causing agents to panic and is clouding our thinking. 

This is an ideal moment to focus on our processes and communication—to refine our process for delivering offers to sellers, and to practice going over each individual term in an offer and the net impact they have on the strength of the offer. 

Similar to: “While Buyer D’s offer price is the highest, their need for a quick closing makes the offer less valuable to you.”  We will now have: “While Buyer B’s offer price is the highest, they are requesting an additional 1% to the buyer’s broker, so the net offer becomes X”. In terms of offers, it’s just another term for our sellers to consider.

Once again, what we are providing for you here is NOT a script. 

It’s a basic framework for the progression of a conversation, the tools to lean on in specific moments, and some sample language for you to practice. 

Read it out loud. 

Sit at your desk and write out a similar scenario and read that out loud. 

Record yourself and play it back. 

Go back and edit and do it all over again.

Feeling awkward and silly? Great! You’re learning!