Control-Freak much? Handling a ‘Buyerzilla’

How do we define who is a control freak? The standard definition of a person who is deemed a “control freak” is someone who uses the excuse of perfection to validate their own insecurities. Quite often, perfectionists spend most of their time defending themselves against their inner vulnerabilities, in the belief that if they’re not in total and complete control, then they risk exposing themselves once more to childhood angst.

Sorry. Didn’t mean to go all Sigmund Freud on you. It’s very natural to want to be in control of all aspects of your life. But what happens when your controlling nature enters a new world, where business professionals have to learn to adapt to your abrasive, dominate attitude?

As a real estate agent, you know all about control freaks. Hell, you actually might be one. The real estate industry was made for perfectionists and overachievers. But what happens when you run into Buyerzilla? I’m sure we have all known these people at some point in our lives. Think Godzilla meets HGTV. Only this time, instead of The King of Monsters stomping on and all around buildings in Tokyo, this monster is smashing it’s way towards a beautiful housing community.

Some people just have that Type-A in their DNA and it isn’t getting out of their system any time soon. These are folks who insist on getting their way in all of life’s interactions. Although there is a slight difference between these type of people and ones involved in real estate. Home buyers who are control freaks are actually normal people who get a little paranoid over the fact that they might not be getting the best deal.

Prospective home buyers want to feel like they are the ones in control, and that the agent is at their service, which is totally understandable. Buyerzillas usually are very detail oriented, diligent, confrontational, and drive real estate agents to drink very strong whiskey. A “buyerzilla” has done hours and hours of research on the home-buying process and believe they know it all by the time they meet with a realtor.

Since they think they already know it all, and they expect their demands to be met posthaste, where does this leave you as a real estate agent? You have to develop a partnership with them right from the get-go. As frustrating as they might be, you must listen to their wants and needs, and strive to meet their goals, no matter how unrealistic they might seem at first. To understand a controlling potential home buyer, is to understand that they’re like every other human being who is afraid to fail. When you fear failure, no matter what the situation in life, you refuse to relinquish control to other people. Even when those people are doing their darnedest to help you, and are probably giving you the best advice around.

The best kind of sales person is the one who provides a potential customer with results that they were never expecting. If a real estate agent provides positive results before the client ever has a chance to criticize them, then the control freak will actually become somewhat more patient. You will be able to soothe the buyerzilla beast.