KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Vendor and Buyer Management for Agents

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

Summary:This episode offers a tactical breakdown of how real estate agents can effectively manage vendors and buyers throughout the transaction process. The host provides actionable advice on creating and maintaining a reliable list of vendors, such as inspectors and contractors, to ensure a smooth client experience. It also covers strategies for managing buyer expectations, setting clear communication protocols, and building a system that streamlines the entire workflow from initial contact to closing.

Welcome to the new version of Let's Talk About Real Estate Podcast, the podcast for real estate agents everywhere. I'm Lisa B, and together with Beyond Kunzel, we're going to talk about everything real estate. We talk about what's working, what's not working, what's new, what's old, technology, and anything else to do with real estate. We'll answer your questions from the Facebook group, Let's Talk about real estate, so if you have a question, we can help. Join the Facebook group today, and again, welcome to the show.

Welcome to Let's Talk About Real Estate podcast. Welcome Beyond Kunzel to this episode. Good to be here as always, Lisa. And thanks for having me once again. And we look forward to this episode. Yeah, definitely. So today we're going to be talking about vendor management and buyer management. So first of all, when any of the agents that I'm coaching, they talk about their vendors. I always want to know what sort of vendor they are. Are they an A vendor, B vendor or C vendor? So I'm just going to go through what an A seller would look like. So they really want to sell. They're committed for a reason.

They may have to sell for whatever reason, whatever reason that is. They have a deadline, whether that deadline is imposed by themselves or others. They are lovely people and they are reasonable generally. All you need to do is find a buyer at the best price you can and, of course, at a price they're happy with. Okay, they could be a B seller. So they really want to sell, but they don't have to sell. They have no short-term deadline.

They either aren't committed for a reason or they can manage, without making a decision for now. The price is a big issue, generally. They are happy to wait for now. They may change their motivation with time when their dealings gets closer, but be aware and expect this. A C-seller is they don't really want to sell.

They don't have to sell. If they get a ridiculous price, they'll move. Greed can be a big issue. They can be hard to manage and they can be difficult to get along with. So whenever an agent's telling me that they're having trouble with their vendors, I always want to know first thing,

A, B or C seller, because if they're an A seller, that's a completely different conversation because if they're committed, you're not going to say, no, I'm not going to deal with that seller. No, I'll walk away because they're being unrealistic. They have to sell. So you work with them and that's our job. That's why we get paid the big bucks is to work with the seller for that reason. If they're a C seller and they won't come down in price or they're being unrealistic, it's fine, okay, go somewhere else. So I think that's really important to first of all determine their motivation. So that's the biggest thing I ask. Are they an ABC seller? And what's their motivation? Where are they going to? What are they doing? And it's not like, yeah, they're just

going to sell and move. Why? Are they moving for the grandchildren? That's the reason they're selling. Are they moving because they've got no money and they're desperate and they have to buy something? They've got nowhere to live. That's a different motivation. So we've got it, we've got to go in on the why, not because they're doing this. It's really, what is their emotional reason that they're going or their physical reason that they have? have to. Yeah, exactly. That's what I've written down here in big, bold letters, why. Yeah, I don't understand a seller's motivation. You don't understand the reason why they're doing what they want to do. You're not going to get anywhere. And it doesn't matter if they

are an A, B, or a C seller. If you don't understand their why, if you don't understand their motivation, if you don't understand their goals, what they're trying to achieve, you're not going to get anywhere. So it's critical that before you delve into any type of vendor management, that you understand exactly what the motivation level is of your vendor. And you've got to understand along with that, why, and I know this sounds bad, but you've got to understand their pain points, right? So you've got to understand, can they stay there? What does it look like if they do remain in the property? Can they turn the property into a rental home? What does their future look like if it doesn't sell? What then? Because so too often do we focus on price

and assume that everybody's the same, but they're not. Sometimes people are motivated on price. Sometimes people are motivated on their neighbours. Sometimes people are motivated by banks because they don't have a truth. Sometimes a divorce will motivate somebody. Sometimes it could be a debt, which is the motivation. And based on what the motivation is, will depend on how important the price actually is. And far too often, as real estate is, do we only focus on the price? Exactly. And that's something when you've got to try and find that out as early as you can. So I would do that in the initial appointment, talking to somebody in your appraisal. And sometimes they might not be 100% honest with you. And for whatever reason, they're embarrassed or

whatever and you can try and dig and dig and dig. But sometimes you do get it where they don't tell you. So you might have an A seller and you get the absolute best price, right? You go to them and they say no. And it's what about your grandchildren? What about this? And sometimes things can happen where the husband really wants to sell the wife doesn't want to sell. You can have sort of internal conflicts like that. So at that point you say, okay, beyond, B, I really want you to just be honest with me now. You've got the absolute best offer. We've only run on the market a short time. This is the best buyer.

Please tell me what's really going on here. I need to know. And when it comes to this stuff, you've got to understand it's all about the psychology, right? So those people that know me understand that, yes, I do tech, I do AI, I do Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube. I've got marketing methods out there. I'm consistent with my database and all those sorts of things.

But above all else, everything that I do in my business is based upon psychology. and people have reasons why they will or will not do something. So sometimes it can just be a simple shift in dialogue and language when you're having that conversation with somebody and sometimes it requires the takeaway effect. That's fine. I've got no problems. It doesn't matter.

I'm happy to stay here for 12 months. If it takes 12 months to get you the result that you need, I've got no problems with that. That's totally fine. I just want to make sure that's not an issue for you. If we did take 12 months to get this place sold, how would that affect you? All of a sudden now, I'm not trying to push it down their throat.

I'm just saying, I've got all the time in the weapons, no, no skin off my back. My tonality is calm, relaxed, like, it doesn't bother me at all. I just want to know that the price that you are looking for, it hasn't been out there in the past three to four weeks we've been on the market. So if it does take us 12 months, is that cool? Are you in any rush? What does that look like for you? And then it looks like you're not in a rush, you're not trying to ram it and offer down their throat.

You're putting something forward to them. Nobody wants to wait 12 months for a sale. But you're saying, hey, look, if it takes 12 months of opens, I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes. Exactly like you said before. Beyond, we've got this great offer and I don't know why you're not considering this right now, but what about if we rent the house out? If this buyer goes, they go and buy something else comes on the market that's as good as your place and they buy that, can you rent it out?

Was that an option? We take it off the market. Oh, no, I really want to sell. Okay, what's going on? This is the best buyer. If you were my brother, Beyond, I would say take this offer. If you were somebody, my best friend, I would say take it because I don't think you're going to get a better offer anywhere else. You know, what buyers will pay is exactly what this is now. That's the highest that we've got. Never in my career, have I ever said to anybody, you should take this offer or I think you should take this offer.

I don't think we're going to get more. All I've said to them is, based on what's happened, I believe that this is a good, strong offer. And what are your circumstances look like if we don't accept this offer and in three months time, we don't have anything else close to it? What does it look like then? can we rent the property out? Can we keep it?

And then try again in 12 months or 18 months. How does that financial scenario look like? Let's sit down and work through some numbers. And then most of the time, because I'm not trying to force that salon to them, they'll end up going, oh, no, what do you think? And I'll say, look, I think that if we can get this buyer up another five or 10 grand, right, to cover your marketing expenses at least in your staging costs, I think it should be a strong consideration.

If it was my property, I would strongly consider it. But I can't tell you whether or not to take the offer or not. that's a decision that you need to make. I'll hear for as long as it takes to get the job done. And then I find that normally by using that sort of soft approach with the vendors, they'll turn around and go to me, okay, I'll get all that. But Bjorn, if you were sitting in our shoes, would you take this offer or not? When they ask me that question, then, and only then do I go, I would take the offer.

But I make them ask me, what would you do if you were sitting in our shoes right now? Because I find that if I try to encourage it earlier than that, that? It doesn't work. It looks like I'm trying to get paid. I'm trying to get a sale. I would only say that if I really believed it. That was it. They were saying no in the buyer was going to walk. Then I would say, look, if you were my brother, I would say take it. You know what I mean? So vendor management, we obviously have the communication with the vendors as well. And so an A seller, you might be communicating with daily. A B seller you might be communicating with once a week. And you set the expectations. I like to set that at the

initial appointment. How long, how often would you like me to speak to you on? Obviously, I'll ring you after every open house or you after every inspection. Is that enough? Is that you, would you might me to contact you every day or whatever? And C sellers, you might contact once, once a week or something like that or maybe once every two weeks. It might be just a sign and a prayer. It's like, it's never going to sell. You're not going to do open houses every single week on a C seller that's way overpriced. I wouldn't anyway. I'd be like, okay, I believe it's, the price is way too much. And let's set it for, yeah, and I'm talking about a market where things are on the market for three months, six months, whatever, and I've been in markets like that.

If it's a market like yours, where you're turning over a lot quicker and all that sort of thing, but it's relative of the market, it's relative of the seller and all that sort of thing. So you've got those things. And then obviously, vendor management is, as you said, price expectations, all those sorts of things as well. So yeah, so that's it. And also buyer management is the same as the vendor management. You're going to have A buyers, B, buyers, C buyers. So an A buyer is somebody who's sold, somebody who's got the finance.

it's ready to go. Obviously, you're going to be spending a lot more time with them. And you've got a red-hot buyer. All you need to do is find them home. So it's the opposite. You've either got a listing and you've got to find a buyer or you've got a buyer. That to me is half the equation. So that's, I'm going to try and find that buyer a home. So that would be my specific target prospecting. Where do you want to live? Door knock, phone prospect, you know, let a box drop for that buyer because I've got half the transaction already or half the sale. Yeah. I think the core of fundamental love and all as well is that people only do business with people they know, people they like and people they trust, right? So if you're known, which you should be if you're a real estate

agent, because if you're not known by people in your community, then you're living under a rock, you're doing something wrong. So let's just assume that everybody's known because you're a real estate and everyone knows you're a real estate. It comes down to them being like and trusted. Now, you're with your vendors and you're delivering them with information and you're delivering them and you're delivering them and you say to them, look, I'm going to report back to you and let you know exactly what's going on throughout your campaign. I do this with everybody, an A, B, or a C. I say, look, all I want you to do is to continue living your life. I'm going to keep in contact with you and let you know everything you need to know

when you need to know. You're never going to have to pick up the phone and ask me what's going on because I'm going to SMS you, email you and also call you after inspections and let you know what's happening. Now, I'm going to deliver you with the truth. I'm going to deliver you with the good, the beautiful, the amazing, and also the ugly. If you go to a doctor and you've got a heart problem and you're smoking two packs of cigarette a day. I'm the doctor that says if you don't stop smoking, you're dead. That's the sort of guy I am. If you're looking for a doctor

that says, oh, let's get you onto some patches and cut back, let's try to drop out one cigarette a day for the first month and let's try to cut back two cigarettes a day for the next month and that's not me. So guys, understand that all of the information I deliver to you is going to be buyers' feedback.

Oh, feedback? Not my opinion. Buyer's feedback because I'm the link between yourself and the buyer and the sale and I'm the negotiator and the communicator. So I'm going to communicate with you. You never need to know what's going on. I'm not going to promise you when I'm going to communicate with you. I'm not going to give people a roster on Monday at 9 a.m. This is going to happen. And on Tuesday at 5pm, this is going to happen. And I know there are agents out of that do that. And I think it is absolute suicide doing that. And I'll tell you why. If I am a home seller and you come to

me with a schedule and it's a very detailed schedule written down, you say, if you're on Monday at 10 am, I'm going to call you with feedback. On Tuesday at 6pm, I'm going to let you know exactly what happened. I would never be a time. On Thursday, this time, I'm going to do this. Of course. Do I know what happens? Yeah. As soon as Monday at 10 o'clock comes around and I haven't heard from you and then you call me at 10.30, every single bit of trust I had in you is completely utterly and totally destroyed. No, you can't say at time. No way in the world. It would be, you know. I do know there are people out there that do that.

They have very scheduled time, yes. And yes, and they tell people, look, this is going to happen on this day at this time. I think you're setting yourself up for failure. After inspections, yes. But I agree with you. If a vendor rings me, I'm not doing my job unless something, you know, has happened that you don't know. They should never ring you. You should be embarrassed and ashamed if a vendor rings you, I think.

You should be keeping in contact with them unless something has happened outside of your control. Yeah. And I think if your reviews are going less than 4.5 stars, you're doing something wrong as well. Education is key. The more high maintenance to the vendor, the more communication, right? And look, sometimes we've had clients where their expectations have been huge and they haven't been out there. And we've had to go from one campaign to another campaign. And then on the day of, for example, we might have had a private treaty that was going for a month or so didn't work.

So then we had to flip it to an auction and then get the vendor's expectations down. Now, we've had situations where I've had vendors where they enjoy bourbon and coke. So what do I do? I say, look, guys, we've got to change strategy here. I need to sit down with you and we need to work this out, right? What day in the evening are you free where you've got nothing on? Let's sit down and let's work out another strategy because we've got to change strategy here because what we're doing isn't working.

When I go to that meeting, guess what I'm rocking up with? I'm rocking up with a six pack of bourbon and Coke, right? Now, I may have one drink with my vendor. I won't have any more than that, but I'll sit there and let them have a couple of drinks. You can't get them drunk because you can't make a decision when they're drunk. Of course not. Of course not. You're not signing documents.

You're not signing papers. You're having a discussion about how the marketing campaign is going. But you need to get people to relate to you on a level where they feel that you are their friend. You are there to help them and they trust you. Because then when it comes to having a hard conversation, if you're liked and trusted, the hard conversation will not fall on deaf ears. If you are not liked by them and you are not trusted by them, It doesn't matter what you do, the conversations that are tough conversations to have will fall upon deaf ears.

So you need to find a way to relate to your client and prove to your client that you're there to help them and to serve them. And sometimes, like I said, bringing up that, hey, look, if this doesn't work out, what's next? What do we do next? And then shut up. Yeah. And let them talk. So often see agents talking themselves out of business because they don't shut the hell up. I know.

So I think our next podcast I want to talk about negotiation too. so let's talk about that next time. All right, anything else you want to add? I think that was good. Anything else do you want to add? I think with everybody you're dealing with, you just want to find out who the client is, what they're trying to do,

when they're wanting to do it, where they're wanting to go and why they're wanting to do what they want to do, if you're loaded and you have that in your knowledge bank and you understand exactly what they're trying to achieve, a good agent shouldn't have properties they can't sell. It's just a matter of pivoting and transitioning.

It looks it goes both ways. with vendor communication and buyer management as well. Some of the buyers will attend a building inspection. They're not happy with something small in the building inspection report. You've got to delve into that. You've got to pick up the phone, talk to the buyer. Say the buyer, look, want to come back to the property.

Let's go through these things together. Let's meet on site and go through them. Maybe we need to get a second opinion. Maybe we need to go back to the builder of the property or maybe we need to go back to the vendor to see what the vendor can do. Maybe we can negotiate. Maybe we can get some quotes and work this out. It doesn't have to be the end of the journey.

The house isn't going to fall down because of A, B and C. Maybe we need to work that out. but it takes time. You've got to take time. Mike and I have recently had a vendor that's moving to a retirement home. The reason we got that listing is I know the people that run the retirement village and I've put several clients into that retirement village. I offer to meet with the client at the open inspection at the retirement village, right? We went down there, we did that. We got it ready for photos because I said if this retirement village says that you're a yes, you're going to have your property on the market the next day because a lot of the other people you're competing against,

they're going to have to still select an agent, a couple of weeks away, whatever. This village wants people that are ready to go. So we guided her that way. I've done, Mike and I probably put in about three or four hours of extracurricular activities, such as going to the nursing home with her, speaking to the people down there, speaking to those. That's not in my job description. That's got nothing to do with me listing or selling property or does it? Think about that, because that extra communication, extra service,

do you think when that crunch time comes now with that particular vendor, And we say, look, we'd love for the 850 to be out there, but unfortunately, the best we can do is 820. Do you think she's going to argue with us? Or do you think she's going to go, these guys are absolutely fantastic. They've done everything they possibly can. They've even done things that are outside of their job description that no other agent has offered me. I trust them, I like them. If that's all that we can get, that's all that we can get.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. It's just doing experts for people. Yeah, of course. My job is to help them solve a problem. And if it means that there's a problem that comes along that needs to be fixed, then that's our job. And again, that's why we get paid the big bucks as well. Yeah, no, definitely.

All righty, thank you so much, Beyond. Let's wrap it up there. And next time we'll do negotiation. Awesome. Sounds good. Have a great week, guys. Thanks, Bjorn. See ya.

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