Real Estate Review

What will they think of next? Real Estate Agents are now learning hypnosis in order to apply their new found skills in the sales process.

The sales skills of Real Estate Agents are now being upgraded to appeal to the subconscious mind of buyers and sellers. But it is far more subtle than waving a pocket watch in front of your face and asking you to count backwards.

The strategy is more about communication skills with the view of achieving the desired outcome. Agents are taught about phrases that work best when trying to get someone to do something you want. Certain forms of speech can increase your odds of someone agreeing with a proposition you might have, said Brisbane-based real estate trainer Glenn Twiddle.

“Instead of saying ‘Do you mind if I get you to do X, Y and Z?’. It might be ‘You don’t mind if you do X, Y and Z’. “‘Do you’ is a question with a yes or no answer. ‘You don’t mind’ is a statement, and unless they really disagree with that statement they might be more inclined to go along with what you say.”

Mr Twiddle is a qualified clinical hypnotherapist and, according to his website, has been training real estate agents, in how to use “advanced language skills, embedded commands and hypnotic principles” in the sales process. Of course this is not about hypnotising someone into doing something they don’t want to do. No one can hypnotise anybody into buying a house that they weren’t in some way inclined to buy.

At this stage there is minimal use of hypnosis training in the Real Estate industry. “There are about 10,000 agents in Queensland, so there’d be say 10, up to 50 at the most, who do it by design and from practice and learning,” Mr Twiddle said. And the good news is buyers and sellers can use the same technique on their agent.

“Any seller or buyer who understands these techniques in their everyday life will be a better negotiator. And they can use that with their kids or with their partner. It could be as simple as influencing what’s for dinner.”