Four Conversation Topics That All Agents Should Master

Real estate agents meet new people every day. This requires us to have strong conversation skills to maintain favorable communication with a variety of different personalities and backgrounds. One thing I have always prided myself on is my ability to adapt to different social groups. I have spent my whole life educating myself on the different cultures around the world and within America. Actually, that is not true at all. I have done nothing to diversify myself whatsoever. But, I have come to the conclusion that knowing four major topics can help get you through conversations, and maybe even lead to some business.

*** Advice: Before we dive into the four conversation topics: I always recommend keeping the conversation as far away from real estate as possible because if you know as much as I do, you do not know anything.

The Four Major Topics

Weather:

This is the lowest form of conversation for basically any situation. You talk about the weather with people that you have nothing else in common with. It is the most agreeable topic and is almost impossible to get wrong unless you are a complete idiot. Also, everyone will agree with what you say regardless if they even believe it themselves because they are on auto-pilot and do not actually care. If it is anywhere above 70 degrees I will open with: "hot out there today huh?" Depending on their response, I then transition the conversation to if they are from "around here," or somewhere else in the United States. If they are foreign I am usually shit out of luck and have nothing else to say.

Location:

Always pray they are from an area that you know. This gives you the opportunity to follow it up with something that sounds super genuine: "Oh Cincinnati, what part? My cousin actually lives in that area." However, you have never been to Cincinnati in your life. For me, the best part of the location question is that it leads to my follow up sports question.

Sports:

Being knowledgeable about sports is extremely helpful in the real estate industry. I have garnered a lot of my relationships with buyers through discussing a sports topic. It is a great way to connect with someone on a more personal level, and is also the perfect tool to use in your follow up emails. This way it makes your email feel more personal and acts as a buffer instead of annoying the shit out of them. For example, I had a buyer from New York who loved the Giants. I began every email with a little update on the Giants each week like: "Manning is a joke, but do you want Coughlin fired?" Although this tactic did not result in an actual purchase (obviously), it did allow me to keep a friendly rapport and may lead me to future business when they decide to sell the home that they did not purchase through me. Now that football, basketball, and hockey are over there is not much to talk about. So, it might be difficult to find someone who cares about mid-season baseball or Dustin Johnson for the next couple of months. Good luck.

Movies:

Always know what major movies are out, especially the kids movies. This way, if the buyer has kids you can ask them if they have taken them to the new movie out. Today, you can use "Inside Out," which is about feelings having feelings. It did decent on Rotten Tomatoes. They might ask you if you have kids. Never outright lie and say that you do if you do not. Always say no, but that you are planning on having them in the next couple years. They have no idea that you are depressed, single, and spend most of your nights drowning yourself in a cocktail of sleeping aids....Anyway, know what movies are out and maybe you can strike up an invigorating conversation.