Using Chris Voss’s strategy in wholesaling

[Christopher Vrondran]

Hey everyone. 

So I have just started wholesaling and have been trying out different methods to contact motivated sellers. 

Has anyone used Chris Voss’s strategies from Never Split the Difference to find and communicate with new leads? Has it worked better than the “always get to yes” strategy? And in what ways have you implemented any of his strategies into cold call scripts or texting campaigns?

[Austin Gunnerson]

Hi Christopher,

Never Split the Difference is one of my favorite books, when I started utilizing calibrated questions and labeling it was a game changer for me in my sales role.

I’ll admit I haven’t used it in real estate yet but here are some ideas I came up with that should illustrate how you can use two of the main concepts.

Chris Voss defines a calibrated question as an open ended question, a question that can’t be answered with yes or no.

One example might be when reaching out to an absentee owner lead instead of asking “Would you be interested in selling property x” try “What are your plans for property x?”.

Using the latter will get them talking even if they don’t want to sell, more information is the goal.

His labeling strategy is also very useful, it’s a softer way to ask the hard why questions.

Labeling is using phrases like “It seems like” “It looks like” “It sounds like” etc..

Labeling helps demonstrate active listening and it validates their emotions.

Let’s say you put in an offer contingent on a passing inspection for the foundation and other big ticket items and they respond “We aren’t comfortable with an inspection”.

The aggressive buyer might ask the next question as they should, but the phrasing is often wrong.

“Why aren’t you comfortable with an inspection?” – They may soften it up by leading with “I hope you don’t mind me asking” but this hardly softens it.

When we use why it sounds judgmental, some may get defensive.

A great way to ask this is by starting with a label and follow up with a calibrated question.

“It sounds like there might be a specific reason for that, what led to that policy?”

The label “It sounds like there might be a specific reason for that” validates their decision to have that policy. And the calibrated question leads to an open ended response.

These are just 2 examples the possibilities are endless!

I’m glad you started this thread, I’m excited to see how others have implemented this.