We Are Selling with Lee Woodward

You Don't Always Have to be Right with Tom Panos

• Realtair • Season 1 • Episode 28

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We explore the power of vendor management and pricing psychology in real estate, emphasizing influence over always being “right.”

• understanding that being correct isn’t always the goal—sometimes influence and collaboration lead to better outcomes
• delivering pricing in a structured way, balancing mathematical value with emotional buyer excitement
• giving vendors hope by acknowledging aspirational prices while guiding them through a proven sales process
• using auctions to reveal the market’s true value and letting the property’s worth emerge naturally
• leaving room for flexibility and dialogue, allowing vendors to feel empowered rather than constrained

A practical guide to navigating vendor expectations, setting realistic yet inspiring pricing, and leveraging auctions as a tool to uncover the truth of what the market will pay.



Hosted by Lee Woodward Training Systems

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Lee Woodward:

Hello and welcome back to the program We Are Selling. This is our Short Sharp Tips coming to you live each week. Well, live as in, we're only one week ahead of the program. And in the last two weeks, we've had a great sequence of information from the incredible Mr. Tom Panos. He joins me again. Tom, welcome back to the program. Thanks for having me back, Lee. Tom, great feedback as always. And today's tip is probably a life tip, a vendor management tip, a buyer tip. Let's see how we go. But the tip is this you don't always want to be right or perceive to be you're the only answer that is out there. And Tom, what we mean by that, and I'm going to get you to delve into this yourself, is sometimes agents think, I have, I know exactly what's going on, and you should do as you're told. I'm the expert and I'm correct. And they end up walking away from some great transactions, some great relationships because they're always trying to be right, versus there is a massive power and an influential power where you're not always right, don't know it all too well, and leave that room for collaboration and movement where people listen to you, but because you're being open to different scenarios. Tom, what's your read on this?

Tom Panos:

I remember listening to Oprah Wimfrey many, many years ago on uh one of her TV documentaries say at some point in your life you're gonna have to choose whether you want to be right or whether you want to be happy. And for me, that was a very profound moment of realizing that so often we might we might win a battle because we're practically and logically right on something, but you end up losing the war, right? Um, and I think Lee, the minute you get into table tennis with your vendor, man, you're gone. You're gone. The minute they're saying that, and then you're saying, oh no, but this, and they're saying, oh no, but this, and then you're saying, oh no, but this, what's actually happening is you're upsetting and you're annoying your vendor. And we know having a vendor that doesn't like you, doesn't trust you, and doesn't like interacting with you is only going to end up becoming a sad story. So I think, Lee, it's a really great topic to talk about because I think often real estate agents haven't got a skill set or the communication ability to sort of show empathy and understanding of where someone is coming from, but at the same time, sort of maybe show another possible alternative and an option without cutting them down and saying, no, you're wrong.

Lee Woodward:

Tom, very, very well said. Uh, when you and I were chatting off air, I mentioned I don't believe owners want a massive price. I think they want a chance at a massive price. And why do they want that chance? Because they've seen you, the agent, say we've got so much over reserve, this happened at 200 grand over reserve. And they're like, I want to be that person, I want that chance. But you're saying no, I can't be worth that much money. So you've got to know how to influence and manage the navigation of that. Otherwise, if you don't give them that chance and you just shut down that dream or that channel, you may not be selected at all. And if if if we delve into this one, Tom, and I'll give you my thoughts on a scenario of this. Quite often when you're delivering price to an owner, uh, which is a thrill-seeking moment, no matter who you are, the owner has this perception, and then you've delivered the figure. So, first point is you've got to know how to deliver price, and there should be a structure to that. So if I said to you, Mr. Panos, let's discuss the pricing of your property, and suddenly I've got your full attention, there's no props required, no flip charts, no nothing. Uh, you've got them. Let's discuss the pricing of your property. And Tom, there's two prices there's a mathematical and an emotional. I'll explain the difference. I can get a buyer incredibly excited about the property and agree to pay a figure that you may be thinking or even above. That's the emotional figure. But then that property sale doesn't go ahead because the bank comes in and says, no way, there's not one surrounding sale to support that in evidence. Mathematically, we're not lending them the money. So between mathematical and emotional, I've got to find that ground that brings us all together. But Tom, I want to share with you on price. Every time I've got a record price, I was wrong. I said it was worth this and it went for 50,000 or 100,000 over. So I was wrong every time I've ever got a record price because I've got to come in mathematically and not get you on the market with some fake information versus mathematically, the bank's going to come in and do an automated valuation model. And if we as agents were always right, the market would never go up. Everything would still be 199. So I'm not saying your figure's not out there. You could be right, but I need to show you how I'm mathematically having to price the property, which is part of being a licensed agent, for me to give you information. Out of role play, Tom, what'd you read?

Tom Panos:

Love it. Love it, love it, love it, because that approach, Lee, is giving them hope, but at the same time, it's not lying to them. It doesn't have to be hard, guys and girls. It doesn't have to be hard. If you go to a listing and the vendor says, Oh, I've been talking to other agents, and um, yeah, we we sort of know, we think that it's probably, you know, gonna be around the two million dollar mark we've been doing our research. And now now let's assume, Lee, that you're an agent and you're thinking to yourself, man, I think two million is right out of the ballpark. I think this is more like 1718. A good way to handle that without destroying dreams is to say, hey, look, Mr. and Mrs. Vendor, I'm gonna say to you, that would be a great number to achieve. And I would be really, really happy to be aligned with that kind of result. I need to let you know it's the process and not the promise of a price that's gonna get you top dollar. The good news is there's no pressure on getting the price right today, but there's pressure on getting the process right. Lee, that's a lot better to handle it that way than going in, oh, we want two million dollars. We've been talking to other agents, we've been following the market, we want two million. And then you say, Well, look, I've got to tell you, you're being really ambitious there. I don't think you're gonna get that sort of price. I'm the sort of guy that likes to tell owners the truth, I'm a straight shooter, it's probably more around one eight. Well, you know what? That one eight figure could be correct. It could be correct. It might not be, but it could be correct. But I've got to tell you one thing the agent that delivers it that way ain't gonna ever know because he's never gonna be selling that property. It's gonna go to another agent, you know? People don't want dream destroyers.

Lee Woodward:

So true. So let's give some final context to this incredible tip. Pricing and selling real estate is actually about getting to the truth. I loved what you said there, Tom, uh, or how you phrased that. You know, that would be a great result. Like I'd love me picking up the REA award for that one. Well, that's what's going through your mind. You've got to you've got to go with them and say, look, that versus you're wrong. Look, that would be an incredible result if that could be achieved. And I love this line. Tom, if you're if your price is out there, the market will pay it. Yeah. Versus you've got to get it. The marketplace is a responsive world. It's an international marketplace. If your price is out there, the market will pay it. If the market chooses not to pay it, I don't want you to be upset with that. We've just got to the truth of what is it worth. When anyone sells a home, me included, I've got this expectation, I've got this figure in mind. But if the market doesn't see that, I've then got to modify my thinking because if my price is out there, the market would pay it. There'd be two or three people wanting to pay it. But if they're not, there's got to be someone at that buyer engagement level who's going to take on the property. And that's why auction allows us to get to the truth. And it's a process that you just beautifully said, and a sequence of steps that will allow us to arrive at a point where you can say, or I can say to you, this is what the market's prepared to pay for the property. What would you like to do? But let me get you to that point.

Tom Panos:

Well said. Lee, every auction, there are two things that I normally cover. At the start of the auction, they give me the reserve and I'll look at it and I'll say to them, thanks guys. This would be a great result to achieve today. I'd be really, really pumped to be the auctioneer they got this number. Right? So that gives them hope, but at the same time, it's sort of telling them this guy here thinks that that is a you know pretty high number. The second thing, Lee, is if a property gets short on the reserve, I'll go in and I'll see the owners. And if we've had four or five people that have been at the auction, even three, Lee, I'll just say to the owners, the good news is we now know what your home's worth. And I'll smile. They can't dispute that if there's been people there that have been bidding, you know.

Lee Woodward:

That's great, Tom. Congratulations, we've worked out what the property's worth. Would you like to release the asset? Or would you like to still be the owner of it tomorrow? You know, to say no, no's the first two letters of nothing. You know, nothing's gonna change. You're not moving, you're not going anywhere, you've got your plans, and I think that's why this is such a good tip today. And what sparked me on this one, Tom, was nothing to do with real estate. There's a great jazz saying, and the great jazz, you know, the jazz musicians they improvise for hours on end in their solos. And I love music, but the jazz saying is don't know it all too well, leave some room for God. I love that. That don't know it all too well. Don't be the know it all expert where you don't listen to anyone's opinion versus you could be right. If we got that price, Tom, you should say that. If we got that price, I'd be on channel seven tonight. Like meaning that's got to be the auction result of the day. It's a great little throwing line, just say to them, yeah, that would be we'd be on channel seven.

Tom Panos:

Gold, gold. Love it, love it, love it. And um, you know, over the last three weeks, Lee, I've really enjoyed this conversation because it's had an auction tone to it and an auction flavour to it. And I'm really hoping that the agents that are listening to this great podcast beginning to understand and realize the market's change, it doesn't mean you've got to change the method. Tom Panos, always wonderful to have you on the program. Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much, Lee.