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Prequalifying An Interested Buyer

No matter whether you are a salesperson with a company who makes sales presentations for their timeshares, or an individual owner who has timeshares for sale, the expected outcome is the same: you want to make a sale. You want to have some assurance that your interested buyers are not wasting your time, knowing they will never qualify. Unless you have a bank or someone in the financial business that can buy lists from the credit bureaus for you, this may be difficult.

How do you pre-qualify your interested buyers if you do not have a list of qualifying participants based on credit information? One thing you can do to avoid taking time on someone who does not qualify is take your interested buyers and give them a questionnaire (mini-application) to include pertinent information such as:

• Name and name of spouse
• Address
• Social Security Number (needed for credit check)
• Telephone number
• Employment information

Firmly but professionally explain to your buyer that if they apply for the timeshare, this information will be necessary, and that you are trying to save time for both of you by making sure they qualify before going any farther. In most cases, an interested buyer who knows he will not pass even pre-qualifying criteria will admit they will not qualify or simply pretend to change their mind so that they do not need to provide the information that they know will disqualify them anyway. By doing this, you can concentrate your efforts and devote your time to those who have a chance of actually buying a timeshare.

Of course, even before you speak to an interested buyer formally and do a pre-qualifying questionnaire, you can talk to them informally and gather some information that way. You would be surprised how much information people actually tell you in an informal conversation that will tell you whether you should spend any more time with them. If the buyer mentions he just was laid off from work, or mentions that he has certain derogatory information on his credit report that you know will not pass the company criteria, then you need not go any farther with him. You simply need to gently remind him of the information he provided and let him know that company criteria will not accept that as qualification for a timeshare. If he insists on going through the process, and some will, do not become upset over it, but rather, take his application but concentrate your efforts on those you know have a chance of qualifying.