The “?” is a great sales tool. In one might say it is the greatest sales tool any real estate person has in their arsenal of scripts.

Have you ever given what you thought was the best presentation of your real estate career only to have a buyer or seller say they were going to use someone else? Have you also had the experience where instead of a presentation you asked a couple thought provoking questions and the client was yours?

The “?”, when used correctly, is asking the question that is in your customers mind when they are searching for what they want. If you can put a question that is an exact match or a very close match to what they are thinking you will have that customer and they will be yours. No need to be over the top, announcing your awards, or making promises you can’t keep. The customer cares about getting their questions answered and if you should them you know the question they will realize you will be the one with the answer.

Google Adwords, unlike some of the other paid advertising engines, allows you to use question marks in your ads. You can use question marks in the headline or in the ad text itself.

This is one of the most underutilized characters on Google Adwords by many advertisers. A question mark can draw attention immediately to your ad in comparison to all of the others and after all we want attention for our ads.

Some examples that have worked well for us and for clients are as follows:

• Want to buy a condo?
• Can you afford to buy?
• Do You Like Renting?
• Know Your Homes Worth?
• Want to Buy a Home?
• How Much Can You Afford?
• Can You Afford Not to Buy?

Some of these questions were used in Headlines (Max 25 characters) while others were used in the body of the ad (max 35 characters). In our experience and testing we found it best to not use more than 1 question per ad although there are times when you may be able to get away with more.

So what kind of questions do you think you could ask your customers?