What a 2% commission actually pays for

Sooner or later a client says some version of 'that seems like a lot for showing me a few apartments'. If your answer is defensive, you have already agreed with them.

They are pricing the viewings. You are selling the other ninety percent.

The viewings are the visible part and the smallest part. What the fee actually covers is the shortlist that was filtered before they saw it, the units you did not show them and why, the price evidence behind the offer, the negotiation, the paperwork, the coordination between banks and conveyancers and the transfer itself, and the accountability when something goes wrong at the last minute.

None of that is visible to the client, which is precisely why you have to say it out loud.

Answer with specifics, not indignation

Weak: It is the standard rate in Dubai.

Better: On the last deal I did in this building, the asking was X and we transferred at Y because I had the comparable evidence and the seller did not. The fee cost less than the difference.

The first answer appeals to convention. The second appeals to arithmetic, and arithmetic wins with buyers who are already thinking in numbers.

Why discounting costs more than it saves

Cutting your fee to win a client establishes that your fee is negotiable, which means it will be negotiated again, and it signals that you did not really believe in the number. Clients who chose you on price also leave on price.

If you are going to move, move for something in return: a sole mandate, a longer term, an introduction. Never move for free.

Earn it visibly

The cleanest way to stop the conversation happening is to make the invisible work visible while it is happening. Send the comparables. Explain why you rejected three units before showing the fourth. Report on the negotiation as it moves.

A client who watched you work does not ask what they paid for.

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