Most of what decides whether this listing signs, and at what price, is the relationship between the two people walking with you — not the house. The tour is where that becomes visible, because they are answering questions about their home rather than about the decision.

Six things to watch

Observation	Typical meaning	Your response
Who leads the tour	Usually the one driving the sale	Do not mistake them for the decision-maker
Who answers first	The more engaged, not the more decisive	Deliberately ask the other one directly
Who corrects whom	The corrector usually controls the facts and the money	Note which topics they correct on
Who mentions numbers	That person owns the price expectation	Direct your Part 4 evidence at them
Who talks about the next place	That person is emotionally ahead	Timing pressure sits with them
Who goes quiet on the basement	Often the one with reservations about selling	Give them an opening at the table

The three patterns you will see most

One emotional, one transactional

The commonest pairing. The emotional partner controls whether it feels right; the transactional one controls the number. Both have a veto, on different things.

Give the emotional partner the story and the care — the Bridge, the photography plan, the off-limits list.
Give the transactional partner the evidence — the comparables, the absorption rate, the net proceeds.
Failing to feed both is the most common reason a strong appointment does not sign.

One leads, one defers

Watch for whether the deferring partner actually agrees or is simply avoiding the conversation in front of a stranger. The tell is the Emotion question: genuine deference still produces a real answer.

If they defer but engage — fine. Proceed, but address them by name at least twice more.
If they defer and disengage — the decision is not made. Do not push for signature at this appointment; you will get a soft no you cannot recover.

Quietly not aligned

Phrases to catch: "well, he thinks…", "we'll have to see", "that's the plan anyway", a glance between them before answering, or two different timelines mentioned in the same tour.

Do not resolve this on the tour. Note it, and let the Discovery questions about decision-making and timing bring it out at the table, where you can address it properly. Forcing it in a hallway costs you the room.

Reading each spouse's motivation separately

You can read direction, not magnitude. The tour reliably tells you who wants this more and what each of them wants out of it. It will not tell you how urgent it is — deadlines, financial pressure and hard dates live in Discovery. Treat what you gather here as a hypothesis to test at the table, not a conclusion.

Motivation is not engagement. The talkative one is often just the more social one. The quiet one may be the person who has already mentally packed. Reading talkativeness as commitment is the commonest mistake in this part of the appointment.

Four signals that separate the two of them

Signal	What to listen for	What it means
Pronouns and tense	"We're selling" vs "he thinks we should sell"	Anyone describing it as their partner's decision has not made it themselves
The next place	Who talks about it in present tense	That person is emotionally ahead and carries the timing pressure
The Emotion question	Watch both faces, not only the one answering	One moved and one unmoved is your alignment answer
The preparation plan	Who says yes to declutter, paint, the designer	Effort appetite is motivation made visible — and it often splits

The clearest single tell is the pronoun. It costs nothing to listen for and is rarely wrong.

The two motivations differ in kind, not only in degree

One spouse may want the money; the other may want out of the house — the commute, the stairs, a neighbour, the upkeep. Those need different arguments from you, and pitching the wrong one is why a technically strong presentation sometimes fails to move somebody.

What they want	How it shows on the tour	What they need from you
The proceeds	Names numbers, asks price early, recalls what things cost	Comparables, net proceeds, the appraisal safety net
To be gone	Apologises for the house, mentions upkeep or the commute	Timeline, certainty, low disruption
The next chapter	Talks about the new place in present tense	Sequencing, closing dates, how the two transactions fit
Not to be embarrassed	Anxious about showings, strangers, the state of rooms	Showing protocol, staging, control over access

Where you will get this wrong

Silence is ambiguous. It can mean reluctance, deference, tiredness, or that English is their second language and they are listening carefully. One data point is not a read.
A spouse can be entirely motivated to sell and unconvinced about you. The tour cannot separate those, and mistaking one for the other leads you to push when you should reassure.
Cultural norms about who speaks for a couple will distort every signal above. Weight behaviour — what they agree to do — over how much they say.

Three questions to answer in your notes before you sit down

Who wants this more?
What does each of them want out of it — the money, the leaving, or the next place?
Is either of them not actually decided?

Then test it. The Discovery questions about why, timeline and deal-breakers are where the hypothesis gets confirmed or discarded. Carrying an untested read into the pricing conversation is worse than carrying none.

Everything below is used later in the same appointment. If it is not on paper by the time you reach the dining table, it is gone.

Capture	Where it is spent	Why it must be verbatim
The headline — the kitchen or friends answer	Listing copy; Pillar 1 of the Plan of Action	Their words are uncopyable by any other agent
The Emotion answer, word for word	Closing Bridge; the end of the pricing talk	Paraphrasing it kills the effect entirely
"What will a buyer notice" answer	Part 4, when comps disagree with their spend	It is their argument, not yours
Any money figure they mentioned	Part 7 recommendation	It is already in the price they expect
The two owners' differing priorities	Discovery; the close	You are presenting to two people
Prep decisions and the photo date	Commitment Close; follow-up within 48h	Unwritten decisions do not happen
Off-limits list	Showing instructions; photography	A breach here is unrecoverable

None of these are reasons to walk away. They are reasons not to push for a signature at this appointment.

Price asked twice before you sit down, and a number named by them first.
"We're not in a hurry" alongside a high price expectation — that is a seller testing the market, not selling a house.
No records for anything: no dates, no warranties, no invoices.
One owner declines to walk the house at all, and stays disengaged at the table.
They cannot name anything a buyer would notice — or insist a buyer will notice all of it.
A previous agent's number quoted as a benchmark, especially if it is higher than yours will be.
Refusal of a pre-inspection while describing a known defect.
Two different timelines mentioned by the two owners.

Where three or more appear together, plan to end the appointment with a clear next step rather than a signature. Pressing for a decision that has not been made between them is how a good appointment turns into a lost listing.

The script asks about the house. Almost nothing in this document is about the house. That is the point — sellers answer questions about their home honestly, and answer questions about their motivation, their price expectation, and their disagreements carefully. The tour works because it gets you the second set of answers by asking the first.