Most real estate listing presentations are boring, ineffective, or even worse terrible at converting prospects into listings.
A listing presentation is another huge opportunity to stand out from other realtors. According to the National Association of Realtors, 2 out of every 3 sellers only contact one agent before choosing who they're going to list their home with.
So either, you're the first agent they talk with and you have a 66-percent chance of listing, or you have a chance to impress over the last realtor they talked with. If you impress them here, chances are you win the listing.
Here are some tips and ideas to assure that you win the listing.
Don’t “Wing” It But Rather Use A Proven Real Estate Listing Presentation
Most Realtors use a CMA as their listing presentation. They compete over price to get a listing. It’s not unusual for a realtor to name a higher price than they feel the home will sell for just to get the listing. Basing your listing of a CMA is a problem for that reason.
What works better is to evaluate the seller’s motivation before going on a listing appointment and then using a proven listing presentation to get the listing.
You can present a big problem like the housing market is still going down and then solve that problem by showing how you sell homes in a rough housing market, make an offer and ask for the listing.
Ask For The Listing
This may seem obvious, but agents stumble around this question or wait for the seller to make a statement first. You shouldn’t wait for the prospect to decide they want to list before you decide to close. Close the listing with a question along the lines of these:
“When can I start?”
“When can I start promoting your home to my buyer list?”
“When can I tell my buyers and the other agents in my office about your home?”
“Can I take pictures of your home today?”
“Would it be okay if I start advertising your home today or should I wait until Monday?”
“Don’t you agree that my marketing plan will get your home sold fast for the best price?”
“Don’t you agree that with everything I’ve showed you about the housing market, the sooner I sell your home the more money you’ll get for it?”
Don’t Give Up When The Prospect Says “I have to think about it”
Another one that seems obvious, but if a seller is giving all the wrong signals and thinking about it, it's the first instinct of many agents to give up and not follow up with them, not wanting to waste their time on a lost cause.
If you have already answered most of your prospects’ questions and they just seem to be stalling then get them to commit. Find out what their main objection or concern is by saying something like "Is there anything else holding you back from making this important decision?”
Then address any of their concerns head on. Do your best to overcome all of their objections for waiting and thinking more about the decision.
If they come up with a lame excuse to stall like “I never make big decisions like this until I have slept on it” then tell them that you respect that and say something like “I respect that. Don’t you feel that I can sell your home?” when they answer yes then go for the close again and say something like “then put me to work today and let me start marketing your home immediately”.
Keep the Presentation Fast-Paced and Interesting
If you're breaking down numbers, stats and the local market, DO NOT spend more than one or two minutes at a time going over the details. This is going to disengage the seller after a couple of minutes.
You may not lose them as a prospect immediately if it's a slow presentation, but it's not going to help you stand out from anyone else. So keep it fresh throughout and incorporate the numbers throughout it. This leads us to our next tip as well.
Make Sure Your Numbers Make You Stand Out
First, when you bring up statistics make sure they fit in your PowerPoint presentation, and also stand out. Another great idea is to send over your stats in an email, so the seller knows a little bit about them before you meet them.
Then make sure they really will stand out, aside from how it's presented.
Any impressive recent sales or if your have a high list price to sell price ratio. If you are a newer agent, focus on the market trends in the neighborhood if you haven't had time to build yourself yet.
Highlight Everything You Do For Them With Great Pictures
Whether it's marketing techniques to get their home seen by a bigger audience or staging inside of the house, you need to have detailed pictures of everything that you offer them so they can easily visualize you doing that with their home.
If you offer virtual tours, include one of those videos in there as well. Be sure to lay out in exciting ways how you'll advertise their home too. This probably means colorful graphics and checklists containing each of the steps you'll take for them.
If you take aerial pictures of their place, be sure to have a pretty layout of the different options they'll have. If you advertise the floor plan, show blueprints that you will use the marketing.
End it with Testimonials
If you have testimonials to use, put them at the end of your presentation. This way the owner can look through them at the end, but only if they want to.
If your testimonials were in the middle then they would be forced to hear them.
Now it serves as a type of novelty and is optional. It provides them with reactions from real clients and information about your services, but does not force them to go through each and every one.
Build in stories that help prove your points
This is similar to the testimonials, but it is much more engaging with the audience, so it doesn't need to be placed in the end.
Use stories to help overcome objections, prove your point, or demonstrate why the prospect should do something you feel is better than what the majority of the competition may be telling them.
Everyone loves a good story. Use it to show them how you stand out.
Make your real estate listing presentation about your prospect and NOT about you
Remember you are there to help your prospect sell their home. Showing them how you can help them, rather than just being another agent who beats their chest and explains how great you are, will really help you separate yourself from the competition.
Plus it will prove that you are looking out for the best interest of your seller and not yourself.
Be Upfront About Pricing
We touched on this before about saying you can sell it for a higher number than you really could. The best thing to do is to be honest and straightforward about the price. If you're not and you get their listing, it's only going to make things worse for you down the road.
Don’t avoid the issue or instantly agree if the seller wants to overprice.
Use comparables to take sellers through pricing options and come to a number that makes sense for both of you. Transparency and expertise are two things clients look for in an agent.
Come with a List of Upgrades or Repairs that can Net them a ROI
One of your slides should have a list of small-priced repairs that you plan to help them do. Clean-ups, painting, updating the landscaping, staging and other things that won't cost them a fortune should be on there.
Use Colors and Keep it to One Subject/Stat/Idea Per Page
We've touched on all these in separate ideas, but as a whole your PowerPoint or presentation should work together with its color scheme and how it's presented. Use bright exciting colors for most of it. Also keep one big stat., idea or subject per page.
This way they can move at their own pace through the presentation and not be overloaded with a bunch of bullet points on each slide.
Leave Behind a Brochure or a Type of Print Collateral
Usually the entire thing will be digital, so leave behind something printed that they can hold and look at later.
Creating print materials means you cover all of your bases online and offline. This way they can access you and some more information without going online or calling you.
It can make a difference if they are choosing their agent down the road.
Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!
