By Craig Proctor
RISMEDIA, August 13, 2008-One of the easiest ways to set yourself apart from your competition is to research and use statistics.
You can significantly increase your income by motivating seller and buyer prospects to use your services on the basis of third party statistical evidence that you can use to set yourself apart.
Now before I go any further, I know there may be some of you reading this right now that are saying to yourself, “Well, sure Craig can use statistics because he sells a lot of houses, but what about me?” Well, that’s the great thing about statistics: anyone can use them. Let me show you how.
The first step you need to take is to research which areas you stand out in. It’s not likely that you’ll shine in all areas. Your job is to find the stats that make you look good. (You won’t use the others.)
How do you do this research? And what exactly are you looking for? Well, what you’re researching and comparing are your personal numbers vs. the MLS (or Real Estate Board) statistics. If your personal statistic on a certain dimension is not impressive, you may want to use your company statistics, and if this still doesn’t look good, eliminate this particular comparison, and move on to another criteria.
Let me give you a few examples. If you are at a listing presentation and the seller is interviewing agents, you must show that seller what’s in it for them to list with you. One stat you can use is your List-to-Sales ratio vs. the Real Estate Board List-to-Sale ratio.
Let’s say you did this research and found that your listings averaged 98.6% of sellers’ asking price vs. the Real Estate Board average (i.e. everyone else) at 96.5%. This would mean that your listings sold for 2.1% more than the Real Estate Board average. You should show this to your prospects in graph form because, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words:
-
<Your Name
>: 98.6%
Real Estate Board Average: 96.5% -
Result: You Get 2.1% More With <Your Name
>
Get the picture? Now, chances are good – even if you sold only one house last year – that you likely beat the Real Estate Board (MLS) average. If not, ask your broker what your company List to Sales ratio was and, if favorable, use your company stats.
List to Sales ratio is one statistic to investigate, but there are others which can be just as compelling to a prospective home seller. As you are no doubt aware, one of the top consumer fears with respect to selling a home is that their home won’t sell when it’s supposed to. For this reason, Days on Market (yours vs. the MLS Real Estate Board average) can be a highly motivating statistic. Take a look at this example:
-
Real Estate Board Average: 72 Days
<Your Name>: 33 Days -
Result: Your home will sell more than 2X as fast with <Your Name
>
Another statistic, which I call Success Ratio, speaks to your prospects’ fear that their home might never sell at all, but will rather expire. Your Success Ratio measures what percentage of your listings actually sell and, again, you will compare this with the MLS. Here’s an example:
-
<Your Name
>: 87.6%
Real Estate Board Average: 33.7% -
Result: Your home is 2.6X MORE likely to sell with <Your Name
>
A fourth statistic you can use is Market Share. Again, if your own market share is not great but your company’s is, use this instead. As an example:
-
<Your Name
> vs: -
Company A
Company B
In my market, I am not permitted to name other agents or companies in a market share comparison. I find this doesn’t matter as my objective is to establish my own credentials rather than dismantling my competitors’.
Statistics are also effective when presenting to buyers. Using the sample statistic above that identifies that the List to Sales ratio for the Real Estate Board at 96.5%, let’s say your research uncovers that, on average, you negotiate 5.2% off the Seller’s asking price – in other words, you negotiated (for your buyers) to purchase for 94.8% of asking price or 1.7% better than the Real Estate Board average.
-
Real Estate Board Average: 96.5%
<Your Name>: 94.8% -
Result: <Your Name
> will save you 1.7% more
You should then go on to point out to buyers that on an average $250,000 home, that’s a savings of $4,250!
Remember, we all have access to these statistics on MLS. Find the ones that benefit you and use them!
“I use local statistics to demonstrate my value as compared to the area average. As an example, if homes are selling at 96.6% of asking price and mine average 99.1%, the seller will net 2.5% more by being listed with me. We focus on this stat, as well as average days on market and this allows me to list homes at a 7% commission nearly every time.” – Greg Luther, Gahanna, OH
To find out more about how to set yourself apart from your competitors, you can visit http://www.hypertracker.com/go/cp/a25a080813/ where you can learn about my 3-day SuperConference where I train agents on several ways to create a meaningful and compelling USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
Billion Dollar AgentTM Craig Proctor has been in the top 10 for RE/MAX Worldwide for 15 years To receive free training from Craig with no obligation, click here.
