Make no mistake that until real estate professionals get a contract on a listing they have one job to do: Market the home. It is their job to get as many eyes on a property and feet in the door as possible. Real estate is a numbers game. The more buyers they get in a home, the better chance they have to generate offers. When I first started in sales, my manager told me, “There is a buyer for every home…sometimes you find them and sometimes they find the home. You want to find them before they find the home.” Meaning, you want to make sure they buy the house while it is listed with you. It is up to you to put all of your efforts into marketing the listing to find that buyer as soon as possible. What he didn’t tell me was that there are a few variables that we cannot always control that will hinder this task.
I call them the three P’s of Real Estate Marketing—Price, Product, and Presentation. In order to have a successful marketing campaign, the three P’s must match up with what a buyer is seeking.
Price
Your marketing plan is only as good as the price. If you do not think that price is important, think about a home currently on the market that you think is priced properly, but is not selling. Now drop the price $50,000. Will it have an offer in 24 hours? Yes, probably multiple. Why? Because pricing is critical! Plain and simple, if you are getting a lot of showing and no offers, there is probably an issue with the price. If you are getting a lot of hits on the Internet but not getting showings, you most likely have it priced incorrectly. Sellers ultimately control the price, so it is up to you to be persistent in guiding them through the pricing process. You can never underprice a home because the value will always seek itself. A home is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it.
Tip: Plan a monthly meeting to evaluate your marketing plan and pricing strategy with the seller. Never be afraid to ask for a price improvement. You have a fiduciary responsibility to the seller and that includes guiding them on the right price in the current market.
Product
The product is the home itself. Have you ever pulled up in front of a house on a listing appointment and says, “Ugh, it’s THIS house?” There is nothing we can do about the structure of a home. Unless you can convince a seller to add another bedroom, invest $10,000 in landscaping, or put up new siding, the product you are looking at is the product that you will be marketing. Feel free to make suggestions based on feedback, but sometimes adjusting the price is a better option than sinking more money into the home.
The three P’s are the ingredients to a successful marketing campaign. When the price, product, and presentation of a home all match up…get ready for that phone to start ringing with offers.
Read more about how the last of my three P’s, Presentation, can help market your home in my latest Clean Slate blogpost, “Three Ps of Marketing.” These three P’s are the ingredients to a successful marketing campaign – the right combination of all three will get that phone ringing with offers!
Karlton Utter is the director of learning technologies and solutions at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.
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