Whether this aspect of the business is the most exciting part of your job or the most dreaded; whether you thrive in listing presentations or struggle, no agent will dispute that these meetings can test the abilities of even the most confident and seasoned real estate professional. In a very short period of time under a lot of pressure, you must bring it all together—your local knowledge, marketing acumen, experience, accomplishments and personality—to convince someone that you’re the right person to sell their house. Because every listing and agent is different, there are no scripts for these scenarios. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few points you should always touch on if you want to win the listing.
Here are four things to always include in your listing presentations:
The “why” behind your pricing strategy
Regardless of the other ways you are going to sell yourself, in the end, your potential client wants to know how much they are going to get for their house. And whether or not they have questions or concerns, one thing you can always do to help assure them of your expertise and commitment is be transparent. Don’t assume that saying, “Trust me, I’ve done this before” is enough. Give them an idea of what kind of market dynamics, real estate practices and timing considerations went into your decision. While how deep you want to go should depend on the client and the situation, it should be obvious that people are less likely to trust you if they don’t understand what is behind your strategy or recommendations—particularly when money is involved.
Your company’s value
There are plenty of people who may not understand how the real estate industry is structured. They may be intrigued by the recognizable brand you represent, or they may be hoping for someone with local, independent roots. Parsing out exactly what the potential client is looking for and then showing them how your company or brand fits the bill can go a long way toward winning the listing. Whether you want to emphasize your office’s local roots, your brand’s national reputation or your company’s history will depend on what you can learn through deduction or questions. But since the person you are pitching almost certainly is holding preconceptions—or misconceptions—just based on the logo next to your name, not offering any information on your company could be a big misstep.
Emotion
For most people, selling a home is a deeply emotional decision and process, and most of those folks want an agent who can offer empathy around that experience. But even those who are not particularly emotional—people selling an investment property, for instance—still want to see some emotion from their agent. That doesn’t necessarily mean a tearful appeal or a personal anecdote. It could mean simply showing that you are emotionally invested in the success of their transaction, and that real estate is something you are passionate about. Some agents mistakenly think that with these less emotional transactions, they can simply present their numbers and strategy and be done. But if people want to entrust their home sale to an algorithm, they will use an iBuyer or some other tech platform. Don’t forget that when you are pitching yourself, you are pitching the human element of real estate.
Something physical to show or leave with them
Again, depending on the scenario, this could be any number of things. The one thing you do not want to do is show up empty-handed. While the property or situation might not merit a 19-slide PowerPoint or spreadsheet brimming with property data and calculations, you don’t want to give the impression that you are just swinging by casually. At the very least, make sure you have something to take notes with, or a print-out of your recent listings to leave with them. It might be difficult to guess at whether any particular client would be impressed or annoyed by a bunch of handouts or graphs, but agents who think they can show up to a listing presentation with just their winning personality might want to think again.
You’ve probably had colleagues, coaches or mentors tell you that certain elements were 100% necessary to include in a listing presentation, or that there is some standard format that would win you every client. That is not true. In fact, if you’ve been in the business for a while, you know that almost nothing in this business is 100%. And having the confidence to learn and trust in your own strengths and intuition is something no one can teach. But these broad ideas should always be on your mind when you’re preparing to pitch yourself to a seller.
