Listing presentations are the high stakes, make-or-break moments for most agents. This is when your salesmanship—a skill that every real estate professional should develop to some degree—is most tested. It is also where you have the most immediate control over your income. You either close and win the listing, or you don’t. And in today’s low-inventory environment, every listing is important.
While many coaches or mentors focus on the ‘shoulds,’ like strategies, ideas, visual aids or analyses that can bolster your pitch, less attention is paid to the ‘shouldn’ts,’ like the kind of conversation topics, attitudes or other missteps that can sink an otherwise golden opportunity.
Here are four topics you should avoid in (almost) every listing presentation.
Politics
This one is a no-brainer. No matter how sure you are about someone’s political affiliations or ideology, or how comfortable you are around them, you should avoid being drawn into these types of discussions. While likely this isn’t a super common issue, with another very heated presidential election season ahead, you should have strategies or techniques to deflect any sort of query or debate on political issues. A business transaction like a property sale does not need to depend on anyone’s political views, and though you can’t expect potential clients to follow this philosophy, you can do your best to adhere to it yourself.
Other agents
There’s nothing wrong with comparing yourself favorably to the competition. But when it comes to talking specifically about other agents in your region, you should do your best to say as little as possible. While there are certainly going to be specific exceptions to this rule, for the most part, no one wants to hear you disparaging other agents during a listing presentation—even if you are professional and restrained in how you go about it. Your focus should be on the client, first of all, and on yourself. If you end up in a back-and-forth about how your strategy, abilities or experiences compare to a specific rival, you have already lost control of the conversation.
Your other clients/responsibilities
This might also seem like a no-brainer. But as consumers are becoming more and more educated about how real estate agents and brokerages operate, they might have questions about your work schedule as it pertains to selling their property. You should avoid any sort of focus on the many other tasks—or other sellers or buyers—you are committed to on a daily basis. Without being dishonest, convey to them that selling their house is your full-time job, if they sign with you. If you can explain succinctly and positively how you and your company work to support multiple transactions or sales, that is great, but otherwise avoid casual mentions of your responsibilities outside of your duties to them.
Your immediate personal plans
Selling a house even in a hot market is a process that can take some time. Again, if you want the potential client to see you as their full-time, dedicated and always-available professional agent, avoid mentioning that you are flying to Hawaii in February. Obviously, clients may have to accept that you won’t always be available—at least in person—and depending on the situation, it might be a good idea to talk about your contingency plans. But a casual mention of an upcoming vacation can leave the impression that you will be less accessible, or that you will be motivated by your own personal deadlines to get their property sold.
Listing presentations are all unique, and no rule is 100% hard and fast. But that being said, there are discussions and topics that don’t need to happen, and can only make your chances worse and your job harder in most cases. Even some casual references can prejudice a potential client, so you should be just as thoughtful about what you don’t say as you are with what you do say.
