There are three elements of a listing presentation;
- The meet and greet
- The actual presentation
- The physical material you provide
The Meet and Greet
How important is the time between when you meet the potential client, walk through their home and sit down to present your listing presentation? A 1970 study conducted by Ray Birdwhistell at the University of Pennsylvania concluded 93% of our communication transpires nonverbally and unconsciously. 55% of our communication is our physiology or body language; 38% is tonality or how we say our words; and only 7 percent is the content or words we choose to speak.
So, how do we improve our nonverbal communication style?
According to Cindy Stockhaus, a successful listing agent from Jarvis Realty Group (http://www.jarvisrealtygroup.com) in Indiana, there are four keys to creating a personal connection.
Mirror and match: Match your voice, your cadence of speech and your body language to your client. This will put them at ease and make them feel more connected to you.
Listen: Hear what your client is truly saying and respond accordingly, rather than thinking about what you’re going to say next. People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.
Build commonality: As you have them give you a tour of their home, try to create a common bond by finding shared interests based on decorating style, pictures and passions. (Think sports, travel, kids, fashion, etc.)
Be genuine: Bring yourself to the table. People can tell if you’re faking it … and they want to do business with YOU, not who you think they want to do business with.
After the Meet and Greet and paying close attention to the 4 points above you are ready to sit down to present your listing presentation.
Actual Listing Presentation
The actual Listing Presentation can be broken down into the three Ps of a listing presentation.
Prepare with property knowledge.
Check out the history of the property, recent tax assessment, liens, zoning and if there are any future plans for the area. Know the schools, proximity to transportation and something about the architecture of the home or building.
Prepare with accurate market data.
The more you know about the market the better prepared you are to recommend a listing price and be able to support it. The vendor will probably know what the neighbour’s house sold for and think their home is worth more.
You also need to convey what kind of market they are selling in; a buyer’s market, seller’s market or a flat market. You will need to have data on recent sales in the area, expired and cancelled listings and the average days on market.
Prepare to impress.
Nothing says you are the right Realtor to sell their home like a listing presentation that looks professional. You never know if you are one of a few Realtors they are interviewing and you want to make a strong and lasting impression.
There are all kinds of methods to bind your listing presentation so we won’t go into this in detail, but if you want to be taken seriously by someone selling a million dollar home I would spare no expense on the quality of the paper, making it easy to read and the packaging of your listing presentation.
What should be in your listing presentation?
First thing to remember is what the seller is thinking as you are presenting:
- How much are you going to sell my house for?
- When will you sell it?
- When do I get my money?
If you are using a “canned” presentation from your broker your current listing presentation is 90% about you and 10% about selling the home. Here is a general table of contents that I recommend for a seller-centric listing presentation:
- Nice looking personalized cover with the vendors name and your contact information
- One page About Us
- One page About Our Company (if it is a brand with impact)
- Comparative Market Analysis – With your comparison listings behind
- Tax Records and any past MLS Listings for the property
- Marketing Plan for their home – Calendar of events related to listing and selling their home
- Commission chart handout (optional)
- Listing Contract Paperwork
- Testimonials
- Preparation For Showing
- Home Selling Process
- Frequently Asked Questions – Pose the questions that you want them to read an acknowledge like:
What can we do to improve the appearance of our house?
What is home staging and how will it help sell our house?
Where Do Buyers Come From?
Following are pages that make your listing presentation all about you and you might want to delete some or all from your current listing presentation:
- Who We Are
- Our Mission Statement
- Our Value Statement
- Our Vision
- Our Story
- Our Team
- What makes us different
- Our Services
- Our Pledge
- Why You Should List With Us
- What You Should Expect From Us
How will you know if you are on the right track? Your job is to create an environment of trust, respect, and collaboration where your seller feels supported to make the best decision possible and that decision is to sign your listing agreement.
Click here to view a pdf version.
Click here to view our standard layout for a listing presentation.
