From Listed to SOLD - How to Sell Those Listings You Work So Hard to Get!

You wanna know the top search term that brings new surfers to my website? Okay, there are two. The first is "New agent announcement letter." The second is "Sample listing presentation."

I offer a free sample listing presentation on my website if you join my VIP Lounge (that's free, too). Seems to be a popular item. I'm rather proud of my listing presentation - there's nothing boiler-plate or corporate about it - it's direct and to-the-point, conversational and informative. I've used it, or a similar version for years.

But over the last year or so I've been rethinking the idea of a formal listing presentation (Are listing presentations really necessary... or effective?). I've been experimenting with not doing it and have walked away from my listing appointments much more pleased with myself. But I wasn't sure... for sure.

Well, this last week, I met with a real estate agent in Dothan, Alabama to talk about selling one of my properties (the one where the squatter renter was FINALLY evicted!). She came to the house and asked me to show her around. She asked questions and actually listened to my (sometimes long-winded) answers. She took notes. As we toured, she casually mentioned other homes she'd seen or sold recently that were comparable to mine. Because she knew I was also in the biz, she respectfully asked for my thoughts on a marketing strategy. And listened.

After I was done showing her the house and grounds, she said she wanted to go back to the office and do her homework, now that she'd seen the property. She'd be ready to present her findings the next day if that was okay with me. It was and she did and I hired her.

No presentation. No fancy graphs or charts. No bio, resume or testimonials. Just a subtly demonstrated knowledge of the marketplace, a sincere interest in my situation and a respectful acknowledgment of my intelligence and experience. Had she shown up with a 90-minute formal presentation of how wonderful she was, how awesome her company is and how dangerous it is to OVERPRICE, I'd have tuned her out within 5 minutes.

Do I know her marketing plan? Oops, no, not really. I suppose I could ask and maybe I should. But her non-salespitchy "presentation" made me trust her.

Now, truth be told, this sort of quiet confidence takes awhile to develop. I certainly didn't have it my first year or even my second; maybe even my third. Well, heck, here I am in my 12^th year just realizing that I don't need a fancy presentation!

I do believe that the process of creating a formal presentation is good for the soul - it helps you to figure out what you offer and why you're special, and for the times when a seller seems to want something in writing, you have it ready to go. I have much of my presentation available on my website, so sellers can check me out ahead of time or after they've met me.

But during that hour you're meeting with a seller for the first time, it's far more effective to just BE there with them... asking questions, listening to the answers and demonstrating your competence.

So... I have my answer. No More Listing Presentations for me!

I remember interviewing for my second listing back in 1997. The seller asked me this question: "Jennifer, I assume our house will sell quickly because it's so cute (it was), but if it doesn't sell right away, what will you do?"

Hmmmmmmmm. Hell, I dunno. I was a green bean agent; I'd only had one other listing in my career and didn't have a clue. I came up with something, that probably sounded like this: " I'll do a broker open house, I'll do mid-week open houses, I'll distribute color brochures throughout the neighborhood and post an ad on the nearby college's bulletin board."

Lucky for me, the house did sell quickly, so I didn't have to implement my admittedly weak Plan B.

But it's now 12 years later and I still don't have a good answer to the question: "What will you do in 30 days if my house hasn't sold?"

However, with 12 years of experience under my belt, I KNOW that there ISN'T a great answer to the question! Especially if the seller is expecting me to reach into some magic bag of tricks and pull out a secret marketing strategy that I reserve only for my non-selling listings!

Here's the thing. Even if I HAD a magic bag of secret marketing tricks, why would I hold out using them until after the listing is stale? Wouldn't it make more sense to hit the market with all guns blazing?

But the truth is, I don't have a magic bag of tricks (and neither do you). NO AMOUNT OF MARKETING CAN SELL AN UNSELLABLE HOME. You can do broker opens every day of the week, distribute enough color brochures to kill a small forest and refresh your Craigslist ad every 21 days for the next five years and your listing will not sell if it's not properly priced, properly prepared and properly presented! NO AMOUNT OF MARKETING CAN SELL AN UNSELLABLE HOME!

Our job as professional real estate agents is to know what it's gonna take to get a house sold. We need to know how to price the home TO SELL; how to prepare our sellers for the reality of Being on the Market and how to help them prepare the home to evoke the most positive emotional reaction from the greatest number of potential buyers (and their agents). It needs to look good, smell good and photograph well. It needs to be easy to show without the distraction of barking dogs or a work-at-home owner. If there's an obstacle to sale, we need to recognize it and have the balls to be frank with our seller about it (and help ‘em fix it).

That's how you sell your listing. By working with your seller to create a marketable product, not to throw time and money at advertising after the sign goes in the yard. Frankly, the MLS system is an incredibly efficient system to sell houses and there's nothing we can do individually to out-market that MLS.

WARNING - infomercial to follow...

I wrote a little book last year called "For Sale Signs Don't Pay the Bills" which is a very detailed list of 74 things you as a listing agent can do to get your listings sold. It's a damn good book, if I do say so myself and it's only $14.95 right now at my bookstore. If you have listings that aren't selling, or don't WANT listings that don't sell in the future, check it out. I also do live presentations on the material, if your Association is looking for a speaker in 2009.

Okay, Infomercial Over.

Let's go sell our listings!

www.SellwithSoul.com