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

On Wednesday evening, Loreena Yeo joined me in the SWS Studio to talk with me (and a few hundred of y'all*) about "Pricing it Right - Helping Your Seller See the Light!" Well, I graciously let Loreena go first, thinking I'd get *my* turn soon, but it wasn't to be. Not that Loreena was a microphone-hog or anything - not at all, but the audience clearly wanted to hear more from her than the time I'd allotted was going to allow.

So, being the primary decision-maker here in the SWS Studio, I made the executive decision to save my thoughts for a later day and let Loreena continue to wow the crowd for the entire 75 minute show.

(I just scheduled the follow-up show for August 7th. If you'd like to join us, go here to register: www.SellwithSoul.com/proper-pricing.)

As the title implies, the topic of the seminar was how to persuade a reluctant seller to price his or her home properly so that it will sell. Sure, KNOWING what that right price is is important, but being able to communicate it effectively might be even more so.

Loreena shared some great strategies and while I won't describe all of them here, here are some of my favorites.

1. Come in armed with your stats
Loreena's listings enjoy a way-below-average DOM, a higher-than-average list-to-sold price ratio and an extremely low fall-out rate (listings that don't sell). In her early conversations with a seller prospect, she shares her statistics with him or her, which accomplishes several things. First, it clearly demonstrates that whatever she's doing is working, which inspires sellers to want to know more. Second, it lends credibility to her CMA and pricing recommendation and third, it helps her turn down overpriced listings because she can respectfully say that her record is important to her and she's not willing to risk it taking a listing she knows she can't sell.

Of course, using this strategy requires that you have a good track record! (And we're going to talk about that at the next SWS Teleseminar, How to Be the Best Thing to Ever Happen to Your Seller. Details here: www.sellwithsoul.com/best-thing.)

2. Spend quality (and quantity) time preparing your CMA
Being oh-so-efficient is way over-rated. Loreena spends several hours poring over her CMA reports so that she is intimately familiar with exactly what those facts and figures are telling her. When she is in front of a seller, she knows her stuff and it's obvious to the seller that she knows her stuff. This gives her tremendous personal power when talking about price.

Conversely, if you wing it, a seller can easily fluster you with his protests that: "The house down the street sold for way more than THAT!" or "The other agent we talked to gave us a much higher price than THAT!"

3. Don't try to be "listing specialist"
I've been singing this song for years. If you work with buyers, you'll be a far better listing agent. After all, who buys listings? Buyers, right?! If you don't hang out with them (buyers) on a regular basis, how will you know how they think, what they want and how much value they place on certain amenities over others?

4. And my favorite from the evening... After you've presented your data, sit back and smile sweetly
Loreena described how she comes armed with lots of paper - charts, graphs, lists, reports, summaries, etc... which she spreads out on the table for the seller to review. Once she's delivered her analysis of all this paper, she sits back and smiles sweetly, and lets the seller take it from there. Numbers don't lie and she just presented a lot of non-lying numbers. With her body language, she subtly forces the seller to acknowledge them.

Oh, there was so much more, but I'm outta time for today ... THANKS Loreena for sharing your wisdom. Can't wait to do it again!

* As you may know, Loreena is Chinese and English is not her first language. She speaks English exceptionally well, but she does have a charming accent. Anyway, during the show she used the word "y'all" in her cute Chinese accent which cracked me up (good thing I had my phone on mute). Must be the Texas influence...

Your listing agreement is signed and you're heading out to install the lockbox and yard sign for your fabulous new listing! By this afternoon, the property will be entered into the MLS, and hopefully your fancy-schmantzy home brochures will be delivered by the end of the week.

Whew! You're done, right? Time to move onto the next listing prospect!

Well, that's up to you, but I don't recommend it.

Those first two weeks of a new listing provide a beautiful window of opportunity to knock the sox off your seller and cement your position as his or her all-time favorite real estate agent. Oh, and by knocking the sox off your new seller out of the gate, you'll buy yourself a little grace if, down the road, you unintentionally drop the ball (it happens)!

When you put a new listing on the market, strive to have contact with my seller every single day for the first week; and into the second week if possible. Remember, while listing another home may be just another day at the office for us, it's a monumental event for most home-sellers. They are watching your every move (or lack of movement) very closely - AND - commenting on those moves (or lack thereof) to their peers.

So, what can you do to knock some sox those precious first two weeks of a new listing?

• Send the sellers a copy of the MLS listing and ask for their blessing
• Send the sellers a draft of the home brochure and ask for their blessing
• Schedule the first open house
• Create and deliver your first State of the Market report
• Deliver feedback from showings, if any
• Send links to your online advertising (Your Virtual Tour, Craigslist, Postlets, Realtor.com, your blog, etc.).
• Ask seller to distribute the virtual tour to his social network.
• Drop off brochures
• Do your Open House
• Deliver feedback from Open House
• Ask sellers how they feel the process is going so far
• Preview any new competition and share your feedback
• Call to check on brochures - do we need more yet?
• Prepare a market report with the number of showings and virtual tour hits, along with an update on the status of the competition.

After the first two weeks, you can slow down your attention a bit, although of course, do continue to provide showing feedback and check on brochures and such. Every 2-3 weeks, send an updated market activity report, and at six weeks, prepare a full CMA and schedule a meeting with the sellers to discuss it.

If your seller feels you're being TOO attentive, he'll probably let you know, but I really doubt that will be a problem!

Any other ideas of reasons to contact a seller? Please share!