With the market in its current inventory-deficient state, listing presentations are an increasing rarity. So, when the opportunity to win new business does arise, you want to make the best impression possible.
Below, we’ve compiled the five most frequent (and avoidable!) flubs agents make when pitching to a prospect, so you can avoid these mistakes and win that seller’s business.
Talking Too Much About Yourself … And Not Your Expertise
It’s an old sales axiom: Sell yourself. But what are you really selling?
Prospective homesellers aren’t so much interested in you, your career, or your passion for real estate. Instead, they want assurance you’re capable of selling their home—and that you can do it faster and for more money than other agents they’re considering. That’s it. That’s the bottom line.
So don’t spend all your time waxing poetic about yourself or your love of the industry. Show your prospects cold, hard evidence of your ability to get the job done for them. That means:
- Digital marketing reports: If you’ve advertised listings on Facebook, Google, or Instagram, show prospective homesellers your reach (leads generated, impressions, etc.). Let them understand how far and wide you can promote their property.
- Previous success: Have you brought a home to contract in record time? Closed a deal well above asking price? Detail both your results and your process for selling homes effectively.
- Digital adeptness: The pandemic has brought an increased focus on digital adeptness. Many potential sellers are still wary of opening up their homes to potential buyers and are curious about virtual tours, open houses, and walkthroughs. Can you demonstrate you know how to effectively market their property both online and off?
Not Understanding a Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
You know good-quality property photographs can be the difference between an effective listing and one that flounders. The same holds true for your listing presentation. The only difference? You need to show prospects the before and after of your work.
What do we mean? If you’ve staged a home in a way that would make HGTV producers impressed, employed a professional photographer or used state-of-the-art equipment, and downloaded an app or two to polish your photos in post-production, detail the process to your prospects. Clearly show how effective and intentional you are in sprucing up a space, and let their imagination run wild with what you can do for them.
After all, showing is much more effective than telling.
Not Shoring Up Your Online Reviews and Presence
Your perception of how well your listing presentation went doesn’t close the deal: Prospective homesellers are still going to Google you. They need independent, unbiased assurance that you’re actually the agent for them, and not just some smooth-talking salesman or woman.
So why let your reviews undermine your potential to land new business? If a prospect Googles you and they find negative reviews, it will deter them from hiring you. Eighty-four percent of consumers view Google reviews—not Facebook, Yelp, or any other site—as equivalent to a personal recommendation.
On the flip side, what if they can’t find any reviews or information about your business? Well, given the choice between an agent with reviews vs. an agent with no reviews, an overwhelming majority of sellers would prefer to avoid taking a risk on an unknown. Additionally, according to recent research:
- 80% of consumers say they’re leery of working with you if you have no easily findable contact details
- 50% would rather take their dollars elsewhere if you have poor-quality or out-of-date photos
- And 51% would opt for a competitor if you lack consistent hours of availability
Lacking Insight Into the Market at Large
Can you speak about how quickly similar homes in your market went under contract and for what price? Can you wow prospective sellers with accurate pricing models? Can you give data-backed advisement to clients on pricing strategy, so they can strike an ideal balance between asking price and days on market? Can you push back against client’s sometimes unrealistic demands or expectations and convince them you have their best interests at heart?
If you can’t confidently answer yes to the above questions, you’re not going to have much success in wowing more savvy sellers. With such competition in the market, it simply isn’t enough to promise you’ll deliver the best deal—you need to show clients the requisite market expertise necessary to demonstrate you can.
In other words, be an expert in your sphere.
Not Having a Command of Your Tech
This mistake was somewhat implied in the bullet points of the first entry in this blog, but it’s worth reiterating.
At this point, a year into the pandemic, an agent worth their salt understands the digital adeptness needed to win new business. Prospective sellers are overwhelmingly looking for those agents who can bridge the analog-digital divide.
If you’re conducting a virtual listing presentation, make sure you have full command and understanding of whatever program you’re using. Fumbling around with Zoom or Skype isn’t going to instill confidence. Nor is having a professional website that looks like it was last updated a decade ago. The same also goes for a lack of social media profiles.
Digital technology can sometimes be cumbersome, and it can be easy to think it’s superfluous to the actual selling of a home. But this stuff truly matters to the majority of today’s homesellers, particularly Millennial ones, so make sure you’re taking the time to put your best (digital) foot forward.
