Yah, yah, yah; money's tight, inventories are glutted, prices are falling. . .blah, blah. . .blah, blah, blah.
You know what? Agents can have a lot more control over their circumstances than most of them realize; but for whatever reason, too many of them just aren't taking control. Don't be like them. Here are some tips that will help put you into the driver's seat.
1. Position Yourself To Be Choosey
Let's start with a key question. Should you take a listing if the seller?
- Wants more than the current market will pay?
- Won't get the house in ready to sell shape?
- Is too inflexible about accommodating showings?
- Isn't really motivated to sell?
- Isn't negotiable?
- Doesn't really value you as a real estate professional?
In case you need some help, your answer to all of these questions should be a resounding NO!
"Yah, but what if this is the only listing opportunity I've had in a long time? Am I just supposed to blow it off?"
No, not necessarily; not if you've come to kind of enjoy wasting your time and money on losing propositions. On the other hand, if you want to be able to take listings you can actually sell, then you'll need to leave plenty of your resources available to work with those. In that case you should never take a listing where the seller answered yes to any of those questions above.
So, how can you make this first tip your reality? The answer is simply to maintain close relationships with hundreds of homeowners. U.S. demographics say that about 10% of homeowners move every year (yes, even in bad years).
Stay close to 100 homeowners and you'll have a decent shot at 10 listings; plus all the other spin off business that can come from them. Stay close to 500 homeowners and you'll have a great shot at 50 listings.
So here's what to do. Build yourself a big database. Setup an automated drip system in Top Producer 7i to make it easy, and free, to keep in touch. Distribute high value Web content that positions you as a knowledgeable, skillful and high level performer. Get to know your people better, and get them to know you better. Stay warm and fuzzy. The demographics will take care of the rest.
You can afford to be really choosey about your listings when you've got too many good opportunities to choose from. If you feel forced to take crummy listings, well, then you've got a relationship marketing problem. Do something about it.
2. Qualify Your Sellers
If your sellers are putting their house on the market just to see if they can get what they want for it, then look out, you're in for a brutal disappointment. I suspect that a majority of sellers in the market right now have that frame of mind. You need to avoid this kind of seller. Here's how.
The key is to verify "seller motivation". Why, exactly, is it that they want to sell now? Job change; that's a good reason. To be closer to family; that's a good reason. Need a healthier climate; another good reason. Retirement/down sizing; good reason. Growing family; a great reason. Moving up; nice reason. None of these? Then chances are they belong in the tire kicker category mentioned in the paragraph above.
Without strong seller motivation you can expect some pretty boneheaded and ultimately failed negotiations.
3. Position Yourself with Your Presentation
If you think your listing presentation is just a nice printed package of comps and other assorted materials, you'd better think again.
A properly developed presentation is:
- A personalized demonstration of your real estate knowledge and skill
- A persuasive exposition of your real estate marketing prowess
- A document that will generate absolute trust in you as their agent
- A "bouncing ball" that will help lead the seller through the listing decision process; answering questions and overcoming objections, all along the way.
- The proof that you are worth every penny of commission you are asking.
What you want to hear at the end of your presentation is something along these lines:
"Well, it's clear that if anyone can sell our house, you certainly can. You've thought of everything. We trust your judgment, because we can see you do your homework, know your stuff, and you are a person of high integrity. We understand that we're all a team in this effort, and that you're the coach. What do we need to do next?"
Now is that the kind of response you're getting to your listing presentations? If not, what could you put into your presentation that would bring you closer to getting that kind of response? Keep refining your presentation until you get that result (and don't stop, even there).
This is absolutely the way sellers need to feel about you, if you're to stand any kind of chance with the next tip.
4. Price It Right
Lenders are making money a lot harder to get. Inventories are growing and staying longer on the market. Prices are falling, and it looks like they are going to keep falling for awhile.
Sellers need better pricing advice than ever. Current Comps are helpful, but to get sellers to accept news they don't want to hear you are going to need:
- Overwhelming proof of local market trends
- In depth case studies of recent, quick sales; know exactly why they moved and why the others are still sitting there
When your new listing hits the market you want the buyers to compare it to the other listings and unanimously conclude that your listing is the very best deal.
5. Bite the Bullet on Repairs
Leaky plumbing, flakey paint, broken fixtures; all of that's got to be brought up to snuff. Buyers will just assume that if the obvious stuff isn't right, "Lord only knows what big things have also been neglected. Let me outa here."
6. Stage It to Sell
Don't ever forget that you are in the marketing business. You are selling the most expensive and impactful items most people ever buy. We live in a culture where even toilet paper packaging looks pretty. You think people aren't going to notice if a house doesn't have its best face on?
There are two key considerations when staging a home to sell. First, is the stager good at it? Second, who's going to be the bad guy?
"That giant wooden piece in the corner; Oh, it's been in your family for years; don't you just love it? Yah, well, that's got to go."
See, right there in that little drama we illustrate both key considerations; staging judgment and bad guy dominance. Both are necessary to get the job done. Just make sure the job gets done.
7. Create Great Photographs
Photography is soooooooo important; yet too many agents treat it almost as an afterthought.
Take your shots just after the gardener's been there. Make sure all the cars, etc. are someplace else. Come back at the time of day when the sun light is shining best on this property. If it's well lit, come back again for some night shots.
Do the indoor shots after the stager's work is done. Open some blinds, if necessary, to get more light indoors. Use wide angle lenses to take in more of each room. Experiment with camera height and angles to heighten visual interest.
Use lots of photographs to tell the full visual story. Assemble them into online virtual tours.
Remember, most of the buyers' initial shopping is done online now, with photographs doing most of the selling. You can't have showings if you can't draw buyers past first base.
Great photographs can make all the difference.
8. Promote In Print
Listings in print are becoming less and less important, because the Web is so much better at providing so much more information; easier and faster.
Print is good for promoting your Open Houses. Many local papers have sections devoted to Open Houses. That's still a great marketing tool.
9. Promote On Web Sites
Be sure to always take full advantage of:
- Your MLS Listing pages
- Your Realtor.com link
- Your personal Web site IDX and Featured Listings
- Craig's List
- Google AdWords (key words associated with your listing like community names, tract names, builder names, street names, etc.)
10. Promote Directly to Other Agents
NAR surveys say that 85% of buyers use real estate agents. That means that right now, in your town, there are agents who are in direct contact with 85% of the all the buyers who are currently in your market.
Do you have these agents in your database? Can you easily create really classy flyers, publish them online, and email links to those agents?
Have you developed close enough relationships with the better agents to know their niche specialties? Quick, if you had a listing right now, who are the top 20 agents most likely to have a buyer for that listing? Can you contact all of them quickly and easily?
Develop a solid reputation as a listing agent who works with quality sellers, who present their homes well, and price them right. You will have buyers' agents all over town eager to hear about your new listings.
11. Stay In Touch With Buyers
It can be a very long time between the first thought buyers have to look for a new home and a closed transaction. Heck, it could easily be six, nine, twelve months or more that they spend looking at listings online.
The thing is, sooner or (usually) later, they do buy something. The mistake most agents make is they stop communicating if a potential buyer doesn't give strong signals that they are going to buy right away.
Get yourself a system that will keep dripping your high value content to prospective buyers over a year or more if necessary. Just be there when their time finally comes to get serious.
A pipeline full of these folks is like money in the bank.
12. Get Optimized
The tips above focus on things you can do to move a listing. However, a single listing does not a business make.
You need to do these things with dozens of listings, every year. To get dozens of listings you need to be starting, building and maintaining relationships with hundreds of people, every year.
That means tens of thousands of "touches"; hundreds of to-dos, calls and appointments. It also means dozens of powerful presentations, thousands of flyers and a ton of transaction management.
You need a for real, real estate system. Outlook, no matter how tarted up, still doesn't come even close.
Get yourself a license for Top Producer 7i, then take our Optimized Agent Marketing Course. You'll finally be ready to take on today's marketing challenges like a true real estate professional.
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