There’s only one reason we ever lose a listing. It’s quite simple. We lose listings because we fail to sell the feeling. All the elements of your listing presentation - the visual communication aids and dialogue - have got to bolt together because a listing is all about painting a picture. A listing is an opportunity to lead an owner in a very special dance; it’s the site in which a transfer of feelings occurs so that the owner buys into your strategy. Anyone can sell a house but only a brilliant agent will be able to maximise the price.
A listing presentation contains everything you know about real estate in one go. It’s your moment in the spotlight. You have to perform. But you must be yourself. You can’t pretend to be someone else. Potential vendors want to know you and what you can do for them.
Remember a lounge room is an intimate space. Never use the tone you would use to address a crowd. The key to a brilliant presenter in a lounge room is when you make it a chat. Take the present out of the presentation. Don’t do the big sale spiel and scare the hell out of them with a flip chart. Put it away.
Talk. Chat. Prepare. It’s the performance of your life. And be prepared to dance. Every client is different. You have to be ready to change the tempo of your presentation to suit the client and the location and time.
Sometimes, you can be walking into a property and another agent’s walking out. And you must always look surprised. ‘Oh, you’ve had another agent in?’, you say. And the client says, ‘Oh yeah, that’s such and such from such and such’. And, if that happens, you must always ask this question: ‘Mr Williams, do you mind if I ask, is there any reason why you didn’t appoint that company?’. And the answer to this is crucial. It’s a pain point and you must use that information to make it work in your favour. You’ve got to learn how to dance.
You have to know how to close. We all get to that point when it’s been a lovely evening and everything’s gone well but it’s now time to ask for the order and it’s what you say in this next five minutes that makes you a professional. That’s it. Closing is a personal thing. I’ve got a couple of people who work for me who say, ‘Lee, I just can’t close. I don’t like feeling pushy; I don’t like the rejection to it. I’m not doing it’. I say to them, ‘Well, why don’t you say this? You get to the end of the presentation and say, ‘Mr and Mrs Williams, this is the part of the evening when I really feel uncomfortable. I’m meant to get you to sign documents, ask you to go and list the property with us but I always feel like you feel like I’m pushing you’.
Alternatively you could say, ‘Do you know Mrs Williams, you’re my client. You are the person who employs me to sell your home and you’re the one person I feel funny getting to say, ‘yes’ because you’re engaging me. But you put me in front of a buyer I have no hesitation in extracting that ‘yes’ out of anyone who’s capable of buying your property because that’s what I do. I get those people to say, ‘yes’. But I need your authority to represent you. Do you feel comfortable going ahead?’.
Whatever way you do it is up to you. Whatever you do, you must take the lead in the dance if you want to win listings.