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How To Take A Listing

Hi folks. Recently I had an agent request more information on.....

"You mentioned that you educated your sellers at the listing appointment about the inspection. Being a little green still, I can't say I've heard anyone, in the company I work for, talk about doing this at a listing appointment. I guess maybe there's fear that the listing may be lost if we get into that section. So I guess I'd love it if sometime you could talk more about how you present this in your listing presentation."

First, I want to let you know that my listing presentation may be a little different than most. I've never had any training and I've never been on a listing presentation with anyone. I haven't read the book and I didn't listen to the tapes. My presentation was learned by 17 years of trial and error.

To me, the most important part of the listing presentation, is the phone interview, prior to meeting with the potential Seller. By the way, the Seller is not interviewing me, I am interviewing them. When a potential Seller calls, I always chit chat for a few minutes, get the address of their property, their phone number and tell them I will call them back in a few minutes when I can give them my full attention. What I am doing is delaying the conversation to give me time to research their property. It only takes a few minutes but I want to find out as much as I can before I call them back.

When I call them back, normally within about 15 minutes, I already know how much they paid for the property, how long they've owned it and what range the value should fall in. I've sold a lot of properties in my market, so my rough estimate of value will be within $5,000 to $10,000 with out even seeing the property.

Now what I need to know from them is:

Why are you selling?

How much do you owe?

Where are you moving to?

What do you feel your house is worth and why?

If the answers to these questions are satisfactory, I make an appointment to meet with them. This is what I say.

"OK so let's set a time to get together so I can look at your property. Once I've seen it I will be able to give you a precise estimate of where we need to price your house to get it sold. What's your schedule like? You don't get home until 6 pm during the week? Sorry I don't do evening appointments. I'm a morning guy and I want to be 100% when we get together. Are you off on Saturday? Great, let's get together Saturday at 11. That will give me time to get all my information together, so when we meet, we can get your house on the market right away. See you then. Oh, before I forget what's your E-mail address? I want to send you some info so you can read up on me and also see how I handle my marketing and how your property will be displayed on my website".

Now folks, as you can tell, I have already taken their listing in my mind. I will send them an e-mail as I told them I would and they can do their own research on my services. I do not need to rehash this with them when we meet. I have also already pre-qualified them and know that they have a property I will be able to price right and get sold.

When I do meet with them, it is really just to get to know them a little better and to go over pricing with them. I do not go over marketing or any of that stuff. Once I have given them my pricing strategy I immediately start talking about how showings will work, how we negotiate offers together, the possibility of Buyers asking for closing costs, inspection and repair issues, pre-qualification letters, the closing process etc... What I am doing is keeping them focused on selling and closing NOT whether or not to list with me. My strategy, cocky or not, is that I am the one deciding whether or not I want to list their property not vice versa. I have a lot of confidence in my ability to sell their house and I want them to "feel" this from me. I do not beg for listings. I do not fear losing the listing. My job is to give them the truth about the market and what it will take to get their house sold. If for some reason they do not want to list with me, at the price I have recommended, then there are no hard feelings. I wish them luck and I leave.

I leave them knowing that they can call me anytime, whether it's to list at a later date or if they just have questions. I am there for them when they are ready to take my advice. I never burn my bridges.

My goodness! This post is getting way to long and I'm not sure I answered the question, so below are some links, to some other posts that I have written. These will expand on my technique a little more. I hope this article helps someone take a listing next week. Go get ‘em!!!