How This Sacramento Realtor Wins Listings Without Listing Presentations

My listing presentations are conversations about Sacramento real estate.

Over the past week, I’ve been on 6 listing presentations all over Sacramento. I call them listing presentations but that’s not really a true sense of the term, not in the way most Sacramento Realtors perform that sort of function. I prefer to think of these visits as a conversation with a seller, including my agent visual inspection. It’s really all about two things: the sellers, what they hope to accomplish; and the sellers’ home, its desirability, condition, presentation and price point. Well, it’s also a little bit about me, but I don’t launch into my life story or anything.

I possess no script. I bring no presentation materials. No software program or video to bore anybody to tears with. I don’t haul in vanity signs and say lookit here, my picture on the sign, how cool is that? I do not advertise on billboards nor bus benches. My approach is always relationship based and educational. It’s very different than how I hear how other agents conduct listing presentations. Sometimes I even forget to leave a card until I’m walking out the door.

Out of the 6 visits with sellers, I expect to list 6 properties. Not all at the same time, of course, but it would be OK if I did. Well, one is a divorce, so it could take up to a year for that Midtown 5-plex. I tend to put a lot of work into my listings upfront. Making sure there are no title discrepancies, the property is clean and presentable, the timing works with the present market conditions. I often agonize over marketing comments. I carefully choose among high definition photos. And each listing is unique. No two are alike, and I don’t treat them in that manner. Each is my personal project.

When I came home from the last of my listing presentations on Saturday, my husband asked what price did we settle on. Price? We didn’t really talk much about a price. The home in Glenbrook was much nicer than I had been expecting, so to be completely accurate, I needed to do a bit more homework. To my amazement, the sellers hired me anyway. On the spot. They had another interview with some other Realtor scheduled for Saturday afternoon but they decided after our chat that I was the agent for them. I was ready to let them have that other interview, but hey, they gave me the keys. I’m their agent.

Perhaps it’s because I explained the present market, talked about what I will do for them, but primarily, I think it’s because I “get” their home. I know what makes it special. I appreciate its qualities. I will do a good job for them, and they have confidence in me. It’s sellers like this who make me want to be the best Sacramento Realtor I can be.

And it just goes to prove Realtors are not required to do formal listing presentations to win a listing. You just have to be yourself. Forget the graphs, the charts, the mounds of paperwork, the gimmicks, the crutches. Talk about what you know.