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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.
Why Sacramento Listing Agents Do Not Need Listing Presentations
Most Sacramento listing agents deliver listing presentations to sellers, except Elizabeth Weintraub
Trying to figure out if listing agents are on the level is often a gut thing for sellers and buyers. In fact, trying to determine if any sales person is handing you a pile of crap can be difficult because so many salespeople use scripts, canned presentations, or memorize lines designed to confuse or instill fear. I’ve certainly been running across the BS when updating my website, but at least I have a designing background and formal html education, and yet they still try to snowball me.
One web designer read my featured blog on Active Rain about 7 tips for updating your website and left me a voice mail yesterday about how she “suddenly” discovered Google errors and offered help. That web designer is a big part of the reason I’ve had to pay to have my site reconfigured and then redesigned a second time. Another put my website on an old server, and reconfigured the outdated server to work with my website rather than coding my website for my own host server. Both were horrid experiences. The sales presentations were good but the performances were terrible.
I was thinking about that when I met with a seller yesterday in West Sacramento. She has been talking with several listing agents about listing her home. I could use scripts and whatnot in my business, but I don’t. I just wing it. If you can believe that, and it’s true. Every person is different and every situation deserves a custom approach. I don’t worry about first impressions, persuading sellers to do business with me, or reciting prepared speeches. I just talk with them. I listen to their objectives and questions and do my best to address.
They either like me or they don’t, I figure. Guess I’m pretty lucky because most of the time they do. During this conversation yesterday at my seller’s home in West Sacramento — and I don’t even recall what I was saying — all of a sudden the seller blurted: You’re hired. That quick pronouncement took me by surprise but what the hey, I told her that was great, thank you, and she made a good decision. Because it was and she did.
As one of Sacramento’s top-producer listing agents, I don’t use a prepared listing presentation. Oh, of course, I email a comprehensive comparative market analysis, but the rest of my visit is devoted to finding out what my sellers want and delivering. I don’t need or use props. No 100-page books, literature or flip charts. People do business with other people. My impressive track record and 40+ years of experience speaks volumes, but I am the only person who speaks solely for me. And I believe that’s what sellers appreciate.
