I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard Sellers start pricing discussions with the statement, “We really need to net this amount of money.” The declaration usually goes hand-in-hand with the Seller’s instruction to “Try this price, I don’t want to give it away,” which is usually followed by the caveat, “We can always come down later, but we can never go up.”
If you allow yourself to be swayed by a Seller’s need to start higher than the property should be priced, you set yourself up for a costly …

Let’s start with the bottom line first: The whole purpose of a prospect presentation is to establish your competitive advantage. In the least time possible you want to communicate what makes you different from the more than 1.2 million other licensed Realtors in the United States. You want your prospects to see exactly why they should hire you, what’s in it for them, and why they should proceed with confidence to sign your listing agreement.
 
Most agents spend the presentation explaining what they will do for the client rather than focusing …

Agents lose control of the listing presentation when they allow the sellers’ agenda to take over the discussion. I have listened to agents who have lost control to the seller in the first five minutes. The problem for most agents is once they lose control, they don’t have the skill to wrestle it back.
 
The sellers’ agenda is simple. They want to know what their home is worth.  They want to know what you do to sell it and what you will charge for your service.  And for sure, they want …

The quality of sales skills can dramatically influence income. At one time we all had tremendous sales skills, and we did not even know it. We intuitively learned, and perfected, our presentation to the highest level. We persistently pushed forward and never took, “No!” for an answer without a fight, then we usually wore our opponent down and got the sale. We had it all going for us, we had it all figured out, and then we stopped. Most of us stopped being great sales people around ten or eleven …

By utilizing the resources that are already available, we can set ourselves apart from other Agents. We have a large pool of resources that we can easily access, but few Agents do. We merely need to have the right questions, and then contact the right people.

The first group to access is the local Board of Realtors®. We need to learn from them:

1. The number of Agents in the marketplace

This information will help you calculate per Agent productivity, average listing per Agent on the board, and segment …

A quality presentation follows these four steps: build trust, move into a demonstration of the benefits and advantages that you bring to the prospects, present your pricing recommendation and rationale, and move to close the deal by presenting a listing agreement and getting the prospects to sign on the proverbial dotted line. The appointment itself takes under an hour . . . the preparation involves a good deal more.

Getting Off To A Good Start

Paving the way for a good listing presentation involves only three steps, but you …

I don’t advocate taking over-priced listings. Sometimes, it is inevitable, but before you take a listing that is overpriced, see that the sellers meet the follow three criteria:
 
1.   The sellers must have strong motive to sell.
 
      Your client’s motivation to sell is the key indicator of whether or not you will earn a fee for your service. You’ll be paid only when your client’s property sells and closes, so evaluate and re-evaluate the interest and determination of the seller to complete the transaction.
 
      If a client absolutely has to …