BEST Practices for Listing Presentations

In today's video, I want to kind of share a perspective that I'm very fortunate to have where I get to watch over 700 agents run their business and share some best practices from listing presentations. Hey, my name is Chance Brown. I'm the broker owner of CB&A Realtors and I make video content like this because I'm passionate about helping Realtors build great businesses. There is no right or wrong way to run a listing appointment. I've done really formal listing presentations. I've done flip-flops and t-shirts listing presentations with friends. But there are some things that I see amongst agents that I think work really, really well to help make sure that you convert. I want to address something about listing presentations. Before we even get into what are some of the best practices, we know statistically because it's something that's been measured for decades that if you walk into a listing presentation, you've got a pretty good chance of getting the business. Most people don't interview more than one agent and so as long as you can put a plan together and you you sound like you can sell their home, they're probably going to go for it. Does that absolve us of taking the time and effort to do this right? I don't think so. In fact, I think that it puts the responsibility even more on us to make sure that we do things correctly and to the best of our ability because those, for lack of a better language, layups when it comes to getting a listing agreement signed, those are the people who are also most likely going to refer us. And so, don't we want to do the very best job we can with those people so that those referrals come? The answer should be yes there. So, let's talk about some things that I see agents do that I think is a little different and are really great best practices. The pre-listing packet.

Man, I am such an advocate of pre-listing packets. And you can make yours however you want it to be. We've got agents that have these specially branded boxes that they deliver. You can do it whatever way you want. It doesn't matter. But I think that it's important for a couple of reasons. It gets you a look at the house before you go there. We'll talk about that in just a second. It's going to help eliminate a lot of questions while giving you ownership of the information of whatever you deliver. That last piece, the ownership of the information is so important if you are going into a competitive listing situation because let's say you drop off a pre-listing packet, they go through it and then another agent comes in and tells them the stuff that's in your pre-listing packet. They already know it because you gave it to them and they're comparing you as better than that person and they may not have even ever met you yet. That's so important. Now, rewind a little bit and let's talk about you get to look at the house. I think a mistake sometimes that agents make is they roll up to the house for the first time at that listing presentation and they start taking notes outside on what the front of the house needs to get it ready for the market. I think that's a terrible idea because there's a decent chance that that client's looking out the window. Like they know you're coming, right? Is the very first thing you want them to see you do, write down a bunch of stuff that's wrong with their home? No. They're automatically on the defensive the second you walk in the door. That's not how we want to start our appointment. So, dropping that pre-listing packet off first actually lets you get a good look at the front of the house before you ever get there for the appointment. And you can have your notes preloaded. Okay, now that we've done that, I'm a huge fan of having the client tell the story of their home to you before you get in anything else. A lot of agents come in, they come loaded for bear, they're ready to talk about their marketing, positioning programs, story, system, whatever it is that they are super excited to talk about. They've got their listing presentation. They've got everything ready to go. And at that point, the client doesn't care. They just don't. They don't care about you until they know that you care about them. And that's so important to understand. Having them take you on a tour of the home, asking questions about what they like, what they don't like.

Tell me the story of your home. Tell me the things that you've upgraded and update it. I want to get a good grasp before we sit down because that's going to help inform how we market this home. I need to be able to tell the story of the home and I don't know it. I need you to tell it to me first. Those kind of things, I think, shows that you care. It gets them the opportunity to get all those nervous jitters about selling their home and what they might need to do and all of that. They get to do it upfront. You get to listen. You get to take notes. You get to ask questions. And now they think you care. They will care about what you have to say. And so I always start with a little bit of an agenda, but then I move to tell me the story of your home. And I think that that's really, really important. Next up, careful when you talk about price.