Title: Top Ten Mistakes That Cost You the Listing Remotely
For a lot of us, listing opportunities are so vital, and missing one of these opportunities can cost us a large amount of money.
We train on what we use, not what we used to use, or what worked 10 years ago, but what is tracked and tested to work on teams selling 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and even over 1000 homes a year.
Sometimes it is us and sometimes it is a crappy system. We like to take one of those two major factors out of the equation, and recommend you do too.
In real estate many believe it starts and ends with the listing. I believe it starts with opportunities and ends with the experience of those opportunities, but anyway you cut it, listings are highly important to all of us in this industry.
Missing just one listing opportunity can cost you thousands and if you have a team that loss can become exponential fast. Often it seems smart to invest in new opportunities, and we know we need to spend money to create growth.
There is a cost to acquiring opportunity. However we hear much less often about the cost of losing the opportunities you already have. For many teams the opportunity cost of lost business is actually costing you far more than a new shiny marketing approach, and the worth of that gain.
We want to help with 10 vital areas to sharpen your approach and systems with these proven tips to get you chosen at the closing table more often.
Getting In The Way Of Your Own Opportunities
A listing consultation is extremely important. There are a lot of stories shared where agents are getting in their own way of their future opportunities by assuming or controlling outcomes with sellers.
We never want to assume anything, we want to offer a process. Part of that process creates steps in a strategy for the client to move forward with ease, when we control versus lead we lose trust, create discomfort, and become the pushy salesperson all sellers dread. Mixing up our role with the client's role gets us in the way of our opportunities. Present the options, get out of the way, and let the client decide. We do not make the market, our job is to help clients facilitate the market.
The client's role is to express the goal of buying (or selling) … and to be willing to follow our lead.
Our role is to show them how quick, easy, hassle free and affordable it can be to move one step forward, now using our resources, and to lead them (not control them). Knowing not everyone will be ready to move forward now, but when we do an exceptional job communicating and educating, the clients who are ready will choose you now, and others will still choose you later.
Ego
Sometimes when people become top producers and list a lot of homes, to some degree, they start to become numb to the process of listings. Because of this, they forget that this home might be their potential clients pride and joy. They forget that it is one thing to KNOW the process as an expert, but it is another thing to create ears that trust your perspective and guidance. There is no authority without trust, and without authority you lack the ability to influence a seller in a positive way.
As Maya Angelou so wisely shared, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
When the agent doesn’t build rapport or communicate with the seller, it doesn’t make them want to work with you.
When people feel good about their interactions with you, they use the information you shared at the listing consultation as the logic to decide to hire you. Feelings come first, logic is what we look for to back up what our hearts have already decided.
Not Asking The Right Questions Everytime
There are also key questions that you always want to be sure that you ask. The reality is that when you’re speaking to people, if they have a home they want to sell, the entire process needs to be made about them.
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen often is that agents will make the process about themselves, and what works for them, rather than the client.
They’ll try to push the listing when the clients wanted to know what was on the market, first to find something before they downsize. Or, instead of asking the clients what their ideal time-frame is, the agent is pushing on selling now so they can get their transaction done.
You need to build rapport and come from a genuine, caring place to get clients and listings. Clients may want to look first, but this does not mean they will necessarily buy first.
This is an important understanding. People buy and sell from a place of confidence. The best look to educate and create confidence first, and enjoy more clients and firm deals as a result.
Did You Secure The Appointment?
What’s always important when you’re speaking to people is that you’re always creating future chains of commitment with people. If you don’t make chains of commitment with people, you end up chasing them.
Our “Chain of Commitment” is the practice of using the initial appointment with a client to secure your next. The difference being that our clients are more likely to leave with a sense of direction and as a result more likely to follow our lead.
You need to set a clear date and time, and know who’s attending the appointments so you don’t waste any time. You want to make sure all parties are there to commit to the listing. It will also be difficult for the client to relay all of the valuable information to the other party once you leave.
Do You Have A POWERFUL Listing Consultation?
For me, the idea of not having a listing consultation presentation isn’t even on my radar. They are so powerful when it comes to predictably getting more business. A polished listing presentation on a laptop or tablet is a must for any growing real estate business or team.
A listing consultation is absolutely vital to have a consistent, strong business.
They are powerful to communicate value to potential clients, they’re easier for the client to follow, learn and retain everything you’re talking about.
A great presentation also helps you to create an environment, and that environment is a state of feeling overwhelmed with value, confidence, and comfortable to move forward and make a decision now.
Listing presentations are about so much more than simply the listing contract, they impact the commission rate, the time spent to secure the listing, the smooth process from start to finish with a client, and your ability to manage client communication while the listing is active.
Right Place, Right Time, Right Order, Right People
Where are we meeting? Zoom, office, distanced? Are they within a timeframe where it is reasonable and likely for them to make a decision on hiring you? Do you have a better chance to secure the listing coming in first or last? Is everyone present, or will your presentation turn into a muffled version of broken telephone where you are morphed into a commission hungry demon who should be avoided at all costs!
The key to these questions fall in two places, first data on what is actually tracked to work, and second your values. We believe in a consultants approach, which means our systems all fall under that belief system. We do things from the perspective of the sellers needs and wants at each step in the process with clear aim on what constitutes a win or loss at each step for true tracking data.
You Have Not Internalized The Sales Process Or Presentation
If you do not fully own and lead your consultation, the client will take control, or lose confidence in you. The greater energy wins, and this is your area of expertise, you need to invest in confidently having more clarity, strategy, and valuable perspective than every potential seller you sit in front of.
You need to confidently present your consultation, and yourself, or else you risk losing chances to build rapport with a client or the listing all together.
The best are always seekers of mastery. Why? Because mastery requires no conscious work or effort from us anymore. The master picks up on more subtle and not so subtle cues from potential clients because they have invested in creating the extra mental space to do this. While others fumble the ball, that is their listing pres., the Master catches, smiles, and waves at the crowd!
Agreements, Layering, and Key Points
Being a master communicator, and educating clients to make their own decisions is a beautiful path of least resistance. It’s much more comfortable for the clients and when we don’t put that huge push on them, they don’t have to push back at us.
Layer key messages repeatedly in your consultation. Remember the best of the best at presentations will only leave about 20% of that information with their potential clients. They have forgotten the rest by the time you end the appointment.
Anything that will create a dynamic in your listing presentation that puts you against your client, is not leading you to a positive position for pricing or commission. Consultants work with clients, not against them.
Lack Pricing Strategy
I’ll often see agents walk into appointments, where they already know what price they want to list the home at.
The problem with owning a sale price is that when it doesn’t sell for that price, the client is going to blame you. Even worse is when an agent decides on a pricing strategy to elicit multiple offers but is out of touch with the true supply and demand for that home type, area, or price range. The key to pricing is to have your finger on the pulse of the market for that particular home.
Often newer agents or those who service a lower amount of business per year can make small mistakes in overlooking key data when pricing, this often results in pricey losses for the agent and the seller.
The approach we use is to educate the Seller on the comparables that are out there, take them through a journey of the information you use to come up with a price, and have them arrive at a price they feel comfortable with. So in the end, they own the price and the pros and cons of their chosen pricing strategy, not you.
You Negotiate On Your Own Value
You can lose the listing based on your commission rates when it comes to an internal belief of your worth associated with your commission structure. People only have an issue for what they pay, if they don’t see the value in why they have to pay it. That belief and clarity around your value as an agent starts with your confidence in your services and in yourself. How many times have agents offered to lower commission, fearful they would lose the listing to another agent, and yet the seller had not even asked them to consider commission adjustments yet? Scarcity comes from the inside out. Whatever you charge, you will rarely successfully earn that amount if you don’t: A) Believe your services are worth it, and the seller will garner a superior result, B) Believe you are worth investing in as the professional you are. On the one hand many do need to up their game and deliver more value, and on the other hand, many who provide phenomenal service and results struggle with issues of self-worth and confidence, meaning they give more, but earn less. Either way, invest in yourself to grow and earn fairly. Stacey Green Director of Operations Kathleen Black Coaching & Consulting Inc. The Most Efficient, Productive, & Profitable Sales Team Model & Network in the World Toll Free 1-844-866-5222 Home of Ultimate Team Summit & Ultimate Mastermind Events www.ItTakesA.Team Here is How We Can You Grow Your Business 1. Do You Need Help to Become More Efficient, Productive, & Profitable in Your Business Now? Schedule a FREE Strategy Call 2. Wondering if You are on Track for Your Business Growth (or Not) ? Take our Leverage & Scale Business Evaluation to Discover Blind-spots Holding You Back! (P.S. It's FREE & You Don't Have to Wait for a Report!) 3. Do You Want to Learn What the Most Efficient, Productive, & Profitable Top 1% Teams Are Doing Differently to Thrive? Request a FREE Future of Real Estate Report 4. Not Quite Ready for Coaching? Willing to Take Longer to Figure Things Out Solo? Grab Kathleen's Best Seller , "The Top 1% Life" here, & let us walk you through the "Ultimate Expansion Strategy ™" that has paved the way for thousands to expand their business to the top.