Know The Purpose Of Your Presentation

Provided by Realtytimes.com

A quality listing presentation involves considerable advance planning, careful research and analysis, and highly developed presentation and sales skills. This allows you to derive maximum impact from the minimal time you have to present yourself and your recommendations, close the deal, and obtain signatures on a listing agreement.

Your advance planning takes two forms. First you need to qualify your prospects - determining not only their desires and expectations but also their ability to make the buying or selling decision and complete the purchase transaction. The other essential ingredient in a listing presentation is a competitive market analysis (CMA) along with a presentation that displays the full complement of your sales skills and abilities and helps you win your prospect’s confidence and secure their listing.Knowing the purpose of your presentationBe crystal-clear on this point. The objective of a listing presentation is to secure a signed listing agreement before the meeting ends. It’s not to pave the way for a "be-back" listing, where you plan to return at a later date to handle paperwork and secure final prospect approval. Your purpose is to make your case, close the deal, and get ink on the paper right then and there while you’re face-to-face with your prospects. If you don’t, I guarantee the odds of securing the listing start to swing away from you.If you let even a few days or a week slip by, your prospects will have a hard time separating your presentation from other agents who they met in the meantime. And the moment they lose sight of your distinguishing attributes, they’ll revert to a commodity mindset by focusing on price and selecting an agent based on who offered the lowest commission or the highest list price. I’ve personally made over a thousand listing presentations, and I’ve coached and listened to the presentations of hundreds of other agents. I am totally convinced that a quality listing presentation can and must result in a signed contract at the presentation. These are two reasons you need to get the listing signed during the presentation:

1. The moment you leave the appointment, anything can happen. A buyer could appear out of nowhere, knocking on your prospect’s door with a direct offer. An agent who interviewed your prospect a few days ago could be desperate enough to call with an offer to cut their fee by another percent. At Rotary or church or a chamber of commerce meeting, your prospect could meet another agent. Or, after-the-fact, they could begin to confuse you for a different agent whose presentation they didn’t like at all. The list of "coulds" goes on and on. The only thing you know for sure is that if you don’t get the signed listing at the appointment, you leave it up for grabs and vulnerable.
   
2. You need to feel the win. The win in the listing game is when the contract is signed. Don’t underestimate the power of that personal victory. Selling involves the risk of rejection. If it didn’t, it would be called order taking, and you wouldn’t be paid so well because it would be so easy. A listing presentation gives you the chance to go for the win, perfect your close, and attain the victory. Give yourself the satisfaction and adrenaline rush of walking out of the home with a signed contract. Your drive home will be the shortest ever known. If you don’t get it signed, it will be the longest few minutes you’ve ever known.

I have an incredible coaching client who sells homes on Long Island. She is a listing machine in her market area. She takes over 125 listings a year. Yet a while back, when we tracked the numbers she was closing on the night of the appointment, we found her close rate was less than 40%.This finding got her focused on the uncompensated time she was spending on second meetings with listing prospects. It also made her think about how many listings were lost following the first meeting. A month later, her closing figures had changed dramatically. With a new resolve to get the contract closed on the night of the appointment, she skyrocketed her closing rate to over 70%. Again, be crystal-clear. Know your objective of your listing presentation. It is to secure a signed listing agreement before you walk out that door. Don’t leave your business to chance - take control and watch your closing rate skyrocket!