While the comparative analysis is certainly a critical element of your listing presentation, it is not the only tool that you will need when meeting your client.  You will also need a ‘Listing Kit Folder’.  Most times your Broker will have these folders prepared in advance.  They will include the listing contract, property disclosure statement, lead paint disclosure, commission structure as well as various other documents that might outline the myriad of services that your Broker offers.  They should also include a Sellers Expense sheet on which you can outline an approximation of the expenses that your seller will be responsible for.  It is vital that your Seller know in advance an idea of the expenses they will be responsible for at the property closing.

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(In this new multi-part series, we’ll take a look at the successful real estate agent’s marketing plan)

As a real estate agent and / or Realtor, the single most important aspect of your career is to come up with a rock-solid marketing plan.  A well thought out and executed marketing plan will not only help to create your business but it will also define your success as a real estate agent.  Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the most sought after types of advertising in real estate but it is not the most lucrative and you almost have to have your business set up and running smoothly before being able to take advantage of this type of advertising.  No real estate agent, whether they’re just starting out or have 20 years in the business, can survive on word-of-mouth advertising alone.  In fact, a successful real estate agent marketing campaign should be multi-pronged in its approach.  It should consist of farming expired listings, marketing to FSBO sellers, a ‘geographic neighborhood’ campaign (or several) as well as being a buyers agent.  For this segment of the series, we’ll be focusing on farming expired listings.

Farming expired listings is perhaps one of the easier types of marketing a real estate agent can do.  As has already been discussed, property owners whose home has been listed and has been expired have already gotten past the hurdle ‘ Why should I list with a Real Estate Agent?’  Therefore, you must now concentrate your focus on answering their question ‘Why should I list with you when the last real estate agent I hired let my property expire?’  99.99999% of the time, the answer to the ‘why did my property expire’ question is the same: price.  Let’s get beyond that for the moment though and simply focus on your ability to actually market to expire listings.  When sending out expired listing letters to potential clients, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is your expired listing marketing strong enough to put you in the ‘do call’ list?
2. Have your expired listing letters been created to eliminate cold-calling?  (Remember ‘do not call laws’ may prevent you from contacting the expired lister via telephone)
3. Are your real estate agent letters professional and do they convey the proper image?
4. Are your expired listing letters strong enough to get you multiple responses from every mailing?
5. Are your efforts in farming expired listings cost effective with the results they provide?

Take some time to answer these questions honestly and to the best of your ability and in our next part in this series we’ll explore what your answers say about your farming expired listing efforts and where you may have room to improve.

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Important factors to make sure you include in your comp are: home style (Colonial, Ranch, etc), square footage, number of bedrooms, and number of baths.  These are the key components from which you’ll begin to build your comparable report.  After these critical elements, you’ll include garage size and style, fireplaces, decks, pools and all the extras.  These secondary elements aren’t necessary but they will provide for a much more accurate outcome on pricing structure.  Once your comparable report is complete you should have the proper price for the property worked out for your homeowner.

Having the accurate comparables for the potential listing, it’s important that you study them carefully and thoroughly.  Make two copies of this report: one to give to your clients and one to keep for your own records.  Your copy may very well come in handy in areas where there may be more than one FSBO or expired listing on the market.

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Make notes on anything that may need to be changed or updated.  You’ll be addressing these concerns during your listing presentation so it’s best that you have your reasons for a possible price reduction well thought out in advance.

You may come across a situation where your potential client has their home for sale on a street or in a neighborhood where there are one or two or even multiple other FSBO properties.  These homes will not be in your ML system so it’s important that you also make a few notes on these homes as well.  If the competing FSBO properties have brochures available, make sure you pick one up.  Keep in mind again that your homeowner is more than likely already well informed on his or her direct competition so it’s important that you be equally educated.

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You’ve finally set a day and time for the Listing Presentation.  Now, the real work begins!  If the property is a FSBO listing then it’s highly recommended that you drive by the property as soon as possible to get a better feel for the house and the neighborhood where your homeowner lives and / or is selling their property.  Make notes on the outside condition of the property, the yard, etc.  If you have time and the conditions are right, you might also consider taking a few quick pictures of the exterior of the home.  You’ll be able to add these pictures to your comparisons later.

Also take a drive around the immediate neighborhood a few streets up and down from where the property is located.  Remember that your homeowner is extremely familiar with their own neighborhood and having at least some knowledge will help you answer any questions or concerns that may be brought up during the Listing Presentation.

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More than likely you’ll be sending out dozens of solicitation letters each month.  While names and addresses may seem familiar, after a while it’s quite possible — in fact very probable — that you may not remember all of the homeowners that you solicit.  An easy way to combat this is to keep a simple log of every letter that you send out.  It can be as simple as the homeowners name with the property address or even a little more complex with such details as square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and the price that the property is listed at either when it expired or was listed by the owner.  Obviously the more information that you have in your log, the more prepared you’ll be when the homeowner calls you.

Keep this log in your briefcase that you carry with you and whenever you’re in your car, simply take the log out and set it on the seat next to you.  You can pull over and refer to this information when needed and even though you in reality don’t actually remember each and every property out of hundreds, relating a few facts back to the potential client will lead them to believe that you do.  A trick to keeping the log easier to use is to put them in order by the first letter of the client’s last name.  This gives you a quick-glance capability because the homeowner will tell you their name when they call.

There is no factor more important to being a successful real estate agent than preparation.  Most everything you do and say should be well planned out in order to ensure success in implementation.  Your Listing Presentation will become the backbone of your business and it’s vital that you feel comfortable during the process and that your actions come off as natural.  Even if you’ve never been on a Listing Presentation before, proper preparation will prevent you from looking like a novice and will go a long way towards making sure that you secure your listing every time you meet with a new client.

More often than not, you’ll make initial contact with your potential client over the phone.  If your marketing tools are strong enough, most of your clients will call you with questions or the desire to set up a meeting.  Strong marketing to FSBO’s and expired listings should always be designed with the goal in mind of the customer calling you.  If you’re fortunate enough, when your client calls you’ll be in your office.  Of course, being in your office and having access to your computer or even a pen and paper is the most ideal situation and probably the situation you will least often encounter.  So, the first step in being a prepared real estate agent is to make sure that you have what you need on hand when you need it.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to always carry a small pad of paper in your pocket along with your pen.  Or better yet, carry a few pens.  You can even get a pad of paper that mounts to your dashboard for taking notes on the fly if you don’t have access to a PDA or cellular phone capable of keeping notes.  No matter what system you use, make sure you have the ability to jot down addresses and phone numbers as well as client’s name and any other information they may give you.  If you find yourself constantly repeating the phrase, ‘can you hang on a minute, I have to find something to write with,’  then you’re not prepared.

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What all of your real estate agent marketing tools should do is basically sell you in such a way that giving you a call becomes the only option that the homeowner has.  Sure, they might interview other agents but you’re on that list and getting your foot in the door is the position you want to be in with every expired listing letter you send.  If you’re looking for a strong system for farming expired listings then check out this system which has the best expired listing letters available.  With expired listings, your window of opportunity has already begun to close the moment the listing has expired.  If you don’t want to spend your time cold-calling, then make sure you hit the expired listing fast and furious.  Let your real estate agent letters do the talking for you.  If you concentrate on expired listings and you do it right, even the newest real estate agent can carve a niche out for themselves quickly and effectively.

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Positive attitude can be directly linked to Time Management.  If you as a real estate agent, have the proper handle on how you’re using your time, you’ll feel less frustrated and less rushed.  Remember, if you have an important event in your life it’s perfectly fine to take the day off and leave work behind.  As with any other career, days off are part of the territory.  If you have an important event that you know is coming up, simply schedule yourself OFF!

Having the right attitude as a Real Estate professional can be a much more complex issue than many agents realize.  If you have not already learned, you soon will: every single client that you meet will be different.  This means that the simple cookie cutter approach will not work with everyone.  However, there are a few key things to remember that will help you not only in your initial Listing Presentations but in subsequent meetings as well.  Maintaining the proper attitude from the get go will also help you with the times that you may need to give your client bad news.

Your client or potential client wants to know that they are dealing with a professional at all times that will listen to them, take them seriously and answer all of their questions and address all of their concerns.  When speaking to a client on the phone, try to remember to smile.  Although your client obviously can’t see you, the difference will be noticeable in your voice.  To hear the difference for yourself, try saying a phrase while smiling and then repeating the same phrase without smiling.  Hear the difference?  So can your client.

It’s important to be confident and exude confidence but remember that there is a fine line between confidence and cockiness and no one likes someone who is cocky.  If your answer to every question or concern that your client might have is to remind them that you’re the ‘Real Estate Agent and they’re the client,’ that’s a sure sign that you’ve slipped into a cocky mode of behavior.  Instead, make sure that you listen closely to each and every concern or question that your client may have and address each one.  No matter how trivial you may think these questions and concerns are.  Oftentimes there will be an extremely good chance that the concern is unfounded but until you carefully point out the ‘why’ your client will have no idea.  If you instead of answering the concern merely brush it off with a: ‘don’t worry, I’ve seen this before’ or ‘trust me, I’ve been an agent for a long time’ you’ve done absolutely nothing to alleviate the concern.  In the end, your client may feel that you’re dismissing them or simply not listening.  Confidence comes from knowing the facts up front and admitting when you may not.  This can be as simple as saying, ‘I’m not sure but I’ll find that out for you’ or ‘That’s a great question, let me find out’.  In both instances you’ve validated your clients concern and made a compact to address that concern in the near future.

Smile and more importantly, maintain eye contact.  Keeping eye contact with a client — and especially a potential client — is crucial.  Eye contact is the very first step to forming any sort of relationship.  Continuously looking away can be seen as weakness or lack of knowledge and in extreme cases, dishonesty.  Keeping eye contact and smiling put you in the ‘power position’ and conveys knowledge, warmth and trust.  These form the bedrock foundation of a successful relationship with your client.

Project your confidence through your tone of voice.  It’s important to always remember that even though the internet has made many clients feel as if they’re ‘real estate experts’, many times you will be telling your clients things that they don’t know or you might speak in terms that they’re not familiar with.  When having any conversation with a client make sure that you are speaking clearly and in a confident tone.

When answering calls on your cell phone it’s best that you come up with a standard answer to use each and every time you take a call.  For example, you might answer your phone, ‘Hello, this is Jane Smith with ABC Realty, how may I help you?’  Get in the habit of using this greeting whenever you answer your phone and avoid answering it with just a ‘Hello?’  This shows your client and potential clients that you take your business seriously.

Remember that your image is extremely important in the Real Estate business.  What you wear and how you carry yourself everyday send the constant message of,  ’Here I am, this is me, this is what I do and this is why you should choose me as your Real Estate Professional.’

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The following is an example of a daily schedule:

9:00am - Noon: Spend your mornings working on your marketing plan.  This can include sending out mailings to your COI and SOI, checking the internet or newspaper for new FSBO listings and checking the MLS for any Expired Listings that you may want to send solicitation letters to.  (For more information and great marketing plans for FSBO / Expired Listings as well as Geographic Marketing kits, visit: www.GetThoseListings.com )

Noon-5:00pm:  You may wish to set this time aside for showings or follow-up phone calls with existing clients.  Many clients will want to see properties after 5pm but there are many clients that may want to take off on their lunch break to see listings.  You may also want to make a quick stop at your broker’s office during this time period to check on messages, your mail or to see if there’s anything of particular interest going on that you need to know about.

6:00pm-8:00pm:  Generally this is the best time during the week to meet with new clients for Listing Appointments.  They’re home from work and ready to hear what you have to offer!

Granted, the above is a very, VERY loose schedule but if you get into the same routine every day as to when you’ll be doing your marketing etc, you’ll soon find yourself doing these tasks as force of habit.

Now that you have your daily schedule worked out, you should realize that in Real Estate, nothing will ever be set in stone.  This means that despite your best intentions there will always be a late night that a contract has to be signed, a holiday in which an offer will be presented.  For the most part however, you will be able to follow your schedule and you will learn early on that not only is it vital to make a schedule but it is just as vital to stick with it.

If you are on time or early for your appointments, ALL of your appointments, you’re going to score high marks in the mental grade book of your clients.  Think about it: how many stories have you heard agents tell about not getting a client to list that started out “…I was running late…”  Of course, life happens and despite our best intentions there may very well come a time when you are running late for your appointment.  Whether it’s traffic or your schedule is booked solid with showings or whatever the reason is; CALL AHEAD.  Let your client know that you’re running late as soon as YOU know that you will be running late.

Being on time is by far one of the easiest things to manage and one of the most important tips for any real estate agent.  Whether you’re new or you’ve been in the business for a while, always try to be as punctual as possible!

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