Amanda, attendees at the REtechSouth loved learning about your two-step, no-fail listing presentation. Can you share your methodology with us?
Of course, I’ve been in real estate for a decade and been giving listing presentations that whole time. This presentation is not necessarily a change, but is meant to have the consumer feel better about the real estate process, and to give a better explanation of what we do and why. Most agents and companies actually provide similar “tools” for marketing of the listing and so my competitive advantage has focused on explaining 1) what the tool does “in depth,” 2) why it’s an advantage to the seller, and 3) how it’s going to benefit the sale of their home. 78 percent of home sellers say they are disappointed with their agent due to one reason – lack of communication. I’m making sure that they not only “see” what I’m going to do, but how it’s going to benefit them in the sales process. Then I consistently demonstrate by communicating on a weekly basis through the entire process.
The overall goal for my business is to create a “Premium Brand Experience” for the client – whether buyer or seller. Much like Apple, I feel that it’s not JUST the product, but the bundling of services into the overall experience. Where there’s a smaller market looking for this “Premium Service,” I believe that now more than ever people are willing to pay for something that provides results and peace of mind. As I said before, most companies and agents are able to provide much of the same “bells and whistles.” I feel the agent is the differentiating factor – the one true thing that sets me apart from the competition. If a company or agent can deliver a baseline of (x), I want to make sure that everything I can deliver is valued at (x * 2).
The first meeting is where the sellers and I get to know one another, to make that connection and to have them understand what makes me different. More importantly, I need to learn what they’re looking to accomplish, and what they expect from me as their real estate agent. Most are simply trying to get from point A to point B, and after they explain that, I can then advise – for instance, should they sell or should they sit tight, do they truly NEED to sell right now, or is renting their unit a possible strategy. I also get acquainted with the property. Sure I can give them some rough quotes without seeing it, but that’s not going to differentiate me from the competition. I want to walk through it, have them tell me what they love and hate about it, let them feel special about it.
After this meeting I do all of my research, market analysis and marketing plan. I really exhaust everything at my disposal including both macro and micro trends, tax records of competitive properties, and then specific comps that have closed or cancelled on the market. Our local MLS offers outstanding tech tools for this and I make sure I know how to use everyone one of them. Once I have thoroughly researched the market and competition, I set the appointment for the second meeting, where I talk about pricing and marketing.
This meeting can be two hours long because I go in-depth, especially about the marketing – what I’ll do and why, what’s the benefit. For example, I do a high-quality brochure with coated stock to differentiate the listing. Why? These days, buyers are seeing more properties, maybe 10-14 at one time, and they can’t remember one over another. A high-quality brochure gives a better impression. But most importantly I discuss with them what our strategy is and how I will keep them involved. Again this is focused on the communication between me and them. Once they understand that I am going to keep them involved to a level that removes any questions they might have about “what’s going on?” “what was the outcome?” or “when is this happening?” the trust level begins to grow between us.
The two-step presentation gives sellers a better understanding of the process as well as a greater respect for what I bring to the transaction. I assemble recognizable data for the pricing – national and local data, then very specific with context. The analogy I use here is cooking versus baking. I’m more analytical and prefer to bake, where you need to be precise with measurements and how you prepare a dish. While my husband is more of a cook: a pinch of this, a pinch of that. It’s a great connection point, as well as an analogy they can identify with.
The idea is to set yourself up for a successful listing. I demonstrate my value and knowledge and when all is said and done, I have set bar of expectations higher than most of my competition – and the seller trusts that I can make good on these promises.
Hopefully, most of our readers know about Yelp.com because of its reviews of local restaurants and shopping. You are using Yelp in a very forward-thinking way to spotlight the great job you do for buyers and sellers. How did you start using Yelp and how does it differentiate you with your demographic?
I was fortunate to have several of my clients post reviews of me on Yelp. It’s really a bit of a challenge that an agent must accept if they want to be on a site like that. The challenge comes in that you become transparent in the industry, so you have to be ready to “be” a better agent. It’s interesting. You have to ask yourself, are you ready to go public? For me, I welcome the challenge, I strive to exceed expectations – that’s what fuels my business. As far as the demographics, I see them all. There are kids right out of college and people my parents’ age. I don’t specifically ask clients to post on Yelp, but if that’s where they found me, I ask them to consider sharing their experience with other “Yelpers.” [McMillan
links to all her Yelp reviews, even the scathing one from another agent’s client where she responded graciously.]
