I’ve seen some elaborate pre-listing packages; fancy-bound booklets full of colourful charts and graphs, lists of awards and so on.
Impressive!
I guess that’s the idea. To impress. But isn’t that what the listing presentation is for?
What if you’ve got the greatest pre-listing package in the world, and you suck at the listing presentation? Do you think anyone’s going to say, “Well, he’s kind of an idiot, but that pre-listing package! Wow-za!”
Not likely.
The listing presentation itself is about 1,000 times more important than your pre-listing package. Knowing this is true, it’s a total waste of your limited time creating an elaborate pre-listing package, compared to improving and practicing your actual listing presentation.
“But it saves time at the appointment!”
I think not.
How many of your potential clients actually take the time to read your elaborate pre-listing package? I mean, they know you’re coming over anyway, right?
Do you still think that people care about all your rewards and previous accomplishments? They don’t. They care about what you’re going to do for them. Now. And you’re going to need to show them that in person.
How many listing appointments do you get every year? You’ve spent a lot of time, energy and probably cold hard cash to finally arrive at the kitchen table, ready to present. Is it really your highest priority to now burn through the appointment as quickly as possible?
The essentials
I send two things ahead of my listing appointment, both by email.
- A pre-presentation letter. It’s about half a page long and contains the most important information I will need from them for the appointment, as well as a brief outline of what we will discuss. It’s designed to create excitement and anticipation, and people actually read it because it’s short.
- The sold listing data. Sending the right sold listing data is the biggest time saver there is. It also eliminates the most significant cause of stress in your entire listing presentation.
What about a buyer package?
Remember, we’re in a relationship-based business. Spend your time building relationships, asking the right questions, explaining to your clients what they should expect when it comes to writing an offer, and all the other important things you should be discussing with them during a buyer-client meeting.
Instead of a written buyer package, build a checklist of items that need to be discussed with your buyer, whether that’s at a formal buyer-client meeting, in between showings or over the phone.
If you try to put this information into a fancy booklet, you’re removing the opportunity to build trust and rapport with your client. Besides, they’re not going to read it anyway!
Never forget. You’re building relationships. You build relationships by having discussions, not writing “how-to” guides.
After Ted Greenhough’s first year as a Realtor, he earned between $590,000-$865,000 every year for 12 consecutive years, all as an individual agent, without ever once making a cold call, reciting a canned script or doing any other “salesy” stuff. Now he runs Agent Skills, an online learning program for agents across North America.
