Has this ever happened to you?
You procrastinated preparing for a listing presentation. Then you got super busy and had to slap the CMA together at the last minute before rushing out the door.
Now, you’re glancing at the comparables at the stoplights on your way over.
No big deal. Your #1 best referral source recommended them, and it’s just a small condo. Easy peasy.
You meet them, and you make a great connection! They’re super friendly and attentive to your presentation. Not to mention they’ve got a beautiful, very saleable condo. It’s way better than you thought it was going to be!
Halfway through, you realize you forgot to look at the recent sales in the twin building, and you end up stumbling over a few questions. It’s not your best performance, but they’re cheerful and positive about everything. They just want to chat about timing before signing a contract, so they’ll give you a call in the morning.
On your way home, you feel a bit guilty that you weren’t better prepared, but you remain confident that the listing is yours.
The next morning, you get the phone call:
“I’m sorry, but we’ve decided to work with a different agent.”
Oof! That one hurt. You thought it was in the bag, and – poof! – nuthin’.
Worst of all, you realize you’ve let down your #1 referral source. Will they ever refer you again?
You lost the listing because you were sloppy and didn’t prepare properly.
By the way, this was easy for me to write because it’s from my personal experience. Then I resolved never to let it happen again. How? Simple.
Treat EVERY appointment like it’s worth $100,000.
Because you know what? If you’re a skilled customer service-focused agent, I guarantee you one out of every 20 or 25 listing appointments will eventually pay you $100,000 or more. It might begin with a million-dollar mansion or a tiny apartment condo. You won’t know.
I’ve personally sold tiny apartment condos (similar to the one above) that, over time, turned into earnings of WAY more than $100,000.
How? Because of the string of referrals that started with me doing an excellent listing presentation for a young couple and then delivering a fantastic result.
Over the years, they sent me referrals to their friends and their parents, and then an explosion of referrals from referrals, growing into a gigantic referral tree that still sprouts new branches to this very day.
When you plant a seed carefully, you never know how big the referral tree will grow.
I’ve got many high-paying referral trees that sprouted from the tiniest seeds!
If you prepare for every listing appointment like it’s worth $100,000, you will earn an extra $100,000 quicker than you think.
Here’s how to ensure you’re fully prepared every time:
1. Make an appointment with yourself to work on the CMA, preferably at least a day or two before your meeting.
2. Make another appointment with yourself to review and fine-tune your CMA on the day of the appointment.
3. Resolve to honour every appointment with yourself, just as you would honour an appointment with your best client. This means you turn off all distractions and concentrate your focus on the job at hand at the time specified in your calendar.
Once you learn this skill, it’s only a matter of time before you make an extra $100,000!
How do the big guns do it? They do it with simple systems and procedures and personal discipline.
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.
