6 Important Componets Of A Real Estate Listing Presentation

Have you ever considered, why certain agents seem to get so many real estate listings? While sometimes, this may be, because of skills, reputation, effectiveness, personality, commitment, results, referrals, etc, haven’t there been certain times, you’ve wondered, why you didn’t get a particular listing, and someone else did? While it serves no purpose to look at this, from a negative perspective, the purpose of this article is not to become more adversarial, etc, but to assure, you provide homeowners (potential clients), with the information, they should receive, to make the best possible, informed decision. With that in mind, we will briefly discuss 6 important components, you should always include, in a listing presentation.

1. Competitive Market Analysis (CMA): What is a Competitive Market Analysis, often referred to, as a CMA? A professionally prepared one, should not merely be a listing of things which have sold, but rather, use comparable properties, to best pinpoint a suggested price range. In order to do so, one should follow a procedure somewhat similar, but in less detail, to that used by bank appraisers. What features does this house (known as Subject property) have, which the ones you compare it to (known as Comparable 1, 2, 3, etc)? What do the others possess, the subject property does not? Compare lot size and type, location, features, rooms, size, style, condition, etc.

2. Suggested Listing Price: While a homeowner must set the price he wishes his house to be listed at, it is incumbent upon a real estate professional, to clearly present information, which helps him make, the wisest decision. Remember, listing and selling prices are different, but often, the listing price, impacts how many potential buyers view the home, and how competitive, you may be. It might be helpful if the agent, therefore provided some sort of suggested pricing range, and reviewed the positives and negatives, especially concerning marketing and showings, each price, might affect.

3. Why you? Why should someone choose you to represent their best interests, in this transaction, which, for many is their single largest financial asset? Be careful to explain, in positive terms, what you offer, and avoid accusations, blaming others, or negatives! Review your approach, and why it matters!

4. Marketing plan: What will be your Marketing Plan, and why? Why do you believe this approach, makes sense for this particular property? Review both the homeowner’s, as well as the agents, responsibilities!

5. Strategies: Is there a niche market, you believe might be most attracted to the house, and why? How will you go after that segment of the market, while still pursuing the broader market? How will you assure, the client and agent, remain on the same page?

6. Meeting of the minds (agent/ homeowner): This procedure should be informative, both on a technical level, as well as a strategic, and getting to know you one! Don’t rush over, any aspect, explain fully and carefully, and have a frank discussion on what some fear most, the dreaded, Commission discussion!

A Listing Presentation must not merely be a selling experience, but also an opportunity, for a homeowner, to learn, which agent is best for him, and why! The client deserves, at the very least, a thorough review, of these 6 components.

Presentation Skills – Energizing Your Presentation

Have you ever been to a boring presentation? Most of us have, and most of them are boring because there is no life or passion in what the speaker is saying. People remember more of what they see and hear as opposed to what they read. But to be really memorable, we need to add some life to what we present.

So how can we add life to our presentations and wake up the audience?

Ever nervous?

In a sense, getting nervous before speaking is a good thing, if you know how to properly channel that nervous energy and use it productively to energize your presentation. Think of yourself as a steaming, boiling pot. You have two choices. You can either try to keep the energy inside, or you can unleash it and use it to help vitalize your presentation, essentially, letting the steam out of the pot.

All too often, presenters choose to burn off that nervous energy by fidgeting, holding or grabbing on to things, and walking or rocking back and forth.

Learn how to dispense this energy in a productive way. This will make you feel more comfortable and will help you look better. You’ll also start to enjoy giving your presentation, you’ll relax, and the audience will feel it.

Working from the bottom up, let’s start with your feet and a balanced stance.

Balancing Your Stance

The first thing is to adopt a stance that both appears balanced and also allows you to keep from needing or wanting to rock or pace back and forth. Presenters often rock back and forth, lean towards one side, or pace around the room in an unconscious attempt to burn off all that extra energy that the flight-or-fight syndrome had filled the body with. Because the glutes and the quads are the largest muscle groups in the body, the brain knows that by moving these muscles, the body can burn off the most amount of excess energy per unit time. Unfortunately, none of these movements helps your cause. All they do is distract from your message and telegraph to the audience that you’re really nervous. That’s not the message that you want to convey.

You don’t have to be like Yul Brynner in “The King and I” with your feet way apart, or drag in like John Wayne. Consider instead a comfortable, balanced stance.

That means hands comfortably down to the sides (neutral position) with feet slightly apart and weight evenly distributed on the balls of the feet. Use your knees like shock absorbers supporting your upper body comfortably. This will help you to avoid favoring one side over the other, and “rocking” back and forth.

Pacin’ the Cage

Can you take a step forward or back occasionally? Yes, but don’t start dancing or rocking (We call this the hula-hoop). Try to stay in one place without appearing like a tree rooted firmly in the ground. Pacing back and forth constantly, for no apparent reason, typically drives the audience crazy. Yeah, a few overzealous motivational speakers or mid-night TV kitchen appliance hawkers may get away with it, but it generally doesn’t fly in the business world.

On the other hand, if you’d like to pause and take a few steps forward to elaborate on that special point or take a step back to reflect and consider something, that’s O.K. But constant non-purposeful movement is weak.

Using Hands Appropriately

Then, decide what you are going to do with your hands and learn to gesture from the shoulders, not the elbows. Use your hands to describe and emphasize. Drop your hands down to your side (neutral position) when you’re starting your speech or when you’re done gesturing.

When you gesture from the neutral position, your gestures become more emphatic. If everything comes from the middle magnet position it looks like you are stuck in a phone booth. Dropping your hands down to your sides is for many difficult to do without constant practice. With most people, the hands immediately come back together like magnets or start grabbing things like clothing, various body parts like your face, or they jump back into your pockets.

If you are talking about an increase in sales, show us by raising your arm up. If you mention something about reducing costs, again, show us and make sure that the gesture is different than the one you used for an increase in sales. It’s amazing how many presenters will use the exact same gesture for an increase as they will for a decrease. That’s confusing.

Keep in mind that gesturing helps you think. Have you ever noticed some-one talking on the telephone? What do they do with the other hand that’s not holding the phone? They gesture and they gesture continually. Why? Because it helps them think and it helps them find the right words. Gesturing helps you relax and find the correct dialogue. And, you have something to do with those darned arms!

Finally, you certainly don’t want to appear robotic, but most of us need to think about how we will gesture for whatever concept we’re presenting, and how we will bring our emphasis to life with appropriate hand movement. It takes time and practice, and it needs to be well thought out.

Peggy Noonan is fond of saying, speaking of the audience, “They won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Appropriate gesturing, getting your whole body involved in the delivery process, is the easiest and most emphatic way of showing your passion for your topic.

Pillars of Success – Embrace The Present

As we progress through the journeys of our lives, careers and businesses, we often stop to reflect on where we are at a given point in time. Like mapping any trip, we have certain expectations of our progress along the way. Similarly, setting timelines for our goals make them more tangible and urgent. What happens, however, when we find ourselves at a place other than where we expected? A typical reaction is to explain, excuse or perhaps even criticize. The mere fact that we see ourselves as not being “as far along as we should be” passes negative judgment and sets the stage for the world of scarcity thinking. The situations where this kind of scarcity thinking can creep into our psyche are numerous. Here are some examples that may be familiar:

A person begins something that is new and uncertain and finds themselves in a group situation such as a class or educational program. Immediately, they start compare themselves to other and begin to think that “everyone else is so much more qualified or further along” and wonder how they will ever catch or keep up.
A corporate professional thinks their career is passing them by. They see themselves passed over time and time again for recognition, leadership opportunities or promotions. They wonder how it is that they are so stuck where they are and others are moving ahead of them
A new entrepreneur who is sure that they have done all the right things still hasn’t achieved what they thought they would by this stage of their business. Like the professional, they see their peers moving effortlessly toward greater success. They may try new and different things, grasping at this idea or that but become more frustrated or despondent that they are still stuck.
In each of these examples and in others like them, the constraints of scarcity thinking become apparent. What is focused on with laser intensity is “WHAT IS NOT”: what skills are deficient, what career progress or entrepreneurial success is not attained. The Present reinforces our sense of failure as seen through the lens of our own expectations or our assumptions about someone else’s journey.

Step back for a moment and imagine that whatever your circumstances, whatever your present situation, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Where we are at any point in time is the cumulative effect of each of the decisions, actions, external events and our responses to them. Thus, while we may not be where we expected to be, we are where we are supposed to be. By embracing the present, we allow ourselves to discover the unique opportunities that are available to us right here and right now. Instead of beating ourselves up for not being somewhere else, we can identify the options that may have been overlooked otherwise. Perhaps instead of being “stuck”, we are where we are because there is knowledge or information that we need to gather before taking our next steps. Finally, consider the possibility that we are where we are because we need the chance to step back, catch our breath and enjoy things that may have been pushed to the side in the pursuit of our goals.

Our goals and objectives are like stops or progress points on a trip. We set a target for where we would like to be at a certain point on our journey. What would you do if you find yourself in Flagstaff at the end of your day’s travels instead of Albuquerque? Do you “fire” yourself? Do you cancel your trip or give up and go home? Do you keep driving relentlessly to make Albuquerque before you stop? Probably not. Instead, you likely consider the circumstances that brought you as far as you are, reassess your journey and plans and then go out to discover the surprises of a place that don’t know very well. The same approach works for our life and professional goals as well. It’s your journey, and each stop along the way is an important part of the map that will guide you where you want to go. Enjoy where you are. You are supposed to be here.