Pre-Listing Packages #321

Elite Agents Real Estate Podcast with Debbie De Grote

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today I wanted to talk about pre-listing packages.

There was a time in the market when lots of agents were sending out a pre-listing package. The purpose of this was to prepare for the sale. It was to sell the seller in advance on all the great stuff that you do, your track record, your credentials, etc. It was very popular for a while, and then I noticed that agents kind of just stopped doing it. I will sometimes ask them, why? Why did you stop? One of the common answers is, “I found that the people didn't read the package, so I felt that it was a waste of my time to do it.”

My marketing expert, Pete Mitchell, and I were talking about this just the other day and he reminded me of something called the thud factor. If you do choose to deliver a pre-listing package, keep in mind that emailing is probably not that effective. Are they going to open it up? Are they going to download it? Are they going to print it? Are they really going to read it? Probably not. Everybody's busy, and they may not even see it in their email.

So if you choose to actually print and deliver it the package, you know it has the impact of being a professional piece with lots of great content, a piece that, even if just briefly flipped through, does give you a little extra measure of credibility.

Now, when you go on that listing appointment, don't assume that they've actually read it. In fact, don't ask them if they read it because if you ask them, they might feel the need to lie and say yes. Just proceed, assuming they have not read it. Take your key points, your highlights, the things you want to discuss with them on that listing appointment about the marketing that you do and the services you provide. You could say something like this, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I hope you had an opportunity to flip through the information that I sent over to you. What I'd like to do, is I'd like to just go through the highlights together, the things that I feel are most important for you. So if you don't mind, I'd like to share with you what we're going to do so that I can arrive at the highest realistic price possible.”

So again, I would keep your presentation simple and concise, not lots and lots of pages, but really distilled down to who you are, what you're going to do, and then of course, what the property is likely to sell for.

Alright, so make it a great day, and email me, [e-mail], if you have any questions.

If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!