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Questions to Ask Sellers at the Listing Appointment

You’ve sent your pre-listing presentation to the seller and now you’re ready for the listing appointment with your listing presentation in hand (or on your hand). The listing appointment is an excellent opportunity to get to know your potential clients better, and hopefully, land the listing. And questions you ask sellers at listing appointments play a vital role here.

At the  listing appointment, you’ll start by introducing yourself and having a casual chat with the seller in the living room. Don’t jump straight into touring the property or explaining your listing presentation. You first want to show the seller that you’re ready to listen and learn about their needs. You don’t want to look like you’re only interested in listing the property as fast as possible. Engaging with the seller before anything else gives a good impression and demonstrates you’re a good listener.

After the initial introductions, you’ll take a brief tour of the property, noting any additional details and observations. Following the tour, you’ll settle down with the seller to walk them through your listing presentation. All the effort you put into crafting your digital listing presentation is about to pay off. It might seem like a significant investment of time and resources , but a meticulously prepared listing presentation is truly worth the effort and expense.

The listing appointment is also an opportunity to go deeper into their needs and wants regarding selling their property. You should also review the seller’s goals and all property details. We’ll provide you with a powerful real estate listing questionnaire to do it right!

Remember, the listing appointment is not a one-way street. Even if you’re presenting the listing presentation, you and the seller can use this time to learn more about each other and continue building your relationship.

The Best Listing Appointment Questions

If you want to understand the seller and the property better, you need to be thoughtful and ask the right listing appointment questions.

While you’ve probably already spoken to the seller before the listing appointment, you want to ensure you don’t miss out on any information you should know. When you have a good understanding of both, the easier it will be to land the listing and eventually sell the property.

Here are the best listing appointment questions you shouldn’t miss out on asking:

1. Why did you like this property?

The property has certain features that attracted the current owners. Whether it was the ideal location, the custom ceiling, or the large swimming pool, the features that drew the current sellers in will probably attract interested buyers as well.

Everybody’s preferences are unique, so they may bring up something you never even noticed, such as the extra wide carport. On the other hand, they might have liked something that no one else will like. In any case, it’s best to get as many details about the property as possible.

2. Is the property unencumbered?

You may be surprised that some people try to sell property they may not have full legal rights to sell. Most sellers-to-be do not have any sinister motivations behind this, they may share the property with a sibling or a spouse, and are already working to get their co-owner’s permission to sell. However, even if they are working towards getting this permission, if they don’t have the full legal rights to sell yet, this may cause problems down the road.

When you meet the seller at the listing appointment, ask straight away if they are the sole owner of the property or if there are any other owners of the property, such as other family members. If there are any other owners, ask them to meet them.

3. What are you looking for in a real estate agent?

The seller may have worked with another real estate agent in the past. If they have, ask them why they aren’t working with that agent on this listing. This will let you know if they encountered any issues with the agent or if the agent simply moved away, retired, or changed careers. How did the professional relationship end? If they’re still on good terms but the agent was simply unavailable bodes well for you and the seller.

This listing appointment question is an opportunity for you to understand the seller better and let them know that you can meet and exceed their needs and expectations.

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Questions to Ask Sellers Before Listing Presentation

As  you already know, you come to a listing appointment prepared with your listing presentation. The information included here would have come from an initial chat with the seller and your own preparations.

Take a look at these questions to ensure you didn’t miss out on anything you should have asked a seller before creating the listing presentation:

1. Which real estate agent service are you most interested in?

2. Why are you selling?

3. When do you want to put your house on sale?

4. Are you the sole owner of the property? Will anyone else be involved in the selling process?

5. Why did you choose to call me?

6. What’s your main goal for the listing appointment?

7. Is this your first selling process?

8. If not, what didn’t you like the last time you sold a property?

9. Are you also looking to buy another property after this one is sold?

These listing appointment questions ensure you are fully prepared and you’ve covered all your bases.

Questions to Ask Sellers During Listing Presentation

Aside from the best listing appointment questions mentioned above, there are other questions you should ask the seller during your listing appointment:

1. Did you do any renovation or remodeling on the property?

2. Do you have a minimum and ideal price for this house?

3. What’s the number one thing stopping you from working with me right away?

4. Would you like me to take care of the staging & photography?

5. Do you want us to go over and beyond with marketing and create interactive virtual tours of your property?

6. Is there anything you’ve seen in another property or done by another Realtor that you’re interested in for this property?

7. Do you have any questions we haven’t covered?

All these questions allow you to dive deeper into the property and explain your marketing strategy further.

A listing appointment is a perfect opportunity to land a listing. Use Highnote to create a listing presentation that engages your seller and attracts their attention. You can include as many links and assets as possible in your digital listing presentation, from your profile to a sample property walk-through.

Together, these showcase your expertise and demonstrate to the seller why they should choose you as their real estate agent. The listing appointment is also a great time to continue building your relationship with the seller. Creating connections and forging relationships is essential to succeeding in any business, including real estate.

Remember, even if you don’t land this listing, the seller should always leave with a positive impression of you and your skills, which can lead to referrals and future opportunities to work together.

Highnote has helped real estate agents all over the country win listings and it will help you too, when you learn more . There is no risk, but you’ll be rewarded with opportunity to create stunning pre-listing and listing presentations in no time!

Remember, even if you don't land this listing, the seller should always leave with a positive impression of you and your skills, which can lead to referrals and future opportunities to work together.

Highnote helps you create a digital listing presentation that impresses sellers and can help you land more listings than ever.

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The Real Estate Listing Presentation: A How-To Guide

A How-To Guide to a Real Estate Listing Presentation

The real estate listing presentation… The secret weapon of any successful listing agent. 

It might just be the MOST IMPORTANT factor in your business. That’s because a real estate listing isn’t just a single home or a transaction – it’s a chunk of the market that you control and can leverage for more – and a realtor listing presentation is THE way to get them.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through exactly what a listing presentation is, what goes into it, and how you can make yours stand out from the competition to convince sellers to work with you and even attract new business. 

Let’s start with what a realtor listing presentation consists of…

What is a realtor listing presentation?

A realtor listing presentation is a formal meeting or presentation that a real estate agent conducts with a potential seller who is interested in listing their property for sale. The purpose of the listing presentation is to showcase the agent’s qualifications, expertise, marketing strategies, and the services they provide to help sell the property.

That’s the very direct definition of it. Put another way, it’s your shot to answer two questions: “Why should I sell my house right now and why are you, above anyone else, the person to do it?” 

Or, to put it another way… “How will you make me more money, achieve my goals, and make me feel safe and cared for in the process?” 

The Elements of an Effective Listing Presentation

During the real estate listing presentation, you’ll typically discuss:

• Background and Qualifications: Introduce yourself and provide information about your experience, credentials, and track record in the real estate industry.
• Market Analysis: Present a comparative market analysis (CMA) to help the seller understand the current market conditions, recent sales of similar properties in the area, and the appropriate pricing strategy for their home.
• Marketing Plan: Outline your marketing plan for the property, which may include strategies such as professional photography, virtual tours, open houses, online listings, social media promotion, and print advertising.
• Services Offered: What makes you worth the full commission? Set yourself apart by covering not only the basic services but some unique ones at well. You’ll of course mention staging advice, scheduling showings, negotiating offers, and managing paperwork.
• Agency Agreement: If you convince’em, sign’em! The listing presentation is the place to get that contract signed or at least let them know it needs to be signed before moving forward.

Preparing for the Listing Presentation

Every listing presentation is going to be slightly different, but the core elements will be the same. Your goal is to give this as often and effectively as possible, and that means coming into it prepared. 

At a certain point, you might want to have a team that takes care of every other element of your business so that you can do nothing other than go on listing appointments – because that’s where the money is. So take this preparation seriously.

Research the client

Notice how I’m not calling them a “lead” or a “prospective client” here? Go in with the idea that they are already your client – because you’re going to learn a lot about them before you even get the contract signed. 

First, send out a questionnaire or seller needs analysis asking them all the relevant questions you need to know (more on this below).

Next, dive into research. Start with Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to learn about their preferences, the industry they work in, and previous business history. 

Your objective is to identify their specific needs. See what you can learn to customize your approach to the client.

Now… If you can… try to identify this seller’s DiSC profile . It’ll set you up for success moving forward.

Conduct a needs analysis with potential sellers

Wanna know how to know what a client wants and needs? Start with asking them. All it takes is a simple needs analysis. 

As we’ve already covered, your job in the preparation phase is to discern the motivation so you can tailor the presentation to the seller’s specific needs. 

Are they looking to:

• Sell the house as fast as possible
• Move out by a certain time
• Get more money for some urgent need
• Get more than the home might be worth
• Upgrade or downsize 

On this note, our coaching clients have access to 70+ case studies from top agents, complete with toolkits that include extremely effective needs analysis questionnaires for you to rip-off-and-duplicate.

Gather market statistics and data

Let’s jump back to the topic of DiSC profiles… Some sellers are more motivated by social connection and the trust they build with an agent. Others are motivated by hard data and understanding the numbers. 

It doesn’t matter which one it is – thorough market research is the way to both. It will establish you as the expert who is willing to put in the time to gather this information and then explain it in a way they can understand. 

Where do you get your market data from? Are you combing the MLS? Do you subscribe to Keeping Current Matters or some other real estate trends source? Figure it out and be sure you can show that your information is objective and verifiable.

You’ll want to go armed with:

• A thorough knowledge of the property details
• National and local market statistics
• Comparable sales
• Local rules and regulations (working this in will really establish credibility)

Most importantly, be able to synthesize this information, letting them know that you can both elaborate on any point or break down what is most important for their needs. All of this info will be used in your pricing strategy and help them achieve their goals.

Create a compelling presentation template

If you know me, I’m all about using technology to maximize efficiency and impact, but there is A LOT to be said for the old school route of physical presentation materials. Either way you decide to go, be sure you have a real estate listing presentation template to work off of and customize. 

One of my clients, Carolyn Young , is one of those team leaders who has cleared herself up to focus almost solely on going on listing appointments (going on almost 200 appointments a year) – and that’s because she’s created a listing presentation that is 95% effective in closing the deal. And the centerpiece of her appointment is a set of 200 beautiful, laminated slides that she spreads out across the table to show just how through she is. It blows people away.

On the other hand, a digital approach will give you a much more customizable template. Some of my clients are absolutely killing it with HighNote , which will offer you pre-built templates to upload your material into. You can include professionally edited explainer videos to send to the client before the actual appointment and then open into the full presentation once you’re together.

Just be sure that your presentation is comprehensive and includes all the necessary elements mentioned above, including past sales performance, market data, your marketing plan, and why they should sign an agreement.

The Listing Appointment

Now that you’re all prepared, let’s move on to conducting the appointment itself.

Setting up an effective listing appointment

Where is the best place to conduct a listing appointment? Ideally, it’s in the home you’ll actually be working to sell. Be sure to mention that when setting the appointment, but if it doesn’t work for any reason, don’t wait to set that appointment. Do it in a coffee shop or your office or wherever, because an appointment done anywhere is better than no appointment at all.

No matter where it is, you MUST do a technology and tools check before showing up. If you need anything, be sure you have it:

• Charged laptop
• Presentation slides
• Agency agreement
• Scripts (memorized)

If you need more help with this, you can download this free offer full of listing presentation scripts and strategies . 

Build rapport and establish trust

There’s a very specific reason to practice your listing presentation over and over until you can do it effortlessly, and it’s not so that you get it perfect… Actually, it’s so that you can relax and be calm and receptive to what the seller has to say. 

You’re more than just someone who is going to do this one job for them and be gone; this is an audition to be a part of their lives, and that means you have to be confident, friendly, and likable. Let them know that you’ll be there for them in anything they need in a genuine way before diving into your past client success stories. 

When you’re showing your real estate photos, before and after videos, or CMA findings, it’s about establishing trust and providing value, and your expertise and credentials are a part of that but not the only factor.

Your Listing Presentation Will Make or Break Your Business

I cannot stress how important your real estate listing presentation is. It’s the crux of your business and the key to your financial success. 

Hopefully these tips have been helpful, but if you’re really serious about creating a listing presentation that blows people away and establishes your dominance in your market, the place to get it is Roadmap. 

I’ll be breaking down the best and most advanced listing presentation strategies working today – and best of all, I’ll be doing it in an area near you. So find a location and sign up soon.

But until then, start putting the pieces in place.

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Prepare a Listing Presentation: Guide for Real Estate Pros

How to Prepare a Listing Presentation: Guide for Real Estate Pros

Do you want to close more leads on a regular basis?

In that case, you may need to level up your communication skills. To win more listings, move on from having a polite “pre-sales” chit chat with prospects to doing full-scale presentations of your services.

What is a Real Estate Listing Presentation?

A listing presentation is your pitch to a prospective seller to represent them in a Real Estate transaction. Succeeding with your presentation means that you will sign on a new client and receive a bigger commission this month.

But of course, there will be other agents knocking on the seller’s door, offering their services. In fact, 55% of sellers interview two or three agents before making the decision. So how do you get chosen among the sea of other agents? Wrong, if you thought that most prospects will stick with someone offering the highest listing price and asking for the lowest commission.

When putting up their homes for sale, most people want to partner with a competent, forthcoming and proactive agent, capable to broker the best arrangement for them. Obviously, the best Real Estate agents are rarely those charging the lowest commission.

In fact, the main goal of conducting a full-scale, deck-ready listing presentation is to persuade the prospect that you are their optimal choice.

The best listing presentation isn’t a brief oral interview on the porch; it’s a carefully staged, full-scale demo of your professional capabilities. Keep in mind that creating a listing presentation isn’t the only way to market effectively in your industry. There are dozens of other Real Estate marketing ideas that can help you beat out the competition and stand out from the pack. For example, if you can’t make time for an in-person listing presentation, consider recording a seminar and linking it to your email subscribers.

How to Prepare for a Listing Presentation: 7 Key Steps

Building a rapport with a new prospect is never easy. But there are a few quick neuroscience tricks you can leverage to appear instantly more likable to prospects, even before you pull out your Real Estate brochures and other collateral.

• Give a firm handshake . Scientists proved that a handshake preceding any social interaction has a strong positive impact on how the recipient will further evaluate this social interaction.
• Have some brew ready. Pleasant smells like those of fresh coffee make us act nicer to one another and be more cooperative.
• Appear interested and ask questions.  Again, science proves that people are more willing to engage with an interlocutor, eagerly posing questions, and also act in a more receptive manner.

Now with a few neat physiological tricks in your sleeve, let’s move on to how you should approach listing presentation design.

1. Open with a Brief Introduction

A Real Estate listing presentations can start with a short overview, recapping who you are, what you do and what’s your success record.

To save you time on design, we have lined up a few short Real Estate bio templates you can grab and customize.

Sellers want to be reassured that you can close the deal fast and secure them a fair price. They want someone confident in their abilities and capable to back up their skills with examples and data.

Here’s listing presentation sample questionnaire you can answer to fill in your first few slides:

What are your top skills? Are you a Real Estate marketing guru? Do you have exceptional graphic design skills and can create for sale by owner flyers that stand out from the crowd? Do you have a photography background and can shoot professionals photos without hiring any external help? Show exactly what you can do. Bonus point if you manage to align your key skills with your buyer’s needs.

How many houses have you sold in this area? It’s best to line up some fresh data e.g. the past 12 months. Specifically, mention what types of properties have you sold and whether any were similar to this particular buyer’s estate.

Now comes the tricky part: offer some numbers comparing the original list price versus the final sales numbers (if the latter are more favorable) and the average day on the market (DOM) numbers for the property.

Such numbers will also help you justify higher commission rates. Of course, every sane buyer would rather stick with an agent charging a higher rate (e.g. 6% commission for houses for sale), but who also secures them a higher sales price due to better marketing experience.

2. Toss in Some Social Proof

People are social creatures and thus, we are extremely prone to opinions shared by others. To learn what’s good, we observe what others are doing and this extends to our purchase decision making: 92% of consumers state that word-of-mouth recommendations carry the most value to them.

You shouldn’t hard-sell your services. Instead, just show that “others” already think you are that good . There are a few ways you can use “social proof” as a Real Estate agent:

Ask past sellers to provide quick testimonials (with photos) and use them in during your presentation. Here’s a quick example from one of our PowerPoint templates :

Add a separate slide highlighting your key achievements up-to-date (personal or agency-wide).  The good “boasting” figures to include are:

• Total number and value of properties sold.
• Total number of clients you have worked with.
• Average time to close a deal.
• Average customer satisfaction rate.
• “Big name” corporate clients and partners.
• Professional organizations you are part of e.g. National Association of Realtors.

Gather and display reviews online.  Of course, prospects will google you post-presentation. Your job is to ensure that they’ll find only positive stuff, rather than nothing at all. You can set up a dedicated profile on popular review services or display ratings directly on your website.

3. List The Benefits of Your Brokerage

Keep this one succinct and on-point. Most buyers are interested in just three things:

• Receiving a fair price for their property.
• Getting it sold off fast.
• Avoiding the associated sales hassle as much as possible.

Your Real Estate presentation should address how you will deliver them just that. You can also sweeten the deal here by including a few “promos” e.g. list special circumstances for when you will accept a lower commission or pitch them with some bundled promos your agency currently runs.

At this point, you should also explain how that communication will occur: what types of updates they can expect and when.

4. Walk The Prospect Through The Home Sales Process

Not everyone is experienced in flipping property. So be sure to customize your listing presentation template so that includes this optional slide – for when you are presenting to first-time buyers.

There’s no need to go into many details at this point. Just briefly mention the overall timeline, key milestones and what kind of actions we’ll be required from them.  All of this can be neatly packed into one slide like this one :

If needed you can separately walk them through the home inspection and appraisal processes; Real Estate presentations to the buyers; negotiations and closing process.

5. Present a Comparative Market Analysis for a List Price Range

Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) is another nugget to persuade the client that you know your deal.

The wrinkle, however, is that it’s not always easy to come up with good numbers if you are yet to see the property in person. That’s why most agents will do two CMAs. First, one using the comps and their educated guesses based on prices for similar homes. And the second, more refined CMA after seeing the property, talking to the owners and digging further into the data.

6. Explain Your Marketing Strategy

Image Source: StockSnap

What channels do you plan to leverage – digital, offline or a mix of both? Give the clients some general insights and explain why your approach works. They certainly don’t want to know all the nitty-gritty, but we’ll appreciate some general insights.

Show them a few video demos you have created; your standard property templates for websites; copywriting and other marketing collateral you plan to use and distribute during open house visits.

7. Wrap It Up with a Killer Case Study

The best listing presentation examples we have ever seen always included case studies. They are another form of “social proof”, and a direct illustration of your professional abilities.

You don’t need to make this one lengthy though. Just stick to a simple copywriting formula:

• Customer background (e.g. a mid-aged couple just like you based in NYC).
• Challenge: what kind of a problem those former customers had? (e.g. needed to sell a house in 1.5 months in an unpopular neighborhood).
• Solution: how your agency helped them?
• Results: some quick numbers illustrative the positive outcome you have helped them achieve e.g. house sold in 35 days for 5% higher than the initial listing price.

This way you are finishing your listing presentation with a bang, and encourage the prospects to take further action.

Listing Presentation Templates for Real Estate Pros

To ease up the processes of preparing for your listing presentation, our team has lined up a few neat templates you can download and customize in PowerPoint to match your current needs.

1. Commercial Real Estate Template for PowerPoint

A versatile template that could be easily adapted for both residential, commercial listings or for land sale listing presentation. It includes excellent slides (e.g. US Map slide ) to present your market analysis and pitch the approximate listing price.

Use This Template

2. Real Estate Industry PowerPoint Template

Another template that makes it easy to turn your scattered data into a coherent and persuasive story. Customize it in a few quick clicks in PowerPoint to match your corporate branding, add additional slides and elements from our collection and voilà – you now have a shining new listing presentation to dazzle even the most reluctant prospects!

3. Real Estate Listing PowerPoint Template

Work with all the assets required to showcase a property in a neat layout that contains tools such as market price comparison, team introductory slides, housing interior details, key features & more.

4. Residential Real Estate Illustrations PowerPoint Template

If you want to boost your listing presentation for real estate, get to know these professional-design vector images tailored for the real estate industry. A selection of slides that go through the entire process of acquiring a property from both realtor and customer’s perspective. High-end graphics to enhance the impact of your presentation.

5. Proptech PowerPoint Template

Get ready to introduce in-the-market properties with a high degree of smart home devices or sustainable housing solutions with a slide deck filled with visual cues for that talk. This tech-savvy listing presentation template is ideal for targeting properties to millennials and discussing the infrastructure in the neighborhood or building complex.

6. Real Estate Open House PowerPoint Template

Graphics can make or end a business deal, and that’s why your next real estate listing should count on carefully designed slides that boost the performance of your speech. This listing slide deck includes a selection of icons that help increase the retention rate of key information disclosed about the property while keeping the right balance between whitespace and content. With a striking color combination, go ahead and edit this template to meet the demands of your work.

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5 Questions You Must Ask Before a Listing Appointment

According to the National Association of Realtors ® , 74% of sellers only interviewed one real estate agent, and 15% only interviewed two, for the job of selling their home.

This should encourage you to feel pretty confident about your chances of securing a listing if you can secure an appointment with the sellers.

It should also compel you to do everything you can to make sure you don’t leave the house without the listing paperwork signed from that appointment.  

Not surprisingly, a lot of the work need to do in order to create that desired outcome happens long before you walk through the front door.

And one of the most important pieces of that preparation process is the seller qualifying interview.

We never go to a seller’s home until we get the right answers to the questions on our seller counseling interview.

You can grab a copy here. 

On it are the questions to which we need to know the answers before we’re willing to invest our time and money to go on a listing appointment.

Shockingly, a lot of agents are so excited to get a listing appointment that they don’t even take the time to ask the right questions to ensure that they should even be going on that listing appointment. It’s not just about you selling yourself to the seller, it’s also about them selling you on being the right prospect with respect to price, timing, motivation, etc.

It makes sense, then, that if you’re going to spend hours preparing for the appointment, get dressed up, spend money on gas, take time out of your day (and away from your family), and vie for a piece of business that you do your due diligence ahead of time . Right?

After all, we’re talking about 4 to 5 hours of your time an d thousands of dollars here.

It’s not just about asking questions...it’s about asking the right questions.

According to Thomas Freese, author of Question-Based Selling: How the Most Powerful Tool in Business Can Double Your Sales Results :

“While questions can help salespeople identify customer needs and qualify opportunities, asking questions ‘strategically’ has become one of the best ways to accomplish a host of other important sales objectives as well, including:

• Gain more credibility sooner and convey greater value.
• Leverage curiosity to secure more mindshare from key decision makers.
• Differentiate yourself and your offerings from the competition.
• Increase the customer’s sense of urgency to move forward.
• Shorten the sales cycle and protect profit margins.
• Navigate to the right people within target accounts.
• Broaden the size and scope of forecasted opportunities.
• Secure commitments for the next step in the sales process.

It turns out that in addition to “what” you ask, “how” you structure your questions can make or break an opportunity to engage potential buyers, or even close a sale. Trouble is, while everybody talks about the importance of asking good sales questions, most salespeople are left to their own devices to figure out what questions to ask and how best to ask them.”

And therein lies the rub.

It’s not just about asking questions, it’s about asking the right questions and doing it in a way that makes sense.

The better job you can do at executing this part of the listing process, the more listings you will secure for yourself.

Before you launch into “grilling” your seller prospects for information, it’s important that you actually set the listing appointment.

You see, once the appointment is set, there’s something in it for them to give you the information you need to 1) determine if you even want to go on the appointment and 2) prepare for the appointment once you get the right answers to the questions you’re asking.

If you get on the phone with the seller, fail to build rapport and don’t set the listing appointment first, you’re putting yourself at a huge disadvantage in the whole listing process...and you may not get the information you need to ensure the appointment is a good use of your time.

While there are number of questions to which you’d like to get answers, here are the five most important for which you’ll need answers:

1. “What is it that’s caused you to decide you want to sell?”

Of all the requirements I’m looking for in a seller - equity in the home, right time to sell, home in good condition, etc. - motivation trumps everything.

When someone is motivated, they’ll walk through walls to do what it takes to get the result they’re seeking.

Motivated sellers:

• Price their home properly
• Conduct pre-inspections on their home to identify deal-killers early
• Stage their home for sale
• Put a Home Warranty on their home when listed
• Collaborate with, and listen to, you to get the best deal for their home

Motivation is the key ingredient in determining if a listing appointment is worth your time . To that end, you should even ask the follow up questions to this question as part of the qualifying process: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how motivated are you to sell your home?”. If you get less than an 8, you then ask: “What would it take to get you to an 8, 9 or 10?”

Anything less than an 8, 9 or 10 and you need to ask yourself if the appointment is worth taking.

It’s not our job twist arms and put pressure on people to sell their homes. We’re not looking to convince them of anything. Make sure the seller is sufficiently motivated before you invest your time and energy in going on the listing appointment.

Next to motivation, timing is the next most important qualified in determining if you want to work with a seller.

A lot of agents will go on a listing appointment and meet with a seller no matter how far out the seller is from wanting to put their home on the market.

The fact of the matter is that unless the seller is in the time frame where they are looking actually to sell , there is no real competitive advantage to going on that listing appointment and doing a listing presentation.

You can be just as effective in building and maintaining a relationship with your seller prospects by calling consistently, sending them market updates via email, sending text messages and mailing out some handwritten notes.

By and large, most people will forget who you are and how spectacular your listing presentation was not long after you leave their home.

Your goal is for them to want to put their home on the market in the next 30 days, with the goal of selling in the next 90 days (or longer for more expensive homes). Between the home pre-inspection, staging, photography, signs, lockboxes, marketing prep, etc., it’s going to be two to three weeks before the home hits the market anyway.

The only reason you might go a little earlier for a listing appointment would be if the seller is wanting/needing to do some rehab on their home before it goes on the market. Other than that, only go on the appointment if they are motivated and the timing is right.

This one should go without saying. For some reason, though, a lot of agents fail to ask this question, which is a bad thing because not asking is a huge time waster.

Unless you live in a market where one of the owners of a home is away on a consistent basis, such as a military community where people’s spouses are often deployed for extended periods of time around the world, you almost never meet with just one owner of a home.

Selling a home is a huge decision and one that likely won’t happen without both people who own the home being present to make it.

Sure, a lot of sellers will tell you that they are the decision maker in the home and that their spouse will do whatever they decide. The fact of the matter is that no matter how adamant someone is that they call the shots, both owners will have a say in the decision .

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can sway one of the owners to list with you and expect them to sell the other owner on doing the same.

It virtually never works.

Always confirm both sellers will be at the listing appointment and reschedule if they won’t. I promise you’ll be happy you did.

This is an important 2-for-1 set up here.

At the end of the day, sellers need to be able to perform and actually sell their home.

What this means is that if they want too much for the home or if they owe too much on their home and can’t come to closing with money to facilitate the sale...you don’t go on that appointment.

This is a tough one because someone could be fairly motivated to sell their home, but not able to do so because they owe too much and don’t have the money to close the gap.

As well, if the seller has an outrageous number in their head on the value of their home and doesn’t seem realistic about the price, you may not want to go on that appointment.

Certainly, show me is always better than tell me and you could go to their home to show them with the real value of their home is and lead them to the conclusion that their expectations are a little “out of whack”.

However, unless they are thinking their home is only worth 5 to 10% over market value, you may want to consider carefully whether you should go on that appointment or not.

Remember, a man’s mind changed against his will is of the same opinion still.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that most sellers interview only one agent.

Still, about 25% of sellers choose to meet with more than one agent and as a result of that, it’s important that you know ahead of time if you have any competition for your listing appointment.

By asking this question in this way, you can make sure you bring all the ammunition you need to professionally discredit the competition and overcome any objections that might come up where your services might not match up to those of the competition.

More importantly, it gives you the opportunity to prepare mentally that you’ve got a fight on your hands and that you’re going to need work maybe a little harder to get that listing.

As an aside, you’ll always want to check in at the listing appointment to be sure the seller had the chance to meet with the other agents they planned on meeting prior to meeting you.

That way, you can continue to cater your message - and close appropriately - during your presentation and time at the home.

Ben Franklin was once attributed with saying: “If you fail to plan, plan to fail.”

Going on a listing presentation without asking the right questions ahead of time can easily put your ability to successfully secure the listing in serious jeopardy.

Use the seller qualification script I’ve provided to you here to ensure that you are ready to handle any challenge that comes up at your listing appointment and even stop some of them from coming up at all.  

Rather have someone else make the prospecting calls for you ?

Michael Reese

Related posts.

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3 Ways Your Business Suffers By Not Hiring an Inside Sales Agent ( ISA)

How an Inside Sales Agent ( ISA ) Helps You Sell 55 More Homes A Year

How to create demand in any market, top 5 rebuttals for prospecting expired and cancelled listings, register for this free training, how to take a new listing every week.

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