5 Ways to Crush Your Listing Appointments in 2020

Real estate agents who focus on seller leads understand the work it takes to not only secure the listing appointment but to win the listing. It’s not a cake walk by any means, but with these five strategies, you can expect to walk into your next listing appointment prepared, confident, and ready to win. 

Let’s take a look at the 5 ways to crush your listing appointments in 2020: 

Research, practice, and research again

This step is number one for a reason. If you want to rock a listing appointment, you need to research and practice and research some more. It’s very similar to preparing for a job interview in that it is a job interview!

Initially, you’ll want to practice these three things often: your flow, your messaging, and your deal-closing technique. Since listing appointments are pretty similar, once you nail your presentation down, you’ll need to primarily focus on the research part of preparation.

Your research should include neighborhood comps, hyper-local data about the area, information about the home and the clients. You can learn more about the clients by scheduling a discovery call or sending an email with a quick questionnaire on what they are looking for and why they are moving.  

Create a focused appointment agenda

Every listing appointment is different depending on a variety of factors. With this in mind, it is important to have a focused, yet flexible appointment agenda. Take some time to create a prototype of what you envision your agenda looking like for most appointments. From there, you can tweak the line items when needed. 

Here’s a good starting point when creating your listing appointment agenda: 

1. Arrive on time
2. Tour the home
3. Present slide deck
4. Discuss next steps
5. Sign listing agreement

Establishing a structured appointment agenda will not only show sellers that you are confident and in control of the meeting, but it will also show sellers that you respect their time and can follow through. 

Reinvigorate your listing slide deck

If you haven’t updated your listing slide deck in a few years (or if you’ve never used one), now is the best time to bring new life into your presentation! There are so many free templates and tools online to help you create a modern and on-brand slide deck. 

It’s a good idea to create a slide deck with information that can expand. For example, include brief information about the marketing strategies you use with the option to show more slides should the sellers ask. 

Here are the basics of what to include in your listing appointment slide deck: 

1. An overview of you – how long you’ve been a realtor and what your team is like
2. Stats about your business – your DOM, your annual listings, any negotiation wins
3. Local market data – show what you know about your community
4. Your marketing strategy – 
   1. how you will prepare the listing: cleaning, staging, real estate photography
   2. a drafted Facebook ad with their ideal target audience
   3. an example of an eye-catching listing description
5. Social proof – testimonials and stories from previous listing clients

Design a knockout leave-behind listing package 

Whether or not the sellers choose you on the spot, it’s always a good idea to leave behind a thoughtful and educational listing package. Your listing package should include a summary of your slide deck as well as educational materials explaining the home selling process.

Here are the basics of what to include in your leave-behind listing package: 

1. Information about you and your brokerage
2. Your annual listing statistics
3. How you market your listings/clients
4. Your preferred vendors for staging, real estate photography, etc.
5. A walkthrough of the home selling process 

“I frequently meet with a single spouse to discuss buying or selling a home.  In order to win over the absent spouse, I want to ensure a packet of information is available for them to review so that they can approve of me as well.” – Brett, nekst 

Most importantly, intend to close the listing every time

Did you know that 75% of sellers interview only one agent before they hire them? This is why it is so important to walk into a listing appointment with the intention of closing! Without being pushy or aggressive, it is in your best interest to work to win the listing at the end of your appointment. 

Always bring the appropriate paperwork to have sellers sign the listing over to you. Do not leave your listing appointment without asking, “what else do we need to cover now so I can get started on marketing your listing today?”.

Show your sellers that you are more than ready to start focusing on their listing in order to help them sell it fast and for more money!