I Want To Be A Lister – The Listing Presentation – The Objections

by Russell Shaw

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

– Niels Bohr, Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner

About a year ago I wrote what was really part 1 of The Listing Presentation. Anyone wanting to increase their listing skills will likely find time spent on this post and
that first post time well spent. I have mentioned the short list of different things a seller might say (or objections they might have to listing) to you. All good listers know these objections and are not startled or thrown off by the seller bringing them up. In fact, great listers know the objections so well that they want the seller to bring them up and if the seller does not bring them up the agent will bring them up. That’s correct. If you already know what they are thinking, why not just address it before they even mention it? It is usually fun to hit a softball when it is a slow underhand pitch.

As the nature of the objections has never really changed it is really sort of silly for any agent wanting to take a lot of listings to not know – in advance – that these are the concerns of the seller. I know that the internet and these new-brand-new-all-new-discount-really-really-low-maybe-even-no-commission companies have changed the very nature of life on earth, as we know it – but I am pretty sure the main objections that you could hear from a home seller back in 1968 were still the same in 1978.  They are still the same in 2008. I am thinking they may be still quite similar in 2048. Just a guess, but if you are planning on sticking around in this business for a while, perhaps it might be a good idea to know how you are going to respond when they bring these up.

As a really humorous aside, there were also discount companies in 1978 that would list and sell homes for practically nothing. Those companies too were going to change the very nature of how real estate was done. Life just wouldn’t be the same anymore after consumers found out about the existence of those lower cost companies. No one was ever going to pay 6 or 7 % again. Not now, not with them here. Those companies expanded and prospered during the hot seller’s markets and then went broke and shut down completely during the later, much longer buyer’s market. Just like now. If you’re young enough you will get to see this again a few more times before you retire.

I believe that almost all long-term successful residential Realtors in the English speaking world have a listings based business. The three component parts of getting listings are: 1. effectively market oneself or effectively prospect for customers (note: these are the only two methods of getting customers – so get good at one or both). 2., The listing presentation. 3., Closing techniques. I believe that any agent who relies on closing techniques has a crappy or non-existent listing presentation.  I also believe that any agent who will not effectively market themselves or effectively prospect for sellers has a crappy or non-existent listing presentation. This stuff is simple to learn. No heavy lifting. None.

As I was preparing to write this post I received an email from Starpower that had some wonderful material on developing a highly successful listing based business. It is from Larry Kendall. I am including the part from Larry Kendall here in here in its entirety, as point 15, A through E covers the five most common objections a seller will have to listing. To become a great lister pay extra special attention to points 12 – 15.

___

Star Larry Kendall of The Group, Inc. in Ft. Collins,CO offers a time-tested list of 21 questions to ask yourself to determine whether your business truly operates as a business. He suggests that you read all of them and select one to focus on each week.

1. Your Database. Do you have an operational database of names, addresses, phone numbers and information about your clients readily available at your desk? Do you have a mobile and perhaps condensed version of it for when you are away?
2. Hour of Power. Do you have scheduled time that you block out from all other activities in which you communicate with your clients/friends without interruption? Do you do this consistently? Do you meet with your clients once a year for a review of their real estate?
3. Lead-Generation Systems. Do you have systems in place for generating a continuous flow of buyers and sellers? Are you at the cause of what is happening or the effect of what is happening?
4. Routines and Rituals. Do you have routines that keep you in balance and rituals that help you perform at your best?
5. Standardized Letters and Forms. Are your most common letters and forms standardized or do you take the time to create an original every time you communicate with someone?
6. Using MLS. Do you know how to use the Multiple Listing Service and CountyRecords to do an accurate Comparative Market Analysis?
7. CMA Presentation. Do you have a professional-looking CMA presentation? Have you trained a team member how to put this together (order of pages etc…) in a bound book perhaps, for easy and fast generation?
8. Working with a Builder. Do you have a system for coaching your builder? Do you have a sound marketing plan?
9. Finances. Is your financial house in order so you are not distracted? Do you have a set of books that you review regularly so you know if your business is profitable? Are your taxes paid? Do you have a “feel-good” account? Do you have wealth creation on automatic pilot?
10. Goals and a Business Plan. Do you have clearly written goals and a formal business plan? Do you specifically know where your business comes from? Do you have a plan to build a business based on customer satisfaction and referrals? Do you have a long-term career plan?
11. Buyer Call-In Sheet. Do you have a buyer call-in sheet and a buyer packet readily available?
12. Pre-Listing Interview Form. Do you have a pre-listing interview for near each phone?
13. Pre-Listing Book. Do you have an updated, professional-looking pre-listing book? Do you use it?
14. Listing Presentation. Do you have a powerful listing presentation that:
• a. Clearly shows your customers the odds of selling their home?
• b. Explains how to price their home to sell – and sell quickly?
• c. Differentiates you from the competition?
• d. Demonstrates how you add value to the seller?
• e. Offers at least five benefits that you and your company provide sellers that your competitors do not?
15. Objection-Handling. Are you prepared to answer the five most common objections to listing? Are you prepared with facts, dialogues, visual aids, stories and research?
    • a. Need more money.
    • b. Commission is too high.
    • c. Do not want to be tied down – maximum of 30-day list period.
    • d. Another agent said he/she could get more.
    • e. We are in no hurry to sell.
16. Pricing and Staging Videos. Do you have effective pricing and staging videos?
17. Marketing Plan. Do you have a well thought-out marketing plan and a checklist for your listings?
18. Impact Opening. Do you have a great opening (your starting script for opening your listing presentation) that:
    • 1. Engages the seller?
    • 2. Makes them like you?
    • 3. Has a bonding statement and/or question?
    • 4. Includes a value statement?
19. Mind-set. Do you have dialogues and visual aids to help shift a seller from a “price-shopping” mind-set to a “results-shopping” mind-set?
20. Buyer Packages. Do you have several Relocation Packages and Buyer Packages at your desk so that they are easily accessible when you need them?
21. Product, Market and Competition. How well do you know your product, your market and your competition? Do you know these three better than your customers and competitors?

__

I know you were wanting me to tell you the “correct answers” to 15, a – e. I don’t mind giving you some scripts but I really believe that any answers you find elsewhere will have far more value if you have personally thought the questions all the way through for yourself. What seems to make the most sense to say? Why? If you were the seller would it impress you? Why? (hint: the correct answer is seldom going to be, “I really want the commission”)