Why the Best Listing Appointments Don't Feel Like a Sales Pitch

Early in my career, about 17 years ago, I went on a listing appointment right down the street from where I live. At the time, I'd spent hours crafting what I thought was the perfect listing presentation. I believed there was a perfect set of words, a perfect way to present myself, that would impress sellers so much they couldn't say no.

I did about 90% of the talking. They didn't say much, so I left thinking it went great.

The next day I called to ask when we'd get started. The seller said, "I don't know. You sure seem to like yourself a whole lot, and we want to work with someone who really has our best interest in mind."

That was a wake-up call. I'd made the whole appointment about me. On a recent Tuesday training, Mike Pillow from our team and I talked through the mistakes agents make once they're sitting at the kitchen table. Scott, an agent from San Antonio with more than 50 years in the business, joined us too. Here's what we covered.

Watch your talk time

Talk time is something we focus on constantly in our Saturday roleplay sessions. The goal is simple: the sellers should do most of the talking.

Mike Pillow put it well. You can't learn what someone needs while you're talking. And as long as you're listening, you're not going to say something stupid. If you've done everything right to that point, the listing is yours to lose.

They don't really care about Mike Ferrante or Mike Pillow. We're one of thousands of realtors. They care about their needs, and our job is to let them talk about those needs.

Ask open-ended questions

Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI, likes to say we have two ears and one mouth for a reason, and we should use them in that proportion.

One of my favorite questions: "If the process of selling your home goes perfectly smoothly, tell me what that looks like." Sellers will tell you exactly what they're hoping for.

From there, ask about where they're going, what their timing is, and what the process needs to look like for them. My 17-year-old presentation was one size fits all. Sellers aren't. Their answers are what let you build a plan that actually fits them.

Don't shoot from the hip on price

Mike Pillow sent me a clip of the real estate trainer Brandon Mulrenin making a point that's worth thinking about. Walking into a home for the first time and giving a price on the spot is, in his words, borderline malpractice.

Think about what an appraiser does. They walk the entire home, take notes and measurements, and then go back to the office to research before they arrive at a value. If an appraiser named a number after ten minutes in the house, the bank would probably fire them. Yet agents do exactly that at listing appointments all the time.

My one pushback: I do think we can deliver a range of value, especially when we know the area well. And that leads to the bigger point.

Talk about pricing strategy, not just a number

If my range for a home runs from the high 200s to the low 300s, I may not be able to pinpoint one value, and frankly, I don't need to. What matters more is talking about a range of values and the right pricing strategy.

Where exactly do we list within that range, and why? For example, I'd almost never list at a number like 305 or 299, and there's real strategy behind that. That's a topic for another training, but being able to explain your pricing strategy at the appointment is what separates you from the agent who just names a number.

A better question than "What's it worth?"

Mike Pillow shared a question that changes the seller's perspective: "If you were the buyer, how much would you pay for your house?"

He recently asked a seller exactly that. Their answer was lower than the current list price. They lowered the price, and the home went under contract.

When homes don't sell, it almost always comes back to price. The seller's options are to lower the price, or to wait or improve the property until the value catches up, and that rarely happens.

Price comes last

Scott had a strong opinion here. He breaks the listing appointment into six steps: pre-approach, approach, needs determination, presentation, close, and objection handling. Price doesn't belong at the start of any of them.

In fact, he wouldn't even look at the house first. When sellers offer a tour, he'd say, "We'll get to that, but let's sit down at the kitchen table for a minute." His reasoning: the moment you finish the walkthrough, the first thing they'll ask is "What do you think it's worth?" They don't know you yet, so any number you give is just a guess to them.

When you've built trust first, price comes up at the end, and by then they've bought you. Scott told us about sellers who came in wanting around $400,000 and ended up listing at about $315,000 because they trusted him. Sometimes he'd simply hold up the recent sales and the active competition, give his recommended price, and they'd agree without asking to see the comps.

The close should happen the whole way through

At the Tom Ferry Success Summit I attended recently, one of the points was that in a great listing presentation, you barely notice the close. It happens throughout. If you've made an intelligent case and handled concerns as they came up, there's no objection period at the end.

Then it's just, "Here's what happens next. What date would you like to get started?" It's an assumptive close. You start the paperwork. When the seller asks, "When can you have the sign up?", you don't ask whether that means they've decided to list with you. You answer the question.

Scott said the same approach works for commission. If a seller asks about it on the phone, tell them you haven't seen the house yet and you'll get into it together. By the time you've gone through the steps and built trust, it often isn't a big deal anymore.

Educate and advise, don't sell

My favorite appointments end with the sellers thanking me. They thank me for the information and the education, and often say something like, "That's way different from anyone else we've talked to."

I don't feel like I'm there selling. I'm there educating and advising. When you've built that trust, sellers go with you. That's the complete opposite of the appointment I lost 17 years ago, and it's the one lesson I'd want every agent to take from this.

If you want to practice this, Mike Pillow and I run a roleplay session on Zoom most Saturday mornings at 8:30 Eastern, open to agents from any company or region. Email me at mike@21mike.com and I'll add you.

Want to see the full session? Watch our Tuesday training on listing appointment mistakes.

Mike Ferrante
The Mike Team at LPT Realty
www.21mike.com
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