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One way to build tremendous credibility—fast—is to focus on positioning. That is, find a way to position yourself so that good, solid, qualified prospects find out about you… and seek you out… to obtain your expert advice and assistance in solving their needs.

Prosper positioning is very powerful. It separates you from being perceived as "just another real estate agent" which, if your goal is to build a tremendous self-perpetuating, 100% referral business, is prerequisite. You cannot be perceived as just "one among many." You have to present yourself and your services as unique… as the only viable solution to your client’s pressing problems.

Discover a way to position yourself in your client’s minds as the expert so that they seek you out—it will change your entire career experience.

You see, you might just have the solution to a buyer or seller’s greatest need, you might actually be "the local expert" and know best how to market their particular home or solve their particular financial problems…but if you are perceived as "just another real estate agent"… you automatically approach the relationship from a weak position… from that of being perceived as a "salesperson" attempting to get something from them. You’ll have the "resistance barrier" to contend with.

Also, one of the first things a prospect does when approached by whom they believe to be "just another salesperson" is to firmly establish his position as the intimidator, as the person holding the purse strings—which they are! You, as an ordinary, dime-a-dozen salesperson are asked (and rightly so) to justify your very reason for existing in that time and space!

Once a prospect has to ask, "Who are you? What can you do for me? What makes you so dog-gone special?"…your position is ruined because no matter how you respond… you are responding from a posture of justification. Weak. Very weak. Just another real estate agent attempting to make a sale.

Your goal then is to establish your image, to establish a firm position, to establish yourself in such a way as to be beyond having to justify yourself. Your goal is to be so far removed from the pack that those questions never enter the minds of your prospects at all. They can’t. They know who you are. They know precisely what you can do for them. They know YOU are the expert.

How can we accomplish this? By using a "Pre-Sell" Positioning approach for one. Running a combination of "image" and emotional response marketing advertisement, two. And three, provide such Astounding Service…people are literally compelled to talk "their agent" up all over town.

Let’s talk "Pre-Sell Pack" — the secret to a 30 minute listing presentation.

Imagine this scenario:

John and Mary Seller are sharp. Educated. And when it came to selling their home, they decided their best strategy would be to interview at least three local agents. So, on Tuesday, Mary placed the calls and made arrangements to meet all three agents the following Tuesday.

On Wednesday, John and Mary receive a bright red, white, and blue Priority Mail package delivered to their home. It contains a brief letter, dozens upon dozens of local references they are invited to call upon, and a thought-provoking questionnaire designed to uncover and address their needs and concerns. In addition, they find a nicely bound, personalized booklet chuck-full of information useful to them. There is also a DVD, CD, and even small booklet offering helpful moving hints.

On Saturday, John and Mary receive an ordinary business envelope in the mail from one of the other agents. Enclosed is a one page letter reminding them of their appointment and a nice, four-color personal brochure outlining the agent’s experience.

They never heard from the third agent until they actually met at the door…

Now, you tell me…which agent stands the greatest chance of taking the listing?

You do! Because you’re the agent who delivered your incredible Pre-Sell Pack which

·         Establishes you as the local real estate expert,

·         Annihilates any and all of your competition’s puny little efforts to set themselves apart,

·         And literally compels your sellers to get involved in the decision process before you even arrive!

A properly prepared and presented Pre-Sell Package is very, very powerful. It is, indeed, the secret to a 30 minute, 97% closing ratio listing presentation.

Why?

Couple of reasons. First, it has a guide for them (your sellers) to use when interviewing other agents. I mean, you’re being naive it you think these sellers are only going to be talking to you and, since they’re going to be interviewing other agents anyway, why don’t you be the one to suggest that they do it?

What you do is to put in their hands the 7 or 10 or 18 most important questions they should be asking every agent they interview. Why do you want to do that? People say, "Rob, that’s ludicrous. Why would I suggest they ask those tough questions?"

Well, think about this. If you author these questions you are in the best position to answer them! Your job when authoring these questions is to use a little bit of guerrilla marketing. What do I mean by that?

When you author your questions, you want to design them is such a way that, when asked of your competitors, it will expose their weaknesses. When asked of you… they’ll elevate your strengths! Make sense?

Example. I’ve been in the business 15 years. One of my questions is: "Have you been a licensed, full-time real estate agent in the state of Tennessee for over 14 years?" My experience shows me that 95% of my competition are immediately eliminated by this one question. Poof! They’re gone!!

Designed just right, even in the areas wherein you find yourself falling short of your competition… like, you don’t have a large listing inventory (in fact, you’re just getting started and, perhaps, don’t have any inventory) but your chief competitors do… you can still win. For example, design a two-step "trap" question:

"Do you have a large inventory of listings?"

When asked of a top listing agent… what are they going to say? They are going to pounce!! "YES, I do!! I have a HUGE listing inventory!"

Next question: "Does that mean, then, that our property will be ‘just one of many’… destined to be lost amongst a sea of others? Does that mean you won’t have time to give my property the personal attention it needs and we desire?"

See what you’ve done? You’ve taken what could have been potentially used against you and turned it into a positive favoring you! That’s the power of designing your own questions…

So how do your present these questions? It should be given to your seller loose… not bound with the rest of your pre-sell package. For example, ours is a two page insert with the headline:

18 Most Critical Questions To Ask Any Real Estate

Agent Before You Sign Anything

There are hundreds of real estate licensees in our area. Choosing the right agent for your home can be confusing. It is especially difficult when you speak with several different agents, and they all seem so convincing.

There is a way to determine who is the most likely to succeed in getting your price and terms. They key is knowing the right questions to ask. This is particularly important now, as homes are selling more slowly.

The following list provides you with question to ask your prospective Realtor. The list will not only help you select the right Realtor, but also get you the very best from the one you choose…

1) Do you work as a full-time Realtor®?

2) Do you have a full-time staff of Professionals to see that no details are overlooked? Etc., etc.

The key to the questions being, again, to highlight your strengths and the strengths of your realty affiliation and marketing systems and undermine those of the competition.

Another thing that brings tremendous power to a Pre-Sell Package is a ‘Thinking about Selling? What are you most concerned about?’ sheet. Basically, it lists a number of possible concerns your sellers might have and gives them the opportunity to rate their concerns on a scale of 1 to 5.

Two things happen when your sellers fill out this sheet. Number one, you’ll walk into your appointment knowing what your sellers are most concerned about. Their concerns are their objections. Overcome those objections and what do you have? A listing! (In fact, we normally have an assistant call prior to our actual appointment and make sure this exercise has been completed—it that important to our presentation. If not… we attempt to reschedule the appointment!)

But the other thing that’s interesting, too, is when your sellers put pencil to paper… when they actually take the time to "do the homework" you’ve assigned them to do… they’ve literally made a commitment to you. You’ve set an anchor. You’ve established rapport.

Another powerful page of a Pre-Sell Pack is the "There’s no place like home" page. In fact, this page is a good example of optimizing everything you do to accomplish a multiple purpose. You should ask your sellers such questions as ‘Tell what features about this home you’ve really enjoyed’ and ‘This home is well suited to a __________?’ The answers to these questions do two things for you. First, it will help you target buyers which will be most suited for this home… buyers which will most likely pay the most money. Secondly, by asking your sellers what they liked most about the home… you can include these particular features in your brochures and in your MLS postings which will position you as a marketing genius in the eyes of your sellers. They’ll love you because you’ve listened to and spoken their language! And, as a bonus, you will have virtually eliminated the possibility of getting a phone call from your sellers chastising you for not highlighting what they perceived to be a most important selling feature or benefit of their home in your feature sheet! Make sense?

(Again, we strive to get their answers to these questions prior to the actual listing presentation. In so doing… we use this information to custom prepare for the appointment. When we walk in the door, chances are we know 1) their concerns (objections) 2) the reasons why they liked this present home enough to buy it… which we incorporate into a property brochure and plunk on their table and 3) the marketing criteria they feel is important to getting their home sold. Our entire presentation will then gear towards addressing their criteria of what’s important!!)

And while ALL of that is important, perhaps the most important aspect of your Pre-Sell pack is to hit real hard on the value of pricing their home right.

Knowledge is power. And by educating your sellers up front about the value of pricing their home right from the beginning… you’ll save yourself a lot of time and grief later… be it at the actual face-to-face listing appointment or when you need to obtain a price reduction. Make sense? Good. Let’s go on…

Meet George. George is the epitome of an up-and-coming real estate super star. George is fictitious, but very very real nonetheless…

George is good. He isn’t content with providing just outstanding service for his clients. No way! He prides himself on providing astounding service and, boy, is it ever paying off. George now gets over 70% of his listings from referrals, and the remaining 30% is generating via his various marketing campaigns.

In either event, his phone is constantly ringing off the hook with interested buyers and sellers seeking him out to represent them. But George doesn’t accept just any client or property. He can’t. His time, energies and resources are much, much too valuable to waste on just any deal. All listings must meet his strict criteria and, after brief introductions, the assistant explains that it is her job to screen all calls and make certain their property meets such criteria. If not…she will be more than happy to provide the caller with George’s #1 competitor’s phone number!

The assistant then asks the caller a few qualifying questions. If the answers are satisfactory an appointment is arranged for George to meet with the seller at their home in a couple days.

Immediately upon hanging up, the assistant stuffs a personal marketing video which focuses on the value of pricing their property right, a cassette tape of "live" testimonials, a personal brochure, and a "Pre-Sell" package chuck-full of useful information designed to educate the sellers on just how George will go about marketing their property… what they can expect from him, and what he expects from them… into a Federal Express Overnight Delivery Envelope and posts it.

The day before the scheduled appointment, the assistant calls the sellers to confirm they have read their specially prepared marketing report and watched the video. If not, the appointment is rescheduled until such time the sellers commit to completing their assignments. If so… the assistant goes on to ask even more qualifying questions… noting their answers to give to George… and the appointment is confirmed.

At the appointment… George is not perceived as just another real estate agent. In fact, the sellers are often the most intimidated… because the stage has been set from the beginning that they must meet George’s strict criteria… not that he must meet theirs. In other words, George has positioned himself quite differently than "just another real estate agent" so he is perceived as quite unique. In fact, because of his pre-sell positioning power… George routinely "closes" 97% of all listing presentations he makes."

See the incredible difference in perception proper positioning can play? You, the expert, become the one who either accepts or rejects the opportunity to work with any particular seller or buyer. It is no longer you seeking to impress them… it’s them seeking to impress and qualify themselves to be accepted by you!

This one distinction in how you present yourself can spell the difference between a mediocre career and a career that is unstoppable. I’m serious!

Listen: If you’re not using a Pre-Sell Pack… you’re losing money!

If you’re not using a Pre-Sell Pack… what are you doing to differentiate yourself from being perceived as "just another real estate agent?" If you’re not using a pre-sell pack… chances are you are begging for the listing and operating from a position of weakness.

Cut it out! Properly prepared, a pre-listing package of information delivered to your client will

1.      set you apart from the rest of the mediocre crowd,

2.      gain valuable information about your client’s likes, dislikes, and concerns,

3.      provide valuable "pricing" information,

4.      outline all the marketing services you have available,

5.      introduces your team of professional affiliates,

6.      sets the stage for "how you work" and why,

7.      introduces and encourages them to call one or two of your many happy clients and, perhaps most importantly…

8.      gets them to put pen to paper before your arrival which is a subconscious form of agreement.

A Pre-Sell Pack is the secret to a 30 minute listing agreement. I highly encourage you to buy one, make one up, have one prepared for you… whatever. Just do it.

Ask any top producing agent… without exception… they all use pre-sell packages. They are simply powerful. The position you differently… and they are, quite frankly, the difference that makes all the difference.

Let me close out this report by quoting a section of the book Making It Big In America by Andrew Wood. These are his words… the words of a consumer:

"A few years ago I was thinking about selling my home; the prices were rising rapidly in my area which would leave me with a tidy profit…. A deal on a new property had not yet been finalized so I decided simply to stick a for sale by owner sign on my house and see if there was any interest at the price I wanted.

Within two or three days of putting out the sign I was swamped with calls from local real estate agents. They left business cards, flyers, note pads, refrigerator magnets, and written notes. They all said basically the same thing: ‘Call me! I want to list your property!’ Several followed up with phone calls that ranged from ‘Hi. I’ve never met you but I know we’re going to be the best of friends’ to a point blank ‘Let me have your listing. I’m the best.’

They all told me they were the area’s specialist and had sold more house than anyone else that week, month, year, or decade and million dollar club members, whatever that is.

Only one person of the twelve or more who pursued the listing showed any interest in my wants and needs. She actually took the trouble to put together a packet of information on my house and had it delivered to my home. The packet was spiral bound and covered in card stock. On the front she had place a label with my name typed in bold letters. Inside she listed listed the previous selling price, tax rates, detailed description of the property, and an overview of the area’s schools, churches, shops, and services… clearly demonstrating to me that she knew all about the area… She included selling prices of other homes with pictures so I could compare them. She had a little graph establish the price trends in the area…. At the end of the package there was a warm, friendly letter and an invitation to call her if I decided to list the property with an agent. Guess which agent I called."

Guess which agent he called and wrote a contract with. Do you think it took her more than a few minutes to secure the listing? Market yourself. Position yourself. A salesperson might have to take 60 - 90 minutes to convince a client to commit. A professional needs only 30 minutes to outline his or her services. The selling has already been done… pre-appointment!

Happy Selling! 

Brandon Patrick

Dean of Students

Real Estate Toolbox University