Things are going well for you, you’re making your mark in the real estate industry as an agent, and you just booked your first listing appointment. Congratulations! Now what? In order to help prepare for the appointment and secure the listing, we’re going to share four key steps below, along with tips for each step, that will help set you up for success.

Step 1: Before the Appointment

As an agent, be sure that you go into the listing appointment prepared, for the clients’ sake and for yours.

1. Prepare a Pre-Listing questionnaire with questions that you’ll want to ask before the appointment. Things like:
   • When is the last time you sold a home?
   • Will both decision-makers be present?
   • When I come over, are you prepared to list with me at that time?

2. Think about what is going to go into your Listing Packet. A few things to include could be:

1. • Listing Agreement and any other necessary paperwork
   • Tips to prepare the home for listing 
   • Net Sheet
   • A blank calendar (we’ll explain why later on)

3. Provide Items of Value to your clients so that they see you as a resource. They want to see you as the agent that will get them to the finish line of selling their home. Some Items of Value could be:

1. • Comps on homes in their neighborhood
   • Expenses to expect
   • Reviews of past clients (which will show how hard you will work for your clients)
   • Marketing plan and material examples so they can get a feel for how you will showcase/market their home after securing the listing

Step 2: The Appointment

Arrive for the appointment ahead of time, but don’t knock early. Potential clients to feel 100% ready, so give them the time to do so. 

It’s also important to know the difference between a ‘Listing Presentation’ and a ‘Listing Consultation’. A presentation is ‘me’ based whereas a consultation is ‘them based.’ At a Listing Consultation, you’ll be doing 80% of the listening and 20% of the talking, so learn how to get good at asking great questions. Why? Because consultations result in relationships! Ask questions about their home, motivation for selling, and what’s important to them in the process. 

Try to do the walkthrough with your clients so that you can build rapport with them. Potential clients want to feel heard and valued and by asking great questions throughout the entire consultation process, you achieve that.

Step 3: The Close

For the close, pull out the blank calendar you brought and ask the following questions:

1. When would you like to be in your new home?
2. For that to happen, when would you like to close by?
3. When would you need to be under contract?

Once they’ve answered those questions, state the target list date for the home and follow up with your marketing plan.

The goal here is to work backward to the date that the home will need to be on the market in order to be sure they are in their new home by the date they specified above.

Step 4: Knowing What Tools to Have

Just a few of the many videos included in our partnership with The Locker Room are “Pre-Qualify Your Sellers Before Doing a Listing Appointment”, “Learning How to Communicate with Your Client Based on their DISC Profile”, and “Learn How to Negotiate Like a Pro.” If there is anything we can do to help you rock your next Listing Appointment, or to help you take your real estate business to new heights, let us know and we’d be happy to help.