How often do you go into a listing appointment and talk about how slick your internet marketing is? When you’re trying to impress a potential client and prove to them that your listing package is the best thing to come around since Al Gore invented the internet, it’s easy to talk about listing feeds, show a video or two, and perhaps even show off your site statistics or how well you rank for Google keywords. All of that is great, but as more agents become better connected themselves, it’s time to start thinking about ways to keep yourself a cut above the rest.
Rock The Webcam
It’s historically been a part of my plan to send out thank you cards to past clients whenever we do a deal, but lets face it: Every agent and their cousin does the exact same thing, so what makes yours any different? Try using your webcam to make a personal video appeal to your client instead (I know what you’re thinking, and no, a video of you stripping to a Spice Girls song is not appropriate here, sorry). Consider sending out your thank you notes as videos emailed to your clients and see what sort of response you get. Direct, personalized videos to web leads with inaccurate phone numbers can also help you gain the trust of potential clients and increase your chance of response.
Clients Need To Know You Care
There are plenty of tools (many of them free) that you can use to keep in touch with your clients and show them that you are actively working to get their house sold. Trulia creates free weekly listing reports that can be emailed to your sellers, as does Realtor.com. The most common complaint I hear from sellers is that agents tend to “list it and forget it”, and that’s frustrating. Often times clients just want to know that you care about their listing and you’re working to get it sold. If you can prove that to them it makes life much easier when it comes time to ask for a price reduction!
Show Them Your Value
We live in a digital world, and when it comes to marketing a property a well prepared plan of action is exactly what you need in order to get a home sold. I’ve tried and tested every marketing services proposal I can get my hands on, and what I’ve discovered is that my most successful presentation is the one that I created myself (It also happens to be the shortest, with only 9 presentation slides). What I’ve done differently is that I have cut straight to the chase and given the client what they want. I don’t talk about my awards, I don’t talk about my sales volume, I talk about THEM. I show the client exactly how I plan to market, where I plan to advertise, how I plan to find their buyer, and how/why my methods differ from other agents.
If you can show the client how you are a more remarkable agent without droning on about awards and sales that don’t apply to them, you accomplish two distinct things: First, you have shown them that you care about them, and Second, you have shown them that you’re different from the other agents they are interviewing.
Photo Courtesy of codiceinternet via Flickr CC
