The 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers has been released by the National Association of Realtors. It provides key insight into what buyers and sellers want and need from sales professionals. As I read through the report this week, I focused in on the seller survey results for what services they want most and what they are looking for in an agent during this challenging real estate market.

After reviewing the report, I was pleased to see that sellers not only have reasonable expectations (wants) but they know exactly what they need in this market. This data is valuable only if we actually do something with it. In the past I’ve written about the essential elements of a great buyer presentation. So today, I’m encouraging my team to review their seller listing presentation to make sure it addresses the following wants and needs of sellers:

The top four services sellers are looking for from a real estate agent:

1. Pricing strategy that clearly outlines how you will price the home to be competitive and standout in the sea of other homes that are on the market.
2. Buyer Attraction Strategy that outlines how you plan to find and attract buyers to their home.
3. Marketing Strategy that outlines the venues, resources, and timeline for delivering a marketing plan that allows for maximum exposure to prospective buyers.
4. Timeline for selling the home in the fastest amount of time for the highest price possible.

The top four factors that will be considered when choosing the agent to work with:

1. Your solid reputation in the community must be evident, so come prepared with examples of past success and current clients that trust you to sell their home.
2. Your honesty and integrity should be displayed in unique ways. Instead of just having written testimonials, consider having video testimonials from past clients.
3. Your knowledge of the area must be demonstrated in your explanation of the current market from a macro and micro perspective. Be able to take the seller from the surrounding regional market all the way down to their specific neighborhood market.
4. Demonstrate you are caring and a good listener by asking questions, listening, repeating, and taking good notes. Let them know that you understand their goals and needs and that you are here to serve them.

If you read this list you will see the main topics cross over to almost every industry. Whether you are providing a service or selling a product, I encourage you to find industry research on what customers are looking for from the people they hire to help them achieve their goals.

Question: How are you adapting your products and services to meet your clients’ needs?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

Give Sellers What They Want and Need is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

This past week my team and I discussed what to do with listings that just will not sell. There are a number of reasons why listings struggle to sell including price, condition, location, and current buyer needs and wants. We focused our time together talking about a nine step guide to reaching resolution with these types of listings and our clients. This guide is not exhaustive and I encourage your feedback and critique. If you have a listing that is “stale” and not selling, you may want to consider the following process.

Step 1: Have a heart to heart with yourself, and ask yourself if you are willing to lose this listing, work harder than ever before, improve your communication, and truly connect with your client? Are you willing to do what it takes to bring about resolution, whether that means a sale or a canceled listing?

Step 2: Perform market research on your local area. Discover as much as you can about the regional and local market trends. Look specifically at the price range of your listing and analyze the average days on market, list price to sale price ratio, standard seller concessions, average sale price, inventory levels, and the number of homes sold per month on average. Become an expert by knowing everything about this price range and the market. Talk to other brokers that have successful sold comparable listings and talk to appraisers about values. Learn what it is taking to get homes sold.

Step 3: Perform a property analysis. After you have a grasp of the general market in your listing’s price range narrow your focus to your actual listing. Look at your current price compared to other homes on the market and assess your listings overall condition inside and out. Does it have amenities that are better, worse, or comparable to other homes that have sold and that are appealing to buyers? How does your home’s neighborhood stack up? You may want to consider paying for an appraisal to be done to help you determine what the home would sell for at this point in time. This appraisal could be very helpful later.

Step 4: Develop a short term strategy that takes into account all of your research on the competition and the overall market. If you are going to adjust price, what level will you recommend and for how long? Does the interior and exterior condition of the home need to be addressed? Review all of your marketing efforts to make sure they align with your strategy. Be willing to try new approaches that you’ve not done in the past.

Step 5: Review your client goals and remind yourself of their motivation for selling. In this market, sellers are typically price driven, relocating, or moving to remove a financial burden. Others may be moving just because the opportunity to move up in this market is so fantastic. No matter the reason, make sure that your strategy is in line with your client’s goals. If it is not, you may need to change your strategy and its end goal.

Step 6: Practice your presentation in front of a peer or your manager. Ask them to throw you objections and challenge your strategy. This will be good practice for when you sit down with your client. Identify the points in your presentation where you are certain to cause the client stress resulting in pushback. Make adjustments as needed so that you truly believe in your strategy and can confidently articulate it to your seller.

Step 7: Present your strategy to your clients. Be very clear and concise with your information. Do not overpromise results or response from buyers. Focus on what you can control. Review your market trends and feedback that you received from peers regarding price, condition, and the homes overall ability to sell. Tie your strategy back to their main motivation and need. Say, “if we implement this approach to selling your home, I believe we will be able to help you achieve your goal of _____.” Answer their questions with candidness. If they want an answer you can’t give them, then let them know you cannot and why. Review your timeline and benchmarks for where you hope your strategy will take you in the next 30, 60, or 90 days.

Step 8: Implement your strategy. Your sellers will be holding you accountable to what you presented to them and you owe it to them to keep them informed of the progress. Keep your sellers up to date on deadlines approaching for an “if-then” decision. For example, “if we reduce the price and we have no showings for two weeks, then we agreed our strategy would be to reduce the price again”. Follow your strategy and adjust only as needed.

Step 9: Live with results of your strategy even if this means that you lose the listing. Our goal should always be to help the client achieve the highest price possible in the shortest amount of time. However, there are some listings that just will not sell and a tough decision must be made by the parties involved. At the end of the day your seller will most likely be faced with a decision to cancel the listing and re-list with another brokerage firm, rent the home, stay in the home and cancel the listing, go through a short sale or foreclosure, or continue to reduce the price until it sells. My personal opinion is that you cannot hold at a price and just wait for a buyer to show up and pay your listed price. In a depreciating market too many sellers will be proactive and reduce their price until it sells thus creating comparable sales that you, and an appraiser, will be forced to deal with even if you do receive an offer at your hold firm price.

Again, this list is not the end all list but I think it does layout a strategy for getting resolution on your listing that is struggle to sell. You’ll notice that I focused on the word resolution instead of promising you that this guide will lead to a sale. When we over promise and under deliver it ruins our reputation and erodes the trust our clients have in us.

Question: What are you doing with your listings that just will not sell?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

9 Step Guide For Stubborn Listings is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

Have you ever spent valuable time with a prospect only to find out they are not qualified or unable to use your services? This can be one of the most frustrating experiences in a sales professional’s day. Yet, this seems to happen over and over again regardless of the personal cost and outcome. Regrettably, in a down economy many of us use just one test for working with someone; the “can they fog a mirror test”. Having a system in place to help you pre-qualify potential new clients is essential to the success of everyone working in the field of professional services. Faithfully using that system will produce a higher level of success each time it is implemented.

I train my team to use a set of pre-qualification questions during the initial interview with potential clients. These questions have two purposes. First, they demonstrate that they are serious about their profession and the clients they serve by showing they care enough to ask questions to learn about their client and their goals. Second, these questions help you decide if this potential relationship is a good match for you, your services and your business vision.

I encourage my team to consider the following key areas before deciding to enter into a professional relationship with a client:

Area of Interest – Are they asking for your services in a geographic area that is within your market knowledge and expertise?

Time Frame – Do they have a realistic time frame for making a selling or buying decision? Will they be making that decision in the next 30-60 days or longer? What are the milestones that must be reached in order to make the key decisions?

Ability To Perform – Are they in the “right place” mentally, financially, and situationally to make a decision?

Willingness to Perform – Do you get the sense that all decisions makers are ready and able to make a decision? Is there an actual desire or is it just an interest?

Decision Maker – Are you certain that you are working with all parties that will be involved in making the decision?

Market Comprehension – Are their wants/needs realistic with the price they will charge or pay? Are they aware of the current market conditions and willing to use that knowledge to make objective decisions?

Values Match – Are they “discount consumers” always looking for the cheapest deal, at the lowest cost, without an appreciation for a full-service firm?

Loyalty - Are they someone that you can build a relationship with? Are they willing to sign a service contract with you for a reasonable amount of time?

Experience – What is their past experience with sales professionals? What are their concerns, hesitations, expectations? What did they like about their past experience and what did they dislike?

There are many additional questions that you can ask in each of these key areas.  The answers you receive will help you to decide whether this is the right client relationship for you to pursue. While many professionals might be tempted to boil these questions down to just a few relating to finances, job status, and decision time frame - when your goal is to build relationships for life; you need to dig deeper. If you are someone that wants to turn suspects into prospects and prospects into clients that will become referral partners, you must go the extra mile and learn as much as you can about your potential client.

Take the time to qualify your leads and you will save time, money, and valuable resources. This will allow you to focus your time on those you can best serve and those that will in turn help you to achieve your goals.

Question: Are you qualifying your prospects before you make them clients? If so, what is the process you use?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

9 Key Areas For Qualifying Leads is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

This week my team and I are re-tooling and developing our buyer presentations. More than ever consumers need a brief and quality presentation on becoming a home owner. In this post I’ve outlined the essential elements of a buyer presentation and the formats your presentation must be in to ensure the highest probability of success.

As you read this list please understand that a buyer presentation is not the same as a pre-qualification phone call or appointment. The presentation comes after you have established the prospect is someone you want to pursue a long-term relationship with.

Key Elements of a Buyer Presentation

Your Values and Approach to Business: This section should be brief overview of how you conduct business, your core values, your business schedule, and your commitment to open and frequent communication. Provide your clients with the various ways they can contact you. Include your Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Email, and Phone Numbers. Demonstrate confidence when presenting this section but also tie your values to your client’s values, needs and expectations.

Explanation of the Real Estate Market: Arguably, the most important section of your presentation and the one you should spend the most time explaining. Buyers need to know the direction of the market, inventory levels, seller expectations, offer price strategies, and the timing of the market before they write an offer. This is your opportunity to shine as a trusted advisor and market expert, don’t waste the opportunity.

Explanation of the Process and Negotiations: Most home buyers are unaware that it is taking 50% longer to close an escrow on a home than it did just two years ago. Buyers need to be aware of their obligations for out of pocket expenses (inspections), earnest money deposits, appraisal hurdles, and how negotiations work. The more thorough you are in this part of your presentation the less emotional drama and hang-ups you will have as you are going through the transaction. You cannot prepare your buyer for everything but you can ease their stress by laying out a timeline and a few what-if scenarios.

Financing Options for Buyers: Most clients today are unaware of the new down-payment requirements, gifting options, closing cost contribution limits, and other RESPA changes that affect financing a home in today’s market. Your presentation should briefly cover the basics of financing a home and should include a referral to and dare I say an expectation that your client will meet with your mortgage consultant. Your mortgage consultant must be someone that you trust and have a values match with. Don’t leave your transaction, client, and potential paycheck in the hands of a mortgage broker you don’t know and trust.

Tax Benefits for Home Buyers: Your presentation must include a brief section on the tax benefits that exist now for home buyers. Many consumers are unaware the federal tax credit was extended and includes credits not just first time buyers but existing home owners as well. Be careful not to give tax advice, save that for their CPA. Most mortgage consultants will provide you with an explanation of the benefits that can be co-branded.

Your Special Services and Value Ads: You don’t want to foam at the mouth with all the special services and value ads that a consumer recieves when working with you but you do want to differentiate yourself from the competition. Focus on the services that truly bring value to the particular customer and the type of home they are interested in purchasing. Use this section of your presentation to show why Realtors are not a commodity and why working with you is in their best interest.

Sample Contracts and Forms: Don’t wait until your clients are ready to write an offer to show them the enormous stack of documents they will be required to sign. Include a sample contract with the key sections hi-lighted for their review. Ask them to take an evening to read through the contracts so when the offer is written they familiar with the general terms and conditions.

Three Formats of Your Buyer Presentation

Email-PDF Format – This format will allow you to attach your presentation to any email or have it be downloaded from your website.

Video Format: This is a new format for many of you but one that is not complicated to create. If you create your presentation in PowerPoint or Key Note you are able to save the presentation as a video file. These programs will allow you to record audio and will follow your slide timings when recording the presentation. Once you have saved the file in this format you can create a free account at YouTube or Vimeo to host your videos. They will also provide you with an embed code for your website and a link to your presentation for email.

Paper Format: This format is the standard format for most presentations. I usually have three to five of these printed versions in my car or briefcase ready to be handed out on short notice. Never hesitate to leave the presentation with the client.

Question: What are the key elements of your buyer presentation and what formats do you find most effective in getting it distributed?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

7 Elements of a Great Buyer Presentation is a post from: Coach Dan Foster