A Guide to a Real Estate Listing Presentation

In today’s commercial property market, there are many opportunities to tap into with clients and properties. Getting those opportunities into your listing presentation is critical to your desired outcome.

In some cases, discussions with clients lead to listing presentations, which should be carefully constructed for ‘relevance’. That is then part of ‘opening’ up on your ideas and recommendations.

Why is that ‘relevance’ component so important? First, it is a competitive real estate playing field, and you will likely pitch for the duplicate listing against others.

So, the question for today is, ‘What makes your property listing services better than others?’ It’s time to put some strategy into your client contact.

Primary Presentation Focus

The listing presentation is mainly about the client, not you or your services. Therefore, the primary focus in talking to the client about a listing is entirely about them. Show that you understand what they are saying and need. Show that you can help in several important ways.

Selling, leasing, or managing a commercial property is not an ‘experiment’ for the client, nor should it be for you. Don’t provide ‘ordinary’ marketing solutions (the property market is too competitive).

Instead, provide deep and specific approaches to solving the client’s position, ensuring that what you say and offer is unique, relevant and proven. Make it easy for them to proceed.

Improving Your Listing Chances

A top-quality listing presentation will likely put you in the best position for converting the listing. Why should a client list their property with you?

In each listing case, your thoughts, comments, and recommendations should be aligned with the client and their property situation. That is the base strategy if you want to win the property listing opportunity at any time and in any property cycle.

As I said earlier, it is an excellent real estate market full of opportunities. Your successes come down to who you are, what you do, whom you know, how you communicate, and how you position your service offerings.

The Big Picture in Your Presentation

Seeking to understand the ‘big picture’ for each client and property is the first and most important approach to the possibility of winning a listing in sales, leasing, or property management.

When you understand the client’s situation and requirements, you can align everything you say and do with what is required. You then make your ‘solution’ easy with a timeline and a series of recommendations. Use a timeline chart such as a GANTT chart for that.

Elements of Your Presentation

Here are some ideas for ‘opening a listing presentation’ and building the momentum in the right way for the client:

• The client – Who is the client, and what do they know about the property? Every situation will be different for a client. Getting to the facts behind the client’s motivation is a positive step forward. Ask real estate questions, do your research before the meeting about the client, and check out the prevailing market circumstances that will have an impact.
• The challenge or need – What does the client want to do with property, and by when? It is not just a matter of creating a sale or lease or a case of buying or developing. There are many levels to any property transaction that should align with the situation. Think about the target market and the ways to move ahead. Build and show the steps to your transaction recommendations.
• The opportunity – From the previous two points, you can start thinking about the option from the client’s perspective and how you would approach it. Ensure that your approach is not generic in any way. Explain your strategy and put yourself into the property marketing solutions offered. There are too many other agents around who will take the generic approach. What is your ‘point of difference’ or ‘relevance’ that you can offer the client that aligns with their opportunity? Remember that the discussion is all about them and not you.
• The property – Show that you understand the property in every essential way. It is like doing a ‘SWOT’ analysis and illustrating your ideas to work with those ‘SWOT’ issues. Sometimes you must also resolve the ‘weaknesses’ from the investigation before working on the property from a marketing perspective.
• The alternatives – Most clients like to have options in moving ahead. Make recommendations and have proven methods of marketing to consider, plus the costs. Offering a few different strategies will help the client think through what they want to do and what they can afford.
• The target market – Clearly defining the target segments of the property market will help you considerably move ahead. What is the target market, and how will you approach that market? That question can help you align yourself entirely with the steps forward offered to the client.
• The methods of sale or lease – Not all methods of selling, leasing, or buying a property are the same, nor should they be. As the agent, choose the best methods of handling things for your client and make your solutions specific, deep, and understandable. Be clear and precise on your recommended marketing methods of helping the client with their property situation. Know everything you can about the property and show the client that you are across all issues and possibilities.
• The recommendations – From all the previous points, you can make clear recommendations and be ‘high level’. All these steps allow you to align with the client in many ways, and it will be hard for them to ignore what you say and offer as part of the listing approach.
• The timeline – You can now offer some simple action steps from the previous point. The timeline approach works well. Make it visual and avoid bulky or wordy documents. Simplicity always wins when it comes to commercial real estate.
  

Listing Blueprint Summary

If you work through these strategies with a client and their property challenge or opportunity, things get more accessible; from that, the listings are easier to convert.

It’s all about opening the listing presentation correctly and offering deep, relevant alternatives. Enjoy the new business opportunities.