Getting to a Yes in Pitching for the Listing

In commercial real estate brokerage, your listing pitch or presentation is likely to strike a few barriers before you get close to an agreement with the client or prospect.  The client will give you a few challenges before the point of decision is reached. They are testing you to see if you ‘qualify’ in their estimation of experience and skill.  If you pass the test they will move ahead.  If you fail the test they will move on to find someone else.

It really doesn’t matter what your commission rate is or the marketing costs are for the property, the ultimate point of decision is driven from your relevance and your experience.  The client does not want to be a ‘marketing experiment’.

The client or prospect wants to see the things that give them the confidence to use you or your brokerage in selling or leasing the property.  That being said, it is difficult to win a listing or a deal from a ‘generic’ position.

An ‘ordinary’ pitch or presentation generally does not get a positive result.  At the very best an ‘ordinary’ pitch will convert to an open listing, and that is about all you will get.  An ‘open’ listing is perhaps satisfactory for you; however you cannot control your market or the client in that way.  Top agents don’t chase ‘open listings’; it’s a bit like ‘ambulance chasing’.

Preparation is the key to converting more exclusive listings and clients to your brokerage.  Treat every sales or leasing listing opportunity with direct focus and investigation.  Look into the key elements of the property and the client so you come to the presentation with real and relevant ideas that will help the facilitate property decision that needs to be made.  I go back to the point that you cannot be ‘generic’ in this approach.

Here are some tips to help you move towards a ‘yes’ decision with the client.

  1. Ask the client some deeper questions that relate to the key issues of the property.  Choose your questions wisely as they will show your level of skill and relevance.
  2. Use a checklist relative to the property type and your location as it will help your level of focus and conversation.  Good questions can support your professionalism.
  3. Meet the client at the property so you can move through it with a questioning process.  The inspection strategy can then be discussed as you move around the property with the client.
  4. Pose some questions that show your competitors as ‘inexperienced’ or ‘inappropriate’ for the property listing.
  5. Do your ‘homework’ about the property listing before you go to the client meeting.  Get details of prices, rents, enquiry, competing listings, and time on market.  Be prepared to show plenty of visual material to support your message and recommendations.  Use graphs and figures to show the best way forward with the property today.
  6. The marketing process for the property today should be well chosen and driven.  Don’t just structure a basic set of marketing recommendations for the property; stand out as better than your competitors when it comes to marketing solutions for the property type.  Make your approach to marketing very special and put yourself into the activities recommended; let the client see how valuable you will be to spreading the message about the property and its availability.

When you prepare for the listing meeting that you are to have with the client, and you do so at an advanced level, you are likely to convert more listings on an exclusive basis.  Top agents are not generic.  They provide valuable and unique marketing solutions in commercial real estate marketing.

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