5 minutes of "show me" is better than 1 hour of tell me. Consider using this technique to get every listing you go after.
Drive by the home prior to the first visit to take a picture of the home. Using your photo editing software, you can crop the picture to an ellipse and put a soft edge on it. Then, place that picture in the background of the cover page and every other page of your pre-listing package. This is a simple process using the watermark feature in Word.
On the first visit to the home, give the pre-listing package to the seller saying "I wanted you to have this to look over at your convenience to see what is involved in selling your home and the things that are included in my marketing plan." They'll be impressed and amazed when they notice that a picture of their home is on every page. You don't have to tell them that it only took moments to do.
On this visit, take more pictures of the home, take notes, and measurements while you let the seller show their home to you. Ask lots of questions like "why did you buy the home?" and "What do you like most about living here?" When you're finished, thank them and make an appointment for the second visit where you'll secure the listing.
After you get to the office, you're going to make a series of marketing materials that will show the seller exactly what you are going to do to sell their home. You'll start with the primary marketing piece, the property flyer which will have multiple pictures and of course, be in color.
You'll have an additional flyer to send to the neighbors in case they know someone who want to live in their neighborhood. You'll have another for the best agents in the area who may be working with someone who is waiting for a home like theirs to come on the market.
There will be another flyer would be used for the open houses that you intend to hold. And finally, you are going to have a flyer with a personal note from the seller that will be used to send to the owner's friends that ask for their help in locating a buyer for the home.
This is a powerful presentation that will yield you the listing every time. The seller won't believe that you've actually taken the time to make the marketing pieces before you get the listing. It is impressive and very effective.
The preparation time is more than worth it. However, there is a tool that can actually shorten the time dramatically. If you are using Respond, the new real estate add-on to Outlook, you can put the information and pictures on the home in the contact's record. The property tab has a place for you to write a narrative on the home and a attention-getting headline.
Once the information is in Respond and you are using the Marketing Library, every property flyer for each of the purposes mentioned above will automatically be created without you having to input the data. Instead of making five flyers, you'll simply print the five flyers you want.
This turns a procedure into a system that will win you every listing you go after. Click here for more information about Respond and the Marketing Library.