I’m on the road conducting seminars much of the year and when I ask this question of audiences, I hear the same answers. “I’m honest; I’m trustworthy; I have 10 years of experience;” There are two problems with these statements: (1) if everyone says the same thing, they’re not different; and most importantly, (2) these comments are all about THEM. When working with new clients, what do they care about? Themselves, their time, their money. So, to truly differentiate yourself, everything you say and do should be about your clients; how you can help them save time and money.
Every seller has a pain and you have to be able to provide the solution to that pain to win their business. Here are some common pains sellers have:
- They want to sell fast.
- They can’t afford your commission so they’d prefer to sell it on their own.
- The last agent they worked with didn’t do a good job.
- The last agent didn’t communicate with them.
- They don’t want to be locked into a contract.
These are pains you hear every single day. When you build your marketing arsenal, you want to address these pains, specifically. When you come into listing appointments with tangible programs and systems that provide solutions, you’ll win their business.
When your prospect sees you as a provider of solutions, you will have differentiated yourself from other agents and your business will grow.
I teach five critical parts of an arsenal that will help you overcome most every pain your prospect has in selling their home and they are 100% focused on them. These five are:
- Performance Guarantee: Simply put, this guarantees your performance on their behalf; if you don’t do what you say you will do within a certain period of time, you will do X. Example: I’ll sell your home in 39 days or I’ll sell it for free.
- Easy Exit Listing: People don’t like being locked into a contract, and this takes all the risk (and therefore pain) out of hiring you. Make it risk-free for your prospects to use you. Example: If you’re not satisfied with our services, you can fire us anytime.
- 89-point Marketing Plan: Use the number that works for you, but showing you have an aggressive, comprehensive plan to sell their home fast gives them the confidence you can do what you say you can do. List out literally everything you do to market homes. Other agents might do the same things but you’ll appear more professional by turning your list into a plan.
- Smart Seller Program: This allows them to sell the home themselves while you carry the listing; if they procure the buyer, they don’t pay commission. This works well with For Sale By Owners. They continue to have the right to market the home and try to find buyers, but they agree that only YOUR For Sale sign goes in their yard.
- Communication Guarantee: This is a guarantee that you will call them on a specific day every week or they can fire you. This guarantee will force you to talk about feedback from showings, discuss where the market is today, talk about what needs to be done differently to get the property sold (include a price reduction, if necessary). Tell them in advance you’ll be talking about the good, the bad and the ugly. This will help you overcome a lot of objections they might otherwise have.
- Certified Pre-Owned Program: It’s a known fact that the “Seal of Approval” stamp increases desirability and sales with any product or service.By nature, real estate sales create uncertainty. When there is uncertainty, you have fear and doubt. Helping sellers to include a home warranty, have an inspection completed in advance of receiving any offers, an appraisal and pest inspection, their property will be more appealing to buyers and sell faster.
By offering these five components in your marketing arsenal, your ability to convert leads will be on steroids! It will change the dialog you have with prospects. By providing solutions to their pains, they are going to open up to you. By sharing with them the things they care about and the benefits of your offerings, you will be able to separate yourself from the competition. You will be perceived as a solution provider!