2016 Listing Presentations: Key Point #2
Professional Photography and Agency Quality Ad Copy
Every seller wants to hear how much you’re going to spend getting to expose their home to the all possible buyers. Most agents don’t have the luxury of big budgets and have to be careful about how they invest in getting listings sold. Most agents become so enamored with presentations made by the sales reps at Google, realtor.com, and other big internet firms, that they spend the majority of their budget getting additional exposure for their listings. The truth of the matter is, the majority of the exposure you’ll get online comes from having the property listed in MLS, because the majority of the exposure that a property gets online, comes from the listings in MLS being broadcast on the most active websites such as realtor.com and trulia.com. The return from additional money that is usually spent on web optimization, usually doesn’t justify the additional cost because of the Law Of Diminishing Returns.
Because exposure is almost a given, instead of being sucked into putting your limited marketing cash into web optimization, why not invest in a professional presentation of the listing. Keep in mind that massive exposure on the internet and to the public, is only one leg in the Success Tripod. It is also critical that the presentation that you make is better than the presentation made for competing properties. Finally, you must also be able to get an offer, negotiate to contract, and successfully close the deal. These are the three legs of successfully representing your sellers and this is why you should be investing in top quality professional photography and agency quality ad copy.
Consider the following scenario,
An agent is making the case there is no-one better at representing the seller. Before meeting with the seller, the agent researches competing properties and finds there are 10 other properties that a buyer may also consider if they were to look at the seller’s property. The agent takes the three worst MLS sheets, copies them and highlights all of the deficiencies. The agent also makes a copy of the best MLS sheet they have ever done. During the presentation, the agent lays all four MLS sheets in front of the prospective seller and asks which home they would be most interest in seeing, based on the presentation of each in the MLS sheets. The answer is obvious. The agent then looks at the same listings online and shows the seller the difference in full color based on the photos that have been taken.
In the above scenario, the agent has educated the prospect about the importance of making the listing look like “Disney World”. When the presentation is fantastic, buyers are much more likely to:
- want to see the listing
- like the listing when they arrive
- make an offer on the listing
- be willing to pay more for the home
Why are all of the above true? Because first impressions are lasting impressions. they set the expectations. Unless the property has been misrepresented, the first impression will have a lasting impact on the buyer’s motivation to want that property. So, the next time you want to show how you’re different, show your prospective buyers your creative talent and the quality of how you’re presenting their home to the world. Don’t be shy about comparing apples to apples by showing your work as compared to the competitions, each agent must be accountable for the quality of their work.