Know and Communicate Why Owners Should Choose You as Their Listing Agent
 
Winning listings—and creating the opportunities to do so—requires that you quickly and compellingly communicate why you are the best choice for potential clients. When speaking with potential listing clients, being confident in your abilities is not enough; communicating them effectively takes preparation, review and practice. Think of it this way: Listing appointments are job interviews, and successful interview candidates are not only qualified, but they also sell themselves as being different and better than other options. This takes purposeful, planned, radical differentiation.
 
So, to win more listing opportunities and clients, you need to communicate that differentiation about yourself and your team. Here are some areas and ways that will help accomplish that:
  
You and Your Team: Why are you, and the team behind you, different and better? Whether it is your relationship with the client, your experience in real estate, experience outside of real estate, your dedication, or anything else, you must be able to convincingly say, "I/we are the absolute best at…" whatever it is about you that will set you apart and make you the best choice to sell their home.
 
Your Track Record: Have a statistic or an anecdote (or both) that demonstrates effectiveness in selling a home with better speed, higher profit and/or better service than other agents and the general market. Use testimonials to back this up, whenever possible.
 
Your Marketing Plan: Pictures, staging, MLS listings and social media promotion won't set you apart by themselves. Find at least one special thing about your marketing plan that other agents aren't doing, then communicate to the seller how that, and other things you do, will specifically help sell their home.  
 
Your Network: Is there something about your team, your database, your company or something else that makes you uniquely capable of generating buyer interest in their home? If so, promote it and highlight the fact that the client can only get it through you. 
 
Your Service: Again, have an award or story that demonstrates the value of your service as their agent. Tell them something interesting and unique about how you save clients time, concern and money.
 
Your Communication: The most common complaint that client have is a lack of communication. Highlight up-front how you and your team excel at communication, and provide a concrete example of something unusual that you do that will keep the client better informed. This can include post-sale communications, too, providing ongoing value as their agent beyond this single transaction.
 
These ways of setting yourself apart from other listing agents should all be geared toward answering one question: Why is choosing you in the seller's best financial interest? By radically differentiating yourself and being able to communicate that differentiation to others, you will put yourself in the best position to set, and convert, more listing appointments and sell more homes.
 
So hone your messages and be uniquely valuable. Your listings and business will increase when you do!
 
For a free copy of Sherri Johnson's checklist for "Marketing Your Team Successfully," to assess what your team is doing now and plan what you need to do next, click here.
 
Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. With 25 years of experience in real estate as an agent, broker and executive, Johnson now shares her proven methods through coaching, consulting and keynote speaking services nationwide. She is a national speaker for the Homes.com Secrets of Top Selling Agents tour and is the Official Real Estate Coach for McKissock Learning and Real Estate Express. Johnson has also been named an RISMedia Real Estate Newsmaker in 2020 and 2021 as an Influencer and Thought Leader. Schedule a free 30-minute coaching strategy session or visit www.sherrijohnson.com for more information.

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