The Complete Guide to a Winning Listing Presentation (+ Scripts)

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In this article, I’ll share close to two decades of experience as a licensed agent and small brokerage owner in Boston to help you compete and win listings with a dynamite listing presentation. As agents, we compete for a finite number of available homes to list and sell. That’s why it’s crucial that you stand out amongst your competitors to get those listings.

The real estate listing presentation is one of the most critical tools in your arsenal for demonstrating your knowledge, expertise, experience, and above all — your authenticity. A well-done listing presentation not only distinguishes you from your competitors — it also elevates the seller’s experience of working with you from day one.

It may sound cliché, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression. We break it down for you, sharing how to create a knockout listing presentation AND how to crush your next listing appointment.

• A professionally presented real estate listing presentation: Bring enough copies for all sellers to review.

• Pre-filled listing paperwork: Prepare the listing paperwork both digitally and in hard copy. Most information can be pre-filled prior to the presentation.

• A fully charged tablet or computer if you are presenting digitally: Remember that technology doesn’t always work the way you expect it to. Additionally, digital presentations can sometimes be awkward depending on the setting or location, or if you are presenting to more than one person. Always be prepared with hard copies even if you are expecting to present on your tablet or computer.

• A pen: Some sellers still use them and you may need one to sign the paperwork.

How to crush your listing appointment in 10 steps

What does a successful listing appointment look like? The goal of a successful listing appointment is to win the listing and walk away with a signed contract in hand. It’s that simple. As an agent, you are a facilitator of the home-selling process. The most important thing to remember about the listing appointment, your listing presentation and the entire selling process is that it’s about the seller — not you.

Here’s how you can crush every listing appointment and leave with a signed contract.

Step 1: Set the stage for success

Real estate agents are famous for selling the importance of location, location, location. The location of your listing appointment sets the stage for your successful listing presentation, and the best opportunity for you to see the home is when you’re making your pitch. That’s why your listing appointment should always take place at the seller’s home. While it seems that everything can be done online these days — this can’t. You must see the home to accurately assess it and offer valuable advice to the homeowners.

Step 2: Actively listen

While highlighting your skills and experience is important to establish your credibility and success, a key portion of your listing appointment should be spent listening carefully to the seller. Following the rule of listening twice as much as you speak will always pay off in your listing presentations.

Always keep in mind that selling a home is often a highly emotional experience for the seller. It can be happy, sad, exciting or a tangle of conflicting emotions. Sellers want to feel heard and will almost always tell you exactly what they want, need, or expect from their experience. If you listen — really listen — and genuinely strive to understand their motivations, needs, concerns and fears, you’ll be able to direct the conversation or adapt your presentation to better address their specific needs.

For example, a seller may tell you they want to sell their home quickly to relocate out of the country for a new job opportunity. In hearing and understanding those needs, you should focus your presentation on marketing, pricing, staging and other pre-market strategies that favor a faster timeline so you can list and sell their property quickly and efficiently.

Here’s a script you can use to kick off your real estate listing presentation:

Step 3. Be honest & authentic 

An authentic agent who listens to sellers and always advises them honestly is a successful agent. Telling a seller something they don’t want to hear is uncomfortable, but you will earn their respect by being honest and forthcoming. Avoid oversharing information about yourself or becoming a storyteller in a listing presentation. Sure, you want to assure them of your skills and experience, but saying less about yourself (and again — listening more!) can be much more impactful.

Step 4. Conduct a needs analysis 

This can be formal or informal, depending on your personal style. But if you’re actively listening, you can weave some of these questions into the conversation to help get to know the seller and their situation:

• What is your desired timeframe for listing and selling your home? 
• Are you looking to upgrade or downsize? 
• Are you relocating out of the state or the country?
• Is your timeframe dictated by the school year or a job?
• Do you have an idea of the pricing of your home? 
• What renovations or updates have you made that you believe could add value to your home?

Please remember that if the seller is not your client (yet!), you must advise them against sharing information you could inadvertently leverage against them if they choose another listing agent. Should you later bring forth a potential buyer, some of their answers to the questions here could compromise negotiations — so be sure to give them fair warning before delving too deep!

Step 5. Demonstrate your value

You can stand out with sellers by providing value and sharing information other agents may not have provided in their presentations (and you should always assume you’re not the only agent vying for their business!). Some examples of topics that you can discuss that provide unique value to your sellers:

• Safety – Many sellers don’t consider the potential dangers of opening their homes to strangers. I recommend that sellers secure or remove all medications, personal photos, small electronics, bills, financial papers, and any artwork that can identify them, including names from bedroom walls. This step is especially important if they have children. You’ll help your clients prevent theft, identity theft or other more serious crimes.

• Decluttering/staging – When touring the home as part of your presentation, provide decluttering and staging advice. While not every seller can afford professional staging, your recommendations can be invaluable in helping them prepare their property for sale.

• Repairs, renovations and updates – Discuss any repairs, renovations or updates (both big and small) that could significantly increase the selling price of your client’s home. Point out small repairs that can make a big difference, like fixing water stains on ceilings. Updating a bathroom might substantially add value to the selling price relative to the cost of the update. Conversely, some repairs, renovations or updates may not be worthwhile. Advising the client and boosting their selling price can help solidify you as a valuable and knowledgeable agent.

Step 6. Share your market analysis

Understanding the market and your ability to communicate clearly about it are two of the most vital skills of a successful real estate agent. Always be mindful of the changes in the market locally, regionally and nationally. Be sure that you also understand what is happening in the financial world with mortgage rates and other factors that may impact the market — and ultimately, your home seller’s transaction.

While understanding the current market is important, it is also crucial to understand the direction that the market could be headed in the coming months or year ahead. For instance, if mortgage rates are projected to increase within the coming months, sharing that information with your seller can help them make a more informed decision about listing their property.

Here’s a timely example. Early this year, the National Association of REALTORS® announced the settlement of the Sitzer/Burnett Commission Lawsuit that will undoubtedly change the way that real estate commissions are handled. If you aren’t clearly explaining this settlement and what it means for sellers in your listing presentation, you’re not doing your job.

Here are some scripts to help you communicate with your clients about buyer’s agent commissions:

Step 7. Present your marketing strategy 

Even in a highly active market, you should still have a comprehensive plan for marketing your seller’s property. Some ideas that can help you kickstart your listing marketing plan include: 

• Video marketing. Get creative with videos of your listings and post them to Facebook, Instagram Reels or YouTube. Try using drone footage for a unique perspective, but make sure to follow all local and federal aviation laws.

• QR codes + hot sheets. Create real estate flyers or virtual hot sheets for your listing and include a QR code so potential buyers can easily view a short video of the property’s highlights.

• Canvas the neighborhood. Knock on doors, call or leave flyers for neighbors and give them a sneak peek of your listing. 

• Facebook community groups. Spotlight your listing in groups that allow it (or start your own group) and share livestream videos (“lives”). Offer sneak previews to build interest in your listings. 

• Social media marketing: You don’t have to crush it on all platforms, but pick one or two, build an audience, and market your listings. Check out our 11 social media marketing strategies that work!

We love Coffee & Contracts because they deliver done-for-you, polished graphics and daily posts made to fit every social media channel — all for just $54 per month. Here’s what your Just Listed post might look like:

You can also check out agent and coach Ashley Harwood’s foolproof marketing plan and template to help you determine which marketing activities yield the best results for you, and her advice on how to get more listings:

Step 8: Discuss pricing strategy

Sellers are more savvy than ever, and with countless online tools and resources available to them, most sellers already know the value of their home or how much they expect to sell it for before they sit down with you. While you may need to discuss pricing with them if you disagree with their number, agents spend much less time on this aspect of the listing presentation these days.

However, it’s essential to set clear expectations at the outset. It may be challenging to discuss how a change in the market positions their property at a lower price point than they expect. However, that discussion is far better to have early rather than pricing their property inappropriately high and having it stagnate on the market. If you later need to lower their selling price, you’ve laid the groundwork for that discussion by pointing out the gap between their expectations and current market conditions.

Step 9: Reiterate your value proposition

Now that you’ve cleared the pricing hurdle, shared your expertise and market data, shown your client comps, toured the home and proven your value — it’s time to remind them of your elevator pitch. Circle back to the reasons this seller should hire you and only you to successfully list, market and sell their home. It’s important to be mindful of how they’re feeling, since selling a home and moving can signal big changes in their lives.

A little empathy can go a long way here, and that’s a surefire way to cement your value proposition with any client. People want to work with people they like. While you may have cited your successes earlier in the meeting, now is the time to really focus on the client.

What do they need to move forward? How can you help make this big life change seamless and hassle-free for them? Be attentive, listen and show that you’re going to take care of them through this daunting process. After all, this may be the launchpad for a lifelong agent-client relationship.

Step 10: Close the deal

Ok, this is the tough part where you have to ask for your client’s business, bring out your prepared contract, and ask them to sign on the dotted line. As we said at the beginning, a successful real estate listing presentation ends with a signed contract. If you’re unsure how to broach the topic, you can use Boston-based listing agent and coach Ashley Harwood’s helpful and proven closing script to ask for your client’s business:

The full picture: How to win more listings with a knockout listing presentation

With the many tools and templates available to help agents create winning listing presentations — and armed with your value proposition, market and comps data — we’re confident that you can crush your upcoming listing appointments if you follow the advice we’ve shared here.

Remember: When you deliver your listing presentation to a seller, always listen to them as a trusted advisor, present yourself honestly and authentically, and accurately explain the market conditions to them. If you follow these steps, we’re confident you can leave your next listing appointment with a signed listing agreement. We’re rooting for you!