Nico Hohman
By Nico Hohman
Is your listing presentation working for you? Are you getting as many listings as you want?
If the answer is “no,” then it may be time to craft a better sales story.
According to Donald Miller, author, speaker, and founder of The StoryBrand Process, you should think of your listing presentation as a story. As humans, we have evolved from our storytelling ancestors. We are hard-wired to listen to and retain stories more so than any other type of medium. The better the story, the higher the probability of someone remembering and liking it.
In your listing presentation, you are trying to convey a message to your potential clients. But you must ensure that your aren’t conveying the wrong message. To get more listings, follow these seven steps to craft a better sales story.
1. Introduce the Hero
In many cases, this is exactly where most listing presentations fall flat. And once you have failed in the first step, you have lost your potential client for the rest of your presentation.
First, you have to understand that you’re not the hero of the story. Your client is the hero of the story. And as the hero of the story, your presentation should be focused significantly more on them and less so on you.
In fact, you as the real estate agent aren’t even introduced into the story until step three.
If you’re telling the story of the hero, you want to know as much about them as possible. Find out information about their family, their jobs, their interests, what they like and dislike. The more you know about the hero of the story, the more you can relate to him or her and tell their story.
2. Introduce the Problem
In every story worth remembering, the hero must overcome some obstacle in order to get to the end of the journey. Otherwise, you would have a story about nothing.
The problem for your client may seem obvious to you—they need to sell their home—but there is significantly more detail that goes into this problem.
Some of the issues the hero needs to figure out include: Why do they need to sell their home? How will they sell their home? What do they need to do to sell their home?
@5demayo, 2016. Morguefile.com.
3. Introduce the Guide
We have our hero/heroes (the sellers) and we have the problem (selling their home.) Now comes the time to interject yourself into the listing presentation.
Every hero, no matter how great, can’t accomplish everything on their own. Every hero needs a coach, a mentor, a sage, or a wise elder. You are the guide that will direct the sellers to the end of their journey. You are the one to help them answer their questions of why, how, and what to do to sell their home. You are the Yoda to their Luke Skywalker. You are the real estate agent that will help them sell their home.
4. The Hero Practices the Strategies of the Guide
While the guide certainly has a very important role in the journey of the hero, the story is not about the guide. The story is about the hero. Continue to keep that in mind. You can think of this step as the training montage in the Rocky movies.
You have heard what the seller has to say, and you understand their needs and wants. You now have to give the seller your expert thoughts and suggestions as to what needs to be done to get their house sold.
5. The Hero Implements the Steps Proposed by the Guide
We are at the critical turning point in our story by this fifth step. Our hero now has the tools, practice, and experience to face their problem head on.
This is the point in the story when we find out if the seller is willing to make those small renovations to their house to make it sale-worthy. This is the point when we find out if they’ve kept their house in tip top condition for pictures and future showings.
If the hero of the story followed the advice of the guide, you can skip to step seven of this process. If not, keep moving on to step six.
6. When the Hero Fails
Sometimes even the best heroes with the best coaches don’t always overcome the obstacles that are in their path.
What happens if your seller’s home has been on the market for two months and they haven’t gotten a single offer? What happens when you are under contract and the home fails the home inspection?
In an ideal world, you wouldn’t have to worry about this step, but you always need to prepare just in case. This is the step where you should have answers for any question or objection that the seller may have.
Sometimes in a story, the hero cannot see the end of his or her journey. However, it is the duty of the guide to always encourage and inspire the hero to see things through to the very end.
7. When the Hero Succeeds
Everyone loves a happy ending: The guy gets the girl. The superhero saves the day. Or the team wins the championship.
In this scenario, you as the guide have helped the hero of the story, the seller, to do everything they need to do in order to sell their home.
Looking back at your marketing materials, how much of your listing presentation is about you, your brokerage, and your listing process? Make the seller the hero of your story, and you’ll be sure to get the listings you want. You’ll also be sure to get a happy ending.
Nico Hohman is a Tampa-based real estate pro with NextHome Discovery who works on renovation and rehab properties. Learn more about Nico at hohmanhomes.com or connect on Twitter: @thenicohohman.