One example of a popular real estate marketing technique would be to offer a No Cost Obligation Competitive Marketing Analysis (CMA) to attract consumers. Once you’ve established a relationship with the prospect, you can then segue into your pitch to sell additional, higher-margin products and services that enhance the consumer’s interaction with the low-cost product or service.  Specifically, you are seeking a listing from the client, and if you get it you can then add-on “seller” giveaways to make the listing more appealing to buyers and therefore easier to sell (seller agrees to pay discount points, offer home warranty plans, etc.)  However, we are not talking about under pricing the property for a quick sell or to engage in unethical practices.  Rather, I am proposing that you having an open and honest dialogue with your seller to determine what kinds of concessions he or she is willing to make to get his or her property closed.  It could be any sort of home upgrades such as paint, a new roof, carpeting, gift certificates for appliances etc.

A popular marketing technique would be to target different segments of the market such as renters. Build a list of renters struggling to be owners and offer to assist them to rebuild their credit and perhaps refer them to real estate investors who might be willing to do a lease-option transaction.  You might earn yourself a finder’s fee and you will definitely have the appreciation and future business of that real estate investor.

Some real estate marketing techniques are based on market dominance. In this scenario, you would produce data to support your market dominance based upon market share in the community (i.e. number of homes sold etc).  There are other techniques that cross into more aggressive territory and can even be based on warfare strategies. Ever hear of Guerilla Marketing? Well, that’s where the term comes from.

Using a technique or techniques that you are comfortable with and is more in line with your personality is recommended. It is far easier to be authentic which is critical in any sales marketing.  Patience is essential as well – this is not an overnight success story – it’s a “slow and steady wins the race” situation.   While you may not see your desired results immediately, you will eventually reap the benefits of your efforts.

No matter what you are “selling” people always have objections and excuses as to why they are not ready to do something right now. This applies in both offline and online marketing, since in both cases you want to call the person to perform an action. Offline, it could be getting them to sign a contract to list with you or to buy a house – online it could be trying to get them to sign up for your newsletter or picking up the phone and really calling you when they reach your website.

The best thing to do is prepare yourself for these sales objections so that when the buyer or seller gives them to you, you’re ready to persuade them otherwise! A lot of agents forget about the basic closing sales techniques, but in the world of sales, this is something that will always prove to be useful.

Here are a few examples of common objections and what you can do:

We’re Not Ready Yet: I’m sure you’ve heard from someone who says “We’re just not ready yet” as to why they won’t list with you or make an offer after you’ve given them a tour of 200 houses. These people say they aren’t ready – but if they’re not really ready, why are they even talking to you? This is probably the most vague of all sales objections, so your job is to find out WHY they’re hesitating. Question Them: When will you be ready? What is stopping you from signing (or making an offer) right now? Do you reckon anything will be different tomorrow, next week, next month, next year?

I Already Have a Real Estate Agent: This is a trickier one, because you do have to be careful of soliciting other agent’s clients. This is especially right concerning open house traffic. You might question them questions such as, Oh, are you aware of our [insert special buyer/seller promo exclusive to your office/broker here] or question them how pleased they have been with their agent. Sometimes this can open up a can of worms, other times it can bring some fascinating dialogue, especially if you happen to get a frustrated seller.

We Want to Sell Our Home First: This is another common one I get a lot from people, especially with a lot of people being upside down on their mortgages. Excellent questions to question are “Have you looked into bridge loans?” (many buyers don’t even know these exist!) or “Are you aware you can often make an offer contingent on your home selling?” or “Where will you live when your home sells and you haven’t found a new house yet?” or “What marketing are you doing to sell your home as quickly as possible?”

This house doesn’t have XYZ: Let’s be bluntly honest here: there is no such thing as the perfect house. EVen those who custom build and design their houses are often surprised to realize that their dream house is still missing a feature or two. So, you need to question a lot of questions, and be prepared to offer a few creative solutions. For example, say a house has carpeting and they wanted hardwood floors. You might question, “If the seller agreed to give you an allowance to install new flooring so you could pick out anything you liked, would you buy this house?”

It’s too Expensive/Not Enough: Money is usually a touchy subject with everyone you meet. Buyers reckon every single house they see is overpriced, sellers reckon their house is worth more than it is. For sellers, you’ll want to focus on asking them questions about their minimum amount they’ll accept, how if they wait it could be more hard to sell the home since markets can change seasonally, etc. For buyers, you’ll want to make sure they’re preapproved, talk with them about making offers and how they don’t have to offer the list price.

Don’t Forget About Your Website: If you have a website, you’ll also want to question yourself whether or not your website is meeting online objections as well. Most people when they are looking online for something want to find things easily and quickly. Can they find everything they need to find on your site? Is your contact information simple to read and use? (For example, some visitors won’t bother sending you a message if you don’t have an email contact form that is simple to access and use.) It also helps to have things that can help alleviate some of the online concerns buyers and sellers may have, such as “you can cancel anytime and your information is never shared” for a newsletter subscription or “No question is too small or silly – you can contact me here or feel free to call at 555-555-5555″.

These are just a few of common real estate sales objections and what responses and rebuttals can be effective in overcoming them. Have any tips you’d like to share? We’d like to hear your comments below!

But I’ve noticed after doing a quick Google Trends Search, the term “FSBO” for searches is down nearly 50%. And according to the NAR, the number of FSBO’s have also dropped from 19% of all home sales nationally to only 13%. No doubt the uncertainty of the real estate market has a lot to do with this. When selling a home isn’t as simple as putting a sign in the yard and trying your luck with struggling print media, a professional real estate agent can certainly come in handy.

A lot of agents reckon the FSBO is only something a newbie agent would “waste their time with”…but truthfully an experienced agent with a small patience could convert that FSBO rather quickly. And it’s probably a safe bet that the majority of FSBO’s right now are selling because they need to – not just for the heck of it. A motivated FSBO is always simpler to turn into a client than one who doesn’t need to sell anytime in particular.

The FSBO’s are out there – and they need your help. And more likely now than ever before in the past few years, they might just be pleased to hear from you with some reassuring words and advice. Woo them with your real estate blog, your use of Adwords, exposure on hundreds of IDX fed websites and maybe even your creative craigslist ads. They’ll be impressed. And they might realize a professional could end up saving them money in the long run.

The first place to start in becoming a relocation specialist is with your broker. You will want to see what relocation companies and programs your broker is associated with, as well as the requirements for you to be qualified to receive relocation referrals. Your broker may offer special training courses and programs for you to attend. Training can include a number of things, but it usually will cover how to do BPO’s (Broker Price Opinion) for sellers relocating from your area to how to handle incoming relocating buyers.

Training for these types of things usually but does not involve the most vital things: understanding the relocating client’s needs and how to get relocation clients.

Relocating to a new city or state, or even in the case of international relocation, to a new country, can be both exciting and intimidating for many homeowners. They will have to worry about their present home selling, finding a new home in time for their new job, and of course facilitating every aspect of the go, including changing banks, cell phone providers and more. For many who are relocating they will have limited time to look at a lot of properties or research neighborhoods, since they may have to travel in order to look at properties.

One thing you can do to help service your relocation clients is to prepare a relocation checklist for them that can give them an thought as to everything that needs to be done in order to have a smooth go and real estate transactions. You may even wish to contact their real estate agent in the other area to make sure everything is going well on that end, since ultimately it will likely affect your own transaction and relationship with the client. For relocation buyers, you will also want to make sure you can provide accurate and quick information things such as travel, recreation, school districts, and other vital information about the area. Because you will likely be doing a lot of business over the telephone and through email, it is a excellent thought to be well versed in doing business without paper. Services such as MyFax.com make it possible for you to convert fax to email and is well worth it if you do not have that ability to do so on your own.

The next thing you will want to reckon about is where will you get relocation leads. The first place to start with is your broker and relocation departments, since they may have partnerships already formed with major companies in your area.

Next, you will want to optimize your website for the words “relocation” and others related to it. Making a PPC campaign for this with the right landing page could be quite beneficial. Not all buyers and sellers who are relocating go straight through their companies or a relocation firm. Many start right on excellent ancient Google and Yahoo. This alone could likely bring you enough business if done properly. (Warning: You do have to be careful with PPC – I know many people who have spent hundreds of dollars on it with no return, but I know others who can get 3-1 sales conversions from leads it brings also! Do your homework first!)

Becoming a relocation specialist for any agent is not a terrible thought, especially since many of your clients may already be relocating. Check with your broker, do some research, and excellent luck!

One of the listing presentation techniques that we teach to new agents that has been highly successful (many of them getting listings over seasoned competing agents) is preparing a listing presentation binder. A listing presentation binder is exactly what it sounds like – its a regular standard 3 ring binder, and inside in plastic sheet covers is everything your potential clients need to know about selling their home and why you’re the person to do it.

To get started, you’ll need to organize exactly what you plot to talk about in a listing presentation. This doesn’t mean you HAVE to talk about every thing on each page in fantastic detail, but having it available will make you seem prepared and organized. I’ve found that breaking the listing presentation into three parts: About Me & My Company, Our Marketing Plot, and the CMA information is usually effective.  You can organize it but you like. Reckon about what you normally talk about first in a listing presentation and where they usually progress to as a guide.

Next, you’ll need to reckon about some things to place in each section. Here’s some thoughts to help get you started:

About Me & My Company Section
Personal Flyer/Resume
Website Screenshots
Brief History Page (Timelines, vital people, etc. – most people are bored by this kind of thing!)
Market Share Graphs (Our company has been #1 in our market for the past 7 years, so that always gets people’s attention!)
News/Happenings

Marketing Plot
Overview of the Selling Process
30 Day Calendar of all marketing activities
Internet Marketing (a list of our 43 Listing Sites might help!) You’ll also want to include screenshots of websites and so they can imagine how their home will look online.
Virtual Tours/Videos
Television Showcase Information if applicable
Print Media Examples
Flyer Examples
Postcard Examples
Any other visual proof of marketing efforts

CMA Information
Market Graphs – homes selling in what price ranges/days on market/etc.
Closest Comps Available for Sale (With pictures and basic info such as sq ft, beds/baths, etc.)
Closest Comps Recently Sold (With pictures and basic info such as sq ft, beds/baths, etc.)
Seller Checklist of Things to Do to Prepare Home for Sale
Pricing Strategies
Listing Contract for Review

Once you’ve collected color copies of each of these, you’ll want to assemble several listing presentations so you have one on hand any time you get a listing appointment and it will save you time by having them ready in advance – all you’ll need to do is change and update the MLS section. Alternatively, you can prepare the CMA in a seperate folder or binder.

Now I Have a Binder, What the Heck Do I Do With It?

Once you’ve got your binder together, the first thing to do is start practicing giving the listing presentation to someone else. Friends, family, and your office manager all make excellent guinea pigs. You want to make sure that when you’re presenting the binder you’re not just reading it page for page. Maintain eye contact with the person you’re giving the presentation to and give them the opportunity to question questions.

Another vital thing to remember is to keep control of the book. Some sellers will want to kind of rip it out of their hands so they can just kind of browse through it. Keep your hands on it and make sure while they can see it, you don’t lose control of the listing presentation.

You’ll also want to reckon about what to place on the cover of your listing presentation. Some agents I know use a standard cover for all listings, while others go an extra step and make a custom cover with a picture of the seller’s house on the cover.

Another thing to consider is if you’d like to let the sellers keep the listing presentation binder if they do not choose to list with you right then and there. One technique that works well is “I can let you keep it for a day or two, do you want to meet Thursday and we can go over any questions you have?” This gives you the reason for a second appointment if one is necessary and hopefully that one will be the one that gets them signing the contracts!

Do you use a listing presentation binder? Have any other tips or things to include in your listing presentation materials?