How To Get Listings Sold In This Different Market – Part 1

In part 1 of 3 for this series, Mike Ferry discusses How to Get Listings Sold in this New Market.

How To Get Listings Sold In This Different Market – Part 1

Good morning and welcome to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of October 24th and we’re doing a three-part series starting today.

If you’re a Broker, Broker, Owner, or Manager, make sure that you get all of your salespeople watching it this week because we’re going to be talking about how to get listings sold in this little bit different market than what we’ve had the last two and a half years.

I’m going to read part of this to you to start, and I want you to listen carefully and probably I would suggest that you take the time to watch this particular segment three or four times this week, take as many good notes as you can take because the key to the business is first taking listings, but then as importantly, having them sell.

So I don’t want a market changes either goes flat or starts to decline. The challenge is how to get listings sold and satisfying the needs of our Sellers. As we all know, during the past five to seven years, getting a listing sold really required nothing more than taking a listing.

And then of course, knowing they’d multiple offers and multiple showings on a very, very quick basis, nearly every listing that was taken between, say, June of 19, excuse me, 2020 and up until about three or four, maybe five months ago, depending on the market, sold quickly.

And it was really not much in terms of our skills to get a listing sold as it was the fact that the demand was so high for listings.

So this has almost 100% stop throughout North America. So the challenge we face in a transitioning market, which we have no transitioned into and while coaching a lot of great people and training a lot of people like yourself is getting you to recognize the conditions of the market.

So when you are presenting to a Seller, you can get a positive response and more importantly, help them understand what has to be done to get a listing sold.

So I want you, if you have one or two listings to identify, is there any of the points I’m going to give you today or next week or the week after that you should be using and applying those to your Sellers?

The Seller’s desire to sell is always the key to success, but the Seller’s understanding of the market is critically important. And who better to understand the market than you and I as professional salespeople?

So I’m going to go through ten points today. Listen carefully. Some of you will say, Well, they don’t apply to my listings. And the reason we have 30 some points on the next three segments is because not all of them do apply, but the odds are most of them do apply on how to get listings sold in this different market.

#1: Price it right the day you take the listing

So point number one, and this is the blinding flash of the obvious, price it right the day you take the listing. This means if you price it even several percent over the CMA projected price, you probably should consider walking away and turning it down.

And I understand fully very few agents have the courage to do that. And the reason we have that we don’t have the courage to do it is we don’t have enough presentations, therefore we don’t have enough listings to walk away.

Well, my suggestion has always been the same … Determine the fair market value.

Try to be at least at fair market value, if not 3% to 5% below fair market value because this has to become the list price. Now a Seller wants and thinks this market we have today is the market we had back in March of this year.

And of course, those worlds are totally different. So what I want you to think about is helping the Seller understand the market.

#2: Consider putting a price reduction form

I wrote down second, consider putting a price reduction form … (Now we actually have those forms available meaning your office. We haven’t seen them in a long time) … in your Pre-Listing Package. It will get the Seller used to seeing a document that says “price reduction” on it.

So when you come back in a conversation, it isn’t a complete surprise, although they’re never happy to have to listen to that conversation.

#3: The condition of the property becomes critical to the sales process

Number three, since Buyers today have more choices, remember the condition of the property becomes critical to the sales process. Whether you critique the property on behalf of the Seller or you get the Seller to make some suggestions to themselves as to what needs to be done.

We have to decide on which homes are going to sell first in the community, and the ones that sell first are those that are priced closer to fair market value in a most cases in better condition. So we have to be you have to be honest, you have to be upfront, you have to tell them the truth regarding condition.

#4: Reintroduce the price reduction form in the Pre-Listing Package

I wrote down fourth during your Listing Presentation, consider reintroducing that price reduction form that was in the Pre-Listing Package.

Because, you know, the challenge that we have is if we don’t get … (and I stated this a minute ago) … If we don’t have a lot of presentations, it’s very difficult to get our mind wrapped around the fact that we don’t have to take a listing that is not going to sell.

It hurts the ego, it hurts the reputation, it hurts the mindset of the individual agent like yourself.

So consider asking them to sign a price reduction form if they’re absolutely convinced they need this price and you’re trying to get it at this price, consider asking them to consider signing a price reduction form that is 30 days out.

From the day you take the listing, consider it. They may sign it. It’s going to help you long-term on how to get listings sold.

#5: Become an expert at market statistics and use them on every Listing Presentation

Number five is a tough one because this change is so quickly. We have to work and become an expert at market statistics and use them on every Listing Presentation.

Now, six months ago, we would say, “Once a month, establish the market statistics.” Today we’re saying, “Once a week, establish the market statistics” because they are changing that fast in this transitioning, declining market.

The better you keep the Seller informed on the market, the stronger you look in the eyes of the Seller, the more confidence they will have in you and what you’re saying and your chances for getting it priced right increase as the strength of your belief in the market stats increases.

#6: Prequalify 100% of the Sellers

Number six on the list … (and this is a no exception point) … prequalify 100% of the Sellers. Before you ever make a Listing Presentation, do it 100% of the time and ask 100% of the prequalifying questions. And I wrote in capital letters, “THERE’S NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POINT.”

Now the exception is you don’t do it and you take it 10%, 15%, 20% of a fair market value, which means you’re probably up to 30% off on your price. What we’re looking for in the pre-listing prequalification process is their motivation. We’re looking for how strong that motivation is.

And if you’re going on one or two presentations every 60 days, you know, we’re a little skeptical to press too hard because we need to be on a presentation and we need a listing.

If you’re going on one or two Listing Presentations a week, you understand that you don’t want to waste your time on a Seller whose price is here and motivation is here. So let’s make sure we prequalify 100%.

#7: Follow the Listing Plan of Action

Number seven is going to sound a little unusual. Consider using what we call The Mike Ferry Organization Plan of Action. And the Plan of Action you can go to our website, you can look at the listing scripts and you’ll see one that says Plan of Action. And all it is is a step-by-step process that we followed to get a listing sold.

So I wrote for number seven … Use the Plan of Action on every Listing Presentation.

Once they sign the contract, whatever the price may be, call back the Seller once a week, report them exactly what you have worked on and what results you’re getting from working on getting it sold. Because if you’re doing your job and it’s not selling, it has to be the price.

So if there’s 18 steps in the Plan of Action and you’ve done nine of those steps over two weeks and you’re not getting any offers and showing. Now you can show them these are the steps that I’ve taken. The problem has to be the price.

#8: Consider a 5% price reduction if listing doesn’t sell within 15-30 days

Number eight … (And this is something that you really have to consider) … If you’re listing hasn’t sold in, say, 14 to 15 to 30 days, make the following presentation to the Seller … (And this is assuming their motivation to sell is still strong).

“Mr. Mrs. Seller, for us to be number one or number two in the market in terms of the competition that is for sale, we have to be at least 5% below our competitors. Will you drop your price an additional 5% so we can hold on to the number one or number two position in the market?”

Meaning agent’s working with Buyers look at price, they look at terms, they look at condition, they look at location and they pick what they think is the best. Let’s make ours the best in the eyes of the agents and the Buyers.

#9: Inform the Seller with market stats from the beginning

Number nine when going back to work on price reductions, which is many, many times a painful experience because, see, if we’re not strong at the start, it’s hard to be strong 30 days later because they’re going to question the validity of your belief in getting their home sold.

So when you go back 30 days later, two weeks later, or whatever the time may be, ask the Seller this question, “Do you understand what these market stats mean and how they affect the sale of your property?” D

o you understand? Because the market stats will have changed if it’s 30 days later from the time you took the listing.

#10: Make sure that your listings are always #1 (or #2 at the worst case)

And then number ten … last point for today on how to get listings sold… Make sure that your listings are always, always either number one or number two at the worst case, the third best one for sale compared to the competition. And this takes a lot of research. It takes a lot of work, which is why so many agents don’t work on listing property.

Everything is going to sell. Everything always sells.

And those that don’t, expire, and then other good trained agents come in and they make a presentation out of that Expired Listing showing the Seller what should have been done and what needs to be done. And so many of our clients today are thriving on the listings taken by their people that were priced wrong and never sold.

Because the number of Expired Listings today is back in a climbing process and getting much more back to what happened in the last big recession, 2009 to 2012. So we have some opportunities in front of us. We have some challenges in front of us.

We have a lot of things to review after today. And we’re going to continue this same thing next week with points 11 through 20 on how to get listings sold, Watch review, take notes, watch review, take notes. See you next week.