Beat the Competition: Winning Listings Using Tom Ferry’s Coaching

June 8, 2016

Esther Lee

“He who controls the listings, controls the market.”

These words ring true, particularly when seller leads are slim, and competition is fierce. How do you beat the competition? Tom Ferry, who has been bringing the best business strategies into real estate for over 20 years, gives his expert advice on how to win more listings by standing out from your competition.

Maximize The Selling Season With 5 To Thrive

Tom Ferry says the key to maximize your selling power is good ol’ R&D. Research & Development, right? Nope! Tom’s version is “Ripoff & Duplicate”! Essentially what he means is, why reinvent the wheel if something is already working really well?

Tom held a survey of over 3,000 coaching clients to determine what factors and practices made the most successful agents. This resulted in the list of 5 To Thrive: 3 things the best agents do to maximize their selling power.

5+ Hours of prospecting
5+ Open houses a month
5+ Follow ups per lead

Agents who keep up with these “5 to thrive” are averaging $308,000 a year. “But I already made more than that!” you might be thinking. “It’s about the consistency,” says Tom. Having a consistent routine is what leads to even better results. “Do the thing, have the power. Do not do the thing, do not have the power.”

Prospecting may not be your favorite part of the process, but smarter prospecting takes less time and increases efficiency. BoomTown’s smart prospecting tools make it so your prospecting efforts really pack a punch!

Be More Productive: Save Time With This Lead Follow Up Strategy

It’s been proven than lead follow up is more profitable than lead generation. Customizable follow up plans make it easy to schedule your to-do’s, so no lead falls through the cracks. Then after you’ve made your 5 contact attempts, put them on a Smart-Drip campaign to continue nurturing them. Maximize lead conversion with streamlined processes.

Amp Up Your Listing Presentation

Know Your Customer
The first thing when it comes to listing presentations is to figure out what your customer’s needs, wants, issues, and challenges are. A good place to start is to look them up on social media sites and LinkedIn to look for points of relatedness that you can use to build rapport (but don’t make it obviously creepy).

Ask the necessary pre-qualifying questions. What is their motivation to move?

Questions to Ask:

What’s your goal?
Where are you moving to?
What is your motivation for moving (why are you moving)?
What is your ideal timeframe?
What’s your Plan B if this doesn’t work out?

The goal for your listing presentation is not to convince them to sell their home, but on why they should choose you as their agent.

Be the Expert, Do Your Homework
Do more than just know the comps for the last 30-90 days. Actually walk through the properties, or at least go through photos and virtual tours to know what it looks like inside.

That way, if the client questions why their home value is priced lower than what their neighbor’s home sold for, you’re prepared. It’s because the neighbors had a recent kitchen remodel, or they add a screened porch. You are clearly a qualified agent who has done thorough research.

The more you know about the area and the houses on the market, the more you establish yourself as the knowledge broker.

Show Up Mentally Prepared
We all know that unexpected things happen. You get stuck in traffic, or get caught behind a train. But when you show up late to your appointment, that does nothing but channel disrespect to your client. It’s the fastest way to lose whatever rapport you worked so hard (and online stalked) to build.

Have your goal in mind, and your mind fully prepared for your presentation. With an elegant presentation, show them how easy you could make the process for them. Show them how you’re the obvious choice because you are the knowledgeable expert who can meet all their needs. Show up mentally prepared by knowing your customer and what they want.

Start With a Story
Most real estate agents start their presentations the same way: by talking about themselves or their company, and all their accomplishments. Shake things up. Do something different to separate you from the rest of your competition.

Start with a story. Introduce your presentation with a hook that captures them and creates interest, instead of going through a laundry list of “me, me, me,” these are my awards and my accomplishments (Sounds a little narcissistic, no?). Beginning with a story gets clients more engaged with you from the start.

Case Study vs. Promises
Speaking of laundry lists, instead of listing promises of all the things you’re going to do for the client, start with the end result. Fold those promises into a case study on how the last house listed with you sold at a high price, took the least amount of time, while you provided the best service.

And make sure you include numbers! For example, present a case study on a house you got sold for 3% more than the asking price, for 22% faster than the average time on market, and the excellent review those clients wrote for you.

How did you accomplish all this? This is where you can go back over the steps and actions you took, and how this is exactly what you would be doing for this client as well.