I just read Broker Bryant's post called Look Me in the Eyes when you Talk to Me. It's an excellent post and story about making eye contact with the sellers, when you're on a listing presentation. I agree completely that we have to Connect with the sellers if we hope to develop a trusting relationship with them.  I'll let you read his post, and the many related comments.

But I wanted to share my experience about how I incorporate my Power Point Presentation into my Listing Presentations, and still make eye contact and connect with my sellers.

I have to admit, I had planned to use a Power Point Presentation a couple of years ago, and never could find a way to make it feel comfortable and had abandoned it until a few months ago. The computer can definitely be a distraction; keeping you from focusing your attention on the sellers. AND, it's definitely not for every seller!

The first part of my presentation has not changed since even before I got my real estate license and was selling manufactured homes. When I first enter the home, I look for the kitchen or dining room table, where I can place my things and get out my notepad. Because before we ever sit down, I need to see the house and have the sellers tell me all about it. The only difference now is, I setup my laptop while I'm getting out my notepad. Then I ask the sellers to show me their home.

As we walk through the house, I take detailed notes about every room, and ask questions as they come to mind. This not only allows me to familiarize myself with the house, but I'm getting to know the sellers as well. We usually end up stopping and talking about their pets and family along the way. I've never timed it, but I would guess this tour takes a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 30 minutes, depending on how much chatting we do. A lot of "face time" takes place during the tour. By the time I've seen the house, we're usually pretty comfortable with each other, and I have a good idea of their priorities and needs.

When we get back to the table, I give the sellers the small notebook of information that I'll be leaving with them, and answer any questions they have at this point (the laptop is on but pushed mostly closed). I go through some of the information in the notebook with them, and it's usually around this time that we start to discuss pricing. It's not until the sellers start asking about the overall market, or advertising that I open the laptop.

Now my laptop came with a little remote control for the DVD player, which also works with the PPP, so I'm not limited to the exact order of the slides in the presentation. I can skip forward or backward to specific slides, in order to answer the seller's specific questions. This also allows me to position the screen so everyone can see it, and each other at the same time. (It's usually beside me since I don't need to look directly at it.) Most of the time, we go straight to the bar graphs I created, showing the monthly activity over the last couple of years as the listings have increased and the sales have decreased. Then I quickly flip through the advertising slides. I end by showing them one of my video tours and/or some photos of my other listings. I like to emphasize quality photos and video, and offer them proof of this! Then it's time to sign the paperwork and get it sold!

So that's the overview of my listing presentation and how I incorporate a computer into it, without compromising the most important part of the process which is, building a relationship!

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