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Seller, Help Me... Help You

That's the tentative name of a CD (DVD?) I'm putting together to help agents educate their sellers on how to best help the agent get a home sold for the highest price, least amount of time, blah blah blah. It's not a product for sale or for profit... it's actually a part of a course I'm designing on creating a listing presentation template.

So, I'm asking you to Help Me... Help You!

The goal is to give agents a tool to communicate difficult concepts to their seller or seller prospect without being the messenger who gets shot. (I think there's another guy who does this - David Knox? More on that below).

A side benefit is that the agent doesn't wear out his or her welcome with the seller - you know how long and tedious listing presentations can be and that's BEFORE you get to your to-do list for them!

Here are some topics I plan to include:

Pricing:

Why the right price is critical
Answers to common pricing objections
Explanation of the 30-Day Sale

The Importance of Condition

For photos & virtual tour
For showings
For inspection

The Importance of Showing Accessibility

Why to be "easy" (to show)
Why you must LEAVE during showings
How showings work (very general to accommodate different markets & situations)

How inspections work (very general)

How real estate fees work

What an agent does for his or her commission

As mentioned above, I may not be the first person to create a product specifically for sellers. However, I may be the first person to do it SOULFULLY! By "soulfully" I mean that I will address the seller with respect, as if he or she is an intelligent human being who doesn't need to be battered over the head with a lot of fluff & propaganda. I will include anecdotes & specific examples to back up my advice, making the material more interesting and easy-to-assimilate. On the other hand, I won't mince words - I believe that it is our duty to let sellers know exactly what they need to do so that we can most effectively do our jobs.

So... here's where I need your input:

Sound interesting to you at all? Helpful? Or just silly?
Best delivery method - Audio CD (for the car), DVD, downloadable mp3 file? Power Point Presentation? Ebook? Other? All?
How do you feel about the topics above? Are there others you'd like to see?

HELP ME... HELP YOU!

THANKS!

Jennifer Allan, GRI

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Posted by Jennifer Allan, Author of Sell with Soul on 07/16/2007 01:21 PM

Comments (18)

sellers, all blogs

Originally posted at: Selling Soulfully with Jennifer Allan: Seller, Help Me... Help You

18 Comments on Seller, Help Me... Help You

JUL

2007

well, thats original.

Sounds like a great tool..... a down-loadable pod-cast and MP3 that could be put on CD for the not so computer savvy clients would be the best way to go and would keep you cost down.

This sounds like a great idea but who are you targetting and how committed will those who get your material be to actually listening/watching? What would be your aim? If you have carried out a full initial discussion with the prospect to find what they want and if you can help I'd guess you will have covered the thorny points already. If you haven't I guess you'd be storing up trouble for later on.

A cd would be my preferred delivery option - the recording can be practiced, polished, refined and then delivered as the best presentation of me. Each person hearing will receive the same high quality delivery.

If I was receiving the information, cd would be better (car journies need something to add value).

Good topics but don't forget the major one which bugs Realtors (I'm al LO so I can say this) - the mortgage. NOT program but the importance of securing the right, responsible & reliable LO.

If you get the listing, Your Sellers no doubt will be shouting "Show Us the Money!"

Alan,

Good questions...

Here's my take. When talking with a seller for the first and/or second times, an agent discusses market value, agent commission and marketing activities. Either the seller hires the agent or not...

Let's say he hires her. The next step is to prepare the seller for the realities of being on the market. To explain how showings work... to explain why it's best not to restrict showing accessibility... to explain why it's best if the seller leaves the home for showings.

To explain why it's so important that the home show well... not only for the interior photos but for showings (duh) and the inspection. To explain what "showing well" really means.

Sometimes these are tough concepts for an agent to communicate. They shouldn't be, but fact is, they are. So one solution is to have an objective party (me) educate the seller on these matters, freeing up the agent's time and energy, not to mention the seller's energy and patience.

They pop the CD in their car, listen to it on the way to work and hopefully get a better understanding of how this whole home-selling business works. All without the agent having to appear holier-than-thou.

Again, this is not a product I'm going to market and sell. It's simply a piece of a course I'm designing on creating and presenting a listing proposal.

One of the things that I have started doing is scheduling showings with comparable properties so that the seller can see what their competition is before deciding on the listing price. After it is listed, I set up a search in the MLS with the criteria of THEIR house (much like a buyer's search) so that they can keep an eye on what is happening with the competition. It has been extremely helpful for me and a bit humbling for some of them.

I like the idea. Sellers want your help until you tell them what they don't want to hear.....but they respect the "bad news" if you stick to your guns and back up the information with something solid.

I think this item will be important. But most of my problem would be trying to bridge the gap between the Seller's opinion of value vs. me, the agent. It almost feels like we are in a battle but we should be in the same boat (wanting the highest value).

I think having this information in different available formats will be good. Some clients may like it in a CD format, while some in a DVD format. Some prefer in ebook, some printed.... I think having options will be good because we are in such a different lifestyle now - could never predict who's needing what format. PodCast could be cool too.

I think this is a wonderful idea but would think of a DVD. Before and After pictures you can show are powerful tools just from this one aspect to get homeowners to show their home in the best possible way. And most people have a DVD player while others may not have a CD in the car or the patience to sit and read an ebook online. I think that's a wonderful list you put together.

Nice idea! It sounds so Jerry McGuire! "Help me, help you." Will sellers actually listen to it and do what you ask? That would be the biggest challenge! I can't get some of my clients to mow their lawns...and I would think that would be obvious.

I think all media available, as all clients differ, I like the idea of showing what a cluttered home looks like vs a non cluttered home, to bad you can't have a way of showing a smelly house, like cigarettes or wet dogs vs cookies in the oven.

JUL

2007

Smelly house -- YES!!! I visited an open house this past Sunday, and it was a FANTASTIC 3 bedroom bungalow on 2 acres...in a suburb where that much land is rare. But the house REEKED of cigarettes!! I didn't want to say anything to the agent, as I'm just starting out and didn't want to sound like a "know-it-all"...but YUK!!! I couldn't wait to get out of there, and it really WAS a terrific property. Now if a smoker views it, they won't see (or smell) anything but a great house.

Richard - Jerry McGuire! I love it. Actually, I was reminded of a scene from Scrubs where the senior guy was hassling JD - "Help me help you help me help you help me help you..."

Jennifer,

Wow, I think I see where you are going with this, You stand in as the "bad cop" telling the hard truths to our sellers? is that the idea?

I think that the packege that I would like to see would be an editable mp3 posably with the option of burned cd's and dvd's and even a costomized booklet to go with it.

I would be able to go to your site, choose the chapters that I want to include, choose the format (mp3, cd, dvd, and booklet) download or order them, and present them to my sellers.

Wow! the options would be awsome!

I would love to work on something like this!

Michael - YEAH - you got it! I wanna be the bad cop!

Your plan is a little more aggressive than mine, but I like it...

I think that it's a great idea! I went as far as buying the DVD's to start producing them, but then found out how hard it is to make a quality presentation that didn't look like "home tv". Keep us informed on your progress.

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Jennifer,

You're covering so much ground here it seems to me that covering each bullet point or section a post would be more beneficial. Just a thought

Hi Caleb,

I guess I don't quite understand your advice... can you clarify what you mean?

Thanks!

Sorry.

Taking an example from my own life. I've got hundreds of email messages to get through right now. I want to get through them all, but often when someone has more than one point for me to address in their email it changes everything. It's much harder to answer. When I have a short quick precise question. I can answer it right away and engage.

When I saw your post I thought "Wow, that could be a terrific discourse" But there are so many directions this could go, if only there was one aspect of what you're looking for that we could focus on.

Perhaps pricing for example, or to be even more focused "why the right price is critical."

I was essentially thinking of breaking out your main idea into separate topics.

But it's just a thought. Thanks!

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