It starts off as somewhat of a whirlwind romance...
You find those looking to sell their homes, you woo them with the high tech marketing, eye-catching brochures and your impressive stats.
They’re hooked.
After contracts are signed, the honeymoon phase begins with countless open houses and promising leads, but then something changes...
After a few months of their home sitting on the market, sellers get restless. The excitement of a big sale and the initial marketing campaign wears off and they are left wondering what’s going on. Oftentimes, this is where the phone calls begin to become a little more abrupt and the questions of “What are you doing to market my home?” ensue. And chances are, you’re still doing those things you promised.
You’re still marketing their listing on every real estate site out there, still scheduling open houses, still doing all the leg work to get their home sold. But somewhere between the exchange of phone numbers and the endless weeks on the market, communication slowly dies down. Consequently, this is the #1 complaint of sellers.
So, how do YOU avoid becoming known as the evasive agent? How can you let your sellers in on all that you’re still doing to bring about a sale? How can you effectively communicate exactly what is going on with their home on a weekly basis?
Seller Reporting - Yeah, yeah… you’ve heard about it, maybe have even tried it, but the time that goes into pulling stats and constantly emailing clients would be a full time job in and of itself. This is where your real estate virtual assistant can step in. Setting up seller reporting can be as basic or as extensive as you want it to be. Don’t know what you should be sending? Below are a few options.
REALTOR.com - Offered is a template reporting email that lets your clients know the market activity (hits/clicks) on their home. This can be sent out as often as you want by your VA. You can also make this more personal! Let your VA write an email that uses your signature and even your personality to avoid coming across as “canned.”
Zillow and Visual Tour - These are just a couple of the Real Estate sites that allow you to pull stats (hits/clicks) as to how much traffic the home is receiving. Your VA can gather this information and email your clients on a monthly, bi-weekly or weekly basis giving them consistent updates.
Marketing Team Email -
For those wanting to go the extra mile, a personalized email from your marketing team (of Virtual Assistants!) is the way to go!
We’ve set up marketing accounts for many of our clients which allows for impressive and seamless way of communicating with your sellers, letting them SEE the print and online marketing efforts for themselves.
Imagine an email going to each of your sellers on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, showing detailed stats of each site on which their home is listed, and coming from YOUR marketing team. (Ex:marketing@joesmith.com!) Your sellers WILL be impressed.
Why Seller Reporting?
That’s a good question, but chances are you already know the answers!
1. Work Ethic - You want your seller to see that you are pro-active. They need to feel affirmed in their decision to hire you as their listing agent. Living up to your promises will put them at ease with keeping their home listed with you. Not to mention the referrals you’re sure to get!
2. Price Reduced or Withdrawn - Allowing your sellers to see what’s going on with their home on a regular basis gives them an inside look on how their home is doing in the current market. It’s always hard to suggest lowering the price of a home or even re-listing at a later date, but it will be much easier if your seller has seen all the marketing you’ve been doing and that their home is simply not listed at the right price or buyers are just not interested.
3. Great Impressions - Let’s be honest; it just looks good! You’re not only giving your sellers great service, but they will see you as an impressive agent. Chances are, when their friends are looking for a listing agent; YOU will be the agent they suggest!
Not sure where to start with Seller Reporting? Let us help!
A real estate virtual assistant can take care of setting up your seller reporting. Your VA should have some type of task management system in place, therefore automating the process and eliminating the need for you to request these monthly reports.
Think of your real estate virtual assistant as that spark that keeps the relationship between you and your client growing!
Allie Hlad
Listing & Photography Coordinator
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