If you’ve lost your estate agent mojo and don’t know how to find it, why don’t you begin by thinking about what it means to be an agent? Once you’ve got a strategy sorted, make sure you stick to it.
Many agents will hit a wall, because they just don’t quite get the purpose at the core of being a real estate agent. Everything you do as agents should be part of a defined, strategic approach.
Sellers give agents the responsibility to sell their assets, which is provides an obligation to act in their best interests. This means that as an agent the best interest of your clients is also your best interest.
Let’s look at the top 7 sales strategies you should be implementing as an agent
1) Presentation Strategies
If you don’t get presentation right, everything else will be impacted in a negative way. Smart agents will ensure they develop new skills to show sellers how to prepare their properties accordingly.
Handling different types of properties is key. The difference between selling a beach shack and a Sydney suburbs mansion will require vastly different presentation skills. Make sure you don’t end up clearly trying to dress mutton up as lamb.
2) Marketing Strategies
Coming up with a solid marketing plan will often involve drawing up agency portal presentations, social media advertisements and newsletters. It is impossible to sell a secret in case you didn’t know. Marketing is the window to your customers, from which you can make a good impression.
Don’t forget that you’re not giving away the product, so ensure you hold something back a little. Customers will always want what they can’t have. This is a major flaw in real estate walk-throughs, as you see the house from every single angle. Too much information gives people reason to not investigate further.
3) Pricing Strategies
Is the price right? Get ready to crunch some numbers, because if you get this wrong you may not get a second chance to attract your target audience.
As with presentation and marketing strategies, if the price doesn’t line up with the property and they buyers’ expectations, they could make an instant judgment based on the number. Simply put, a figure that sits outside the ball park will likely turn away potential buyers.
4) Communication Strategies
Communication strategies require that you connect all parties involved in the process of selling a property. This includes suppliers, buyers, sellers, the marketing and compliance team, and the agent themselves.
Communication must be structured in a way that encompasses presentation, marketing and pricing. This will allow communication to become seamless, especially when letting all the relevant people know what they need to know and when.
Don’t forget that sellers are going through a stressful time, so you’ll want to communicate clearly and at the right moment, as this will instil confidence within them. When you promise good communication as an agent, you absolutely must deliver this.
5) Buyer Nurture Strategies
Forgetting the buyer altogether is often a fundamental mistake of many agents acting on behalf of the seller. You’ll need to nurture your potential buyers – thinking how they think. Factors such as the facilities in a neighbourhood, pest inspections and crime rates are all things to consider from your buyers’ point of view.
A buyer will have their own hopes, dreams and life stresses. Build a strategy that says you will nurture and care for them during this time of mixed emotions – keeping them right there on the journey with you.
After all, the buyer is the person putting the dollar into your seller’s pocket, right? This means you’ll want to create the best possible environment for this transaction to take place in. If you run an auction you’ll want the ‘losers’ to come back saying they want to be kept in the loop about future listings – make them feel wanted.
6) Negotiation Strategies
Both the buyer and seller will benefit from negotiation strategies. This is the hallmark of the agent’s tool box. They will be the nuts and bolts of how the process will work. It is important to ensure both parties understand how different scenarios will work. Often the first complaint will be that they didn’t know what was going on – don’t let this be on your watch.
To address these issues, you’ll need clear policies surrounding the transaction process – don’t forget to shoot an email to all parties concerned, just to keep them in the loop.
7) Sales Strategies
Think about how you’ll manage the hardest part of the process – the sale. Once you know your method of attack, make sure you stick to it. If you have a formal sales strategy, it will communicate a consistent message to sellers. This will help to build trust with current and future sellers.
Have an initial meeting with sellers, a review-preview meeting half way, and a debrief after a sale or an auction. It’s key that everyone knows what is happening and when it will happen.