5 things you can leverage in Listing Presentations to boost your success with Justin Nickerson

Justin Nickerson, Australasian Auctioneer of the Year for 3 years straight, knows how to sell property. More importantly, he knows how to sell himself.

At XCON 2023, he walked us through his listing presentation process, how he frames his skills and why, if you do it well, vendors will see no other option but to list with you.

His top 5 tips are below:

1. Uncover the vendors’s biggest motivation for selling their property. 

Ask them what’s most important to them, from the below:

• The Best Price
• The Quickest Sale 
• Maintaining Your Privacy

99% of the time your seller will say the best price. When they do, explain that to achieve this, the other 2 will have to be sacrificed (it won’t be the quickest and privacy will be lost when advertising the property). 

If they want to achieve the quickest sale possible, explain it’s unlikely to achieve the best price and again, the sale will be made public. 

If privacy is the most important, advertising won’t be public so this will reduce the likelihood of the best price and slow down the sale of the property. 

Knowing the motivation will empower you and you should refer back to this often through your presentation. You can use the information to formulate your selling strategies and vendors will feel like it’s been tailored to them.

2. Diffusing two of the most common landmines when deciding on an agent. 

Landmine #1: I’m not going to be the cheapest.

If you’re not a discount agent, get this one out of the way as soon as possible. Explain that if they’re looking for the cheapest option, the cheapest way is selling the property themselves. However, the reason they engage an agent is to remove the friction and emotion involved with the sales and negotiation process. 

A cheap agent often lacks the skill to articulate messages between buyer and seller, and as a result you’re likely to only get market value on the sale.

Landmine #2: The other agent gave a higher appraisal.

This is nothing new. “The other agent gave me a much higher appraisal, because they ‘believe’ in my property more”, they say. Explain to them there is no correlation between belief and a high appraisal. While the market will guide the sale price, it’s the best marketing and negotiation that will lead to a premium price.  

3. Explaining your role is bridging the gap between market value and a premium price. 

The way you frame this to your seller is critical. You should be educating them on the 5 components needed to achieve a premium price:

1. How you present your property
2. How you promote or market your property
3. The agent you choose
4. The process your agent follows
5. The pricing strategy your agent deploys.

Explain that if any of these are missed, their final price will slide back towards market value. 

Without these 5 components, prospective buyers will fail to become emotionally engaged in your property, and won’t experience the fear of losing it to someone else – two feelings they must experience to put forward a premium offer. 

4. Pricing strategy that falls in line with their motivation for selling the property. 

Sticking to one pricing strategy again and again won’t work. Justin broke it down to 2 key pricing strategies – price marketing and no price marketing.

Talk to your prospect about how consumers buy in Australia. The first thought when a price is advertised is ‘Can I afford it?’, followed closely by: ‘Can I negotiate the price?’.

Generally, Aussie’s believe we can negotiate high value items – cars, boats and of course, property. 

Then explain how the pricing strategy will slow down, or speed up the process, and align it back to their motivation. 

Seller wants a higher price? Suggest no price marketing, but alert them the sale will likely take longer. 

Seller wants a fast sale? Suggest priced marketing, but alert them that competition won’t be as fierce and they’re likely to see initial offers under the advertised price. 

5. Know your inspection to offer ratio and share it with your prospect.

The average inspection to offer ratio is 12:1  (for every 12 groups that inspect, one offer is made). 

If you’re a good agent, your ratio should be 6:1 or 7:1. Tell your prospect this and tell them to ask all agent’s they’re considering. Chances are your competitors won’t know this number and will use a round number, like 10:1… And you’ll look miles ahead.

—

As they say in Real Estate, you either win a listing on skill or lose a listing on fee. 

If you lose a listing, you probably didn’t create enough differentiation, or missed the key motivation of the vendor. By following these simple but effective steps, you will position yourself as an expert and enjoy higher listings success.