How to GET LISTINGS by targeting and converting expired listing leads

listing presentation Aug 15, 2022
 

In today’s post I will show you how to leverage the gold mine that is expired listings to build a successful, financially abundant and fulfilling real estate sales career!

We’ll cover how to turn disgruntled expired listing vendors into evangelists for your business!

You’ll learn how to clearly understand why the property did not sell with the previous agent, and how to have the property owner now lean into your guidance, on the property sale with trust 

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Expired Listings offer an ocean of opportunity swelling with fat commissions just waiting to be fished and caught!

The reason expired listings is such a rich source of leads for real estate agents to mine and build a database from, is simply because the willingness of the property owner to sell their property has already been proclaimed, by their previous action in actively listing their property for sale with the previous agent.

When I first started out in my sales career way back in 1996, one of the first rules of sales I learned and still embrace today is always make sure you are speaking to the M.A.N 

M.A.N is an acronym to understand that in order to successfully sell something you must be speaking with a person who has the ‘money’ ‘authority’ and ‘need’ to make a buying decision.

The ‘Expired Listing Opportunities’ type of lead is the perfect real estate embodiment of the M.A.N acronym.

The money to invest in listing and successfully selling the property is already implied, by the fact the property owner is an expired listing vendor, this is evidence that they were willing to invest the marketing funds required to sell their property and had already gotten over the objection to paying real estate agency commissions as a necessary part of the transaction of a successful sale.

The authority when it comes to real estate leads is always easy for us, as we all know that it is only the property owner who can grant permission to sell the property. However, what makes expired listings such a pot of gold, is we’re not having to guess or try to ascertain whether this authority figure is considering selling their property… the previous listing events confirm for us - Yes, this authority figure does want to sell their property.

And then to the magic sauce of the ‘NEED’

The need in the transaction of an expired listing does indeed form the double-edged sword of which your success or failure as the new listing real estate agent will fall.

However, what we are 100% sure of, is there has been a very clear need expressed by this potential seller. The need to sell their property.

Another reason expired listings are worth their weight in gold is they are primed for us to create powerful and compelling pre-listing presentations which can be sent to the potential seller prior to the face-to-face listing presentation appointment.

If you have been following me for a while, you will know I am a big believer in sending a detailed pre-listing presentation to the potential sellers prior to the face-to-face listing presentation appointment.

The pre-listing presentation is generally in a digital format, it serves the purpose to educate and inform the potential seller on the activity within the local marketplace, it will educate and inform the potential seller on how properties which are very similar to their property successfully sold and performed in the same marketplace in the previous 6-12 month period, it will educate and inform the seller on which properties struggled to sell in the marketplace in the same period.

The pre-listing presentation will position the real estate agent as the local property market expert and will detail to the potential seller the agents most recent testimonials and reviews. Finally, because the pre-listing presentation covers a lot of the preliminary face-to-face listing presentation content, it allows the face-to face listing conversation between the real estate agent and the potential seller to focus on understanding and addressing the sellers’ objections to moving forward with listing the property for sale.

We all know, it is in the objection stage of any sales conversation where the nitty gritty of the deal is hammered out and deals are struck!

To learn more about the power and performance of the pre-listing presentation click the link below todays post

The reason expired listings are prime material to create powerfully converting listing presentations, is the guess work of trying to create a winning prelisting presentation without first viewing the interior of the property and the total property offering has been eliminated!

With expired listings we will easily find or have access to a recent photoshoot of the entire property and its offerings, along with the sales text detailing that, which the previous real estate sales agent and vendor felt were key features to highlight about the property. Expired listings data even details the marketing for sale price which the owner was willing to accept!

Obviously, we know there was something wrong with the previous offering otherwise it would have achieved a successful sale. More often than not, the actual selling price attached to the offering was the issue. However, keeping focus on the gold that lays in expired listings, it is important to understand that as the second real estate agent taking on this listing opportunity, we are in a stronger position to win the listing, as a lot of the foundational guesswork has already been done for us, and the sales content or information which has already been marketed to the buying market is exactly what we will leverage off, to not only win the listing, but also to successfully sell the property.

When dealing with expired listings what we need to realise is there will be an overruling negative emotion which has tainted the potential sellers experience not only of selling their property but of real estate agents in general

Understand that Emotion is the fuel behind any seller’s decision to sell their property

Again, if you have been following me for a while, you will know that I teach that it is emotion that is the fuel behind any seller’s decision to sell their property.

Every successful sales negotiation will boil down to the emotion that is driving the decision maker.

The best performing salespeople will work out exactly how to ascertain what emotion is driving the decision maker and then how to address the true need of that emotion to bring the sales negotiation to a successful close.

 

In the case of an expired listing, the vendor’s need was either not correctly identified or was not met, this will often result in the vendor feeling disgruntled and disappointed. So, from our point of view, as we seek to become the new listing agent for the vendors property, not only do we have to address this disgruntled and disappointed emotion, but we may also need to accept we are quite possibly starting our negotiations to list the property on the back foot.

However, we are in the lucky position of being able to get directly to the heart of the matter!

Let’s move on to the elements of key importance to ensure your prospecting activities to expired listing property vendors result in, not only new listing sign-up’s but also successfully sold properties!!

No.1 Get to the heart of the issue and address it, therein lies the true objection to the seller committing to successfully selling the property.

So, what do I mean get to the heart of the issue and address it?

I mean, when you inquire with the potential seller as to why their property did not sell when it was last listed for sale, they will give you an obligatory standard answer, such as ‘oh, we didn’t get the money we were looking for?’ or ‘oh, we could not find another suitable property to move to’ or ‘oh unfortunately we had a bad experience with the agent, promised us the world and couldn’t deliver’ ‘Oh we were just testing the market’ etc

The key to your success as the new listing agent of this property and with this property vendor, is to question past this first response as to why the listing did not sell. To understand whether this listing is even sellable and how to get it sold when you get it on your books, you need to get to the true heart of the issue.

You will do this through using the open question sales technique, which is asking open ended questions which start with the following words

Who? What? When? Why? Where? How?

The intention with this questioning technique will be to get to the true pain point that caused the previous listing to fail.

Correctly identifying and addressing the potential sellers pain point is the only way to sign up the new listing, and to also ensure you sell the listing and get paid! Correctly identifying this pain point of the seller is the surest way to not end with the same faith as the previous agent.

Using this type of questioning technique will also help you build rapport with the potential seller and will help them lean in with trust to you as their agent. This type of rapport building demonstrates to the potential seller that you care about and understand how to meet their needs within the deal.

To learn more on how to implement this questioning technique make sure to download the previously mentioned eBook.

 

Lets run through is an example as to how this questioning technique will help you ascertain the real issue and pain point to the potential seller committing to successfully selling their property: 

Agent

So, what stopped you from selling your property when it was previously listed for sale?

Potential Seller

Oh unfortunately, we just couldn’t get the money we wanted for the property

Agent

Oh I see, so, how did you actually come about to the asking price which you set to the market?

Potential Seller

We had a chat with our agent and told them the price we needed to sell and she said it was achievable

Agent

Right I see, so you guys set the price for the agent? When you were setting the price, what did you base the figure on?

Potential Seller

Ah, you see, we still have quite a large mortgage on this property, and we would need to be able to clear the mortgage to sell

Agent

Ok yes I understand, so may I ask, have you manage to pay more of the mortgage off over this year?

 

So, without turning todays post into a full sales script, we can see here 3 major opportunities for us to excel in this sales negotiation.

Firstly, we can see the previous agent, let the sellers guide them on the price marketing strategy. There is an opportunity here for us to educate and inform the potential seller on the current marketplace activity and potential. We would do this using a pre-listing presentation to position ourselves as the local property market expert which would encourage the potential sellers to lean into our guidance with trust

 

Secondly, the fact the previous sales agent had not negotiated the marketing ‘for sale’ price well with the sellers, would suggest to me that potentially the previous agent was not a strong negotiator, which would also suggest that maybe the previous agent left buyers offers on the table simply due to being ill-equipped to negotiate the buyers offer up towards the sellers need.

Thirdly, the mortgage is a pain point, it would need to be investigated as to whether the bank would let the sellers sell with a shortfall should that be the case, however, I would also investigate the sellers interest in obtaining an improved lifestyle by selling the property with a larger mortgage to purchase another which came with a smaller mortgage component.

To wind up this point, find the heart of the issue, address that issue and you will be on the path to winning a new listing sign up and a successfully sold property.

 

No2. Do not become victim to the potential sellers self-fulfilling prophecy of failure

As we have already detailed through this post; something went wrong with the potential sellers last listing experience, they did not achieve the outcome which they desired, and this may well have left the potential sellers feeling disappointed, even embarrassed in front of their peers, and most likely disgruntled.

I’m a fan of the music artist Drake, expired listing property owners put me in a mind of a lyric from his song ‘Take Care’ …which goes. ‘Dealing with a heart that I didn't break’

That’s kind of how it is with this listing opportunity, it needs to be managed correctly as you are dealing with a listing you did not break. My guidance here is, handle with care but not at the cost of your own success!!

Here are some guidelines on how to deal with this type of property owner opportunity.

  • Have compassion and empathy for the seller’s previous experience, but do not let it become the stick they beat you with. Never take on an expired listing by simply promising you can do things better. This will end in disaster, you will spend your time trying to prove your self-worth, just like in Drake’s song lyric. Before you take on the listing make sure you are clear on exactly why the listing didn’t sell with the previous agent and be sure that this is an issue you are equipped to manage.

 

  • Do not just list the property for the sake of listing a property. There is nothing more distracting to your real estate success than listing properties which do not meet your marketplace needs and come with a unwilling or greedy potential seller in tow.

 

Before you take on an expired listing and potential problem which a previous agent left behind, conduct a detailed market analysis on the property, ensure you position the property for sale correctly with both the seller, and the buying market, to ensure it successfully sells, and you get paid my friend! Because at the end of the day – that’s what it’s all about! To make sure you are correctly positioning your properties for sale

 No3. Master your communication and sales pipeline management - and turn disgruntled expired listing vendors into evangelists of your business!

One of the most common complaints vendors have in dealing with real estate agents is the real estate agents poor communication. In fact, if you google it, it can be read that it is, in fact, the vendors No.1 complaint with real estate agents.

The most strategic approach to take when prospecting to or dealing with an expired listing type vendor is to accept, they have experienced poor or at least strained communications with their previous listing agent, which may have left them with an unsavoury opinion of real estate agents and how real estate agents go about their business.

Championing good and consistent types of communication and sales pipeline management is the cornerstone for sales success across the board, and the same is true for winning over and even turning your expired listing type vendor into an evangelist for your business.

You will find, that some of your best testimonials and referral’s will come from people who previously had a bad experience in the industry, which meant the stark difference in your service to them was so evident that they shout it from the roof tops.

The art you need to master is the art of consistent and effective communication with your vendors and your buyers. The knack to this is to make sure that the communication is relevant to your clients needs.

So what types of communication tools and tactics can you engage to both nurture a expired listing lead and service a newly signed up expired listing property vendor on your books?

In the prospecting stage of dealing with an expired listing vendor.

  • Upon supplying the potential seller with a pre-listing presentation and having followed that presentation up with a face-to-face listing presentation, nonetheless, the expired listing vendor is yet to commit to relist the property for sale with you – the best pipeline management action you can now take is to send the expired listing vendor monthly market updates, which are relevant to his/her property, making sure to reference the potential sellers main pain point in each monthly letter.

Once you have the expired listing property vendor signed up as a new listing, the absolute minimum communication your new vendor should receive from you are as follows

  • A vendor report on how the property performed on the market in the previous week.
  • A text message to the vendor after every viewing to share a quick update and buyer feedback
  • A text message to the vendor after every scheduled open home to share a quick update and buyer feedback
  • A weekly call to the vendor to chat through how things are progressing
  • A fortnightly meeting to discuss the pricing strategy should the property not be in offer negotiations in the fortnight previous.

When you champion good, informed and consistent client communication within your real estate sales activity, you will shine so bright to the vendors and potential venders in your marketplace that they will consistently offer you business, and in the case of the previously disappointed expired listing vendor they will write you strong reviews and may very well become evangelists of your real estate business!.

Ok team, I hope todays post has helped you understand better how to leverage the gold mine that is expired listings to build a successful, financially abundant and fulfilling real estate sales career!

Along with this post you will also find the link to book a free 15-minute strategy call with me or if you’re ready, a coaching session, directly in with me