What Sellers Want In A Real Estate Agent

What do sellers REALLY want from their Real Estate Agent? What sellers want in a real estate agent isn't what it used to be.

Yes, they expect you to have good service and be honest, but what do they really expect?

I remember being in Denver for a marketing conference around 2014 and I had lunch with a guy who just recently sold his house.  So I started asking him about his experience with his agent and the selling process as I was putting this original blog post together.

Let's just say that he didn't like his agent too much.  At the time, the market was hot and things were selling within days so as soon as the property was listed on the MLS, it sold right away much like it is in recent years.

What was he mad about?

He wasn't mad, he was pissed.  He couldn't understand why he was paying 6% in commission for a Realtor who literally didn't do much to sell the house other that list it in the MLS, Put A Sign In The Yard. The seller knew it!

So I took this opportunity to interview him and ask him what he would have wanted done differently. I wanted to see what would make the commission he was charged, justified.

Here's his list:

1. He wanted to be walked through the home selling process in depth.  He wanted to know what was the back-up plan would be if the initial house offering did not sell.
2. He wanted to know what the agent was doing specifically to market the property.  He wanted to see a step by step plan, so he knew they were doing their job.
3. He didn't have any additional options to choose from.  He was told not to worry about it.

This isn't the first time I heard this, but a light bulb went off at the time and I went back to my office and created this.

Realtors in today's market are facing the same problem they did back in 2015, there's no optionality. Sellers are given one option vs. several and this is one of the reasons why interruptors are taking your listings.

I-buyers have only introduced new alternatives to selling properties, but why can't you do the same thing?

In my case(2015) I implemented this slide in my listing presentation and was never once asked thereafter to list for under 5%. Prior to changing up the way I positioned my listing strategy, I was getting asked to go below 5% at least 50% of the time.

I realized it was only because I was providing options to my clients.  The presentation of the options itself justified my pricing.

People don't care what you charge they care it's justified

What sellers want in a real estate agent is better marketing for their listings, but they now expect it.   A Realtor's job on a listing is to provide more exposure to the property than a seller could do on their own. 

But they also want more options too.

What if you matched the interruptors?  What if you had more options than they did, plus you did it cheaper?

That's called opportunity.

People don't need Realtors, but they overwhelmingly prefer to use them.  All sellers want is for you to earn our commission.

It's much easier to go on listing presentations presenting multiple seller listing options vs. a traditional agent.  Now you can let them decide which option they want and all of the "selling" goes out the window!  This isn't about selling it's about serving.  When you begin serving solutions to seller problems, you will begin attracting.

What Sellers Want In A Real Estate Agent Is More Options

1. First, is that it shows that you are more than the status quo.  You have a lot more to offer than the typical agent and being different is a good thing.

2. When you offer options to a seller, it takes the salesmanship out of it.  

How Do You Attract More Listings?

Creating a better system to service your listings is one of the things you can be doing to increase referral business, but it's not everything.

Would you be interested in learning more about adapting a several listing strategies in your business ? 

You might like to check out our training here.

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