Are you tired of walking away from listing appointments with nothing to show for it? If so, you’re not alone.

A few years back, the National Association of Realtors published research stating that 93 percent of all homes were sold by just 7 percent of agents nationwide. That leaves a lot of competition for the remaining few listings.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can get your fair share, or more, with these simple strategies.

Prepare more information

Many agents think that loading their presentation onto a tablet will impress potential sellers and help them stand out. But at the end of the day, people care more about the information than how it’s delivered.

So having a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) alone won’t cut it. Your competition will have that, too. You need more.

Show all the ways you’re going to market and help sell the sellers’ home. This is especially useful if you have something in addition to the usual listing sites. For example, many of our customers list properties on the back cover of the custom magazine that we send on their behalf.

Don’t just provide a list of these things. Bring examples to show. You want potential clients to envision their listings in these resources.

Connect on an emotional or personal level

As important as the CMA, marketing examples, and physical presentation materials are, they do only part of the job. Often the clients’ decision comes down to who they are most comfortable with.

Make sure to go beyond the facts and figures. Treat the appointment as more of a conversation than a presentation. If you can build rapport with the sellers, you’re halfway to winning the listing.

In one of our previous blog posts about the conversational habits of trustworthy people, you’ll find some great tips that you can put into action at your listing appointments.

Use social proof to build trust

Every agent who meets with the seller is going to say that he or she is the best person for the job. So for the most part, the sellers tune out the message. Instead of being just another voice tooting your own horn, let others do it for you.

Bring along testimonials of happy clients. Show the sellers your positive reviews. Put together success stories that demonstrate your accomplishments. All of these things will help validate your claims and separate you from the pack.

Provide added value

The goal of a listing appointment is to win the business of the sellers. So most agents try to sell their services. There’s nothing wrong with that. Certainly you need to help potential clients understand how they will benefit from hiring you. But why wait to start helping?

Imagine what kind of impact you’ll have when you provide value to sellers before they even hire you. There are several ways to do this.

One way is to be an educational resource. For instance, you could create a checklist of tasks the sellers need to do throughout the process or an infographic on what home buyers are looking for.

Another way to provide value is to help solve the sellers’ problems. Do they need to paint the exterior or make a few repairs before listing? By referring a few painters and handymen, you can save the sellers the time and hassle of searching for and vetting professionals on their own.

Easy, right?