If you’re wondering how to win a listing presentation or a buyer presentation with more regularity, these sure and easy tactics are just what you need.

How often do you walk away from a buyer or listing presentation having won the right to find or sell a prospect’s home? If you consider NAR’s most recent numbers, you should be winning the business well over half the time simply because most buyers (71%) and sellers (81%) interview only one agent before selecting someone to represent them.

But what if your prospect is interviewing more than one agent? What’s your win percentage in those situations?

If you’re not closing at least half of your buyer and/or listing presentations, these five tips will help you up your game.

If you’re not satisfied with your numbers and wondering how to win a buyer or listing presentation with more regularity, here are five ideas that will not only distinguish you from your competition but also convince your wildly impressed new clients to ask, Where do I sign?

1. Promote the listing beforehand

Krystopher Benyamein, California real estate agent and BAM contributor, shared this brilliant, albeit unusual, idea during his Stay Paid podcast interview.

Ideally the day before a listing appointment, Krys films himself in his car while gesturing behind his head and reciting a simple three-sentence script: “Hey guys, I’m driving to a listing appointment in this neighborhood. These houses go fast when they become available. Let me know if you want the details before it’s actually on the market.” He then uses Instagram’s green screen feature to place a map of the area where the property is located in the background so that in the final video, he appears to be gesturing to it. Once satisfied, he posts it to his Instagram Stories.

Click here to listen.

Now this is the cool part—when Krys arrives at the listing appointment, he shows his soon-to-be new clients the comments he’s received, saying, “I understand we haven’t signed a contract yet, but I wanted to get an idea of the potential activity on your house before we even got started. Eleven people have said they’d like a sneak peek.”

He does the same thing with his database, sending an email saying, “Guys, I’m going on a listing appointment. If we get it signed, it’ll probably be available in two weeks. Let me know if you want the details. I’ll keep you updated after the appointment.”

“No agent,” Krys notes, “is doing anything before they get the listing, so this tactic really stands out. It’s gold.” And buyers you’re working with will feel special knowing that they’re getting “privileged” access to new homes coming up for sale.

2. Know more than other agents

Have you ever heard about the two gazelles grazing and talking on the jungle plains? One says to the other, “I don’t like it here. It makes me nervous to be out in the open like this. What if a lion attacks? Can you outrun a lion?” The other responds, “I don’t need to outrun a lion. I just need to outrun you.”

The more information you can share with a prospect, the better you can substantiate your value and position yourself as the best agent for the job.

When you’re a real estate agent vying for a listing, the key isn’t necessarily to know everything about the property or area—you just need to know more than the other guy. Still, the more information you do have, the better you can substantiate your value and position yourself as the best agent for the job.

Request information before the appointment

Not every agent is going to take the time to learn about a prospect before showing up to an appointment. That’s too bad because nothing will please them more than you taking an interest in their current home or in what they really want in a new one.

Visit our Resource Library to find our free, downloadable Buyer Questionnaire and/or our accompanying Seller Questionnaire, both of which will help you gather needed information while demonstrating your willingness to listen and get to work.

Deliver a better CMA

Of course, you’ll want to bring along a CMA to your listing appointment and make it a part of your presentation, but that alone won’t cut it because your competition will do the same.

Take an additional step by preparing a Professional Equity Assessment Report (PEAR) to accompany the CMA. Simply put, this report reveals the cash value of a home. Not every agent will make the effort to develop one, so talking about a prospect’s buying power will almost immediately raise your esteem in their minds, casting you as a trusted partner.

Do your research

Usually, being a know-it-all isn’t a compliment—usually.

Any agent worth their commission will know some details about the local market, the home they hope to sell or show, and the surrounding area. To best them, all you need to do is share some useful information that they wouldn’t be aware of.

Beyond the basics, do additional research on the local area, then share it with your prospects. Useful topics to focus on, include:

• Any new construction planned for the area: Filed building permits, town board meeting minutes, area planning commissions, and perhaps even the local newspaper will fill you in on what’s coming to town. I found two websites, constructconnect.com and planhub.com, that will provide information about current and upcoming projects in all 50 states.Both list new construction projects but require a subscriber fee to access the details.
• A history of property tax hikes: A search of local public records can provide this information. Many taxing authorities now offer this information online.
• Access to mass transit: Don’t just share the location of the train or bus stop; give your prospects a sense of the schedule too. Something as simple as “The trains run every hour on the half hour during the morning rush” will go a long way toward proving you’re the local expert.
• Availability of internet and phone service: Knowing which internet and phone service providers have a strong signal in the neighborhood will be valuable to prospects, especially to those who work from home. It only takes a simple search for a provider’s coverage area to find this out.
• Quality of the local schools: Sharing that a town has “good schools” doesn’t tell a prospective buyer much; in fact, by doing so, you’ll likely be in violation of the Fair Housing Act and the Realtor^® Code of Ethics. So instead of placing yourself in jeopardy, visit the schools’ websites and be able to objectively state facts about the schools (for example, XYZ Elementary has a music program). Get to know the school superintendent and introduce interested buyers to them. And if you’re a NAR member, use their Realtors Property Resource® tool called Niche, which captures details about schools that go beyond test scores.
• Details of the home: Thanks to the power of AI, you can speak to features of the home before you take a tour. Augment the information you may already have by prompting a tool like ChatGPT or other AI program for a property description of the address. You can also use Google Maps to get a visual of the home and the surrounding properties. (However, Google Maps is updated only every one to three years so be aware that there may have been some changes between the last update and present day.)

Remember, you don’t need to be a walking encyclopedia—you just need to bring to your listing presentation some valuable information that other agents won’t take the time to find.

3. Have a stellar marketing plan

You can talk about your plans for marketing a property, but it’s far more impressive to be able to show a prospective client what you will do to find them their dream home or get them top dollar for their house.

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For instance, you can take prospective sellers through a previous listing’s virtual tour, or describe your social media strategy, sharing a carousel you put together for Instagram. Explain some of the finer points of home staging; if you use a home stager, talk about how their special touch can significantly enhance offers. And be sure to show them before and after pictures.

If you really want to blow their socks off, add something to your usual marketing that your prospects won’t see elsewhere: your own personally branded magazine. You can get your publication for less than the cost of a typical greeting card, and it comes with the ability to feature a client listing on the back cover, which you can then show off to prospects. Just click here, and you can get a free PDF sample of our most recent issue sent to your inbox today.

Use your personally branded magazine to feature prized listings on the back cover.

4. Be who your prospects need you to be

As you might expect, buyers and sellers are going to want different things from their agents. But what they desire will be further defined by trends and their specific needs. In practical terms, this means addressing those aspects of your service important to most, while also distinguishing yourself from other agents who have a one-size-fits-all presentation by customizing yours to include the issues important to different prospects.

Buyers, sellers, and even the generations will have different needs, so take the time to discover what they are and personalize your presentation to each.

Be experienced, trustworthy, and forthcoming

In their 2024 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, NAR found that when searching for an ideal agent, homebuyers prioritize experience (21%), followed closely by honesty and trustworthiness (19%). Reputation  also played a significant role (15%), with the survey indicating it holds slightly more weight for older generations. Interestingly, familiarity matters, too, as 12% of buyers valued an agent who was a friend or family member.

In addition, communication style seems to be a major deciding factor. Homebuyers appreciate agents who keep them in the loop, with the top valued practices being personal calls to update them on activity (73%), property information and text message updates (71%), and prompt alerts on new listings, price changes, and properties going under contract (70%).

When it comes to sellers and what they prioritize when selecting a real estate agent, their wants are similar to the qualities buyers seek—they place a premium on reputation, honesty and trustworthiness, and personal connection (whether with a friend or family member).

Be likeable

As much as prospects will vastly prefer an agent who best speaks to their particular needs over one who does not, they’ll also naturally favor the agent they most like and feel comfortable with—which means you need to show your human side, connect with your prospects on an emotional level, and give them reasons to trust you.

I encourage you to read “10 Conversational Habits of Trustworthy Professionals,” a short but useful blog that will help shape how you communicate with your prospects and endear you to them during a buyer or listing presentation. As a brief summary, here are the 10 ways you can encourage potential clients to trust you:

• Share something personal.
• Acknowledge the negative.
• Listen as often as you speak.
• Use the word you more than I or me.
• Establish common ground.
• Be specific in the details.
• Use social proof.
• Get them to agree early in the conversation.
• Use plain language.
• Tell stories.

5. Provide added value

The goal of a presentation is to win the business of the homebuyer or seller, so most agents go into it trying to sell their services. There’s nothing wrong with that; you certainly need to help potential clients understand how they will benefit from hiring you. But why wait to be hired before you start to help?

Visit our Resource Library where you’ll find FREE items of value to share with prospects and clients.

Returning to the principle illustrated by Krystopher Benyamein in the first tactic, imagine the impact you’ll create when you freely provide value to your prospects before they become clients. There are several ways to do this.

Be an educational resource

It’s not unusual for a seller to consider their home to be worth more than what the market will support. Being able to explain a pricing strategy to them is only one of the ways you can act as a source of expert information. Another is to clearly walk them through the selling process. Consider providing sellers with a checklist of tasks they’ll need to complete throughout the process along with a schedule of key deadlines. And there’s always the need to point out repairs and improvements that will increase a home’s appeal to potential buyers.

Buyers, especially first-time homebuyers, will appreciate an agent who can describe, in a realistic but nonetheless encouraging way, what to expect along the way to finding a home. You can assist them as they clarify their needs, identifying and prioritizing their nonnegotiables and what their budgets will accommodate. And when it comes to paying for a home, begin well-versed in the different ways they may be able to finance their purchase will help to ease many buyers’ concerns.

Connect them to service providers

If you don’t have a network of strategic referral partners, you’re doing yourself and your clients a disservice. No agent should expect to be considered a local expert if they don’t know a trusted lender, thorough inspector, or experienced roofer, so it’s important to curate a list of trusted businesses that you can include in your materials.

Click here to download this free resource.

Now, go be the boss that you are

Together, we’ve explored five ways to improve your buyer and listing presentations and walk away a winner.

• Promote the listing before they sign.
• Become a genuine expert on the local area.
• Present an impressive marketing plan.
• Tailor your approach.
• Provide value up front.

By using these tactics, you’ll be well on your way to closing more deals. Remember, it’s not just about selling yourself; it’s about understanding what your clients need and exceeding their expectations.

And if you want to know more about our personally branded magazines, you can visit our product page to see just how easy it is to take your marketing to the next level.