What you have to include in your pre-listing kit may in some instances be a little bit old-school. But the way in which you do it doesn’t have to be, and as we highlighted in Part 1 of this article, it shouldn’t be.
Follow these steps to make your pre-list kit the one that grabs the most mindshare and the one that your potential clients compare all others by.
1. Be highly visual
Using learning from psychology studies, we know that at least 90% of communication is non-verbal. Therefore, if you use professional photos, a considered layout, and adopt a colour scheme with some bursts of life against a soothing backdrop, you’re on the right track. Another visual key is what graphic designers would call creating a visual journey. Using logical, relevant photos that are relatable-yet-aspirational and develop a theme of quality and consistency for both your personal and professional brand is a great way to create a visual anchor in the mind of your potential clients.
2. Make it about them, not you
While your personal achievements and stories of the success your agency has had for decades are impressive and would make your mother extremely proud, overdoing them isn’t going to cut it in a modern, top notch pre-listing kit. Having said that, it is imperative that you give prospective clients some insight into the type of operator they are dealing with, and well-packaged past results will achieve this (think infographics). Introduce yourself and your process, then get busy showing that you can easily highlight the local lifestyle options, practical functionality of the property, its versatility and other ways in which you can get the best price for the vendor. One tip that might work is using the Simon Sinek approach of “always start with why” – why are they selling? Why are they leaving a place they love? Why has this home been such an important step for them in their lives? Why would someone buy their property? In fact, for every property you need a game plan around why someone would want to live there. Being able to show that you will very quickly be able to answer “what is the key reason I should buy this property?” could easily land you the business.
3. Know your property type and the demographic it appeals to
Are you targeting a premium property? What about a downsizer? Perhaps it’s an apartment or an entry price suburb – or even a rural property for a tree-change. Regardless of what it is, think about the type of property and who is likely to be interested in it. Pre-listing kits should never just be a boiler-plate pro-forma that you fill out for each property. This will become old very quickly, and prospective clients will pick up on it instantly. It’s fine to develop a formula, but make sure you have built flexibility into it for customisation, so every property is positioned uniquely.
4. Providing education and managing expectations
Your prospective client may be relatively new to the whole experience. This will create anxiety that you will have to be mindful of and effectively manage throughout the process. However, if you provide clarity around the local market, a visual representation of sales trends (including firm indications of pricing) and give them comfort around who they are dealing with, your role will become less counsellor and more salesperson – right where you want to be!
5. Build anticipation and excitement
Get prospective clients pumped up over the idea of working with you. We don’t advise creating a stand-up routine or learning magic tricks, but you must leverage your personality strengths to make you, the material you’re presenting and your sales and marketing pipeline memorable and innovative. In the mind of the vendor they will imagine your effectiveness at personality selling and will be hooked. When writing your pre-listing kits, be sure to go heavy on the emotive and aspirational vibes. For most people, buying or selling a property marks a significant milestone in their lives. Help them celebrate the memory and look to the future with positivity by adding a little spice to your pre-listing kit to build a little bit of hype.
6. Go digital for maximum impact!
Print is on life-support. People want to be able to look at documents and presentations – like a pre-listing kit – wherever and whenever they want without dragging a giant cardboard folder around. Here are just some of the benefits of digital presentations:
- Save time and money
Digital proposals allow you to save time by creating a proposal tailored to your client in just a few clicks and allows the functionality to present it instantly.
- Customise for each property or client
Bespoke sales proposals are essential to impressing future clients and winning new business. Digital proposals allow you to easily create a tailor-made presentation designed around the specific needs and attributes of a client.
- Differentiate yourself
Digital proposals give you the technological edge to stand out from other agents, with bespoke and interactive digital proposals which win more listings.
- Know if it is being read through analytics
With digital proposals, you will instantly know when clients are viewing it, if they shared it, what sections they looked at and for how long, so you can follow-up with them in an effective and well-informed way.
- Leverage interactive content
Get ahead of the curve through interactive digital content with the touch of a screen: image galleries, Vimeo & YouTube videos, live Google Maps, Virtual Reality, 3D tours and more.
- Gain sign off on the business at anytime and anywhere
One of the immense advantages of digital proposals is that they allow you to offer your future clients the convenient option of signing agency & management agreements instantly from any device. Gone are the days of reading fine print on masses of documents and having to sign and initial everywhere!
THE FINAL WORD
Your pre-listing kit is, in many ways, your chance to create a strong impression and simultaneously provide confidence. It can be a lot of work customising them and creating the right mix of information, visuals and personality. But when you nail it, customers quickly go from prospect to client, so they really are solid investments of your time and effort.