Let’s get straight to it. The method to winning multi-million dollar listings is simple. You need to:
- Have impeccable and recognizable presentation.
- Possess an unparalleled knowledge of your market.
- Cultivate a strong and engaged network.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a simple list, but the work and process of building up to this are not easy. If it were, everyone would be a real estate agent and everyone would make millions doing it.
Let’s set the stage
The luxury real estate market is not limitless, but the opportunity is still there and it’s massive. The inventory for luxury single-family homes in North America totaled nearly 40,000, many of which are likely concentrated in luxury markets.
Who’s buying?
North America has over 240,575 ultra-high net worth individuals (individuals with investable assets of over $30 million), and in 2020 27% of them bought new homes while another 29% planned to buy in 2021, according to data compiled by Statista.
At what rate?
In 2022 luxury homes stayed on the market for an average of 11 days, down from 38 days just a year earlier in 2021 for the whole of North America. That’s an over 100% difference, it’s actually 110,204% to be exact.
Ultra-high net worth individuals are less affected by economic shifts like a recession, so there doesn’t seem to be any slowdown in sight.
How to break into luxury (This is what you’ve been waiting for)
Show your worth
Everything ends and begins with your unique selling proposition (USP). It’s how you differentiate yourself in any market.
Start simple and build up from there.
Define your long and short-term goals, your ideal buyer/seller, and honestly assess what your real estate business has to offer.
What do you bring to the table that other real estate agents don’t? An in-depth understanding of the market, decades of experience, a highly motivated network, or a charming persona?
From here, you can put it into words. Keep it short and sweet. You should be able to explain in 2-3 sentences what your USP is to anyone. Internalize it and make it the focal point of your brand.
Create an impeccable and recognizable presentation
Clients eat with their eyes first.
This adage from the culinary field applies to a wide range of disciplines, especially real estate. 82% of sellers will award a listing to the first agent they contact and 73% of buyers only interview a single agent before deciding to purchase a home with them. So, as a seller or buyer agent for a multi-million dollar property, you need to create an imprint moment. Like a duckling hatching and developing a bond with the first thing it sees, agents need to position themselves and their digital brand to drive home that “imprint moment.”
The 3 Elements of Presentation
1 – Visual
Your website and digital presence come first. 95% of buyers used online tools in their home search process, according to a National Association of Realtors report.
You need to stop potential clients in their tracks because if they leave your site without imprinting it in their memory, you’ve already lost.
To win, your online brand (website, social media, and directory listings) needs to be consistent, concise, and captivating. The appearance needs to communicate your expertise and savviness within your market and set you apart from your peers (in a good way).
Use professional, confident color palettes, fonts, and a sleek, professionally designed logo based on the USP you want to communicate.
Pro Tip: Creating professional, design-forward presentations and single property websites can go a long way in cementing yourself with sellers and buyers.
2 – Verbal
Develop a written style. Make it recognizable. Use it across all of your communication channels to create a lasting impression.
You can insert trigger words that help define your voice. Repeating a word or phrase and sprinkling it creatively throughout your marketing and branding can create an association that brings clients back to you.
Make your words impactful by using unexpected language, strong words, and emotional appeals.
Most importantly, always write for your clients. This is not a vanity project, it’s a tool to help people find and solicit your service offering.
Be meticulous about maintaining the standards for these elements because they all communicate your value to clients in one way or another.
3- Emotional
People buy [into] feelings.
Identify the emotional queues you want your USP, visual identity, and voice to provoke in your audience.
These are the emotions that drive people to make purchasing decisions and the same emotions that will land you new clients:
Greed – “If I do X, I will receive Y.”
Fear – “If I don’t do X now, I will miss out on Y.”
Envy – “If I don’t get X now, they’ll get X.”
Pride – “I’m smart for getting X when I did.”
Shame – “I’d be stupid not to get X now.”
These apply to any transaction.
Know your market inside and out
There isn’t much more to this one. It really is as simple as it sounds. Gather and retain as much information on your market as possible.
You should be able to recite information about your listing(s) down to the minuscule details, not just the highlight reel that you think will interest buyers.
Take it a step further by learning the history of your listing, market, and general location. Putting a property into historical context can help fill out the picture for buyers with profound color.
Here are a few suggestions to win the information game:
- Survey the neighborhood. Get the lay of the land from locals and make connections.
- Visit a local historical society.
- Map out landmarks in the neighborhood and read online reviews (with a grain of salt).
- Read up on the region in the local library.
- Put together a comparative market analysis (CMA).
Get creative and figure go where other agents aren’t willing to, within reason.
Build a network: It’s about who you know
“I’ve come to believe that connecting is one of the most important business — and life — skill sets you’ll ever learn. Why? Because, flat out, people do business with people they know and like.”
– Keith Ferrazzi, Author of Never Eat Alone and former CMO of Deloitte
It’s a straightforward maxim for a straightforward approach to business and it works. Build and manage your relationships expertly and it will pay dividends, or in this case, commissions.
82% of real estate transactions can be attributed to referrals, an absolutely astounding figure. Especially when you learn that 65% of agents don’t get business from open houses.
It’s as easy as:
- Use a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to keep track of your contacts and interactions.
- Log important dates like birthdays, milestones, and anniversaries to capitalize on moments to reach out to your network.
- Block time on your calendar for coffee or lunch with agents or buyers you want to make a connection with.
- Reach out on social media without the pretense of selling or buying. Relationship first, transaction second.
I’ve given you the tools to land multi-million dollar properties, but it’s up to you to put them to work. To hammer home my point, it’s simple, but it will not be easy. It takes time, experience, and effort to break into this tier of real estate.
If you have what it takes, Luxury Presence can help you get there. Click here to set up a meeting with one of our experts to learn how.