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Sharran Srivatsaa, president of The Real Brokerage, told agents to be wary when listening to advice from others — even certified coaches — in the industry.
“Bad advice that sounds cool is still bad advice,” Srivatsaa cautioned attendees at Inman Connect Las Vegas listening to Srivatsaa’s talk on “5 Game-Changing Strategies for Real Estate Agents in 2024 and Beyond.”
Sharran Srivatsaa | The Real Brokerage
Srivatsaa said that coaches and management in the industry sometimes “say dumb things,” leaving agents with vague or unhelpful advice like “make your calls,” “make 5 videos per day” or do a “pop by.” These suggestions make no sense, Srivatsaa asserted, noting that no one picks up their phone anymore, many of the types of videos agents are creating go unwatched and the “pop by” can often come across as just plain weird.
“It’s not your fault, but it is your problem,” that coaches and others have let agents down, Srivatsaa said. Instead, he offered the following tactical and free solutions that agents can start acting on today.
‘Deal of the Week’ email
Send an all-text email to your entire database once per week, Srivatsaa suggested that includes a subject line that reads “City – Deal of the Week.”
In the body of the email, an agent should include two bullet points about the property, two bullet points about the neighborhood and the asking price of the home. Before your signature type, “If you are interested, just reply and I will get you all the details.”
The idea here is to deliberately not include pictures, the address or related links to the home, because you want to force the individual in your database to reply and start a conversation with you.
“Nobody reads your newsletter” Srivatsaa noted, but this type of communication is just the thing to spur on further conversation.
Create a ‘Magic Whiteboard’
With the “magic whiteboard” tactic, Srivatsaa said the objective is not to make endless promises to a client before you start working with them but to show early on in the relationship what you have already done for them.
When you get a listing appointment, send the potential client a photo of yourself and a little whiteboard in the background with notes and charts with all the steps you’ve already taken to prepare for the listing appointment, Srivatsaa advised. Be sure to write the property’s address in clear letters in the center.
This is something that can be used again and again with different potential clients, just by erasing the address and inputting the appropriate address for each client.
“Every agent promises things, but you’re showing proof before you arrive,” he said.
Sell the appointment instead of selling the listing
With this tactic, rather than focusing on selling the merits of a particular listing an agent might have that could appeal to a buyer client, the agent instead sells the fact that they have an appointment with a seller who’s not yet on the market.
A simple way of putting this into action is by sending your buyer an email telling them about your upcoming listing with the soon-to-be seller and a couple of brief points about the home, as well as the expected price range.
“You get to sell before the appointment and win before you arrive,” Srivatsaa said.
Lender voicemail
Get ready to whip out your “Kardashian-style” voicemail-sharing tactics, Srivatsaa advised.
Leverage your relationship with a lender by sharing with them details about the location and price of a listing you’re representing and asking them to draw up stats on qualified buyers they’re working with who might be interested in such a property. Then, have them leave you a voicemail with details on how many buyers they’ve got lined up waiting for your seller to list, and ask them to finish with something like, “I will continue preparing this pre-approved buyer shortlist” until the seller is ready.
Then drop the voicemail on your seller on speaker phone, “Kardashian-style,” Srivatsaa said. “When you get someone else to toot your horn, the sound will carry twice as far,” he said.
Demystify the database
“A seller is looking for a buyer, and a buyer is looking for a home, and it’s our job to facilitate that,” Srivatsaa said.
Agents can wow their seller clients just by showing them the figures in their database, including the number of buyers they know have been actively looking for homes in the last 90 days and a breakdown of what kinds of homes they’re looking for and how soon they need to buy.
“This shows your clients that you have contacts that you have buyers that you have the ability to deliver on the promise,” Srivatsaa said.
In short, continue to generate more client conversations, “win before you arrive,” and show proof of your performance before you meet with a client, Srivatsaa concluded.
“When you do things that are not what an average agent does, you set yourself apart.”
