I’ve signed 30 listings so far this year, and while every seller, property and listing appointment is a little different there’s one thing I try to do before nearly every one of them: send a pre-listing email, usually the day before we meet and, occasionally, two days before.
The goal isn’t to win the listing over email or send them some massive presentation, hoping they study it before I get there. I want to give the seller an opportunity to learn about me, see what we’ve sold, understand what other clients have said about us and get a feel for how we market homes before I walk through their front door.
If they go through everything, great. If they don’t click a single link, that’s completely fine, too, which is why I specifically tell them there’s no homework before we meet.
What I have found, though, is that when someone does spend time going through it, the appointment becomes a lot easier because we’re not starting from zero. There’s already some familiarity; they’ve seen some of our work, and we can spend more time talking about them, their house and what they’re actually trying to accomplish.
Here are the four things I generally include and why.
1. Start with the comps
One of the first things I include is a link to homes that have recently sold or are currently for sale nearby, and I manually select these rather than just generating a report and sending whatever comes out.
Obviously, part of that is for the seller because I want them to have some context around what’s happening in their neighborhood before we start talking about their house, but selfishly, this part of the process is for me, too.
Before the appointment, I’m going through the MLS and using Breezy to make sure I’m seeing what is out there and actually understanding the competitive landscape. If there’s a house down the street that sold six months ago, another one that just hit the market or something that looks like an obvious comp but really isn’t once you dig into it, I want to know that before the seller brings it up while we’re sitting at their kitchen table.
I think that’s an important distinction because customizing this email isn’t just about making the seller feel like I did my homework. Going through the process actually forces me to do the homework.
2. If possible, make the proof relevant to their house
For a recent listing appointment in Norwalk, California, I included a report showing the homes our team had sold there during the previous 24 months.
I don’t include that exact report every time because it wouldn’t make sense to, but since we’ve done a lot of business in Norwalk, I thought our sales here were relevant to the seller.
Our general “Get to Know Us” information also includes a map showing our sales across the different markets we serve, but if I have something more specific that speaks directly to where that seller lives, I’d rather show them that.
The goal isn’t to give them everything I’ve ever done; it’s to give them enough relevant information that they understand why we should be working together.
3. Let your clients do some of the talking for you
I also include a link to our Google reviews. We have more than 320 five-star reviews, and I would much rather give a seller the opportunity to see what hundreds of previous clients have said about working with us than spend part of the appointment sitting across from them telling them how good our service is.
There’s obviously a place during a listing appointment to talk about your experience and explain what makes your process different, but there’s only so much credibility you can create by talking about yourself.
Reviews let the seller hear it from the people who have already gone through the process with you, and because the link is there before we meet, they can read as many or as few as they want without us there.
By the time I arrive, my goal is that they already have a pretty good sense of what working with us is like.
4. Show them what their marketing could actually look like
One of my favorite things to include is a listing video, but I don’t necessarily send them the video that got the most views or the one I think makes us look the most impressive.
Whenever possible, I try to find something in the same city or a property with a similar style because I want the seller to be able to picture what we could potentially do with their house.
Social media is a major part of how we market our listings, and obviously I want a prospective seller to see our social media, but I don’t really want to write an email telling someone to go follow me on Instagram and scroll through my page.
Instead, I can show them one relevant example of our work. If they watch it and want to see more, they naturally end up on our social channels where they can see the rest of the marketing, the other properties we represent and even get a better sense of who I am before we meet.
It feels a lot more natural than telling someone how big social media is to our business.
Here’s what the actual email looks like
Here’s a recent version I sent before a listing appointment in Norwalk:
The exact email changes with every appointment, but the idea doesn’t: Do the research you should already be doing, package the most relevant pieces for the seller and give them the opportunity to get familiar with you before you arrive.
The more they know before you walk in, the more time you can spend talking about what actually matters to them.
