Remember your first listing appointment and how you asked your boss, “I got an appointment Mal, what do I do?”

And he’s like, “Here you go son, this is our pre list kit, just add your details and enter you price and sign here and drop it off before you go. We call this a pre-list kit”.

How exciting my first appraisal!

It’s funny I used to collect pre-list and listing kits from all the big name agents back when selling to see what they had inside.

Guess what, they are ALL the same. And 5 years later, nothing has changed.

You have heard it time and time again from listings you missed out on, you know the ones you called to find out why you lost and they say. “You were all good and we went with Jo because of….”

Good = exact same carbon copy of each other.

Your potential lead will receive the exact same thing from each agent including you. Here is what they are going to get x3 or more:

• Cover letter (I’m the best agent! pick me)
• About the agent and how great she thinks she is.
• A page about the Agency and how great we are.
• Marketing campaign with no explanation
• RP Data / Price Finder report (All with exactly the same info)
• Several testimonials from happy people (are these real?)
• Recent sales list (everyone has those)

They will flick through a few pages of each one reading the same generic no substance boring books and say to each other “Who are we going to choose Sally? They are all the same.”

Then they will flip a coin or worse choose an agent based on fee, or who they got on well with because he is a smooth talker whose average DOM is 90+ days.

It’s your fault for not protecting these sellers from that looser and missing out on the listing.

Stop thinking; “oh I’ll pick it up in 90 days”.

You don’t deserve their listing after letting these poor people go through months of suffering trying to sell their property with the wrong agent.

You are not worthy of their listing, and you won’t get it because they are pissed off that they didn’t give it to you in the first place. Their pride will kick in and very few will give you a second chance.

You don’t deserve it either.

Why your pre-listing kit doesn’t work.

This is exactly the same listing kit dreamed up by your boss when he was selling real estate in 1985. But now it has a shiny new logo is on fancy paper and comes in a fancy package.

The thing is, he copied it from his boss who made his in 1972, and where did that guy get his from, the 60s? Groovy baby! It started out as his first resume, which was all about him.

Shit has changed.

Put it in the garbage because that is where it belongs and where your seller lead will put it.

Oh, but we spent so much making it look pretty.

Pretty crap is still just that.

It belongs in the trash because it’s all about YOU. Nobody gives a shit about you, sorry tough titty nobody cares.

We are all self-centered, time poor, have short attention spans and only want to consume information that is useful, helpful and funny cat videos.

This is who your customer is.

Understand this and everything else, is easy.

Do the exact opposite of other agents.

They will be using their self-centered I’m so great booklet, like a crappy horror movie reheated from the 60s.

Be different, and no; a nice box or adding a chocolate bribe is not going to make your pre-list kit any better. Bribing does not work and actually hurts your reputation in the long run.

Stop doing this today.

Hasn’t your mother told you to not accept candy from strangers? Have you not watched Snow White and the seven dwarves or Sleeping Beauty?

We are programmed from an early age to never take gifts, especially food from strangers. Their internal alarm bells are ringing saying DANGER, DANGER, DANGER. Keep the candy bribe for yourself Mr Stranger with a fancy suit.

Trash the candy along with that stupid idea, it makes you fat anyway. Do you take candy from strangers? Are you trying to make me fat?

What about a property photo?

Don’t waste your valuable time taking a photo of their property to personalise the kit either. It will have no impact on your success and is actually a negative.

Creepy stalker agent.

The solution is simple.

The best way to amplify your success is to do the exact opposite of everyone else and specifically target those you want to attract.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

Mark Twain

Your new pre-list kit will be the only one read by your prospective seller.

It will be a beacon of light full of information that helps them. They will actually read it cover to cover and truly appreciate how useful and how it helps them understand the selling process.

Do this and the listing is yours on your terms when you get to the appointment.

Those that aren’t ready to act will recycle all of them except yours and you will be the only agent they call back when they are finally ready.

Make sure you get their email address to keep in touch.

Start with a plan.

Delete everything you have and start fresh with a clear objective of who your readers are, clearly burned in your mind.

Everything must be about them and the solution you provide… not about you and it’s not about your competitors AT ALL.

Not a single mention of them, to you and your sellers they don’t exist and are not important to their success.

Forget about using those silly “Ask agent X this and that.” type questions. It doesn’t work because it puts a new idea in their mind that they didn’t ever consider and never would have.

They will think you wrote this specifically for them because how it talks in their language which they understand.

Rules to follow when building a killer pre-list kit.

• Everything you write must answer the following in the readers mind… “What’s in it for me?”
• Explain every step of the selling process and the benefits they get using you.
• Minimize real estate jargon or better yet include a face sheet that explains what our terms mean.
• Start writing it like a sales letter because it works.
• This is the same sales letter used in every successful business to explain products and service… even Apple.
• Define your target sellers.

Before you start writing, clearly define the person or couple you are writing to. Consider their lifestyle, how, where they live and what they do how much they earn.

You should already know them because they were the best clients you worked with.

For example when targeting premium property:

• Do they have older kids moved out?
• Do they own a business?
• Are they retired?
• Do they own investment properties?
• Are the married?
• What type of lifestyle do they live?
• Do they play golf?

Perhaps you are targeting apartment dwellers, or entry price suburbs, tradies etcetera:

• Is this their first time selling?
• Are they upgraders?
• Toddler wreaking havoc?
• Husband closer to a beer drinking gorilla tradie? Sheila, get me a coldie!
• Do they both work?
• Is one a FIFO working on a mine site? (FIFO is a fly-in, fly-out worker)

Are they a rural area seller?

• Do they pump their own water from a well?
• Are they working the land?
• Do they have animals that need to move too?
• Are they fending off man eating animals like lions, bears or dingos?

They have different needs, wants and desires and live totally a completely different life to the premium property owner.

Make a list of your ideal client.

If you have more than one ideal client, make another list.

But start with one first and make sure there are enough of these target prospects in your area. If you are going after premium, the whole area should be premium not just a street or two.

This must be specific and viable for the area you are targeting. The more specific the more effective this will be.

Nothing stopping you from creating a few variations to target other markets.

The first page is critical

You will personalise this for each prospect with something specific for them. You will know what that is because you have been prospecting up stream right?

The more specific the higher your success.

You will use same letter and pre-list kit with every prospect, meaning write once, and add a personal touch to the cover letter.

The cover letter has one purpose; to get them to read the next page. The next page has a singular purpose to get the reader to keep reading.

Every page will be so good that they will read it all because it’s purposely written for them.

Once they read it they will naturally come to the conclusion that this is a different agent, that you truly do understand their situation and that you know are a real estate expert they can trust.

They will pick you if your pre-list kit is good enough and will talk with each other and say something along the lines of:

“He is the one don’t you think Sally? Let’s see if he is as nice in person before we fully decide, but he is the one don’t you think hon?” she will say, “oh god! I was hoping you liked him, the others were all the same…”

Once you have crafted a targeted pre-list kit, use it.

The template to start creating this is to start with a sales letter template because it makes sure you have answered all the objections in the readers mind.

It’s called the 60-Minute Naked Truth Sales Letter Formula which can be found here at Michael Fortin’s website.

This is the very same process on how to write an appraisal landing page and will continue the story in more specific detail about the selling process.

Use your pre-list kit in conjunction with an effective appraisal page for incredible results. You won’t have to worry about your competition if you take the time to do this right.

Keep using it and make no changes.

This is critical to your success.

DO NOT CHANGE it until you have used it on at least 30 appraisals.

This is important as what most agents do is send it once, not get the instant result, because the prospect is not ready to act.

If you change it each time you will never know if it actually works.

Test, test, test.

Track your results on a simple spreadsheet. Guessing is not an option, marketing and sales is science and art.

Implement a post interview strategy, where you get someone else to call back to perform a survey to ask specific questions with the first being:

“Did you read the information kit we left?” If the answer is no, your cover letter stinks, do it again until you get yes.

If you think your current pre-list kit is good then split test it, 50% your new one and 50% with the remake of your bosses 1960s kit re-hashed and warmed up. You won’t use the old way if you have actually taken the time to tell a story to the person that explains the selling process in detail.

This will be a continuation of the story that started on your appraisal landing page. It should be informative and specific and tell some real stories of how you helped a specific couple who are just like them. And include that testimonial.

This needs to be a complete map of what happens for them when they sell their property, tell them everything.

If you do this they will choose you to list and ultimately sell their property.

You will see massive improvement.

Start today and report back with your success in the comments below and be sure to subscribe to the blog for more success strategies.