If you want to convert more listing appointments into signed listings, you need a unique selling proposition (USP) that offers the same services that your competitors offer plus two or three “wow” tools that your competitors have yet to discover.
A powerful USP will enable you to take more listings at a full commission.
As you present your USP to sellers during a listing appointment, your goal is to emphasize the benefit to the seller — obtaining the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time through maximum exposure to the marketplace.
How to create a competitor marketing checklist
A typical USP will have 15 to 25 items on it, but it’s always limited to a single page. When you set up your USP, use a spreadsheet like the one below:
| Marketing Service | My Company | Company #1 | Company #2 | Company #3 |
| Social Media Marketing Plan | ✔ | |||
| Virtual Reality Property Tour | ✔ | |||
| Virtual Reality Drone Photography | ✔ | |||
| Augmented Reality Print Marketing Program | ✔ |
Ideally, your spreadsheet will list what all brokers do, the specific services that your company uses to market the property and then the most important part, which is illustrated above — your personal offerings that differentiate your services from those provided by the competition. Place a checkmark beside each tool or service that you provide.
If the sellers say they are interviewing other agents or have a friend in the business, ask them to compare the services that you offer to the services offered by any other agents they might interview. The probability that your competitors will have a competing checklist is close to zero.
During your appointment, only explain the two or three services that you believe give you the greatest competitive advantage. Here’s what to say.
Social media marketing plan
Ideally, your social media marketing plan will include:
1. A Facebook business page
Use the Facebook page creation tool to create a Facebook business page for each of your listings, using the property address as the title of the page.
Once you have created the page, post open house information, photos, videos and content that illustrates what it is like to live in this neighborhood.
Sellers will generally share this information with their online friends, thereby creating free marketing for you. (Caveat: You must remember to take this page down when the property conveys to the new buyer.)
2. An Instagram marketing page
Use Instagram to share what’s unique about your listing, especially if you can tell a story about what it’s like to live in the property.
Capture a photo or video of breakfast being served on the back deck, unique places where locals congregate, the spa tub surrounded by plush towels and candles, etc. This process is about highlighting what makes it special to live there rather than showing every part of the house.
3. Translation of listing features into multiple languages
Real-buzz.com will translate your listings into 18 different languages. This tool also allows you to print, email and socially share your properties in any language.
Most importantly, it puts your listing in front of 90 percent of the potential buyers in the world. This supports your contention that sellers who list with you get the maximum exposure that results in maximum price.
4. YouTube and Facebook Live videos
Any videos you shoot of the property should be posted on YouTube. You can also shoot videos using Facebook Live as well.
For example, use your mobile device to shoot a Facebook Live video before your next open house. Unlike Snapchat videos that usually disappear after 24 hours, the video can be posted on your Facebook business page and archived there.
3-D virtual reality property tour
If you haven’t converted all your listings into Matterport 3-D tours, you are missing what might be the strongest listing lead conversion technology available today.
Matterport’s original 3-D tour technology allows you to view the entire property in a 3-D model as well as doing an online walkthrough of the property. You can look up at the ceiling, “walk” up stairwells, step over to the window to see the view, etc.
Matterport’s latest innovation is its CoreVR (virtual reality) product that allows users to experience the property as if they are actually walking through it.
This tool is powered by Oculus (downloadable from Google Play). You can convert any of your current Matterport listings into VR until Dec. 31, 2016, at no charge. After that, it will be $19 per listing.
3-D drone virtual reality aerial property tour
Pix4D allows agents to combine drone aerial tours with 3-D models to create an interactive aerial tour that allows you to have an overall picture of the property, rather than just a portion of it. This is an excellent tool for large parcels and luxury estates.
Augmented reality (AR) print marketing program
AR has been around for several years and is being widely used by architects and developers to allow clients to envision what their new high-rise condo or custom home will be like long before they even break ground.
AR also allows potential buyers to view a 3-D model of your listings using their mobile device coupled with a QR code embedded in a print ad. Currently, some aspects of this technology are available in the U.S. through the Lux-AR app.
To see how AR technology is being used in the U.K., the following video illustrates both the 3-D model and QR code technology.
By the way, if you want a fun look at the same technology, check out this ad from IKEA.
Keeping up with the latest advances in technology is an excellent way to ensure that you’re the agent who always wins the listing and gets a full commission.
Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, is a national speaker, author and trainer with over 1,000 published articles and two best-selling real estate books. Learn about her training programs at www.RealEstateCoach.com/
