Stage 2 – The First Meeting

Although you’ve already set expectations, John O’Neill, managing partner of the JFO Group and an agent with Coldwell Banker Previews, says it is important to restate them, and more importantly, communicate why these are accurate expectations for the prospective client to have.

For buyers, this includes: an initial price range; where they’d like to live; what they’re looking for in a home; whether they pre-qualify for a mortgage; putting them in contact with a loan officer to get an idea of available products; and discussing budgetary concerns and all costs involved when it comes to purchasing a home (property taxes, assessments and interest rates, to start).

For sellers, this includes a walk-through of the home before a listing presentation (there could be remodeling, staging and other aspects of the home that raise its value) that shows a comparative market analysis, data and reasoning as to why their home should be priced as you see fit, as well as a presentation showing how you would market the home, your results with those methods with previous clients and anything else that can sell yourself to the client.

Price, obviously, is a hot topic for agents and sellers, and top-producing agents will typically not take on a client who insists the home be listed at a price that is above what the agent believes will do well on the market. However, some sellers can be negotiated with, and this is the stage to determine if they will be willing to agree to your plan of pricing and marketing and whether you should take them on as clients.

“It’s so much easier to have a conversation with a seller by showing them the graphs and data instead of explaining it via phone or in person with just words,” O’Neill says.