Selling Your Listing Strategies Update

With the New Year rapidly approaching and strong buyer interest during the last quarter of this year, this is an ideal time to revisit your strategies for selling your listings.  The suggestions below should be considered when deciding which “Next Steps” are best for each of your listings:

1. Review the photography and determine whether the photos you’ve taken should be updated. If you’re going to take photos with holiday decorations to use this month, be sure to change them in January.
2. Review the Ad Copy you’ve used in marketing the listing including remarks you’ve included on the MLS sheet.  Does the introduction or headline “sizzle”?   Are the most compelling and unique features included in text. Is the description brief and to the point.
3. Should you send a direct mail postcard to neighbors?
4. Should you e-blast buyer’s agents that have been successful bringing buyers to the neighborhood?
5. Should you consider suggesting a price reduction to stimulate additional interest?
6. Should you take the listing off the market for 60 days to re-set the listing period clock?
7. Could you have an office tour or even a sales meeting at the property?
8. Should you consider doing another Broker’s open house?
9. Are you holding public open houses and promoting them with ads and at least 8 signs?
10. Do you revise your strategy for each listing on a weekly basis?
11. Are you sending all recent sold info to your sellers?
12. Are you sending showing comments made by prospective buyers and other agents to your sellers?
13. Have you taken your seller’s to competitive listings to get them to be more realistic about the price?
14. Should you suggest staging, or at least cleaning up the property?
15. Do you know what the seller’s next step is once they close?
16. Should you identify or review the target market that you’ve selected?
17. Should you change the message in your advertising to directly apply to the target market or profile of the buyer you believe is most likely to purchase the listing?
18. Have you employed the seller by asking him to send the listing information to their sphere of influence? Better yet, can you get that list from their sellers to add to your e-mail database?
19. Have you employed the neighbors to help sell the property, by inviting them to open houses, sending them post cards, or even going door-to-door to introduce yourself and to give them listing information?
20. Have you checked realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia and all online postings to be sure they are picking up the listing?
21. Is the sign in the best location? Should it be changed?

 

Remember, it’s an ideal time to focus on next steps that will give you a great start to the coming year, so don’t succumb to the temptation to slow down because of the holidays.