3 things to keep in mind before contacting an expired listing
The seller just had a disappointing experience selling their listing, and now they’re more than likely receiving correspondence from many agents. How will you let the seller know that you’re the most prepared to help sell their listing?
The best way to get people to want to work with you is to know what you’re talking about. Here are 3 things to keep in mind when contacting expired listings.
Your Strategy
Obviously, you can’t know every detail of your strategy beforehand, but be prepared to answer questions about how you will be different than their last agent. Clearly explain your marketing strategy and how you will be an improvement over the previous effort.
Do the research beforehand on the area and comparable properties that sold there. Being able to demonstrate some knowledge of the area will let the seller know that you’re a professional who puts in the work.
The Seller’s Mindset
The person you’re calling more than likely put in a lot of time, effort and (sometimes), money into a listing that for one reason or another did not sell. Suffice to say, they’re disappointed.
Show empathy for the seller and hear them out. Often a person will feel more willing to talk about next steps once they’ve gotten any grievances off their chest.
Even then, many sellers may not be ready to sign on with an agent right away. Especially if their listing just expired recently. Being patient and doing diligent follow up are crucial to acquiring many of these listings.
Of course, seller’s whose listings expired months ago are worth a call as well. They may be more ready to give another agent a chance.
They’ll probably hang up on you
If you’re contacting sellers by phone, the number one thing to keep in mind is that most of the people you are calling do not want to talk to you. They might be getting bombarded daily with agents looking to acquire their listing.
They’ll probably hang up on you once they realize you’re looking to sell their listing, if they answer at all.
Be prepared with a voicemail script. And be prepared to make many more calls.
This can of course be the advantage of letters, social media, and other indirect ways of contacting sellers. That sort of outreach can be expensive, but at least the responses you receive from it are from people who do want to speak to you.
Getting these expired listings can be time consuming, but if you approach it with a sound strategy they can a great opportunity.
ExpLiMO provides high-quality leads daily and offers a unique opportunity for Manhattan and Brooklyn real estate agents to prospect for expired listing leads and grow their business exponentially.