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In commercial real estate agency today, most listing opportunities will be competitive events and presentations. You will have other real estate agents chasing the same property at the same time. That being said, your sales pitch or presentation to the client needs to be of the highest quality in every respect.

You will only have a short period of time to get your message and strategy through to the client. Choices will be made from the 30 minutes that you spend with your client pitching for the listing. Why are you the best agent for the job? Give the client the right answer.

In preparing for a property presentation, it is wise to understand the client, the property, and the motivation that puts the property on the market today. Every client will have a story to tell and a requirement to fill. You need to get inside the ‘clients head’ to identify the ultimate outcome required and the best timing that will help them achieve their property goals.

Here are some presentation tips that will help you position yourself for the property listing and to help satisfy the needs of the client:

1. Confidence is a significant leverage tool when it comes to winning listings. To build your confidence you really do need to understand the property type, the location, and the available strategies to optimize the enquiry from marketing. You can then match these factors to the client in a confident and relevant way. A generic approach to marketing will not help you win listings.
2. A question and answer process will help you get to the main factors and motivations behind the clients requirements in selling or leasing the property. You can improve your questioning strategy through regular practice and role playing. Given that the property market changes throughout the year, the questioning process will also need to change and adjust to the prevailing market conditions. Share experiences and challenges with your agency colleagues to improve the presentations that you are making.
3. Your knowledge of the property type will allow you to show your relevance to the client. Give them some specific solutions to achieving higher levels of enquiry and inspections from the marketing effort. Put yourself into the marketing process so that the client feels that your offered solutions are more important than that provided by any other agency.
4. In this property market, direct marketing takes preference over generic marketing. The direct marketing approach only applies to exclusive listings. On that basis you should be seeking an exclusive listing for the agency appointment. Make sure that the client understands the differences between open listings and exclusive listings from a marketing perspective. If they are genuine in the sale or leasing process, the choice will be logical and simple.
5. Stories connecting to the property type and the overall location will help you in attracting the attention of the client. That will then give you that extra advantage when it comes to converting the listing from the presentation. Choose your stories relative to the property type and the current market conditions, using other clients that have had similar challenges. A prospective client likes to know that they are not alone in handling property challenges.

The property presentation today needs to be well planned. A generic approach will simply not win the listings that you require. Be prepared to be specific and direct with the client using information that will help them make the best choice when it comes to you as a commercial real estate agent.

Are you constantly looking for ways to predict your buyer’s next move and calibrate your own strategy to maximize your negotiation outcome. By War Gaming your upcoming negotiation you can do just that.

A Negotiation War Game has 3 main steps:

• Intelligence
• Simulation
• Debriefing

Intelligence

1. Organize your team into two teams- One “Home Team”, and one “Away Team”.

2. Collect some basic information on the actual people you will be meeting. Google your counterpart’s two most important people, have a look at their Facebook page etc. Look for information that tells you “who” they are. Please note: a War Game is an analytical way of using less data and more inferences.

The collected info. is the Away Team’s briefing material. Don’t bother collecting info. on the Home Team as this is your own people – they already know who they are.

3. Decide how many simulations you feel like doing and how long they should be. Rule of thumb – in a Sales-negotiation I would do several short simulations in rapid succession (each simulation interrupted by a strategy break). Strategy breaks are used to evaluate the progress (Teams are kept apart).

4. Get the physical lay-out right. Once the teams are set, the briefing material is done and the simulations are structured, it is important to structure your War Game.

To do a proper War Game you need access to 3 separate rooms:

Room no. 1: Have one large room in which a pre-simulation briefing will be held (briefing material will be handed out). This room will also be used for the negotiation simulation. Last but not least, this room will be used to debrief the participants.

Room no. 2: Have a smaller room in which the Home Team can prepare and evaluate proceedings in peace.

Room no. 3: Have another small room in which the Away Team can prepare and evaluate proceedings in peace.

Simulation

5. Run the simulations

As the simulations get going the Home Team will get a sense of how well their strategy is working against this specific counterpart. In the strategy breaks, the Home Team will re-group, calibrate their strategy and come back to the negotiation table.

Think about adding a feedback system if needed.

Debriefing

6. Gather your team and collect Lessons Learned, when the simulation, or rather the series of simulations are done.

At this point, you and your team will know what your actual counterpart will most likely do when confronted by your original and subsequent (increasingly calibrated) strategies – and better yet, you will have developed a tailor-made negotiation strategy.

Please note that the above mentioned method does not, in advance, prescribe to any particular strategy or tactic. A Negotiation War Game is simply an incredibly accurate, risk-free environment, in which any strategy or tactic can be tested.

So if you are doing anything before your next big Sales negotiation – it better be war gaming!

Quote of the Day, “Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.” – William Penn

Presentation skills are one of the most imperative items for sales professionals. There are numerous opportunities in a day for sales people to present information articulately or sound incompetent. Because of the lack of sales training, selling professionals are calling prospective clients unprepared, avoiding useful questions and sounding naïve. The lack of proper presentation skills can possibly be what is affecting your performance, not the recession!

Vocabulary “Judge a book by its cover” is the cliché many sales people need to avoid. From the moment a sales professional arrives for an appointment prospective clients are judging. Speak and it gets even worse. Many selling professionals lack proper vocabulary to have an articulate conversation with sales leaders. They use too many words. Further, “street talk” might not always be appropriate.

I remember when I first entered the speaking business; many individuals stated they had a “gig” as if they were a nightclub act. Speaking is a professional business where there is a “presentation”, “workshop” or “keynote” based on client need. Refrain from street talk when speaking to clients and speak with language that exemplifies your professionalism I recall when I first moved to the state of Missouri, I met individuals that used the phrase, “Allasudden” as a melody. It took me months to determine what was said. Wouldn’t the word “suddenly” be a better substitute? Selling professionals are judged by how they articulate. Drop the numerous words, William Penn was correct. Use a thesaurus to find and express yourself intelligently good language never hurt anyone.

Preparation Arrive unprepared and the best decision would have been remaining in bed. On a recent radio interview with friend and colleague Patricia Fripp, she mentioned a sales manager replying to a proposal and spending inordinate amounts of money on a million dollar sale. When she asked the sales manager about rehearsing the presentation, the manager stated the team would lucky to practice in the car prior to the appointment.

I recall a very good book I use for acting entitled “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff that can assist selling professionals with presentation and preparation. Shurtleff talks of guideposts such as “The Moment Before” which helps selling professionals prepare to anticipate the selling scene. Selling professionals that are unprepared are always playing defense and losing sales.

Dress Code Anther vital element of the unprepared sales representative is dress code. In the late 1990′s Wall Street and subsequently Main Street adopted the ludicrous rule of casual days. Business suits, dresses, wingtips and pumps were castaways to polo shirts and khakis. What would your reaction be if your physician showed up for surgery in a running suit and sneakers or your attorney meeting you with blue jeans and T-shirt? Sales professionals must represent the organization and themselves. Sounding professional is one half of the equation, look the part the other. Clients judge from the outside. Look the part by dressing the part.

Selling is a profession and is not impromptu. Proper planning is a major portion of the sales process. Rather then spend time attempting to make more calls, or being negative about consumer buying patterns perhaps it is best to look in the mirror. Self-reflection and assessment is always a useful. After all, you cannot close business if there is no one to present to.

There are 7 techniques you can use daily to assist you preparation efforts. Get the 7 Secrets to Sales Preparation by emailing me today. Ask about our Free 30 Minutes “Sales Acceleration Coaching Clinic” to help you gain immediate sales result!

©2009. Drew J. Stevens Ph. D. All rights reserved.