Hello,

Having been in real estate for over 20 years, I have always found that I seem to be more focused and confidence when I use a "Visual" Listing Presentation... It just seems to flow better and even faster in some ways.

My question isn't whether or not you use one, my question is to those that use one, what do you use? I personally am not crazy about PowerPoint Presentations, I can't stand the thought of lugging a laptop and so on and so forth.. Some folks seem very "resistant" to them .. I always used the one from Roger Butcher (although I understand some of you out there aren't crazy about him) and the one from Floyd Wickman... (Old one from the late nineties)... What do you folks use?

Thanks
Jim

I use PowerPoint. Lugging a laptop is about the only exercise I get in a day so I won't deny myself that "workout."

What are the Butcher & Wickman presentations like? Are they flipbooks or folders or interpretive dances or sockpuppets or ?

Our office currently uses printouts in a 3 ring binder, but I am working on converting it to a virtual version as well. Not sure if I am going to use powerpoint (not all of the agents in the office have laptops with powerpoint anyway) or create it to run on any computer as a disc-based a local web site...

You can create it in powerpoint and save it on a cd.

I'm more comfortable using HTML than powerpoint anyway. In creating a disc based web, I can incorporate some IE only gimmmics (like page transitions) that are not "standards compliant" but will mimic PP...

I'm just amazed as to how this thread is evolving into a "Powerpoint" Visual Listing presentation thread... LOL

NO MATTER WHAT, NO COMPUTER, NO PP!

That's me...

You asked what people use. We're telling you. Someone just corrected my assumption that you need PP to run a PP presentation.

Sheesh! lighten up!

I would love some other ideas as well...but PP seems to come up first for most of us.

Perky I like the idea of using HTML instead.

I would like to create something that would work both on a computer and without.

On another thread, someone mentioned burning something to a DVD so that you could pop it into your client's DVD player. Sounds cool though I wonder how complicated it would be to do (and use, as people with older DVD players probably won't be able to play them..)

Wonder if you could save each "point" as a seperate track, so that you could go through it at your own pace.

At least I thought it was mentioned on this board...perhaps I read it in a blog somewhere. I've been researching so much these past few weeks everything is blurring together. LOL

Straight Shooter, if you mean a hard copy presentation, we use Realty Tools Toolkit CMA and the printouts are very nice looking. It has a cover letter, a "Why Use A Realtor" page, a resume page, bar graphs, price adjustment page, and staging and preparation page. They are kind of pricey if you subscribe alone, but they do look good.

Maybe because you are resistant to using computers, you transfer that opinion to others and that might not be the case. It's not about what you want it's about what the client will respond to.

Whatever presentation you use, you want the visual (flipbook, html, PP or whatever) to be different in some way from your printed material. I think the perfect blend is something interactive that keeps the client involved.

We just had a guy come over and attempt to sell us on this new Owens Corning basement stuff. All he had was the flipbook and I nearly keeled over.

He should have read that I was a D personality from my first hello and known that I didn't need all of that.

I would think your material would need to be flexible enough to shorten but remain thorough if you run into a D personality and detailed enough in your leave behind for a C personality.

I believe that Top Producer also has a listing presentation as part of their program. I don't use them, but check them out. Lots of people use ToolKitCMA and from what I have seen theirs seems to be the best.

I think you all make a lot of sense. The two reasons I didn't want a computer visual listing presentation is because most of the Top Producers I asked, (one sells 400 homes a year with his team), discourage the use of a PP Presentation, instead recommending either a flipbook or a Prelisting package. If I use a computer, I actually have a state of the art Laptop and a great PowerPoint Presentation from my company, so that's not the issue. The issue is what will attract the masses and be effective?

PS.. Most of the Top Producers I asked were not in my market area at all...

I know you said in the beginning that you are looking for some sort of visual aid in your listing presentations... but let me throw in my pennies...

I approached my listing presentations a little differently. I prepared a personalized binder for each seller prospect for them to keep. It had boilerplate information about me and a very detailed market analysis on their property. I went through the stuff about me pretty quickly, hit on my marketing plan to the degree they seemed interested and spent most of my time on the CMA data (again, gauging their interest).

Sellers want to know three things... let's say them together.... How Much is My House Worth? How Much Do You Charge to Sell it? And What Are You Gonna Do to Sell it?

If a seller is sitting through multiple listing presentations, I want to be the agent who doesn't bore them to death or insult their intelligence with fancy charts and graphs and dire warnings of the Dangers of Overpricing Your Home!!! I want to be the agent who builds rapport, who listens to their concerns and tells them what they want to know as efficiently as possible.

This worked for me. I know MY eyes glaze over whenever a salesperson pulls out their handy-dandy laptop computer. I politely nod and smile, but my mind is elsewhere. However, if the salesperson is engaging me in conversation, I'm right there with him/her.

And BTW, almost every time, I was told that my presentation was by far the most professional and well-prepared of the bunch. Even without a fancy PP program...

I have used many different listing techniques in my 10 years of licensed real estate activity and in more than 10 additional years as an individual investor.

Being an retired Aerospace Engineer, I initially jumped at the PP and computer presentations because I had been using them in my day to day full time work in engineering standing if front of a lot of other managers and engineers. It worked very well in industry but I discovered it was far too "fixed" for residential real estate.

Home owners want to jump around and with a fixed computer presentation it is far too difficult to do. You loose contact with the client while you set up the computer and with a CD it is still difficult to jump to the track you need and it is unlikely to specifically answer the question at hand.

For owner occupant sellers, I have settled on Paper hand outs and Stock Card Flip charts I can easily move back and forward with as the conversation evolves. I personally would hate to have an agent come into my home and lock me into a "presentation" where I could not ask and have my questions answered as I thought of them. I don't want to feel I am in some high school class where I have to wait to ask my questions as set points in a presentation... owners just don't do that.

For new investor seller clients, I use handouts exclusively... they generally know more and need less "education" on the process, they only want property specific information.

For most of my COI it is simply a verbal conversation with a few data sheets such as BPO's and statistical data on market.

Having a Fixed presentation may make you feel more focused but it can often lock your clients mind with boredom. Fix the presentation around the specific clients... not your presentation materials you have available. Every presentation will probably need to be different, go with the flow...

Create a DVD for the sellers. That way he or she can view it whenever it is convenient for them and before you give your presentation.

Once you arrive at the location, you can provide your evaluation and then spend more time discussing the CMA and answer any questions the seller may have. Once you have the signed listing agreement, provide the seller with a #-page Seller Guide that will answer 90% of the questions they may have during the listing to closing process.