At my company, this is how the Results Team handles a property listing. We use a two-step method of listing. Many agents use a one-step approach but I've found for the team effect to work really well, the two-step method is the best. We'll take a step-by-step approach, starting with the phone call.

1.The initial phone call: When a property owner calls wanting to list their home, the marketing starts. We've designed a form that we use to gather basic information during the initial phone call. We get the address, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and any special features. One thing that's very important to me is the client's opinion of their home's value. Asking what the client thinks their home is worth let's me know what their expectations are. If they have very high expectations and I know the home is not worth that much, I'm forewarned that I'll need to gather more information to support my opinion.

The next thing I do is make an appointment to see the house. Either my listing assistant or I handle this first visit. While there, I assess the general condition of the house, measure it to get the exact square footage, (measuring for square footage varies in different parts of the country) and take lots of photographs using my digital camera. I also take a careful look at the neighborhood. Selling real estate, as we all know, is very difficult and stressful so I also take this opportunity to assess whether my staff and the clients will be compatible and work well together. If I determine that it might be a problem I will refuse the listing in a tactful way later. Our team has a very successful track record and the worst thing I can do is expose our team to a very demanding and difficult seller. Next I go back to my office and prepare the comparative market Analysis (CMA).

2. Our team guarantees that we can sell the house in 60 days or less or we pay the seller $500 when it does sell, so the next step is critical to our success. Preparing an accurate CMA takes skill and experience. Many agents treat this step very lightly and I feel it's one of the most important steps in our marketing efforts. Common mistakes include giving too much weight to homes currently on the market, not giving enough weight to comparable homes that have sold recently, or using dissimilar homes for the analysis. I've even seen appraisers make blatant mistakes. The key is to find homes as similar in size and features as possible and as close to the subject home as possible. Then you must be sure to rely heavily on similar homes that have sold recently.

You should look at a few comparable homes that are currently on the market and a few expired listings, but remember that the most important data is for homes that have sold. One thing that has helped me tremendously is spending a lot of time with different appraisers to gather their thoughts on determining value. Of course all that varies in different parts of the country, depending on how hot the market is. We have been blessed with a very steady market. But in a very hot market, taking a look at active listings becomes more and more important.

3. When I'm satisfied with the CMA, it's time to create the multimedia presentation using the digital photographs I took at the house. I use Microsoft PowerPoint and my laptop computer to incorporate text and photographs into a dynamic, highly impressive presentation, which appears to have taken hours to prepare. In fact, it's just a template I created. Now I need only plug in the photographs and text, which takes just a few minutes.

I also use the presentation later to point out things that need to be cleaned up, changed, removed, or repaired. In extreme cases, I use the photos for a before- and after-type presentation, to show clients what a difference it can make to clean up and clear out things. Using Power Point's fade effect during such a presentation is highly impressive. In a future article when we discuss staging a home for success, I'll discuss the strategy in more detail.

4. Next I have the sellers come into my office. I never go to the house for a formal listing presentation. I feel it's vital to get the sellers away from the house for this part of the process. That way there are no interruptions from telephones, televisions, neighbors, children, dogs, cats, etc. I show them the multimedia presentation on my laptop. Because the presentation is so impressive, I could ask for the listing at this point, but I like to do one more thing. With the owners sitting there, I upload their photographs and information to my personal web site to show them how we're going to market their home over the Internet to thousands of potential buyers.

As the sellers sit there looking at their house on my Internet database, I go over the CMA in detail. I use Top Producer software, which has a very impressive CMA presentation. In fact, Top Producer is such a good tool that I rarely have to tweak its recommended price. I then ask the question, "Are you ready to get started with this marketing plan for your house?" If for some reason the sellers aren't ready to list right away, I ask them to delete their home from the Internet. Remember, their house is up there for the world to see. I have never had anyone delete the listing.

5. This two-step listing presentation combined with the high-tech multimedia presentation and the clincher - putting them on the Internet while they're in my office - has produced phenomenal results for me. Done properly, I know it would work for just about anyone.

In future articles, I'll explain our marketing plan step by step and discuss the magic of pricing my listing with an 888. We'll get into staging, and the mechanics of how a team works. Next time, we'll talk about buyer's agents and how they work. Using one or more buyer's agents can have a profound impact on your bottom line, so be sure to catch the next issue.

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Published: February 4, 2000

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Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Jerry Fowler only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.