I like to say that listings are the “gift of the real estate gods.” Listings give you the best possible control of your business and marketplace. Many mega-agents leverage the power of listings to ratchet up their sales and increase their visibility. Without a doubt, my experience has shown me that listings are the most effective way to market your services, generate leads, and leverage your time.

Every listing is a marketing opportunity with the potential to attract additional listings and buyers. In fact, our research shows that each listing that is properly marketed will generate one closed deal from a buyer. It’s all about following a systematic marketing approach.

Agents who strive to sell their listings without implementing a marketing program first don’t clearly understand that a listing is a marketing, lead generation event. When the top agents take a listing, they put into place a 14-point marketing program before that listing ever goes to the MLS. By the time the home is posted, the marketing program has already been launched and cannot be pulled back. So even if the property sells in 24 hours, the marketing program is out there generating more business leads for you. It’s the difference between being reactive and proactive. The most financially successful agents are listing agents, and they are extremely proactive in their marketing approach. In fact, every one of the top agents we interviewed for The Millionaire Real Estate Agent was a listings-based agent.

To get leads consistently, you need a systematic, proactive lead generation program where you send out mailers, make prospecting calls, contact your referral base, and make your presence known in a regular way. So by marketing in this way, you have given yourself the best chance to secure as many seller listings as possible.

Listings allow you to make more dollars per hour. Many of the top agents we interviewed for The Millionaire Real Estate Agent took between 15 to 25 listings a month, whereas the best buyer agents were hard pressed to work with more than 6 to 8 buyers month after month, year after year. Buyers simply take more time. An added bonus of working listings is that it enhances your knowledge of the marketplace (you’re pricing properties to sell), which adds to your level of service and your ability to provide expert consulting to both buyers and sellers.

Our research clearly showed that the top-producing agents knew how to play the listings game. We discovered that for agents doing less than $2 million in production, buyers comprised more than 60 percent of their closed transactions. This trend continued until the agent was doing approximately $6 million, at which point, buyers and sellers represented equal portions of their total closed transactions. Agents generating $20 million or more in sales volume increasingly closed more sellers than buyers. For example, those agents averaging $750,000 GCI would on average have 64 sellers sold and 56 buyers sold. A listings-first mentality is fundamental if you wish to reach mega-agent status.

Remember, for credibility and visibility, there’s nothing more powerful than your sign in a yard. And when the “sold” signs goes up, that’s the ultimate proof that you get the job done. Listings attract more leads, and the more leads, the more signs you have in the market. More signs mean more opportunities and so on. Listings keep the wheel of success turning in your favor.

Published: June 4, 2003

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