How to "Just Say No" to Your Seller without Sounding Lazy, Cheap or Disrespectful

God Bless 'em. Our sellers just want to help. They have lots of opinions on how their homes should be marketed, advertised and promoted to agents and buyers, and they love sharing those opinions. And of course, they expect us to agree with their opinions and implement their ideas immediately!

Sometimes they're right. Sometimes, though, they aren't. No disrespect to homesellers around the world, but your agent does, or should, know more about selling houses than you do. They have tried and true practices of what works and what doesn't.

Truth be told, there are things we do simply because they make our sellers happy. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, there's a lot right about it. And many of these things we do to market our listings primarily promote ourselves more so than the property, and again, that's just fine. Open houses, color brochures, single-domain websites, Craigslist postings and virtual tours might fall under one or both of these categories.

But what about ineffective marketing that is expensive or time-consuming? What if you know that, for example, broker open houses, magazine or newspaper advertising or city-wide flyer distribution simply do not work in your market?

How can you tell your seller "no" without sounding cheap, lazy or disrespectful?

"Well, Joe, here's the thing. I want to sell your house as much as you do, so if I thought a particular marketing venue would work, I'd be all over it."

Very simple. It reminds the seller that you're on the same team, with a common goal of getting the home sold. And it's true! If you believed that having a color ad in the local real estate magazine would sell the house, you'd do it, right? If you thought that advertising the listing in the newspaper would bring in buyers, you'd advertise in the newspaper all day long, wouldn't you?

Of course, you certainly may do any and all advertising suggested by your seller; doing these activities certainly won't hurt the chances of the home selling! But if you want to say "no" and haven't figured out how, give this a try. If said calmly, confidently and non-defensively, the seller will usually understand and agree!

Published: September 27, 2010

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Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn was a top producing real estate broker in Denver, Colorado before writing her first book in 2007. Since then, she has written several more books about the business of selling real estate including her flagship book: Sell with Soul: Creating an Extraordinary Career in Real Estate without Losing Your Friends, Your Principles or Your Self-Respect, the sequel, If You're Not Having Fun Selling Real Estate, You're Not Doing it Right and her latest, to be released in Spring 2011, Prospect with Soul for Real Estate Agents. Jennifer believes that the secret of success for real estate agents is not in aggressive marketing techniques or hard-core sales pitches, but rather in being competent in one's craft. Competence begets Confidence. And in today's world of increasingly suspicious and ad-weary consumers, having an air of self-assurance and enthusiasm will be far more effective than a slick sales campaign. Jennifer writes and speaks with this philosophy in mind. She preaches that salespeople should follow the Golden Rule in their day-to-day practice of business - treating clients and prospects respectfully, as the salesperson him or herself would like to be treated. Being competent, reliable and fair, and motivated by a true desire to earn a paycheck, not just show up at closing with hand outstretched. She is a regular contributor to several real estate newsletters and magazines, a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame and one of the industry's most popular bloggers. You can learn more about Jennifer's "soulful" philosophies at www.SellWithSoul.com. Subscribe Below to Enroll in the Daily Seduction Newsletter Mini-Clinic - Tips and Strategies to Generate Business and Referrals From Your Sphere of Influence! Your Full Name Your Email Address