How you describe your services—and what you actually deliver—can have a huge impact on your success in this business.  If you want to increase your value (and your income) get out of the “commodity” business!

“Get it listed!”  That has been the mantra of many agents for as long as I have been in this business.  But with the advent of the Internet age, and in the current era of discount pricing and long days on market, just getting it listed is not a great accomplishment.  “Get it sold!” is what the sellers want.  And that takes some marketing expertise.

And it begins with the market value analysis.  It’s not enough to just “pull the comps” to show sellers the proper price at which to offer the home.  That “listing price” needs to be “sold” to the seller.
 
Recent sales prices of comparable homes are just figures on the page.  Sellers not only have to understand what makes their home “comparable,” but also need to be educated on the dynamics of the local marketplace.  How many comparable homes are currently competing, what volume of listings will likely occur over the time the home is on the market (new listings are always a challenge), what changes are occurring in the general economy and in the local marketplace that may impact the salability of the property. 

Sellers can go on the Internet and see lots of data.  They need a marketing expert to help them interpret that data relative to their specific situation. 

And they need an expert who will stay close to the process until the sale closes, from the initial “staging” of the home, ongoing review of buyers reaction to the property, negotiating offers (and not just delivering them) and working with appraisers and lenders to be sure the contract goes safely through closing. 

That’s what you do.  And that’s what you need to be “selling” to your sellers. So get the word "listing" out of your vocabulary!  You are a marketing professional.

Otherwise, you’re just a commodity—one of nearly a million other agents—and your only bargaining chit is your commission.