The Ultimate Real Estate Listing Presentation (+ Free Template)

Success as a seller’s agent starts with a killer listing presentation and pitch to win over clients from the start. The presentation tells clients who you are and how you add value from the beginning to the end of the process. It includes local market data, an overview of the entire process, and describes how you will be successful in selling their home—all while providing comfort, building trust, and focusing on the seller’s needs. Read our 11-step guide and download a free listing presentation template to get started.

Download a Free Listing Presentation Template & Refine Your Pitch

Before jumping into creating your own listing presentation or pitch deck from scratch, download our free listing presentation template. Use these as you read through the steps below, then tailor your own presentation based on our steps, adding your own images, statistics, charts, and data. Remember, each listing presentation should always be specific to the homeowner and property to produce the best results.

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Here are the 11 steps to a successful real estate listing presentation that will help you win more sales clients:

1. Begin With a Short Overview

The overview is a brief summary of what your listing presentation will cover and how long they can expect the presentation to last. Your pre-listing package may also have covered some of this information. The first portion covers who you are, information about your brokerage, and what you hope to learn from your clients during the course of the listing presentation.

Remember, an effective presentation doesn’t have to be long to include all the vital information—around 30 to 60 minutes is a good time frame, although some will take longer than others. First-time homebuyers, detail-oriented buyers, and fearful buyers may have more questions and concerns than experienced buyers.

Brief Bio & Introduction of Your Skills

A homeseller wants an agent who is confident in their craft and who can clearly explain how the sales process will go. Think of your role not only as a real estate professional but also as an educator, so that your clients develop trust in your skills and believe in your ability to sell their home.

Along with a mini resume of your background, include the following information:

• The number of homes you’ve sold in their area in the past year
• Types of homes you’ve sold if they’re similar to theirs (include a picture, if applicable)
• How quickly you’ve sold homes listed with you (average days on market, if favorable)
• Closing prices compared to list prices (did you get over-asked and by how much?)

You can also use this section to do a little bragging (and build client confidence) by mentioning the awards, certifications, or designations you’ve earned that are an asset to this transaction. Just make sure to correlate all of these items back to your client’s property so you can demonstrate value through hard work, dedication, and a focus on their needs.

Introduce the Power of Your Brokerage

Whether this is the first or hundredth listing presentation you’ve made, sellers want to know there is a reputable brokerage behind you. Not only does this provide assurance that you have a team of agents to work with, but also that the company has had success selling properties for other homeowners. Be sure to present reasons why signing on with someone who works at your brokerage is a distinct advantage.

Both large and small brokerages can offer a value proposition. If you’re with a larger brokerage, like RE/MAX, Keller Williams, or Compass, then you’ll likely focus on numbers like the number of homes your brokerage sold in the last year and median home sale price.

Alternatively, if you work at a smaller boutique brokerage, you’ll want to emphasize things like personalized service and your local roots. With a smaller brokerage, you often want to highlight customer care and the fact that your client won’t be just another person on their roster.

Return the Focus to Your Clients

Now that you’ve made the case why the client should choose you, it’s time to get back to what really matters—your client. Take the next few minutes to get to know your homeowner a bit better. This encourages communication, makes the pitch far less monotonous and more interactive, helps you angle your pitch to their needs, and puts the homeowner at ease.

Here are some examples of questions you can ask to learn more about your seller during your listing presentation:

Take notes about what matters most to your prospect to show you are diligent and so that you can be attuned to your client’s needs throughout the process. This information will help you better align your pitch with your client’s needs, stress important elements, and debunk any fears as you go along.

For example, if someone already made an offer on a home in another location, they might need to sell their current home quickly. You can use this information when you explain how it will take much longer to sell their home if it’s priced too high.

2. Present Local Market Data

Now that you’ve made introductions all around, bring the conversation back to the business of selling the client’s home. A great segue for starting the sales portion of your listing presentation is to present local market data for the neighborhood or area of the subject property.

Share local market data that shows historic trends, how quickly homes are selling in the area, how many have sold during the past six months or year (depending on available data), and median price points. You may also want to include seasonal data if prices tend to fluctuate based on the time of year you are planning to list the home and any other information that will help homeowners understand the market data that needs to go into pricing their home for sale.

This section may need more than one slide, but gauge your audience to see if you need to go further into depth in any topic area. Also, keep in mind that some of this data lends itself well to charts or graphs, and visuals like these can make the information more understandable for the average person. While you can create these types of charts yourself (or with your brokerage’s resources), doing so can take a lot of time.

It may be preferable to get them from your multiple listing service (MLS) platform or use the paid comparative market analysis (CMA) and listing presentation packages available from a service like Cloud CMA. Cloud CMA’s paid CMA software offers premade charts and graphs that make you look like a pro and save you a lot of time. They also will help create your CMA report in print or digital format so you can present it in person or digitally.

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3. Explain the Sales Process

As you continue educating your clients, give them an overview of the entire sales process. While it shouldn’t take hours, take enough time to make sure your client is aware of what will happen during the process over the next several weeks or months. The steps you want to cover include:

Tailor this portion of the listing presentation to your client’s experience with selling homes. For instance, if you have a first-time seller, you’ll want to take a little more time and pause occasionally to see if they have any questions. If you’re working with someone who has sold numerous homes over the years, you can usually speed through this section much faster.

4. Prepare Home to Sell

After speaking about the generalities of the local market, it’s time to focus specifically on your seller’s home. Even if you haven’t visited the home yet or are just seeing it for the first time, it’s necessary to set expectations for the seller on how to prepare their property for sale. While most homesellers will understand this, it’s important for the client to be aware that it’s their responsibility to make sure the property is in top shape to maximize the value.

A few things you want to cover are:

• Decluttering: Oftentimes, less is more when it comes to furniture. Many homeowners have more items than is necessary. Your seller may need to remove furniture to make it more appealing and rent a storage space to keep extraneous items.
• Depersonalizing: Buyers need to imagine themselves living in the space. By removing family pictures, nameplates, and other personal items, the buyer can more easily picture themselves in the home.
• Cleaning: It is difficult to sell a dirty home because no one wants to inherit a mess. This may mean the owners will have to do a deep clean or hire a cleaning service, especially if there are animals in the home.
• Repairs: Some buyers don’t want to buy a home they have to immediately repair, so making sure fixes are complete is in a seller’s best interest, especially when it’s time for the inspection. This could be anything from a broken cabinet hinge or leaky faucet to upgrading the electrical box or replacing the roof, depending on the state of the home.
• Renovations: In some cases, by renovating a room or portion of the home, your property value can greatly increase. For instance, if renovating the basement bathroom can be completed for $5,000 and can add $15,000 to the home value, it may be worth the seller’s time and money.

It’s important to review these items with your client because this is essentially their responsibility. You don’t live there and it’s in their best interest to maximize the amount of money they sell their home for.

Be ready to assist with recommendations for local cleaning companies and reputable, licensed contractors. Also keep in mind these activities all need to be completed within a certain time frame in order for you to market, list, and show the property to prospective buyers.

5. Outline Your Pricing Strategy

One of the most crucial elements of your real estate listing presentation will be the proposed pricing of the home and the strategy behind determining the correct list price. Without seeing or walking the property in person, it may be nearly impossible to speak to your clients about numbers, but it is important to go through how pricing their home correctly the first time will save them money in the long run.

Review what a comparative market analysis report is with your clients and outline your strategy. Highlight exactly how elements such as square footage, updates, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and current market trends affect pricing. Then describe how those elements affected your proposed price for the seller’s property. Ultimately, you want to do what it takes to help the homeowner understand how pricing works and your approach for the best results.

6. Walk Through Your Marketing Strategy

Marketing and advertising are what move houses, and your clients will be very interested in learning how you will maximize these components. Generally, it makes sense to focus on which marketing tools you can bring to the table as well as how you can apply them to their home specifically.

You can also provide your listing checklist that outlines these items to go along with your presentation.

Home Staging

In addition to decluttering, depersonalizing, and cleaning their homes, home staging is an important topic to discuss with clients as part of your marketing plan. Even though staging a home is not required, according to the National Association of Realtors, 31% of sellers’ agents said they staged all sellers’ homes prior to listing them for sale, and 82% of buyer’s agents said staging made it easier for their buyer to visualize the property as a future home.

Home staging is used primarily because it’s beneficial in creating a clean slate to help buyers visualize themselves living in the home, and can be done strategically to attract targeted homebuyer types. To learn more about home staging, check out our in-depth guide.

The average national cost for home staging is about $1,500, but clients can also stage their home virtually at a lower cost. Using a company like BoxBrownie allows sellers to pay per image, making it a cost-effective option for clients who want all the perks of home staging without breaking the bank. BoxBrownie also does floor plans, which can be a great addition to your marketing images.

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Photography & Videography

Whether or not the home is staged, describe how and why your marketing will use top-notch photography and videography. Bad photos undermine your marketing efforts and can deter potential buyers from wanting to see the home at all. In order to fully explain the difference, bring examples of good and bad photos from other listings as well as examples of listing photos from your photographer so they can understand the difference in quality.

In addition to photography, many agents and homeowners are opting to do video or virtual tours of their homes for even more engagement and to give buyers a 360-degree experience. If you’ve already done video marketing for other listings, you can include an example with your listing presentation.

Also, you can use a service like Matterport or Fiverr to assist with creating videos. Fiverr offers an array of freelance services that can help with photos, videos, virtual staging, and so on to make sure the marketing for your listing is on point. Choose from a variety of professionals at different price points to suit your needs.

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Directly Marketing to Buyers

In addition, you are also likely to be including traditional marketing methods as part of your strategic plan. Many people truly believe that you will place their home on the market and call it a day, so be sure to outline all of the other areas where you market directly to buyers.

Here are some marketing tactics you may be using and will want to point out to the seller:

• Just listed postcards
• Email marketing
• Lawn signs
• Open house invitations
• Social media postings and frequency

If you’re looking for more marketing ideas you can pitch to your homeowner, check out our list of 29 Easy Real Estate Marketing Ideas & Strategies for Success here.

7. Advertise on All Major Platforms

After your marketing materials are prepared, you’ll be using them on both offline and online advertising platforms. You should let the sellers know that you intend to advertise to your full extent to bring them multiple offers, which means leveraging as many platforms as possible.

The Local MLS

Some clients won’t know what a multiple listing service (MLS) is, so a brief overview of the system and its purpose is helpful. Explain how it makes the listing available to agents everywhere, that their listing will be available for buyer’s agents to show to their clients once it’s posted, and how the process generally works. It is particularly useful to mention that only real estate agents have access to this platform, so you will be able to get qualified buyer candidates from other agents using the MLS.

Website & Landing Page

Whether you have your own internet data exchange (IDX)-enabled website or use your brokerage’s website, your online presence will be a big selling point for most homeowners. If you use IDX, emphasize how their listing will not only be featured on your sites but also on the sites of dozens of other brokers’ IDX websites as well.

Discuss how many visitors your website gets (if you have impressive numbers), how it is designed to function, and how sales-oriented your site is. You can even add a screenshot of your website and landing page for a visual. For example, talk about placing their home as a “featured listing” in front of hundreds of visitors, or if you can offer the sellers a single-property website.

In addition to advertising the seller’s property on your own website, you could also create a single-property or property-specific website or landing page dedicated to their property to fully showcase the seller’s home. Having a single-property website or landing page can optimize your opportunity of generating leads who are specifically interested in the seller’s home, which is a strong selling point during a listing presentation.

Check out companies like Real Geeks or Luxury Presence to help you create the perfect website and real estate landing pages to highlight your value as an agent and advertise your listings. With Real Geeks, you can customize your website with templates, designs, and widgets. Their IDX website updates automatically every 15 minutes so you can guarantee your site is always fresh.

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Internet Platforms

In 2020, 97% of people used the internet during their home search, so it’s essential to stress which sites you will be utilizing to advertise the seller’s listing. Unlike the MLS, these platforms are available to everyone, including active homebuyers, and will allow clients to contact you directly without an agent. Since you will be the expert on their home, you can explain why having leads contact you directly will lead to more showings.

If you’re a Zillow Premier Agent, explain how this designation benefits their listing. You will be able to feature their listing with exclusivity on the most popular listing site on the internet. Zillow Premier Agent won’t only help you close seller leads, it will also help you get more buyer leads as well. To learn more about the exclusivity that Zillow Premier Agent offers, see our guide to how Zillow Premier Agent works.

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Social Media

Emphasize that you will not only be posting marketing content on your social media to spread the word about their property, but you will also be capitalizing on paid social media advertising. According to LOCALiQ, the average click-through rate for advertising on social media is from 2% to 3.44%, which is much higher than the average of 0.99% for other internet platforms. Especially in today’s social-media-crazed world, your clients will find social media advertising a necessity for their property.

Some sites you can utilize are:

• Facebook
• Google
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

While it is not necessary to post on every single site, focus on at least two or three platforms where you can produce creative and engaging content to advertise your listing. If you’re unsure of how to create social media content or don’t have time, consider using Artur’in. Artur’in manages your social media accounts and schedules posts to keep your business in front of your target audience. You’ll also get reports so you can be sure your ads are producing effective results.

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8. Showings & Open Houses

It’s important to set expectations with the sellers about your role and their responsibilities in terms of open houses and showings. Obviously, you will be the one providing tours for prospective buyers when they visit the home, but you want to guarantee that your client’s schedule and home safety will not be infringed upon during this part of the process.

Make sure your client knows that others will not be allowed in their home without your presence or the presence of a licensed buyer’s agent. Regarding their role, gently mention how it is in the seller’s best interest to not be present during open houses or showings because it may deter clients or cloud their judgment when it’s time to make decisions about offers.

Explain the ideal times you’d like to schedule people to visit their home. Open houses will probably be scheduled on an on-going basis until the home is sold. In contrast, individual showings may occur more spontaneously and be conducted during specified hours on any day of the week (with appropriate notice given to the homeowner). The seller will also need to give you a copy of their key or digital access code so you can access their property for showings.

For safe and secure access to the property, consider using ShowingTime. ShowingTime allows agents to make appointments through a mobile app, which will also provide directions on how to access the home. You will be able to specify times and dates that your clients will either allow or not allow access so you can guarantee convenience.

After the appointment, ShowingTime will ask for feedback, and it will also provide you with a message if the keys are not returned or someone didn’t leave the residence. It’s a great option to make your clients feel safe about people accessing their home.

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9. Offers & Negotiations

Sorting through offers and making counter-offers until an agreement is made is typically the most stressful part of the real estate process for sellers because this is when the process becomes real. Up until this point, the seller isn’t fully committing to selling their home.

Explain how the process will go and set realistic expectations based on the current market. For example, in a seller’s market in a hot area, they can expect multiple offers quickly and may have to go into a bidding war. Alternatively, in a slow market, the seller may be asked to make concessions on price, pay some or all of the buyer’s closing costs, or pitch in money for updates like a flooring allowance or repainting.

Emphasize that this portion of the process requires honest and open communication so you can make sure you’re meeting their needs. Use the seller’s answers to some of the questions you touched on before to guide this part of the conversation during the listing presentation, such as:

• When do you need to move by?
• Why are you moving?
• Is getting a good price or timing more important for you?
• What will you do if your home doesn’t sell?

10. Closing & SOLD!

You can keep this part brief since you touched on the steps of the sales process earlier. However, if you have first-time homesellers or homesellers who want to know all the details, you may want to review additional questions they may have about the final stages of the process that might impact the sale, including:

• Appraisal
• Inspection
• Financing
• Contingencies
• Walk-through
• Closing

Make sure you wrap up this portion of the listing presentation by covering any questions they have and then end on a positive note. Convey that the sales process can sometimes be long and stressful, but ultimately, you will do everything to make it seamless. Once everything is done, there will be relief, and a new adventure to be had.

11. Schedule Next Steps

By this point, the sellers will ideally be ready to commit to using your services and feel confident in your ability to represent their property. But the reality is, you may not be the only person they’re considering as their agent. A good way to continue the conversation past this point is to schedule one or more next steps.

If you still need to complete a detailed CMA report, schedule a time to walk through the property, and discuss the proposed listing price. Schedule it as soon as possible after the listing presentation to get ahead of the competition. You can also propose a time frame for them to be ready to schedule home staging or a photography and videography session. By keeping the conversation in a forward motion, you are setting yourself up to be their exclusive listing agent.

Additional Tips for a Successful Presentation

Now that you have the 10 elements to include in your listing presentation and a free listing presentation template to customize, we have a few tips on how to make your pitch. The content in your listing presentation will be based on your experience, the market, and your client, but your approach can make all the difference in the world.

Guide the Conversation

With any presentation, you may have people who interrupt or try to take over the conversation. It’s important for you, as the professional, to be the one guiding where the conversation goes. To do this, you can employ the following tactics:

• Be kind but assertive
• Don’t overfill your slides (or listing presentation pages) with detailed text or pictures; keep the focus on your narrative with the slides as a supportive backdrop
• Keep consistent eye contact throughout the presentation
• Be passionate and enthusiastic about the content
• Anticipate questions before presenting
• Pay attention to the reactions of your audience
• Use questions to bring the seller back on track

Allow questions, but don’t stray far from the current point of your presentation. Staying in control of the presentation will keep your clients interested, but also keep a focus on the topic at hand, which is how you are the best person to be selling their home.

Show That You Are Focused on Their Needs

You will have the time and space in your listing presentation to highlight your skills and abilities. However, no matter how fantastic your reputation is, clients are focused on how those things meet their needs.

For example, instead of focusing on getting a recent award, talk about why you got the award and what it means for your potential client. Always remember that your focus should remain on the seller, their home, and how you can best meet their needs.

Plan for Flexibility

Every homeowner is different, and you need to tailor your listing presentations accordingly. As you make your presentation, be flexible enough to either go into more detail when warranted or skip certain sections. For example, if your homeowner is tech-savvy, gauge their reaction when you start talking about websites and landing pages to see if they may want to take a dive deep into it or skip over it.

If you do end up glossing over sections of your presentation, remind them that you will leave more details with them and that you will be available for questions if they get curious later. Often, when there are elements people do not understand, they might ask a friend or family member to review what you’ve said and give their opinion.

Give a VIP Treatment to All Your Clients

Regardless of how much a home is worth, money is money—so treat your clients like they’re all VIPs so you can continue getting business. Bring lunch with you to your listing presentation or buy them dinner while you go over the CMA report.

Breaking bread is something friends do, which can make people not only feel appreciated but also be more open to conversation. Footing the bill can also create feelings of reciprocity, making it more likely a client will choose you vs a competitor who didn’t make this type of personal investment. This will give you the chance to win your clients over through real estate as well as through a personal connection.

Also, it’s important not to judge a book by its cover because you never know when a $100,000 seller has a family member or friend who wants to sell a $1 million home and will refer your services to them. By holding all clients at a VIP status, you will be giving yourself more opportunities to generate leads to build your real estate business.

You can even give small branded gifts to your clients as a token of appreciation for the opportunity to present. They can be anything from a Frisbee to a dog bowl, as long as your real estate logo can be added. If you don’t have a logo yet, you can use Tailor Brands to create a customized logo. Simply go to their website, type in your company name, and choose your favorite logo design styles. From there, you can customize the logo to your liking.

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Practice Makes Perfect

The old adage “practice makes perfect” is true for listing presentations, because you can’t jump in front of sellers expecting them to give you business without knowing your stuff. Role-playing with a co-worker or family member is a great way to bring your listing presentation off your laptop and into reality. You may be surprised to find that lines that sounded great in your head fall flat with other people.

You can also consider videotaping yourself and watching to see your facial expressions, where you stumble, or where you are doing your best work. We tend to be our toughest critics, and you can use that criticism to make constructive changes to your listing presentation.

Use Emotion First, Logic Second

While reason tells us to stick to the facts, remember that selling a home is often a very personal and emotional decision, so it doesn’t hurt to let emotion take the reins a bit during your listing presentation. Ask the client why they are selling their home and be sensitive to that information.

It may be for a happy reason like they’re having a baby, buying a vacation home, or making a life change. But, it could be for something sad or bittersweet like a death in the family, loss of job, or moving on from the home they grew up in. Even though this is a financial transaction at the core, being relatable and considerate of a client’s emotional reasoning for selling will get you further than always being a stickler for the facts.

Always Be Yourself

There are all types of real estate agent personalities out there, so be true to yourself as you make your listing presentation and beyond. If you’re bubbly, be bubbly. If you’re shy, be shy. If you’re funny, be funny.

If you try to be someone else, your clients will see you as disingenuous and question your trustworthiness. Although your personality matters, being confident, clear, and informative during your listing presentation illustrates your abilities and value as a real estate professional, which will be the reason you ultimately win clients.

If you need help getting listing opportunities so you can use these skills and your listing presentation template, check out the article 9 Strategies to Get More Real Estate Listings.