Why Do I Show Up Underprepared to Listing Appointments?

Why Would a Realtor Show Up Underprepared to a Listing Appointment?

Answer from an Ewa Beach Realtor

I have over 350 transactions under my belt, and I only recently learned how most agents start their careers in this industry. A new agent gets their license, joins a brokerage or team, and begins a training program on all the real estate basics, such as contracts, escrow timelines, title reports, and the like. This is what new agents fill their time with because, typically, you don’t have clients right from the jump, but you still want to feel productive and like you’re making progress. Between required brokerage training and building out your “products,” this is the new agent path. Spending hours making a pretty buyer handbook, putting together a fancy listing presentation that looks like a magazine. Products that allow you to look polished and professional since you don’t have the experience to back it up. It’s only once you get a bona fide client who is ready to go house hunting or list their home that you get to put all of your fancy contract knowledge and pretty marketing materials to use. They’re like a safety blanket that shrouds the lack of true, real-life transaction experience. I say this without judgment, as we all have to start somewhere.

You might be thinking, “How did you skip this step? What do you mean you only found this out recently?” I’ve been an agent for six very busy years, but my path was more unconventional. My real estate license went active in July of 2020, and I hit the ground running. In fact, it wasn’t until 2023 that I sent an offer through DocuSign. Up until that point, and right from the jump, I had a transaction coordinator doing all of the paperwork. Getting my license at the very beginning of the pandemic market meant that we as real estate agents didn’t need to do much explaining to buyers about why they should consider buying a home, nor to sellers about why it was a great time for them to sell. Buyers were jumping out of their seats (and sleeping on the sidewalk in front of builders’ offices) in order to secure a home without paying $80,000 over the listing price. I got very good, very quickly, at working directly with clients, showing upwards of 50 homes a week for buyers and reviewing no fewer than eight offers per listing with my sellers. I was thrust into transactional real estate right on day one, skipping past the entire new agent onboarding training. I didn’t have time to putz around in Canva making a glossy listing packet. I had to learn to convey my expertise without printed materials.

So what do I mean when I say I show up “underprepared”? If I’m meeting you to sell your home here on Oahu, I’ll likely be walking in the door empty-handed. Because I fundamentally believe that no agent has ever won a listing due to the aesthetics of the materials brought to the appointment. I believe a seller responds much better to an agent attending the listing appointment (or we can call it what it really is, an interview) who shows up confident in the knowledge they are going to present. Steve Jobs was famously against slide decks. His philosophy was simple: if you really know what you’re talking about, you don’t need slides. I couldn’t agree more. So let me put the question to you: Would you trust an agent who spends four hours perfecting a listing presentation, or one who spends four hours walking the competition that is on the market, reviewing the comparable sales, and calling those agents for more information on the transaction? An agent who pulled a market report and printed it on 110 lb. cardstock, or an agent who has been in every floor plan on the block?

If you’re thinking about listing your home on Oahu, whether that’s Ewa Beach, Kapolei, or Hoakalei, I’d love to sit down and talk strategy. No glossy packet required.