One of the situations that you definitely want to avoid when making listing presentations, is making a presentation when you have zero or very little chance of landing the listing. This can happen when the decision maker has already determined who they’ll be listing with, but they just want to receive some additional listing presentations for their own due diligence. In addition, within the corporate environment, the person may be told by their boss that they should receive 3-4 listing presentations in total along with the broker presentation packages, even though the broker who will get the listing has already been determined by the company.
So with this in mind, here is a question that I recommend you ask an owner whenever they’re inviting you to make a listing presentation to them:
“If you like what we have to show you and say to you during our listing presentation, will you then be moving forward and listing your property with us?”
Then when you ask the question, listen to their response, and pay attention to any non-verbal cues, like hesitation and discomfort when they’re answering the question. Because this can give you insight into whether or not you’re just being asked to make a presentation because of their internal corporate policy.
On the other hand, if they respond immediately by saying, “Absolutely! If we like your presentation, we’re ready to move forward and give you the listing”, this is a good sign.
So utilize this question whenever you think it’s appropriate, and if you strongly sense that you’re just being used to make a presentation, do what one top commercial broker tells me he’s done in these situations, and tell the owner that you’re passing on the opportunity to deliver a listing presentation to them.