How To Get A Listing In 14 Days – Part One

I’ve thought long and hard about how I could best advise any real estate agent, regardless of experience, on exactly what they needed to do to get a listing within 14 days. It needed to be universal and easy to follow.

After all, receiving an offer puts you almost at the finish line. But everything else that leads up to that moment is the hard part.

So I’ve reverse engineered the process to create a step-by-step guide so that you can follow it and get one listing (with the potential to get a lot more). This is by no means an entire business strategy on its own, nor is it very innovative or sexy.

But it does work, if you follow the steps and finish everything. Your success depends entirely on you executing the process.

We are going to achieve this by door knocking because it’s been proven to work even in 2024. Don’t let the detractors tell you that it’s ineffective, because most people who are slinging opinions have never actually door knocked for any significant length of time.

For this guide, it doesn’t matter if you’ve done it before or not, or if you hate the thought of it. I’m going to dissect it all into manageable chunks so that it’s easier to digest and tackle.

So without further delay, let’s get started.

Signing One Listing Agreement: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Preparing Your Scaredy-Cat Brain

You probably think of yourself as a nice human. You hate salespeople who hassle you on the phone and at the door, so you don’t want to be that person. This is what you wrestle with in your head when you think about prospecting.

So I’m going to be as blunt about this as possible so we can get it out of the way. You’re definitely going to encounter people who won’t like what you’re doing.

Not YOU personally, just what you’re doing.

And this will happen even if you’re approaching people in the kindest and patient way. There are people in this world who will get agitated at you for far less things, like not picking up your coffee fast enough at Starbucks or over posting pictures of your cottage sunsets on Facebook.

You can’t control this, and if you decided to only operate in this world when you were certain that nobody would be annoyed, then you should find another planet to call home.

As long as you act with integrity, treat people with respect, and genuinely try to do good in everything that you do, you are doing things right.

And you can prospect for clients and build your business with this approach and never have to feel like you should apologize.

So get ready for the occasional door slamming in your face, or a word salad of creative profanity. It’s all part of meeting lots of strangers and it’s unavoidable. The encouraging thing is that to counter balance these encounters, the majority of the people you meet will be polite and friendly, and one of them is going to become your next client.

Remember this as you’re out there in the big bad neighborhood.

Understanding Your Why

Our goal is embarrassingly simple: GET ONE LISTING.

How Are We Going To Do It?

Your goal is to door knock until you talk to 50 people for the day or until you get 3 leads in total. Note that this means talking to 50 people, not knocking on 50 homes. If you encounter a property where there is nobody home, you move on to the next one.

If you’ve talked to 50 people and you haven’t gotten any leads, you call it a day and repeat the same process tomorrow. This will continue until you accumulate 3 leads.

A lead is defined as follows: Someone who is thinking about listing, or is actively looking to list their property within the next 90 days.

Anyone else interested who is beyond 90 days is going to go into your email or call follow-up list.

You can either use your phone or a notebook to track your progress, and it’s crucial that you track your progress. Don’t be lazy about this.

Building A Positive Mindset

The first challenge is that you’re going to feel like quitting when you hit a long streak of no’s. Remind yourself that in a typical neighborhood, even in the most active markets, there will usually be only several properties listed for sale at the same time.

Not everyone is at that juncture in their life where they need to sell their property, so you must expect that almost everyone will not need your services at this time. It’s not accurate to say that we’re looking for a needle in a haystack, but you get the picture.

So when you’re feeling discouraged, you’ll need a simple sentence to say out loud that will get you to knock the next door. It needs to be believable and easy to say. Whatever works for you, write it down in your phone or notebook and repeat it when needed. It could be as basic as “The next door I knock could be that person who is looking for an agent like me right now, keep going.“

One thing that helps is celebrating small wins, but let’s define what we can celebrate:

• Getting 25 no’s (after all, you’re halfway through your day!)
• Getting a lead (now we’re talking)
• Getting chased off the lawn (now there’s an entertaining story to tell over some wine)

Know that the fear of something bad happening is always far more burdensome than when something actually does happen. Your door knocking success hinges on your ability to master your mind before every door.

If it’s easier, just tell your brain to shut up and bang that door. The only thing on the other side is another person.

2. Building Basic Skills and Knowledge

Understanding the Real Estate Market

I remember several years ago when I was training a new agent on door knocking, they confessed to me after a week of no success that they were secretly hoping no one would actually answer the door. The agent was terrified of answering questions, and they were purposely running away after ringing the door bell.

Let’s avoid the same type of fear and apprehension by preparing our understanding of the local real estate market. What are you going to need to know?

• all the current listings for sale in the neighborhood
• recent sold listings in the neighborhood over the last 90 days
• average time it takes to sell in the neighborhood
• average sale price for different property types in the neighborhood (detached, semi-detached, townhouses, etc)
• average sale price vs list price percentage
• characteristics of the area (are there layouts or property features that sell significantly more or less in the area, are there highly sought after schools in the neighborhood, are there upcoming developments, etc)
• general trends in the area (are listings all selling with multiple offers, etc)
• find any recent sold listings in the area from your brokerage that you may need to reference later

Bonus tip: If you can book appointments to preview active listings in the neighborhood and see them in person, you can get a first hand look at your potential competing listings. This will also give you a chance to demonstrate your thorough knowledge of the inventory when speaking to homeowners.

All of this information will be the foundation of your conversation when you meet someone who wants to talk more. It is crucial that you know the neighborhood activity better than the homeowner. Winning their confidence here with knowledge of their neighborhood will reassure them that they’re potentially in good hands if they decide to list with you.

Some common pain points that might come up include pricing the home correctly, understanding market conditions, and preparing the home for sale. Be ready to address these concerns with clear, practical advice.

Developing Communication Skills

Making conversation comes naturally to some people and for others it’s extremely awkward.

This next bit is going to be for the individuals who struggle when talking to people.

I’m going to accelerate your conversation mastery by recommending that you get good at just one thing: asking good questions.

When you ask good questions, you do several things:

1. You shift the focus off of you, so you do less talking.
2. You prioritize the other person’s needs by giving them a chance to talk.
3. You gather information and are better positioned to serve their needs.
4. You come across as a great listener.

You can be an experienced industry veteran, but if all you’re doing is blabbing incessantly without asking questions, nobody will want to work with you. So, the skill of knowing what questions to ask, and when, is critical.

When should you ask questions?

Pretty much the entire conversation, or when you get stuck and don’t know how to answer their question.

Here are examples of questions you can ask:

• How long have you lived in this neighborhood?
• What made you decide to move here?
• What has your experience been like living here?
• Have you been keeping track of what’s been selling here recently?
• Are you interested in knowing what your neighbors sell for?

Here are examples of more direct questions you can ask if they’re potentially interested in listing:

• What is your timeline like for listing?
• Do you think you’ll do any renovations or need staging before you list?
• What price do you expect to sell your home for?
• How fast do you think your home will sell once it’s listed?
• When are you interviewing agents?

Remember that it’s important to practice active listening. This involves simple things like making eye contact, nodding, and repeating back what you hear to let them know you understand what they’re saying.

This is a great scenario to role-play with someone in your office. Take turns being the homeowner and the agent, and work on asking questions and keeping the conversation free flowing.

3. The Play Book

Before we delve into any tactics, let’s be very clear about the strategy.

Start knocking early, knock often, and don’t quit until you hit your target. Don’t obsess over which area to choose or the perfect time of day to knock. You need to focus on being action-oriented and go through the ringer a few times before you think about how to refine the process.

I would suggest knocking around your neighborhood for a variety of reasons:

• You don’t have to drive anywhere so you eliminate the excuse of getting there.
• You know the neighborhood homes better than an agent that doesn’t live there.
• You have instant credibility because your neighbors can trust that you know the area as a resident.

If you live in a condo building, I would not suggest door knocking the building. This is a quick way of getting security called on you. Instead, find the nearest set of homes and start there.

If you live in an area that isn’t appropriate to knock for whatever reason, choose a neighborhood where the average price of homes are lower. You want to find budget friendly homes where homeowners live for a short time as they save up for their dream home. These neighborhoods tend to have more turnover and give you a higher chance of finding someone who is thinking about selling soon.

Don’t go door knocking on multi-million dollar homes. You’ll get very little traction as many homes are gated and most homeowners aren’t planning on ever moving.

Pick a time in the morning and stick to it every day so you build a routine. This is important, because you will need to time block your door knocking in your calendar so it’s consistent and predictable. Otherwise, if you don’t plan ahead and wait until the morning to see how you feel, you will inevitably put it off.

Take this one at a time, and focus on building momentum.

One day is good.

Two days is even better.

Three days and you have a streak.

And keep going!

What Do You Say At The Door?

In a previous article, I wrote about how I believe memorizing scripts isn’t the best approach. I find scripts awkward, easy to forget, and often distract you from building rapport because you’re too busy trying to remember what you’re supposed to say.

Having said all of this, if you’re new to door knocking, I am going to offer some things that you can say to get started. It’s important to know the scripts are only guidelines to your conversation. Where you gain people’s trusts is how you navigate the dialogue when you’re outside of the lines and infusing your authentic personality in what you’re saying.

In the hands of a nervous wreck, the best scripts in the world are useless. So these scripts are meant to give you a sense of how to approach the initial component of speaking to a homeowner who answers the door. From that point on, it’s yours to work your magic. The best scenario for you is to understand your objective so well that you can come up with endless talking points on your own without have to rely on any script at all.

*Knock knock* and the homeowner opens the door and stares at you blankly.

What If Someone Says They’re Not Interested At The Moment?

This is a great time to build up your database by getting their contact information. At this point, it’s going to feel like a big ask and you have to get over your fear of asking.

Most people aren’t comfortable giving out their phone number unless they’re genuinely interested in talking to you. If they’re more hesitant, they might be willing to give you their email address. You have to gauge their interest and get their information.

Homeowner: “No thanks, we’re not looking to sell at the moment – maybe in a year or two.“

If they seem interested in doing something a little sooner:

Remember, your mission objective is to get 3 leads in total. Just because someone says ‘not yet’ at the door doesn’t mean that they’re not a potential listing.

Most families start getting the idea of selling their home 12-18 months before the actual listing, and typically start talking about it more seriously 6 months before it happens. This means if you catch a homeowner who has plans in the near future, you capture their contact information and open up a relationship as soon as possible.

It’s not uncommon for potential sellers to randomly meet a great real estate agent at a party and get talked into listing a lot sooner than they planned – time frames get compressed easily if the homeowner believes they can get more money now, or they stumble upon a listing of their dream home for sale.

So in summary, here is your basic conversation strategy:

• Start with an interesting/casual introduction
• If the homeowner immediately says no, thank them politely and move on
• If the homeowner lets you speak further, ask questions and gauge if they are potentially interested in listing sooner or in the future
• If they are interested in sooner, continue to ask questions to demonstrate your knowledge of the area, and get contact information to either book a time to see their home or follow up and nurture until they’re ready
• If they are interested in the future, request contact information to keep them updated on the area

The gold is found in your ability to build rapport and have a meaningful conversation about real estate that elevates their level of interest and trust in your abilities. All of this will happen in a matter of minutes.

The best way to prepare is to practice role playing with a mentor or another agent until you start to feel more comfortable hitting straight pitches and curveballs. It needs to start feeling effortless.

Practice, practice, practice talking to people. It’s the most useful skill you could ever develop for all areas of life!

You’ve now laid the groundwork to get a listing within 14 days. Armed with a strong mindset and essential skills, you’re ready to take the next step. In Part Two, we’ll delve deeper into securing appointments and mastering your listing presentation.