Q: “Denise, I am going up against a very aggressive agent next week. I just learned that he and I will be doing listing presentations for the same seller. I am just not that aggressive and I don’t want to lose this listing because of that. What do you think I should do?”

First of all, you should not change your style just because another agent is coming in stronger. There are a lot of people who will be turned off by aggression and someone trying to bully their way into a sale. There are some sellers out there who will be attracted to that confidence and that is okay – you may not have worked well with them anyway! But here is how you aggression-proof your listing presentation:

What you should do, however, is have materials with you that:

• Showcase your listing system
• Highlight the quality of your photography
• Illustrate your experience and expertise (your track record, your statistics)
• Explain the market and why what is happening in the local market impacts their upcoming transaction
• And information that speaks to price (even if you don’t have all the information about the home at your fingertips, be as prepared as possible to discuss price)

Most agents do not have all of those materials. If you spend time developing them, I am sure you will walk in with more confidence than you do now. Note – confidence about you and your offerings does not mean being aggressive!

You also need to make sure you close, but it doesn’t need to be a hard close. Simply asking if they have enough information to make a decision or their next steps is a good initial way to test how close they are. Offer to follow up with the additional information they need and don’t be afraid to talk about objections they may have. You can ask if they are comfortable moving forward with you if you think they are ready to say yes, but just need to be asked.