Every agent walks into a listing appointment wanting the seller’s attention. Claudio Encina tells the agents he coaches to walk in with something else first – intention.
Claudio has been working with Samantha McLean in Transform, Elite Agent’s 30-day AI program, and adapting her material for his clients. At the second live session of Transform XIV, he explained why.
“As a coach, I always get agents all the time saying, I want to get better at my listing presentation,” he says. “And to be quite frank, it’s not about getting better. It’s actually being the most fascinating and interesting option in the lounge room.”
He calls the result “aha moments” – the point where the seller says, “Wow, no one’s ever shown it to me this way.” A lot of that used to be done by hand. Now AI does much of the work.
In the video
- 0:18 Claudio joins
- 1:40 Pre-frame, reframe and de-frame
- 2:48 Before you meet
- 7:19 In the lounge room
- 9:11 Buyer personas
- 12:20 The appointment pack
- 13:56 Turning a listing around
Three frames
Claudio’s framework has three parts. The pre-frame shapes the meaning before the moment – the moment being the listing appointment, and the seller’s question of why they should choose you over the two or three other agents they’re interviewing.
The reframe shapes the meaning during the moment. And the de-frame breaks the beliefs the seller walked in with, like the agent across the road who holds the record for the street.
“I hear agents that work with me going, Claudio, I don’t have market share and I’m up against this guy who has 45 per cent market share,” he says. “That doesn’t worry me.”
Before you meet
Years ago Claudio put a small A5 questionnaire, “Help Claudio help you”, in his pre-list kit. Today he sends it as a message before the appointment, asking the seller to take a couple of minutes to answer a few questions so he can come best prepared.
Sam built her own version with AI. Her before-you-meet survey asks sellers about their connection to the property, their timeframe, where they look at listings, what they love most about living there, their biggest worry about selling, what price they’re hoping for and who else is part of the decision. A separate set of questions covers property management. One question asks permission to use AI.
“We do things a little bit differently in that we like to do our research before we go in to meet you, so that we can focus directly on strategy the second that we walk in the door,” she says.
For Claudio, the price question matters most. Sellers often have a number in mind from a sale six months ago, in a different market. “We lose listings based on price,” he says. “So we want to get that sort of real intel before we go in there.”
In the lounge room
Once he’s there, Claudio hands the agenda to the seller. They usually ask what the home is worth, what his fees are, how much marketing costs and whether to go private treaty or auction. Then he offers one more topic – the blueprint strategy that has helped other families in the area get the most for their home.
“I think you have a unique property, and a unique property deserves a unique strategy of selling,” he says.
He says agents he coaches who use the approach have lifted their conversion rate, some from 60 per cent to 80, others from 80 to 85.
Buyer personas, told as a story
Sam’s next tool is buyer personas, which she says real estate could never do properly before because it took too long. She researches the property first, then asks AI who is likely to buy it and why. A single-level home on a big corner block opposite a golf course could be pitched to a developer on the block size, or to a retiree on the single level and the golf course.
She also showed that AI still gets things wrong. One of the personas it suggested didn’t fit the home, so she flagged it to come back to.
Claudio adds a story to each persona. “I’ve got Jack and Sally, they’re first home buyers… they’ve been renting in Broadbeach in a two-bedroom apartment,” he says. Matching personas to buyers you’re already working with, he says, builds trust.
The appointment pack
Everything lands in what Sam calls an appointment pack – the buyers most likely to want the home, what each will ask and like, where to reach them, and listing copy written for each persona. “It’s like a marketing blueprint that’s made exactly for a particular home,” she says.
She suggests going through it with the seller rather than leaving it behind. “Claudio and I like to sit down side by side and go through together.”
The same tools work for a listing that hasn’t sold. Claudio suggests asking the seller for the previous agent’s vendor reports and running them through AI “to basically turn concerns into confidence based on the feedback”.
Key takeaways:
- Aim to be interesting. Claudio says the agent who stands out in the lounge room wins more often than the one trying to be better.
- Send something before you meet. A short questionnaire gets you the seller’s worries, timeframe and price expectations before you arrive.
- Ask about price early. Find out the number in the seller’s head before the appointment, not during it.
- Research, then personas. Look at the property first, then ask AI who will buy it and why.
- Tell the persona as a story. A buyer with a name and a situation is easier for a seller to picture.
Read more from Claudio in The wisdom of Claudio Encina – 30 lessons from the coach who still has a coach.
Want Sam to take you through it step by step? The next Transform kicks off on Monday 16 November. Sign up at transform.eliteagent.com.
Transform XIV is supported by major sponsor PropertyMe and supporting sponsor BuySecure.