How you use the time in the lead-up to auction day is critical to the outcome of the auction. Simon Thomas suggests structuring the pre-auction period with strategic activities divided into three phases.
Do you need to re-shape the campaign, is the advertising hitting the target audience, are you getting genuine inspections or mainly neighbours?
Address any concerns they may have and overcome them rather than allow them to brew over the next few weeks leading up to auction day.
There have been numerous articles written over the years in relation to the benefits of auction or the key reasons why property sellers would choose the auction method to sell their home or investment. Now is an opportune time to look beyond the benefits. You’ve listed the property for auction. What are the strategies or processes behind a successful auction campaign that will put you, the agent, in control and a better position to achieve a positive outcome on auction day?
In my experience, there are three key elements required for a successful auction campaign: Organise; Review; Finalise. Follow this structured approach and you will give yourself every opportunity for great results for your clients and continued auction success for your business.
Organise – setting up for the sale
Campaign length– don’t assume the length of the marketing campaign will be the same for all properties you list for auction. Ask yourself how many potential buyers would you meet in any given week for that type of property? Family home, apartment, unit, townhouse, small acreage, hobby farm, lifestyle property, rural property or commercial/industrial. Adjust the length of the campaign accordingly (three to six weeks) to meet enough people (minimum of 20). Remember the vast majority of buyers attending the open houses will find the property unsuitable to their needs. There is a fine line between maintaining a buyer’s interest and losing it altogether.
Promotion – ensure the copywriting describes the property to attract the targeted audience, the buyers. So often agents write ‘fluff’ advertising to satisfy the vendor and wonder why they have no interest or there have been limited enquiries and inspections. Tap into the vendor’s motivation to sell and with their permission, promote this throughout all advertising mediums (print, board and internet).
Interest – have a process in place to handle interest in the early stages of the campaign. Practice scripts and dialogues with your colleagues regarding questions you may get from buyers at open houses, how to handle early offers and how to qualify a buyer’s level of interest. An example is, Would you like us to keep you informed if we were to receive any offers on the property prior to auction? This is a great way to qualify buyers. Make notes on your open sheets and keep a separate list of ‘hot interest’ that is easy to refer to.
Feedback letters – must be weekly and summarised (one page is sufficient as vendors don’t want to read a novel!) Include website enquiry, number of inspections, buyers’ names, brief comments, their level of interest (nil, low or moderate) and importantly their feedback on price. Ask potential buyers “What would you pay?” rather than “What do you think the property is worth?” Also qualify how long they’ve been looking to establish if their opinion on price is relevant. Have they bid at auction recently? Have they made an offer recently?
Activity – keep the vendor informed of recent sales in the area (shows them that the market is active) and new listings (their competition in the marketplace). This will change regularly throughout the marketing period so keep your client fully informed.
Next stage – analyse the initial marketing period and have your first face-to-face meeting with your client to discuss activity to date including price feedback and any offers received. Address any concerns they may have and overcome them rather than allow them to brew over the next few weeks leading up to auction day.
