Expired Listings are a Listing Stream + Script

We explain how to win expired listings by leading with psychology, trust, and a progressive plan rather than scripts.

• recognise expired owners are hurt, disappointed, and emotionally exhausted
• avoid blaming the previous agent to prevent becoming the next one blamed
• seek first to understand, then guide the conversation toward truth and progress
• use a needs analysis to identify what must change to achieve a sale
• ask if they would release the property if a buyer was ready
• introduce fresh strategies like rental certificates, refreshed photos, and building reports
• explain that many buyers have left the market but will act for the right opportunity
• use tools like sale funder to remove financial objections
• requalify using where, why, and when questions
• support decisions with market data, buyer profiles, and recent sales

A trust-based expired listings system that creates fresh opportunities, improves conversion, and turns disappointment into successful outcomes.

Hosted by Lee Woodward Training Systems

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Transcript

Lee Woodward: 0:03

Hello and welcome to the podcast We Are Selling. My name's Lee Woodward, appearing on behalf of Realtair. Realtair is the one platform of choice of real estate professionals allowing you to pitch, sign, and sell real estate. Expired listings are a listing stream and the very best listing stream as you are working with the emotions and the letdowns of an owner who actually thought they wouldn't have any trouble selling. Everyone loves my place. I'll get a great price. However, the breakthrough in this tip is not just the scripts and dialogues of getting in the door and we'll get it sold and we're a different team. Everyone will be saying that. And the owner is over real estate agents, they're over the consumers, the marketplace, and they're actually feeling very hurt. So we've got to understand the psychology of where we are or where the owner is before we take the approach to get that trust, win the business, and we don't just want an expired listing, we want it under the right terms and conditions. So step one is to seek first to understand, however, get to the truth. And what I mean by that is be very careful if the owner blames the agent, and you start blaming the agent, yet you could be the next agent being blamed. So don't buy into they did everything wrong and they were no good. Just park all that because it can get you into the wrong space and the wrong conversations. We want a progressive conversation, not a blaming conversation. And when you cash in on the blame of the other agent, and by the way, we don't know the truth, the agent may have said you need to do this, you need to adjust, and the owner didn't want to listen, and now they're just blaming. So don't blame the agent, don't buy into that topic. And a great concept actually came from John McGrath when I recorded his approach to expired listings. And he would reach out to the owner and say, Hi, it's John, I notice your property's been on the market, the signs come down, I'm just wondering, did the property sell? And the owner would quickly jump in, no, it didn't, we're sick of agents, the marketplace, everything, and we are just going to put things on the back burner. Whatever the back burner is. The critical moment here is to understand the owner is hurt. They're disappointed. Every person who came through didn't like it. It's like another kick in the head every time someone comes through and they don't like it. And what John would say is, I'm sorry to hear that, it is happening a lot at the moment, but we've been coming back through properties, doing a needs analysis of what needs to be done to get the property sold. And kind of ask you, if I did have a buyer that would buy the property, you could move on your plans, would you release the property to the next person? And to which the owner would say, Yes, we would, but we've just had enough. So with this said, and I love the term needs analysis. Needs, what do we need to do to get it right? And then you can even throw in some optional questions there where you say to them, Did the property have a rental certificate? No, it didn't. What is that? Well, we've got a lot of people buying now that may not be living in the property straight away. They could be overseas, interstate, but that rental return for their approval has become critical. So one of the first actions I would do is get a rental certificate. The goal, the skill, the tip is to build a progressive plan where the owner feels you've got some different ideas. You're not just relying on realestate.com.au, you have got other people that you could introduce. And it's very important you get that point across. And another way to do that is this. John and Helen, I've got a lot of buyers who've given up on the marketplace. They've been out there, they've missed out on properties, properties have been sold without them even being knowing. Although they want to move, they just haven't located the right property, but they're exhausted. And I've got some great relationships where certain buyers aren't looking at the active market anymore, but they will come and see something if I reach out to them because I know exactly what they're after and I would not waste their time. So not everyone is just on the marketplace. There is people that have left the marketplace, yet would act very quickly for the right opportunity. So as you listen to this, you can feel the progressive plan, the needs analysis. We'll get a rental certificate. There's buyers that have stopped looking out there, we could refresh the photos. Having a fresh team and a fresh set of eyes is a fresh opportunity. But if you still want to move, there is still an opportunity. And don't stay in a home where you don't want to be when you could be in a home and a place where you want to be. And bring up that question again. Just suppose the property was sold, where would you be off to? Why are you going there? And when do you need to be there? Where why when, which is usually our first qualification when we meet people, is perfect for the expired listing. So in mastering this conversation, you're being supportive. Seek out to understand. There is things we can do, progressive conversations. And what you're trying to do here is have the owner feel by passing it over to you, I've got a brand new chance. And by the way, maybe they didn't use great marketing. Maybe there was some repairs that need to be done to the home. Did anyone get a building report on the property? Now be careful here because our consumer can be thinking, I'm not spending any more money on marketing, I've got no money left, it didn't do anything. And this is where you may use the sale funder system in order to type in that address, get those additional funds to get it sold. Begin with the end in mind, their destination, where they're going, driving on that opportunity. But professional trust is the ultimate goal of expired listings and having those great conversations and not blaming anybody else within the marketplace. And an additional tool is to maybe send them a report of these were our last 100 sales, this is where the purchases came from, this was the average age, this is the candidate of person buying in the area right now. And sometimes facts and evidence can be that final little progression that gets you to yes. This tip is such a good process. And don't think of it in isolation as one expiry. This is your expired listings presentation system. And knowing it's a listing stream and getting the rhythm right and having those top 100 sales to go out, having the right conversations, discussing their destinations becomes the brand new second-based presentation different to your first base presentation that you go through. And you'll start to attract these people, and when you see a signboard's gone down, you know the exact sequence of what to do and how to do it. And in this marketplace right now could be some of your greatest sales coming forward. And that concludes our podcast for this week. Next week we have the incredible Rick Rushton joining us in conversation about influence and communicating through to an owner who may no longer be listening to their agent. Thank you for joining us. My name's Lee Woodward. I look forward to meeting you one day at the Complete Salesperson Course. And if you're ready to look at the Realtair platform of pitch, sign and sell, please call the Team of Realtair on 1300 367 412. Till next week, goodbye.