Listing Agent Scripts for Negotiating Multiple Offers

Use these real estate listing agent scripts for both home sellers and buyer agents to help explain and negotiate multiple offer situations.

In today’s mastermind, we are discussion effective listing agent scripts for negotiating multiple offers. When you’re a listing agent and you’re listing a property, how do you set the scene for the forthcoming storm of offers? These include scripts and tactics that you use with other agents, as well as the scripts that you use with your client to set expectations.

VIDEO: Listing Agent Scripts for Negotiating Multiple Offers

But first, adjust your mindset

As we tackle this topic of listing agent scripts, we need to get our mindset right. Now more than ever, we need to spend more time on listing or lead generation activities. That means less time worrying about our existing clients. It might sound awful to you to think about putting anything ahead of customer service. Well, I know you won’t stop providing good customer service to your existing clients, I just hope you’ll move the needle at least a little.

Most of the time, most agents spend 100% of their time worrying about their current clients. Doing this can make you feel like you are so busy, you have no time to lead generate for new clients. It’s actually easier than ever, right now, to provide great customer service to your clients in less time. This is due to the fact that there are very few listings available to be seen on the market at any given time. So, this frees up your time to get more clients!

There is only one way to get listings. You need to be the best real estate agent the seller can find. On the buyer side, clients look for anyone with a pulse that can get them in the door. But for listing their home? Sellers will search for the local agent with the best reviews and the best reputation. Or, they will go with someone they know (which is why you must always be nurturing your sphere of influence.) Getting listings is more work than getting buyers.

Activities to get more listings

Before we dive into our listing agent scripts, here are some of the lead generation activities you must be doing right now. You must keep working hard to keep the listings flowing in.

Prospect for expired listings
Door-knock for FSBOs (For Sale By Owner)
Farm neighborhoods
Establish your online presence through Google
Market yourself through social media
Reach out and nurture your sphere of influence

Take our Seller Lead Conversion online course

If you are on a mission to convert more seller leads into listings, take our online course. This condensed course gives you the tools and techniques you need to leverage your sphere of influence in all the right ways, focusing in on how you can convert leads into listings without getting stuck or getting ahead of yourself. With ICC’s tried and tested listing agent scripts and systems, you’ll have everything you need at your disposal to make the most of your networks and take full advantage of every opportunity to close on a seller lead. Click the link below to enroll.

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Listing agent scripts: Pre-negotiating

Let your listing client know that part of your strategy besides social media marketing and everything else is that you pre-negotiate and guide the buyers agent. At first, when you have no offers, you can say, “Hey, I’ve got a lot of interested buyers coming through. I see this going over asking. I highly recommend that you discuss with your client making an offer with at least no appraisal contingency. Or at least limited appraisal contingency. Better yet, no contingencies at all.” You don’t want to talk them into forcing their client, but you want them to have that discussion.

Let your seller know that you are pre-negotiating. You are pushing the price up over asking. This way, they know how hard you are working to get them the highest price. And, even better, you won’t be dealing with twenty offers and multiple counters. By doing the negotiating up front with the buyers agents, you are saving yourself time in the long run. If you end up dealing with multiple counter offers, it will only need to be for a few people who already meet the criteria. Let your seller know it’s important to look at the buyers financing ability. Almost anyone can get preapproved but that doesn’t mean they won’t be a huge pain. You can call the loan officers ahead of time to screen these buyers. Steps like this save you and your sellers time and headache.

Listing agent scripts: Using a cut-off time for receiving offers

In this current market, listings are receiving ten, twenty, even thirty or more offers. It becomes stressful for many listing agents to receive (and go through) so many offers. One tactic you can use is to set up a cut-off time for receiving offers. And, you can let the buyers agents know that you will be forwarding offers to your client as you go. This may help push them to do their highest and best up front and not wait until the last minute, else another offer may be accepted.

For your listing agent script to the buyers agent, it can go something like this. “Hey, we are accepting offers until 5pm on Monday. But I wouldn’t wait to make your offer until the last minute. We have many interested buyers and I see this going over asking. I’ll be forwarding offers to my clients immediately as they come in.” This way, you can also tell the buyers agents who are inquiring more details about the offers you have already received.

“I’m seeing $30,000 over asking, minimum, on these offers coming in.” That way, the buyers agent can go back to their client and advise them on making their offer competitive. You can’t do this pre-negotiation magic if all the offers come in right at 5pm on Monday! This is why you tell the buyers agent that you are forwarding offers as they come in. It’s better for them, too. “It’s possible that my sellers might accept an offer before the deadline, or move the deadline up, so don’t wait.”

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