We’ve all been there...
Sitting in a meeting. Listening to a PowerPoint or Apple Keynote presentation. And the slides drone on and on, and you sit there thinking how you could really use a huge shot of caffeine.
Definitely not the way to sell. People don’t want to watch slide after slide in a PowerPoint presentation.
People want to hear a story. They want lots of visuals explaining what’s in it for them. The top sellers in every industry stay engaged with their audience, they don’t put them to sleep.
If you’re in real estate, the name of the game is selling. You have to sell yourself and your properties to all sorts of people. Here are some examples of selling you might need to do:
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Convincing motivated sellers you offer them the best deal.
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Showing potential renters with perfect credit that you have the best property in the area.
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Finding a buyer for the house you just rehabbed.
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Explaining to private lenders why they will receive a top-notch return from you with little to no risk.
These people are busy and can easily be distracted.
You need to capture their attention.
Well, we have found a tool that will help do just that and keep them interested…
One that tells a story. One that is not just slide after slide in a linear fashion. Presenting: Prezi.
Telling a Story
Prezi takes old fashioned slide presentations and turns them on their ear. When you create a Prezi presentation, you really have one slide on the screen, but the screen zooms and pans around the slide telling a story.
Take a look at this example. It shows a Prezi template you can use for your presentation, such as selling one of your flips.
Best of all, Prezi is free for the basics. Just go to their website and create an account. When you get to the homepage, you click on the link in the upper right corner to sign up. That will take you to the pricing page to select which plan is good for you. You can select the free plan, or 30-days free for the ‘Enjoy Plan’ ($59 annually) or the ‘Pro Plan’ ($159 annually). The Enjoy Plan will make your presentations private. The Pro plan allows you to download the Prezi software onto your computer so you can work offline.
Once you have an account, you are ready to begin. In your account you click the button to start a new Prezi and either choose from a pre-existing template or begin with a blank canvas:
Prezi has a selection of pre-existing and free templates on its website, or you can search the web for other templates. Sites such as Prezibase will give you a larger selection to choose from. Here is the real estate template seen in the video above. Just realize that you might have to pay for some of the templates outside of Prezi.
You may also want to go to Fiverr for some help creating a Prezi template or presentation.
Whether you hit ‘Start Blank Prezi’ or ‘Use Template,, Prezi will take you to the canvas screen.
From the canvas, you can insert text, pictures, hyperlinks and/or videos. You can make a great multimedia presentation that people pay attention to.
People will see just the one ‘slide,’ but Prezi will zoom in on certain areas to weave the story of what you are trying to sell.
There are some similarities to PowerPoint in terms of adding text boxes, embedding videos, etc. but that’s where the similarities end. However, you can still import PowerPoint slides and embed them in various parts of your Prezi presentation.
Using Prezi to Grow Your Empire
Once you have the Prezi presentation prepared, you can use it to really sell.
One great way to sell a property is to make a YouTube presentation walking your potential buyers through it.
How about private lenders? With Prezi you can show potential lenders exactly what the risks and returns will be if they trust their money with you. Investors can see how the whole process flows together, contingencies should borrowers default and how they get paid.
Motivated sellers want simple answers to their questions. They want professionals to come in and solve their problems simply. A Prezi presentation on a laptop describing how you deal with banks will put the seller at ease. Explaining how the seller will get a better deal from you than anywhere else will give you a great deal of credibility.
Prezi will help your presentations really stand out from the crowd. There are numerous online tutorials about how to create Prezi presentations and how to use them to sell. Real estate investors who take advantage of this program will see loads of benefits.
Now, go tell your story.
Got Something to Share?
Do you have a Prezi tip? Know the best online resources for finding free templates? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
Prepare Your pitches – Have your ‘elevator pitches’ or other presentations ready so you can easily call them up on your phone.
Consider the Content – Do your presentations emphasize the benefits of doing business with you? Try them out on a friend. Do they seem worthwhile? Would you invest after hearing/seeing them?
Practice, Practice, Practice – Consider making videos of yourself giving your pitches. Watch the videos and pick out what you can improve on. And at least make sure you are comfortable giving them.
Think of Objections – Think of the objections your business partners might bring up and have counters prepared. When you give the pitches, note down what people bring up. Address those objections in future presentations.
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.