You’ve done the valuation. The owner likes you. You’ve walked him through the market, the comparables, the plan.
Then he leans back and says it. “The other agents will do it for free.”
Your stomach tightens. You know the two easy answers. Cut the fee, or start explaining why you’re worth more. Both feel like the right response in the moment, and both lose the listing a little.
He isn’t comparing fees
In Dubai the buyer pays the standard two percent. The seller doesn’t have to pay anything. You still pitch your fee when you pitch for the listing, but it isn’t always paid up front. The aim is to settle it at the offer stage, working the owner’s fee in with the buyer’s offer, so the owner ends up with his net figure once the fee has been taken. So for a lot of owners the question of what they pay out of pocket isn’t even live.
When an owner says “free”, he’s usually telling you something else. He’s telling you he can’t tell the agents apart.
Every agent he’s met has said the same thing. Maximum exposure. Premium marketing. Dedicated service. None of it can be checked, so none of it counts as a difference. The only difference he can see is the number.
That’s not his fault. It’s the fault of every agent who has asked him to take their word for it.
Free is the fee, it isn’t the work
Say that to yourself before you say anything to him.
The fee is one line. The work is fourteen days, then every week after that, then a decision about what to do when the market doesn’t respond. When an owner focuses on the fee, it’s because nobody has shown him the work.
So don’t argue the fee. Move the conversation to the work.
Ask what they put in writing
One question. Calm, curious, not defensive.
“I’m sure they will. Can I ask what they put in writing?”
Then stop talking.
Most of the time the answer is nothing. A verbal promise and a smile. Occasionally there’s a marketing list. Almost never is there a date, a report, or a way out.
He’ll notice that himself when he says it out loud. You don’t have to point it out.
Then put three pages on the table
Page one. The first fourteen days, with a date next to every line. Photos, portals, your own buyer list sent one by one, the office pitch, your network, the first report.
Page two. The Monday report, five lines. Viewings, what buyers said, offers, what you’re changing, what you need from him.
Page three. The sixty day exit. If by day sixty you haven’t done these three things, he can leave, no argument. Check the wording with your office before it goes in an agreement.
None of this costs you anything to produce except the effort of writing it down once.
A discount is visible, a plan is checkable
This is the part that wins it.
A discount is something he can see on the first page. A plan is something he can check on day seven, day fourteen and day sixty. When you put them side by side, you’re asking him to compare a number with an obligation.
Most owners will pick the obligation. Not all. Some will take the free one, and that’s fine. You wouldn’t have wanted the listing on those terms.
The ones who pick you are the ones who will give you an honest price conversation at week three, because they’ve already seen you do what you said.
What if the other agent really does have a plan
Sometimes he does. Then your job is simple. Make yours more specific.
Their plan says weekly updates. Yours says Monday, five lines, viewings, buyer comments, offers, what changes, what you need. Their plan says portals. Yours says portals on day one, your own buyer list one by one on day two, the office pitch on day three.
Specific beats general every time, because specific is checkable and general is a mood. If you lose to a better plan, that’s a fair loss, and you’ve just learned what to write down next time.
Never let the fee conversation come first
If you can, don’t mention the fee until the plan has been seen. Walk through the fourteen days, show the report, describe the exit, and only then pitch your fee. By that point the owner has a picture of what he’s paying for. And if he’s nervous about paying anything now, the offer stage is where it gets settled, so he knows he still nets his number.
Do it the other way round and the fee becomes the picture. Everything after it is a negotiation about whether the picture is worth it.
What to do this week
Write the three pages. One hour, once. Put them in a folder. Next time you hear “free”, ask what the other agent put in writing, then slide the folder across.
Say it flat. Don’t fill the silence. He’s thinking, not objecting, and the two look identical.
That’s the exercise behind Day 26 of the 30 Day Listings Challenge I’m running on Instagram, one task a day. If you want the daily templates, comment CHALLENGE on any post @yourrealestatecoo and the tracker lands in your DMs.
If you’d rather get the numbers behind your own listings looked at, book a free 30 minute call, no pitch, just a plan: https://calendly.com/yourrealestatecoo/30min
Or start with the daily scorecard, one page, four numbers, free: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UQPZag0bQiJc5jFN9lyxD4Liy5JrnPSt/view
Mind. Method. Market.
