If you don’t control the pricing conversation from day one, your clients will get blindsided by price adjustments later.
Here’s something I see all the time, especially in high-inventory markets: agents go into listing appointments and get themselves into trouble around pricing. And they do that by not pre-framing the price adjustment that could be coming.
This isn’t a conversation you have a week after signature. It’s not something you put in a post-appointment text message. It happens early in the listing conversation, when you’re talking about strategies surrounding price.
So today, I’m breaking down the 10-10-0 rule, how to position price as an invitation, and how to preframe price adjustments before they’re even needed.
If you want to protect your listings, your reputation, and your compensation, you’ve got to control this conversation from the start.
Control the Pricing Conversation Early
This is a Sharran Srivatsaa special.
Here’s how I walk through it during a listing appointment.
“All right, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, let me walk you through how I think about pricing. Pricing is not just picking a number. Pricing is positioning. The list price that we’re going to choose today is just an invitation. It’s how we invite buyers into the conversation. Not a guarantee of a final sales price.
“If we price way too high, if we go above and beyond even aspirational, very few people come to see this home. You’re smart. You know that. If we price way too low, we get a ton of attention, but not always the right buyers.
“My job is to position your home so we get maximum serious activity and the best possible net for you in the shortest realistic time.”
Right there, I’ve alleviated concerns about pricing too low and pricing too high. I’ve framed that we’re going to be in a range that protects their equity.
Then I move into the 10-10-0 rule.
“So, because I take this seriously, I use a simple rule with every client so we can make a smart, unemotional decision together. It’s called the 10-10-0 rule.
Here’s what it means. In the first 10 days, if we see zero showings, or in the first 10 days if we see zero offers, that’s our signal to adjust the invitation price together.”
This is where agents get into trouble if they don’t have that script down cold.
It’s our signal to adjust the invitation price together.
Where you get in trouble is if you say, “That means we need to drop the list price.” Those say two different things.
When you use list price over and over again in a listing appointment, they start to attach their identity to that number. It becomes what they think they should be getting on the sales price.
If you use language around invitation over and over again, it starts to sink in that the price you’re going to the market with is simply part of the marketing, the positioning. It’s an invitation to attract more conversations from buyers.
“This is our signal to adjust the invitation price together. We’re going out with this 10-10-0 rule together. We’re doing this together. I’m not telling you your home’s not worth something. The market is.
“We’re not guessing. We’re not waiting 60 or 90 days, hoping and praying and watching the response from the market. We already have a plan.”
How to Deliver the Price Adjustment Conversation
Now, let’s say something triggers it. Ten days. No showings. Huge red flag.
Now, it’s time to keep the commitment you made and revisit the invitation price with them. And this is phone or face-to-face conversation. This isn’t a text message script.
Here’s how I open it.
“Hey, Tom, as promised, I wanted to give you a clear update. We’re now 11 days on the market. I know yesterday was Sunday, and we’ve had no showings, which of course generated no offers.
“When we met at the listing appointment, we agreed on the 10-10-0 rule. And we said if we get no showings in the first 10 days or no offers in the first 10 showings, we would revisit the invitation price together. So, Tom, we’re exactly here now.”
Then I take marketing off the table.
“The good news is the home is still getting blank views on X portal,” or
“The home is still getting X opens on our email campaign,” or
“As you saw in the marketing report, we’re generating above-average activity in the marketing.”
The signal from the market is that buyers like the home, but at this price, they are choosing other options.
“So, my recommendation, based on the activity and the feedback, is that we adjust the invitation price to X.”
You need to have a number. You need to be direct on a price adjustment.
“This is the number I’m advising based on the data, so we move from being shopped to being chosen.”
Then I ask:
“How are you feeling about making that adjustment so we can get you to your goal and not let this little thing go stale?”
As Tom Toole pointed out during last week’s BAMx live roleplaying mastermind, when you see high days on market for a property, that’s the buyer reaction. So, we don’t want to get stale and get grouped in that category.
Here’s the other thing you can add in:
“The good news is we know we’re not leaving money on the table right now. We’re seeing that the market’s not accepting what we’re doing. So we’re actually still moving towards the goal of maximizing the price.”
Most agents avoid this call. And that’s exactly how listings go stale.
Stay in Control or Get Controlled by the Market
Best case, if you handled the first part clearly at the listing presentation, this conversation moves fast. But there are going to be objections, even when you’ve set it up the right way.
Tom threw this objection at me:
“Nobody’s buying houses right now. There’s five inches of snow on the ground. The market’s slow, so I’m just going to wait this out.”
Here’s how I handle it.
“Hey, I get that feeling right now. Everything feels slow. It gets dark super early. And listen, you’re really smart to think about are you making a mistake even being on the market right now.
“Have the goals changed in terms of the timeline of when you want to sell? Or do you want to get in line with the homes that are selling? I can send you over a list of those.
“Just making sure we’re putting you in the best place to succeed. Has the timeline changed, or is the goal still to walk away with X?”
That’s the ACA framework.
- Acknowledge the feeling.
- Compliment the thinking.
- Clarify the goal.
The script is direct, but I’m not steamrolling them. I’m acknowledging how they feel. I’m reinforcing that they’re smart. Then I’m reclarifying their position to the market so we can align the strategy with their actual goal.
That’s how you stay in control of the pricing conversation. You don’t guess. You don’t hope. You don’t avoid the hard call.
You preframe early.
You use the right language. And you let the market, not emotion, guide the decision.
This is exactly the kind of real-world conversation we break down live inside BAMx. If you want to sharpen your delivery, practice these scripts in real time, and get coached through objections before you’re sitting across from a seller, join the next BAMx live roleplaying mastermind.
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