Story By Joe Zlomek

When real estate sales agents agree to represent sellers, they're doing more than just "taking the listing." They're often agreeing to fully market a seller's property. Many agents think the difference between "listing" and "marketing" is simply a choice of words, but to consumers the gap is a wide as the difference between a "car" and a "chauffeured limousine."

Which do you think clients want to ride in? Which would you, as an agent, prefer?

Those in the business tend to use jargon as though its meanings were common knowledge. Sadly, to many consumers "listing" a property still means just one thing: entering its particulars into a database (usually the Multiple Listing Service) to broadcast its availability to other agents. The word itself implies a highly limited scope of service.

But "marketing" a property transcends the limitation. Real estate marketers send e-mail alerts to their spheres of influence and farm prospects about properties just becoming available. Real estate marketers have established themselves in social networks like Linked-In, and MySpace, and FaceBook to match eager prospects with the homes they passionately seek. Real estate marketers own dynamic websites that present not only homes for sale, but neighborhoods in which to live.

Real estate marketers do anything, and sometimes everything, to sell a property. Listers ... well, they list. It's the difference between any old car vs. the luxury set of wheels.

Agents who properly educate sellers about property exposure, neighborhoods, and their knowledge of the market -- in short, those who demonstrate their worth -- will win the representation battle. No matter what your business model, it's important to express to clients the value of services you bring to the table in terms they can understand.