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We all know that the smell of a Sunday roast makes our taste buds dance or when we see an exquisite chocolate cake dessert with thick wiped cream on top that our mouths salivate almost uncontrollably.

Well hello! Our senses (all six of them) are always with us so don’t stop appealing to them when it comes to selling your home!

Selling your home in the easiest way possible and in the shortest time frame for the most dollars available, nothing bar nothing beats a great Presentation.

And we all know this wealth secret but for many of us we either don’t want to put the effort in or don’t know what to do to present our homes how they should be and especially when the budget is tight.

That’s not to say that you will get the highest price in the street, or that easy means that it will be a cinch, but what it does say is that the better your house is presented in a way that appeals to our senses, the easier and quicker you will sell your house and for the best money that a buyer will pay.

Presentation is not about spending dead money or total renovation. It is about spending money and effort that will preferably return its capital and some. Unfortunately you may need to spend dead money and put in some long over due effort to make the sale however.

You see, sometimes depending on the state of repair of your home, it is necessary to spend money that should have been spent in ongoing repairs at the time, to now make the sale. Like a toilet that doesn’t work for example, because most buyers will quite naturally expect your toilet to work.

However, for the most part, a functional kitchen need not be replaced to make a sale. Certainly new cupboard handles or a bench top may be justifiable but normally not so a full kitchen renovation.

And here’s a wealth secret. You must be able look at your home through the eyes of an educated stranger even before you look through the eyes of a potential buyer. Why? Because a stranger has no emotional interest in your home and can tell you like it is without fear, favour or bias.

Your bright pink girl’s room and dark blue boy’s room may seem appropriate and even beautiful to you, but not to a buyer with no teenage children. Your grandiose entertaining bar area may be your center of attention but not to a ‘Tea Totaler’ buyer.

Your stranger’s perspective will present an honest opinion about such personal tastes and identify things that can be changed or altered with minimal cost and in a short time frame.

Without doubt a big wealth secret is that cleaning and painting are two of your most cost effective and fastest paths to a sale and maximum dollars. Your motto should be, “If it’s not clean, clean it and if I think it needs paint… then paint it”.

Remember it is all about presentation, so your cleaning and painting should include de-cluttering. Then when you have a wonderfully clean and neutrally coloured paint theme throughout your house with no clutter, you can now do all those wonderful presentation tricks of the trade for your house inspections. Here are just a few, and always always remember another wealth secret. Perception is reality!

o Open the curtains to let in the natural light

o Turn on a light if any room is anything like a dark space

o Strategically place fresh flowers in your home

o Deodorize or ensure a nice fragrance permeates every room in your home

o Get rid of the dog and other house pets

o Ensure a pleasant musical CD is softly playing in the background

o Remove your vehicle from the open garage or driveway. If you do leave a vehicle there, it must be new or near new, sparkling clean and preferably prestige in make and model

o Have the house cool in summer and warm in winter and … if you have a log fire it should be lit.

o Have the smell of fresh baked Bickies or bread in the kitchen

o Freshly dampen the garden beds with a spray hose

o Set your dining table with the silver ware and fine china that you have possibly never used

o Keep personal photos strategically placed and to a minimum but just enough to be warm

o Take your phone socket out of the wall

If it is convenient for you to have your house in vacant possession, go to the effort of having it professionally furnished. There is no better way to present your house, period. Typical costing for this is approximately $2800 to $3500 for a full house of furniture over a period of 5 to 6 weeks. This has proved time and time again to easily pay for itself in both speed and financial return of sale.

Yes, it may take some work to achieve great presentation but if you really do want to sell your home in the easiest way possible and in the shortest time frame for the most dollars available, then nothing bar nothing, beats the best wealth secret of all, Presentation!

Have you ever employed the initial appearance of weakness as a tactic in a negotiation? It can be a great way to gather valuable information. When the other negotiator sees you in a weakened position, that’s the time when you can turn your perceived weakness into a source of power. Observe the following to do so.

The Opening – setting the stage:

To set yourself up to be perceived as weak, consider the following strategies.

• At the opening of the negotiation, offer a weak handshake; this positioning is enhanced by allowing your hand to be on the bottom of the handshake (i.e. the other negotiator’s hand on top of yours). That will subliminally signal subjugation on your part.
• Project a sense of slowness to grasp points. Don’t overplay your hand. Remember, you’re playing the role of someone that’s not sure of himself.
• Allow yourself to be maneuvered by making concessions quickly when doing so is not detrimental to your position.
• Refer to having to consult a higher authority when pushed too hard for a concession; that’ll convey a sense of powerlessness.
• While engaging in the processes above, seek to uncover the other negotiator’s source(s) of power. You can use that as leverage against him later in the negotiation.

Mid Game – the turn:

This is the point at which your demeanor transformation begins.

• Know the strength of your resources compared to your opponent. That will be your source of power. It can be used as leverage during the negotiation to thwart his efforts.
• During the negotiation, be prepared to refer to a higher authority that trumpets the other negotiator (e.g. him – we reached a multimillion-dollar deal with company x last year, you – we know that and they’re talking with us this year; I guess they didn’t like the results of your deal.)
• Create a false sense of value with red herrings as chits that you can trade later for items and concessions of importance.

End Game – the closing:

This is the time you employ tactics that display, you’re no longer a weakling.

• Begin to use the red herrings you set up in the prior phase to enhance your negotiation position. Be stubbornly diligent when making concessions at this point. Your efforts should send a subliminal message that indicates, you’re going to be a tough negotiator from this point on.
• Once you’ve engaged in the strategies above, be cautious. You will have transformed yourself from the weakling you initially appeared to be into a titan. The other negotiator will realize that he’s dealing with someone that’s more astute than he originally thought. That will cause him to raise his guard. He’ll also be seeking ways to adjust his negotiation strategies to match his new reality.

The timeframe and phases mentioned above still have to be accompanied with the negotiation strategies that are appropriate for the type of negotiation you’re in. Thus, the outline above should serve as a foundation to which you can add more specifics steps to fit your situation. By using this outline, you’ll be well on your way to creating a roadmap that leads to more successful negotiation outcomes… and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

When we have prepared our presentation, practised and become familiar with its content, the assumption might be that we are ready for the podium. Not so fast. There’s still the outstanding task of preparing for a question and answer session — that moment near the end of our presentation when we ask for questions…and our hearts jump.

When it’s managed well a question and answer session serves several vital purposes: it emphasizes our grasp of the presentation subject; it boosts our standing with the audience; it enables audience participation and it builds the prospect of a grand finale to the presentation. And typically a good question and answer session is well managed and planned. To get the best results there are 5 main points to note before the event:

1. Be prepared. Each and every point made in our presentation could invite a question from the audience. To be prepared for this we need to work through all of our material. We need to imagine and note down the questions that might crop up. These questions might require further explanation, clarification or opinion. And our opinion will be sought — it does count for a lot. For each question that we note down we should prepare a written answer. And finally we should aim to become totally familiar with each of these question and answer pairs.
2. Consider the audience. No matter how much thought you put into predicting questions your audience will think of something else. But that’s not a problem either. Our audience is likely to have a shared, or known, background. They might be members of the same trade association, work in the same area, live in the same State or work for the same employer. Our knowledge of their shared interests will go a long way in anticipating their questions — questions with a local angle, an industry viewpoint or a trade association perspective.
3. Note the news. In spite of all our preparation news events can still conspire against us. But it’s still not a problem. The evening before the presentation simply pick up that copy of USA Today that’s sitting in the hotel lobby. Scan the headlines for topical events and anything that might be relevant to the presentation. We can go further by picking up a local newspaper or watching the local TV news reports on the day that we present. Sports, politics, business or even entertainment news might be a lead into a question area with our audience.
4. Place a question. That awkward moment between the call for questions and the first question being asked might well define the success of our whole presentation. Anything other than some interest from the audience is tough to manage. But there’s a method that we can use. First we must be conscious of the time. If we have overrun the time slot or if we can hear the caterers massing for lunch then we must be brief. Second, we must remember to outline how many questions we will take or how much time we have — a physical look at a watch works well at this juncture. And finally we need to take a pre-placed question from the audience. This is not trickery and it’s not underhand. But it’s rare for an audience member to pop up with an engaging inspiring question immediately. Our pre-placed question does the job. Once that’s out the way other questions will follow naturally.
5. Be brief. Our answers must be brief, concise and to the point. This is not the time to discuss a mass of arcane detail. That can be kept for later. Our answers should be directed back to the questioner — with plenty of eye contact. If necessary we might need to repeat the question for the benefit of the rest of the audience before we give an answer. This might be needed if microphones are not available. Our answer is not a chance for a debate with the questioner. Should our answer invite further questions from the same questioner then we must volunteer to take the matter up later in the lobby — and then ask for the next question. And, of course, the whole exercise must be handled courteously.

With the time available for questions at an end now is the time to bring our presentation to an end with the grand finale — our concluding remarks. Some event organisers try to secure questions at the end of a presentation but the ending typically does not do justice to the speaker’s work. Resist them. The best practice appears to be a question and answer session followed by a presenter’s concluding remarks.

A properly executed question and answer session can be a rewarding experience for both speaker and audience alike. Yes, there’s a dependency on us to use imagination and resource in our preparation. And yes, we do need to apply some stage management to prime the first question. Preparation and execution is everything. And when it’s followed by a resounding thought provoking conclusion the importance of the question and answer session is clear to see.