Is listing syndication a competitive advantage? For RE/MAX Advantage Plus agent Craig Tupy the answer is a definitive yes. Craig has been licensed since 1984 and works in both Minnesota and Fort Myers, Florida.

Here’s what he had to share regarding listing syndication as a benefit in his marketing presentations.

“Previously we talked about syndication as part of our marketing strategy, with all that exposure going out to all of these 3^rd party sites. Now recently, our marketplace – with one of our larger competitors deciding not to participate with syndication – we draw a little more attention to what a mistake that is to not bring these third party sites in as part of our marketing campaign. I don’t understand the logic behind not participating with third party sites, it makes no sense to me. We want to expose it to as many people as possible. And outside the Twin Cities, if you’re having out of town buyers, some of our competitors’ web sites aren’t as well-known as they are possibly locally. So to me, I’m a little confused. I pose that question to the sellers and the sellers pretty much agree 100%. They don’t understand the logic behind not participating with syndication.”

Craig went on to talk about a recent marketing presentation he was asked to do for a tech-savvy client.

“We were asked to come out and do a marketing presentation and price a home only to find out that they had literally just purchased a home through our competition who no longer uses syndication. And I was a little confused why we were there, but they wanted a second opinion. I went on to talk about how our competition was no longer using syndication, including my list -Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com – and he says ‘Well I love Trulia. I use it all the time. That’s how I always go searching for homes and stuff.’ And I said, ‘Well, they’re no longer participating. If you list your home with them, you won’t see your house on those sites.’ They never even invited the agent back to do a marketing presentation – we took the listing, they closed on their home last week, we got the listing, and they never invited that agent in even to do a marketing presentation to list the house. Just for that reason alone.”

Craig closed with some comments to competitors who don’t use listing syndication and might be vying with him in the future for listings.

“I’ll tell them this: They’re at a huge disadvantage in a listing presentation right now. They can sugar-coat it all they want, and I’ve had some pretty lively back and forth e-mail campaigns with some of my friends, because I’ve been in the business a long time, some of my very closest friends with these competing companies and they’re at a huge disadvantage. They just are. The last three listings, they’re all top agents, and I don’t know if it was specifically that reason or one of the reasons, but they’re at a disadvantage right now in the marketplace to procure listings. End of story.”