Do You Have A Place?

Periodically in the course of our career, we need to take a break from the rat race of daily business and ask ourselves whether we are serving a function that is of use to society.  Of course the answer to this strategic question is “Yes.”  But explore the idea further: What is that function?  It will help you to define the essential elements of your function, recognizing that they will be ever changing in our ever changing world.  Failure to periodically examine the answer anew will lead to our obsolescence, individually or collectively.

We spend lots of time on self-promotion, playing courier, sitting around open houses, following leads of buyers and sellers, developing information for buyers and sellers, or getting ourselves run down blind alleys by buyers and sellers.  This is real work and it takes time, and time is real money.  It is part of the reason why we cost so much.  Do buyers and sellers know that they are paying for this footwork that produces nothing?  Of course not.  Do they even care about the waste?  Of course not.  There are less productive parts to any job, but as the boss it is your responsibility to minimize or eliminate these parts.  At the same time, recognize that buyers and sellers will appreciate, and pay handsomely for efficient service, useful information, and advice that leads to a successful purchase or sale at an attractive price.

Identify the successful, meaningful patterns (i.e., what works) and develop ways to maximize your client’s appreciation of your usefulness.  Recognize and eliminate or minimize less useful activities.  This seems to be a very general discussion, but it should be kept in mind.  As you develop your career, strive to exercise greater and greater control over your business, your chosen market, and your own fate.  Develop and work with those who will buy or sell.  Leave the tire kickers to newer agents who need to build a foundation of experience by going through the motions, whether they are productive or not. 

But what are we selling?  For so long we have been telling all the sellers that we would find a buyer for their home.  No doubt you wowed and zowed the last sellers who interviewed you with your dynamite marketing plan.  Indeed we believe it all, and of course they believe it all too.  At the same time we have been telling the buyers we would find them the perfect home to buy... and they believe it too.  Consider that the most inept agent among us eventually will find a buyer for that seller, or find a home for that buyer.

Stop.  Get into the 21^st century; this is the age of information.  Have you heard tell of the Internet, let alone www.realtor.com?  Buyers and sellers can now find each other without you!  It is time to get out of the 19^th century before you are out of business.  You have much more to offer, but if you do not recognize it, develop it, and promote it, your public will pass you by.  Their choices are driven by their needs.  You must sell your experience and your expertise.  Sell your market knowledge and sell your ability to achieve your client’s goals efficiently.  Above all, sell your ability to negotiate an agreement favorable to your client.

In general, we have a lot to offer our clients.  Sometimes we forget how infrequently they buy and sell homes.  It is easy for an experienced agent to take many important parts of the job for granted.  Of course we provide sellers with an easy, efficient, and effective means to reach buyers, and if your MLS (multiple listing service) has not claimed its rightful place as King of the Hill, there is something very wrong.  But the best MLS is no good at all without experienced operators (that’s you) to enter information accurately and maintain the database.  So sell your computer literacy, your ability to use the most effective tool there is, to connect the seller with the buyer and vice versa. 

The efficiency we provide buyers is the ability to research the available homes, sort them out, arrange them in geographical order, and show them, utilizing a lockbox or keysafe system in order to tour the homes at will.  If your area does not have an effective, well-utilized lockbox or keysafe system, it really cannot, by definition, be a major market area.

In addition, the experienced agent provides invaluable guidance regarding the home buying and selling process including market values, information on the state of the market as well as on the direct competition, local customs, market preferences, and governmental requirements.  We offer alternatives and advice, and provide a sounding board for our clients when they are considering various courses of action.  As part of our basic responsibility we are their advocates, especially in view of the increasing popularity of buyer-brokerage.  This is particularly true during contract negotiation when we offer critical information in the planning stage, support and advice on substantive issues, a feel for timing (when to play and when to hold), and most importantly a buffer between the principals.  This gives them time to consider details and to forge an agreement that will end up at closing.  The agent-buffer also provides a firewall, which in most cases keeps a minor inflammation from becoming a conflagration.  Note that in industry and government you rarely see the decision maker taking a direct role in the negotiation.