The secret to standing out and winning more listings is actually deceptively simple.
What is it? SAME IS LAME!
What does it mean? It means that doing the same thing as everyone else is lame. If you look lame up in the dictionary, it means “pathetically lacking in force and effectiveness. So if your marketing looks the same as everyone else’s and it’s lame, then it’s lacking force and effectiveness (aka. It will lack results, pull and success).
And that means that if you want to win more listings and do more business than other real estate agents, then you have to have the courage to stand out and do something different.
In the public’s eye, most real estate agents look and operate the same. They expect you to sell their home fast, and they expect you to take them on tons of showings. And ultimately, this all began because your advertising looked the same as every other agent’s. The assumption here is that if your advertising looks the same, then everything you do must be the same.
But this results in a big problem—no buying preference. No reason to choose you over all the other agents out there.
So how do you combat this? Here’s two easy solutions.
- Do The Opposite: One great way to get more than your fair share of the market is to take Earl Nightingale’s advice, “If you want to be successful, look at what everyone else is doing, and do the opposite.”
So why aren’t you trying to be different?
Most agents all have similar backgrounds and experiences in the business. But the opportunity for success and the attention of your prospects is endless.
You must become a risk-taker. Status quo thinking and actions deliver common results. If you are seeking more than average results and want more listings and sales than referrals from your sphere can give you, then you need to do the opposite.
Doing what’s comfortable is safe for you – but boring for your customers. Boring is invisible and invisible means no listing. So is safe really all that comfortable?
- Give Value First: At the beginning of every listing or sale there is a set of emotions like fear, uncertainty and lack of knowledge that exists and stands between a buyer or seller and the sale. Think of this as “The Mighty Wall Of Mistrust.”
And because a home is the biggest purchase most people will make in their lives, this wall is bigger and thicker in real estate. A lot of agents leave it to prospective customers to break down this wall on their own. That’s one of the reasons why consumers are doing 30+ days of research before contacting an agent.
But you can springboard your success by building a relationship and breaking down this wall brick-by-brick by becoming a solutions provider that offers help, guidance, support and advice at all stages of the buying process. That means being there for your prospects even before they are ready to buy or sell their home.
By providing your customers with valuable information you put yourself on the same side of the table as them. You become a trusted advisor instead of a salesperson.
This allows you to chip away at the wall more quickly and ultimately overcome all the emotions that stand in the way of the sale.
Resulting in greater success for you and greater happiness for your clients.
