The New Age: The Dynamic Changes for Agents

[Benjamin Moody]

“This is how we’ve always done it.” Sound familiar? I’m sure you’ve heard this before, in fact I’d venture to say it is a universal statement that spans across every professional field. That statement is the business equivalent to “Because I said so” you heard from your parents growing up. Frustrating isn’t it?

The way it was always done was an effective strategy in the past. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it worked back when the world evolved over decades. Today, technology has obliterated this idea. We have entered an exponential curve that is making the industrial revolution look like kids playing with tinker toys. It’s only going to grow, and with growth comes change. What used to take decades is not taking years and even down to months. The Apollo program to land on the moon began in 1963. The first moon landing was in 1969. Elon Musk announced in 2011 his idea for self landing rockets, and was mocked. In December 2015, we watched the first booster softly land themselves. The cell phone you are probably holding right now has 100,000 times more computing power then the computer used on the moon landing.

When I first started my licensing classes I heard the same thing over and over in the lessons “People will always need agents, people will always need homes.” Sound familiar? “You will always need a physical store for your products...too big to fail...the market can never crash...brick and mortar will never die.” I do believe there is truth in these statements but only through action. People still need to read the news, we will always need to know what is going on - but newspapers are failing because they refused to evolve with their customers' lives.

You’re at a restaurant and someone asks you “What do real estate agents do?” - If the answer is something along “We buy and sell real estate.” In fact, if your answer includes anything related to sales, you’re answering with a “how we’ve always done it” response and you’re wrong. If you think I’m wrong and that agents are in the sales profession; here’s another question - what is your product? You don’t own the homes you have listed, you don’t own the properties you’re showing, your clients don’t even pay you. To put this in a simple term: You are no longer a car sales representative working for a dealership (brokerage). You are a mechanic. You are a service provider and if you don’t start operating your business in that way - you will begin to see your clients shift just as newspapers did.

In the past, if someone wanted to sell their house and did not want to use an agent what were their options: put a sign in the yard, and take out an ad in the newspaper. It wasn’t effective, so yes, they called you to sell. That was your business. Today, if someone wants to sell their home they can put up a sign, post on apps and websites, even list on facebook marketplace for free. They can sell without you. You can talk until you’re blue in the face about how homes sell at a higher price with an agent, or quicker - but if they don’t want you; they don’t need you.

Agents today are in the business of service, consultation and education. Your job is not to sell property or sell yourself. People are tired of being sold - they want help. When working with a buyer or a seller your interaction goal should be to communicate and educate so much so that the next time they wanted to buy or sell, they could do it on their own. 9 out of 10 will call you anyways, because your service was so exceptional, you were so transparent, you focused on exactly what they needed - they trust your service.

If someone calls you because they want to sell on their own but have a few questions - Don’t tell them why it’s a bad idea, or try and convince (sell) them on why they should let you handle it. Throughout your life, how well has it gone over when someone TOLD you what you needed to do.They didn’t call because they needed any of that, they called because they need help - help them! Sure, they may sell it without you and you ‘lost’ that sale, but if they had already decided they didn’t want an agent that is usually because of an already established ill thinking - *hint* they probably HATE SALES PEOPLE. I promise if you help them, at some point they’re going to be sitting around with friends talking and instead of a full conversation about how they did it alone because agents suck they’ll say “Ya, agents are worthless and I’d never use them but you know, if I ever did need one I’d call (your name). They actually helped me with this sale and weren’t (insert expletive here) about it or try and weasel their way into pocket. They’re alright.” Maybe they will call you in 10 years, but you know who I bet will be a lot sooner - 1 if not all 5 of the people they were talking to because if you could actually get their grumpy friend to say they would call you, you must be good.

What is your service, if not selling. What is your product? Your product is you, your product is all I said above, your product is time. Focus on your experience, focus on your first impression. There are over 2 million agents nationwide, what makes working with you special?

When I started as an agent I listened to veterans, took advice, watched videos, went to classes, all to learn how to build my business. I taught about things like auto-emailing, client ‘touches’, cold calling, door to door knocking. The entire time, I kept imagining myself as a consumer - if you cold called me you would NEVER get an answer. I don’t answer numbers I don’t know - for this exact reason - I have a phone, I have the internet, if I need your service I will find you. Same with door knocking - I’m not sure when the change happened but life went from grandma always having a cake in her fridge for unexpected guests to hearing a knock at the door and contemplating if they will see me trying to hide behind the couch.

If it is one thing I’ve learned in the last 3 years - 9 times out of 10, my clients will know about a new home before I do. The world is no longer controlled by knowledge - here’s what I mean. In the past when someone wanted to buy a house what did they do? They had to call you. Brokerages were the only place they could find every home on the market. Savvy buyers waited for every Sunday paper and maybe, MAYBE had a few homes in mind when they called. 100% of anything anyone would ever want to know is literally in their pocket right now. “How to buy a house”, “How can I get a loan”, “Which agent sold the most homes last year near me.” It’s not just one source, they can literally pick from 100’s of apps and sites and find the exact 4 homes with 3 beds, 2 baths, with a fenced in backyard for their dog and a home office. Let me put the evolution as an agent very very simply: In the traditional sense, your job is no longer “selling”, you are not in sales - you are in service. Stop running your business like selling is your product.

I could write another 25 articles on a deep dive into operations, marketing, and client connection but when you are doing ANYTHING you need to ask yourself these questions and I promise you will see a drastic change in your interactions.

1. Is this the simplest way for THEM to communicate my need?
2. Am I wasting THEIR time?
3. Does what I am sending have value for THEM.?
4. Lastly, imagine yourself as a consumer - Is this something you would want?

I’ll break this down quickly for clarity. A potential home buyer texts you a link to a listing on an app they found and would like to see. Do you call them back immediately? Let's look at it:

1. Is this the simplest way for THEM to communicate my need?
   1. Evaluate from their perspective - they have the same contact methods you do (call, text, email, social platforms) and they choose to text. Why? More than likely because that was the easiest and simplest way. They may be at work, or trying to cook dinner for their 2 kids, they may have anxiety and hate talking on the phone - 99% of the time, someone will contact you in the way that is easiest for them. Pay attention.
2. Am I wasting THEIR time?
   1. If they had texted their dog groomer to setup an appointment and immediately got a call back with available dates/times, a 5 minute run through of their services, packages, what’s new with their business, and asking for an email address for their rewards programs, offers, and weekly dog blog - They would end that call (if they even answered) thinking 90% of that was a waste of time. If the groomer left a 2 minute voicemail with all of that, do you think they would take the time to call back when they just wanted an appointment?
3. Does what I am sending have value for THEM?
   1. Say you do text them and coordinate a time to meet - would following that up with 5 more rapid fire messages about what else you could do for them bring any value at all? Maybe, but probably not; not in their mind at least. They needed a service, you provided it, they want to get on with their day.
4. Lastly, imagine yourself as a consumer - Is this something you would want?
   1. We all have done it - “Would you like to sign up for our rewards program, it’s free.” Sit down and seriously ask yourself how many of those emails or messages have you ever actually looked at? Now, from those you have, how many were from services you used once? Of the 1,000’s of billboards, radio ads, commercials, sponsored ads, rewards emails, texts, of all the marketing we are surrounded by, how many have ever actually made you use a service. Now compare that to how many see everyday. You, yourself, don’t want to be ‘sold’. You provide a service, let the way you do so be your marketing.

When you focus on selling, you are focused on telling. When you focus on service, you are focused on listening. That is my advice for the agents of the future. Listen and pay attention to the world around you, not just real estate. When a new piece of technology comes out ask yourself how this will make lives easier, how does it add value, how can I be a part of it? Stop trying to convince people to do what you want them to do and instead laser in on exactly what you could do to help, no matter the situation. I’d love to sign a new listing with every single phone call, just like everyone else. The biggest piece of advice; recognize that you are not always the right fit for someone, and they are not always the right fit for you.