4 minutes reading time (719 words)

How Might You Make Me Feel?

General Experts Corner Marketing & Branding

Sunday, 05 March 2023

751 Hits

Here's your big opportunity - someone that doesn't know you but might, just might, be in need of what you have to offer. Give it your best shot!

That's the daunting scenario played out every day in the estate agency/real estate sector. As agents chase after every 'lead' with a warm pulse. Meeting strangers and having to convince & convert within the space of an hour- long Free Marketing Appraisal.

Here's the received 'wisdom' from estate agency trainers - be polite, courteous, charming, persuasive. Ask questions, provide market information to position you as an 'expert'. Follow the script, overcome objections and don't forget to close the deal.

How does that make many homeowners feel?

I'd suggest that it makes them feel manipulated. Being 'sold to' by a self-serving salesperson. To which the natural response is one of caution.

They follow blindly even if they are badly led is one of my earlier posts on the subject of building authentic relationships.

Polite, charming, courteous, persuasive? If that's you, you don't need 'training' and if it's not you, it becomes a 'mask' that you hide behind.

Asking questions to enable an agent to find solutions to the homeowners problem might, on the face of it, seem like sensible advice but again ask yourself the question: How does it make them feel?

Imagine this - you're at a party. A stranger comes up and says "Hi, I'm Chris. Nice to meet you. How do you know the hosts? What do you do for a living? Married? Kids? Where did you go on holiday this year?

Now, if that was a friend, the conversation wouldn't seem intrusive or contrived. It wouldn't be one-sided.

You'd have already taken the time to get to know each other, to form a relationship.

And estate agents wonder why some potential clients are evasive.

If your estate agency is truly a part of the community, shouldn't it be incumbent on it to build those relationships, as many as possible, with the right people?

So that when someone has a home to sell/rent, they call someone they know instead of three strangers?

People share more accurate information when there is trust and let's be clear, estate agent/realtors don't have that trust. No matter what they claim.

Making someone feel confident in their choice doesn't happen when we meet. If you believe that positioning yourself as the 'local property expert' somehow gives you credibility, or that asking probing questions signals empathy, or that "adding value" somehow might make the difference - dream on!

Most estate agencies have no clue how to get good clients - they lack the emotional skills.

The assets that matter in the real estate sector?

Trust - Permission - Remarkability - Leadership - Stories that Spread - Humanity (connection, compassion, humility).

Vendors will scratch your agency off the list for logical reasons. The valuation wasn't high enough. The fee wasn't competitive. The marketing didn't inspire but they will choose you based on how you make them feel.

"It's time. Time to get off the social media merry-go-round that goes faster & faster but never actually getting anywhere. Time to stop hustling & interrupting. Time to stop spamming & pretending you're welcome. Time to stop begging people to become your clients. Time to stop feeling badly about charging for your work. Time to stop looking for shortcuts and time to start insisting on a long, viable path instead." - Seth Godin.

It's time for realtors, estate agents, conveyancers and everyone connected to the process of selling homes to have a Personal Brand.

So that when you finally meet up with a client in person, you're not simply a stranger hustling their worth.

When you're not trying to hide away the real version of yourself, people will respond. That's when you find a way to connect with other human beings in a way that the commodity sector of real estate seldom can.

"Your future depends on doing deals with good people." - Seth Godin (again).

There's a lot of confusion around Personal Brand. I have spent the past five years diving deep into the subject and many of the social media experts and estate trainers fail to grasp that rather than it being about greater visibility, it's actually about greater transparency.