Are you surviving or are you thriving?
Recently, I’ve spoken to agents who think the market stinks right now. I’ve also spoken to agents who are having their best-ever years. So what’s the difference? Why are some merely surviving and others thriving?
Just a couple of weeks ago, there were 1,600 homes on the market in the Capital region, but there were 3,200 agents. That’s two Realtors for every listing! In order to maintain your business, you have to differentiate yourself.
So ask yourself: What is your sustainable, competitive advantage that sets you apart from other Realtors? In other words, why would someone want to work with you over another option?
Ultimately, it comes down to your knowledge of the market. If you can’t easily tell your clients what benefits you’re providing to them, you’re going to have a difficult time. Quite often, clients come to our team after having worked with other agents because they weren’t happy with the service they received. Common complaints include a lack of communication, knowledge of the market, and even a general lack of concern on the agent’s part.
Particularly in this market, you need to let your clients know how much you care. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. But that alone isn’t a sustainable advantage, so what else can you do to differentiate yourself?
If you’re doing what every other Realtor is doing, you’ll get what every other Realtor gets, which is about seven transactions a year. I don’t know of anyone who can live on that. On our team, our minimum expectation is 24 transactions a year, and most of our members are pulling six figures.
How do they do it? Well, our team is structured differently from many other brokerages. We provide leads to our agents, but we also manage our clients’ experiences. We don’t just want happy clients—we want raving fans. We recently had four listing requests come in, and three of them were referrals from people we did a great job with in the past.
In the end, if you’re not creating massive value, you’re not going to be in business. Whether your clients are buyers or sellers, if they have an exemplary experience with you, then you won’t just survive in this market—you’ll thrive.
If you have any more questions about this or would like to discuss it in more detail, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to have a conversation with you.
