Shiny Objects Reflect Your Perceived Weakness.

Courtesy: Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash

Shiny objects reflect your perceived weakness.

The never-ending struggle to be 'better'.  To be different.

By delivery superior service?

By offering the most 'value?

By being the 'cheapest'?

By being the most 'visible'?

By making the most 'noise'?

And my favorite - by being the most 'passionate'?

Venture down these paths and they all lead to one destination.

A purgatory of endless comparison & despairing inadequacy.

"Just improve by 1% your metrics and all will be well." - you are told.

"Increase your lead generation with our online valuation tool - a steady supply of vendor leads for your sales funnel."

"Better Facebook advertising, re-targeting, social media management & the live chat option.  We're here for you."

"Killer scripts to ensure your next sales call crushes it."

Can you read between the lines? 

Let me help.

You, my friend, are inadequate and incapable of thinking for yourself.

You should be ashamed.

Copywriter Andy Maslen puts it like this:

" A lot of people will tell you a lot of stuff you must do to make it. 

Strangely, a lot of things will only be possible once you hand over money to them.

Many do not actually make their living (as an estate agent), preferring instead to spend their time bilking others of their money."

Harsh, I know, but there is an element of truth.

We live in an age where information is so abundant.  Never has there been such a glut of free advice.

Never has there been so many 'experts'.

And yet.

It might pay to follow the advice of the late writer Christopher Hitchens:

"Take the risk of thinking for yourself.  Much more happiness, truth, beauty & wisdom will come to you that way."

Thinking for your self?

What a novel idea!

When estate agents are urged by soi-disant experts to 'make more calls', post more trite videos on YouTube, knock on more doors & do whatever it takes to win the instruction, thinking comes well down the list.

Of course, these 'experts' use shame as a motivator.

"Here's a list of the top-earning agents, all driving top-of-the-range cars and enjoying the fruits of their success. Just do what I say and you could be on that list, this time next year. You owe it to your family and to yourself."

It's a vicious circle.

You're inadequate. You want what your competitor has (more of everything).  And the way to get that is, apparently, to copy the success of others.

Here's a question, though.

Whilst you're copying that paid-for strategic road map, what do you think they're doing?

Not standing still waiting for you to catch up.

That's for sure.

"Being compliant with best practice is being complicit with creating commodity work."  - Jay Acunzo

You will always be playing catch-up if you seek to emulate others in your profession.

What's worse, is that people will compare you to those agents.  And fail to make allowances for the perceived inadequacy.

Whilst many 'experts' might encourage you to think bigger & better, few would counsel you to think smaller.

Seth Godin is one.

His latest podcast https://www.akimbo.me/blog//s-2-e-12-shun-the-non-believers , entitled "Shun the Non-Believers", explores what is contrary thinking for most estate agents.

Whilst nearly every estate agency 'expert' would have you make cold-calls and door-knock complete strangers in an attempt to maximise sales, the discussion on this podcast prompts you to think of a smaller audience.  Look at the 1 star reviews and keep doing what you're doing.

"Thank you for taking the time to make a comment.  I'm sorry it's not for you."

Cultivate a small and loyal fan base so that when they do have a negative comment, it's time to take note.

Building a service for a specific audience. Not a generic audience.

Not of interest to the most people, but of interest to the right people.

So, back to thinking for yourself.

I have a few ideas as to what estate agency lacks in this hyper-curated world we live in, but that would defeat the object.

Instead, I'll leave you with this quote from Barrister & Author, Sarah Langford, from her mesmerising book, "In Your Defence".

"Pride -  I am proud to be part of something that I think is important.  I am proud to be part of something that I think, at its most fundamental, underpins the lives of everyone. I am proud , in short, to call myself a Barrister."

She's talking about her pride in being part of the Law Profession.

Have you pride in being part of the Estate Agency profession?

How do we know?

Can you articulate that and show congruence with what you charge?

What can you say that no other estate agents can say?

When the 'shiny objects tarnish and break, all that's left is a vulnerable estate agent, under-valued, looking for love & hard to ignore.

And that's when you really start to become different from every other estate agent.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

If you have any comments, positive or negative, I'd love to hear them.

Just remember that I intend to "Shun The Non-Believers".  It's not for you.

www.andsothestorybegan.co.uk

chris@andsothestorybegan.co.uk