Same Same, But Not Different

No doubt you’ve heard of the saying, ‘Same same, but different’, but sadly this does not often apply in real estate. Most agencies are same, same, but not different.

If you’ve seen one real estate salesperson, you’ve often seen them all – they say similar things to win business. They recommend similar methods of sale. They push for expensive marketing campaigns. They offer similar advertising options. And, if you’ve seen one auction, you’ve seen them all – again, there is no point of difference.

A lack of points of difference presents a major challenge to agencies and salespeople.

When sellers interview three agents and they all look and sound the same, sellers will often choose the agent who quotes the highest price or charges the least. They will push for big discounts on the fees and advertising charges.

Many agents are all flash and no substance. We call these ’empty suits’. They talk a good game, particularly about their negotiation ability but ask any one of them when they last read a book on negotiation and you’ll hear crickets. This alleged negotiation ability shows itself as a baseless claim when they discount their fee to win the business.

Hiding behind flashy appearance and marketing, and baseless claims, will only get you so far. If a better competitor comes along, your agency and salespeople will have real competition.

Or, if an agency decides to spend more than you do on branding and marketing (a stupid decision), they’ll look better than you. What alternatives does this leave you except to spend more, or look like a poor relation?

Leaders must understand that skill is still a marketable commodity.

If they took the money they wasted on needless advertising, money lost through discounted fees, and money lost through the incompetence of some of their salespeople, and invested it in training, it would build their teams’ skill.

Training and practice build skill. Skill wins more business. How often do you train your team?

Is your training typical industry training? If so, you will produce typical salespeople. Again, same same, but not different.

Profitable real estate agencies use business systems that work. They have trained salespeople armed with points of difference that impress clients and win business. They set standards and never resort to knee jerk reactions to their competitors’ tactics.

These agencies are different and so are their salespeople. And they’re impressive – they earn high profits, month in, month out.

Gary Pittard