Real Estate agents, are you sales people or consultants?
That is the question that is bouncing around these days. Now, it is important to remember that if you do not sell any properties, you are definitely a hobbyist, not a salesperson or a consultant.
But the difference today is very important on how people like to be treated and how you view yourself. If you act as if your role is to sell homes at all costs you will portray yourself in such a way that may turn off a modern customer.
However, if you are a consultant, then your viewpoint is not confrontational but part of the team. Sure you want to sell a home and earn your commission, but the number one goal is to teach and lead them into the correct choice. You are dedicated to the client, not the commission.
When real estate agents owned the MLS book, buyers and sellers were in their hands. The marketplace was a cartel and hard selling was the order of the day. You want a ranch, I will show you 3 of them and which one do you want to buy.
But todays consumers are all over the internet refining their searches down to the 3–6 homes they want to see. Not what you want to sell them. So when they call they are hoping you will help them with the decision process. Are the homes a proper fit for them? Is there something they have not seen online? Why is this home priced lower than the one down the street?
Sellers are the same. Why should I price my home lower than my neighbor has theirs? What marketing program are you going to implement to get showings and buyers that will lay out the hard cash? Where is the market going and is this a great time to list, or should I wait?
All of these questions can be answered in a salesperson’s paradigm or a consultants. The short term benefits that may come to a salesperson will be a pittance in the long term gains a consultant will earn through future business and referrals.
At some offices, the weekly sales meetings now are more akin to business meetings. It’s not just about sales volume and listings but about real-time market conditions, the local and national economy and mortgage programs. Outsiders like loan officers attend to give briefings on the mortgage marketplace.
Patrick O’Rourke, a regional vice president for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, recently went so far as to send all his agents a 30-minute podcast on the mortgage industry’s meltdown from a finance professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“The real-estate agent of 10 years ago is not the real-estate agent of today,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve become more of a resource for our sellers, rather than you just hire us to sell. The agents today know they have to come to the table prepared and if they don’t, it’s a challenge.” via Seattle Times Newspaper.
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Buyers and sellers today should know that when they choose an agent they are hiring another professional (lawyer, CPA, etc) on to their team that will assist them in their transaction. They are not just there to sell them but to guide and inform them throughout the process.
Compete Realty Team
Form an alliance with your real estate professional to work together as a team to find a home to buy. The top professionals know how to write an offer that benefits you.
I wrote an article for the REALTORS Corner of my web site earlier this year as the meltdown was beginning. It discusses a way of working with buyers that dovetails with what you wrote here:
http://e-linq.com/realtors3.php
Seems to me that the idea of "selling" real estate has always been in the mind of the real estate industry. Buyers and Sellers have always valued being educated about and guided through the process in my experience. The difference is that now they are in the the cat bird seat, while the industry scrambles to adjust.
The top tier real estate agents and brokers are always consultants. I'm here to make sure my clients make the best decision for them, and the first step to doing that is to give them all the relevant information, and then help them decide.