The Rat Race That Is Better Than.

The Rat Race That Is 'Better Than'.

The pot-stirring personality from Grantham, aka my good friend Christopher Watkin, posted this contentious opinion on Facebook:

"When you lost that listing to the competitor agent. It means the other agent was better than you.  Even if you lost it on fee. The other agent is better than you. That doesn't mean you suck. It means you have to get better at proving  your worth and fee. What are you doing to get better?"

To which my consistent response has always been "Agents don't need to be better than another agency, just different"

It provoked a few responses from experienced agents, my favorite of which was " So be different, but not better?? Surely the point of being different is that it makes you better?"

Not necessarily, but that's the problem facing this industry.

An industry that has been brain-washed into thinking they have to be 'better than.'

Conditioned by people who have a vested interest in (they make their living from) agencies being competitive. In them signing up for training that encourages  "millionaire mindset" thinking.  Where the goal isn't to be 'better than' but to be more successful than. A race that none can win because 'better than' is only temporary.

Let me be clear. I have no problem with agents/realtors being better at what they do. What I have a problem with is them claiming/trying to be better than other agencies. There's a huge difference.

"When you lost that listing to the competitor agent. It means the other agent was better than you."

A perfect example in logical debate of the Chanticleer Fallacy, in which we assume that if one thing follows another, the first thing caused the second. This, a hasty generalization, offering too few examples to prove his point.

Consider perhaps, if the agent wasn't competing for the instruction. Or, that the agent wasn't impressed by what he heard from the vendor. Or, more likely, that the vendor decided without knowing, or understanding, all the facts presented.

"Every sale has five basic obstacles - No Need, No Money, No Hurry, No Desire and No Trust."  - Zig Ziglar.

A vendor, possibly, that felt uncomfortable with the prospect of working with a high-performing agent. Or, one that hadn't enough money to choose right the first time.  Or, a vendor that wasn't impressed by empty promises?

Either way, the evidence doesn't support the conclusion.  Making the rest of the commentary meaningless.

Especially the bit about "it means you have to get better at proving your worth and fee."

A simple case of misinterpreting the evidence and using ignorance as proof.

It doesn't mean that "you have to get better at proving your worth."

What is worthy to some, is not to others.

Many estate agencies find assurance in mentioning their most recent awards, or in offering social proof.  Best Estate Agency in Surrey 2021.  Five stars reviews, our vendors said this.

For many vendors, that might have worth. For me, if that's all they have got, I'm already gone.

Same with fee. Many vendors are willing to accept mediocrity, as long as the service isn't totally broken. Trying to justify your fee to them only weakens your argument.

So, a contentious post for sure.

I'm not entirely convinced my good friend believes everything he writes, but simply likes to cause debate, on occasion,  with radical opinion. It gets him noticed which on the face of it, is the least of his problems:)

"What are you doing to get better?" he concludes.

The implication being that if you "get better", you will win more instructions.

Oblivious to the fact that if every agency attempted to 'get better', the status quo would still prevail.  It would still be a rat-race.

 But, if every estate agency got different, really different, the options available for homeowners would dramatically increase. The perception of a commodity sector would disappear.

The question then becomes how to be different, instead of how to be better than?

There's only one clear difference - Who you are, as opposed to how you do what you do.

And therein lies the problem for many agencies that try to be everything to everybody.

They are uncomfortable with being transparent. They let the 'brand' do the talking for them. Asking vendors to imagine what they will get in terms of service, communication and value.

Take any of the well-known agency brands here in the UK.

Knight Frank, Savills, Foxtons, Leaders, PurpleBricks, Yopa.  How are they different from each other?

Minor differences, incremental improvements in how they do the work.

Who are the people behind the brand?

No idea - they're hiding behind a 'mask' - and not one that is P.P.E compliant.

That's the only major difference between agencies and, of course,why the previously mentioned Zig Ziglar's fifth obstacle to any sale , that of Trust, is never attained.  There's precious little transparency, or authenticity on which to base that trust.

Without which, attracting potential clients to your agency will be built on expensive advertising, hype and hustle.

Instead of finding an audience that has affinity in your agency values and beliefs.

If you lost the listing to a competitor agency, firstly they weren't right for you. More importantly, the message that your agency is sharing wasn't crystal clear. It  attracts the wrong type of vendor/landlord.  A generic 'lead' instead of a specific type of client.

Done well, when an agency refuses to compete and stops trying to be 'better than', they often find that they are the only agency invited out to an appraisal. Their audience knows them and likes how that agency thinks and behaves.  It's not a meeting of strangers - one trying to push, the other trying to resist.  It's a collaboration of open, honest dialogue.

That's the power of difference and why agents that understand how it works can easily pick apart those agents that strive to be 'better than'.

To misstate Jeremy Corbyn's  Labour Party speech, though, it is "For the Few, not the many."

For the few agents that have the courage to be different. To stand out, rather than to fit in.

To avoid 'better than' because that's what everyone else is trying to accomplish.

Thanks, as always, for reading this far.

My advice is always free if your agency no longer has the desire to compete in the rat-race that is modern-day estate agency.

"The problem with a rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."   - Lily Tomlin.

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www.andsothestorybegan.co.uk

Chris.

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