The Future is Coming – Be A Part Of It.

The Future is coming - be a part of it.

I know your'e not really surprised by this, but most estate agency 'trainers' and I don't have a lot in common.

With very few exceptions, the message they're sharing across social media channels is fast becoming the exact opposite of everything I believe in. This might have something to do with the fact that I find the language of constantly being sold to and encouraged to be better than, incredibly boring.

What's frustrating is that there is so much information freely available in the world from a multitude of industries that could instantly improve what's on offer.  Instead, what is offered is reminiscent of snake-oil salesmen and elementary school education.

That pernicious practice of door-knocking is taken to a whole new level with Richard Rawlings "Sophisticated Door Knocking".

In effect, the use of a spurious 'survey' to engage hapless homeowners in conversation about the area and their possible future intentions to move.

The usual claptrap is trotted out about agents being afraid of rejection as an excuse for not door-knocking.  Oblivious to the fact that some agents have demonstrably higher ethical standards than to resort to public begging and interrupting the lives of complete strangers that haven't asked to be interrupted.

"Estate agents are cowards. If you can't knock on someone's door and ask for the business, why are you in business?" asks Benjamin Dennehy.

Further cementing his self-proclaimed position as a "the most hated agency trainer", he further ventures that "the greatest lie in sales is that you need relationships to sell - you don't need a relationship, you need trust."

To which my response was that if estate agencies are among the least trusted of professions, aren't the trainers doing an incredibly shitty job?

And there it was - proof certain that they are when he answers his own hypothetical question: "How do you build trust with a stranger?" with this gem: "By asking difficult questions to establish credibility."

A recent conversation with trainer, Tony Morris, centered on this little nugget as he explains to agencies how to properly answer the phone.

"Out of curiosity, do you mind if I ask who recommended our agency to you?"

Said, not because leads generally come from recommendations, but with the intent of suggesting to a potential client that the agency comes highly recommended. Whether it does, or not!

The follow-up went down the same route of 'qualifying' potential vendors with intrusive questions, designed not to help the caller, but to help the agency.

I despair - if that's the level of 'training' competence routinely available for this industry.

I've had my fair share of disagreements with industry 'trainers' - Iain White, John Murray, Tom Panos, Tom Ferry to name but a few.  All guilty, in my opinion, of believing that the future of estate agency will be determined by the past. Incremental improvement of an industry that is effectively broken. Or, as Tom Ferry proclaims: "if You're in sales, you're always competing". Grant Cardone, Craig Proctor, Mike Ferry, Dianna Kokoszka, John McGrath, Tony Morris and Brian Buffini - hardly an original thought between these dinosaurs. Facebook lead gen, scripts, appointment setting, team building, accountability, mentoring, P.P.C Marketing. That's broadly the extent of their paid-for training.

Effectively an offer to fix a problem that, by and large, has been of their making.

I'm not arguing against their advice - I'm arguing for them to change it.

There's so much incredible talent and advice freely available.

Gary Vaynerchuk offers some incredible advice - without charging a cent.

"When you actually don't care whether anyone buys your stuff, you just want to be in a position for it to potentially happen. When you're actually giving versus manipulating . I don't produce content as a top of the funnel machine to get you to buy anything. I would love for that to happen, it would be nice for that to happen. I'm not even scared to ask for that to happen, but I'm not doing my giving behavior with the manipulation to make you do that. There's no video that stops on social but then says "if you want to see the rest, go here. I'm going to give you content but sign up for my 7 day trial. There's no monetization of my audience from an intent to manipulate. It's build the brand, bring value and it's basically karma and guilt into doing business with you. "

Gary refers to gated content, whereby you get mediocre free content and pay for the best content, as "blood dollar training."

Something that will be very familiar to Australian agents that sign up to a certain Real Estate Gym.

Others with incredible free advice, from outside of this industry, are Seth Godin, Ryan Fletcher, Cole Schafer, Jay Acunzo, Simon Sinek and Nicolas Cole.

My good friend, Christopher Watkin, bemoans the fact that there are not more estate agency trainers in the UK.

What is needed is not more trainers, but trainers with a radically different mindset.

A mindset that does not encourage agencies to be 'better than', but instead, encourages them to be 'different from.'

A mindset that is not transactional. The future will happen to your agency if it remains transactional, a consequence being that it will always be required to react.

Make the future of estate agency based on how you think - not how some 'trainer' would have you think.

The future is coming and, if those now 'training' can't keep up, they won't be part of it.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Chris.

www.andsothestorybegan.co.uk

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