I touched on this in another thread, but I think a lot of people thought it was actually about cars, so I am going to go into a little more depth, and be a little less cryptic.  But, the main point of the thread was...

    They are saying that they specialize in EVERYTHING.  If one specializes in everything, they really mean that they             specialize in nothing.  I mean, really.  How can you specialize in everything?  

    Now, let's tie this back to real estate.

    Have you ever seen an ad that said "I specialize in Buyers and Sellers"?  I guess that means that they will deal with         anyone but lookers...  But, isn't that what everyone else does?  Are you truly a specialist if you think you do                     EVERYTHING?  The short answer is NO.  the long answer is No, you are a generalist.  

    Why not just say that you generalize in everything?

So, for agents, in order to separate you from the crowd, you have to separate yourself from the crowd.  Was that repetitive?  Take a look at the little house books (Hobbs/Herder calls them little house/little head books).  Look at all of the agent pages.  Almost everyone is using the same template.  Almost everyone says the same thing.  To look at one of those books, you would think that EVERY AGENT IN THE MARKET is #1 for integrity, service, and production.  For the vast majority of agents, they put out nothing that makes them any different than any other agent.  And, 20% of the agents out there do 80% of the deals.  So, if what you offer is no different than what the next person offers, you are a commodity.  There is only one way commodities can compete, and that is by being cheap.  If you think all gasolines are the same, will you buy the more expensive one, or will you go across the street where it is ten cents cheaper?  If you think your car runs better on Brand B, will you still buy it when it costs a little more?  If the Kraft Mac & Cheese tastes the same as the Kroger store brand, will you pay 50% more for it?  But, if you family says that the Kraft is better, you'll put that in the cart.

But, we tell prospects the same thing that all of our competitors say, and then we wonder why they put the cheaper agent, or the one that happens to be standing next to the Mac & Cheese, in the cart and list their home or buy their home with them. 

But, we tell prospects the same thing that all of our competitors say, and then we wonder why they put the cheaper agent, or the one that happens to be standing next to the Mac & Cheese, in the cart and list their home or buy their home with them.  Yes, I said it again on purpose.  

Now, the next phase of this little game is this.  

Why should someone buy the house that you just listed?  If it is just like the 6 other houses just listed in the subdivision, the only way to compete is with price.  If you do GREAT marketing to drive buyers to finding it, as soon as they visit, they will see that there are 6 other houses that look just the same.  I guess you might be able to creatively route them through the neighborhood so that they don't see anything that is cheaper.   

Instead, maybe it would be better to make the house different from the others.  Proper staging may make it prettier.  (yes, there were three different Atlanta stagers linked in the last sentence...)  Having a kitchen that is just a little more modern and stylish or usable may set it apart.  Or (my favorite) having a garage that is well laid out for a car person, with epoxied floor, and great cabinetry will also separate this house from the others in the subdivision. 

BTW, if you are a builder in the Atlanta area, and want to set your small upscale community apart, contact me.  I have a GREAT idea for you.  

As always, I'd love to see your comments and please rate this entry.  Thank you so much.