Luxury Real Estate Branding: Be the Opposite Choice!

Blue Frog by Michael Galber

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, if you are interested is leapfrogging over your competitors here is one of the all time best strategies:  Be the opposite choice to the No. 1 market leader! You can jump over the pack and become the No. 2 in your marketplace by positioning yourself or your company as embodying the very opposite key attribute that the current market leader in your area stands for in the minds of consumers. 

The first step is to analyze the market leader and look for the weakest aspect of their “game”. It is very rare that a market leader can be all things to all people.  They often get complacent and their level of service often slacks off.

A classic example is Hertz and Avis.  No. 2 Avis positioned itself as the obvious alternative by claiming, “We Try Harder”.  Even though they did not surpass No.1 Hertz they summarily dismissed No.3 and other competitors who could not make the same claim without appearing as a “me too” brand. They could not say, "we try harder, too" and expect anyone to take them seriously.

In luxury real estate, the market leader often gets complacent because so many home sellers automatically give their listings to them simply because they are perceived as the best. After all, they sell more homes!  But, in truth there may not be a viable, competent alternative. 

With this strategy you must become that alternative in the minds of home sellers.  You must clearly send out the message that you stand for the opposite key attribute that the market leader claims to have.  

For example, one of our clients wanted to be known as the top agent in a series of luxury communities in her marketplace.  The incumbent market leader, the volume leader, was a very large team.  Many of their clients were not 100% satisfied with the team’s service because they did not work directly with the team leaders, just their underlings. 

Our client was able to demonstrate that she could match all of the claims of the big team in terms of marketing savvy, but with total personal service which was just the opposite of No. 1. She was personally present at every showing by buyers’ representatives.  She promptly responded to every email and phone call from the home seller and was always immediately available when needed.  She did not take on more listings than she could serve in this manner. Her reputation for exemplary personalized service (yet with all the bells and whistles of the team) summarily dismissed other individual agents vying for market share in this marketplace.  

When our client was up for a very expensive listing the choice came down to this:  No. 1 (the team) or No.2 (our client), the team approach or “extreme” personalized service. No other agents were even interviewed because our client “owned” the brand position of the opposite.  The choice of either/or does not leave room for a 3^rd alternative.

When she sold the home it was the highest priced home sold in that year in her marketplace, which proved that she could perform as well as the team in this realm. This cemented her position as the opposite alternative and she now is perceived as being equally as competent as the team.

Those who value the assurance of a large team will stay with or choose the incumbent. But, those who value exemplary personalized service now have a choice—the oppositie choice. 

If you want to leapfrog to No.2 be the oppositie choice of No.1 . You will instantly leave the rest of the pack in the dust beginning with a distant No.3.

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