Suppose you had an upcoming seminar next month and needed to buy a couple of nice suits. You have two choices: you can either shop at a leading clothing store or you can hire yourself a personal shopper.
If you go to the clothing store, the salesperson will probably do their best to sell you a suit. Hopefully, they'll be very helpful to you by showing you the inventory they have at their particular store. Of course, since they're working for the store, their focus is to move the merchandise. If they can please you at the same time, that's a bonus.
The salesperson is working solely on commission - therefore, they only get paid if you buy a suit THERE and NOW. If you have unique fitting needs and none of the suits at that store fit you well, the salesperson is not particularly inclined to tell you to go somewhere else. They also may not tell you that a suit you do love is going on sale next week. After all, if you come back in a week, they might not be the salesperson on the floor. This is not to say that the salesperson isn't ethical. It's just that they're paid to make a sale for their store, not to find the best suits for you.
Now, let's look at the other option: hiring a personal shopper. Unlike a salesperson working for a store, a personal shopper is paid to find you the best suits for your needs. Since no two customers are alike, they're going to spend a lot of time upfront really listening about your lifestyle, timetable, and price range.
Once they do a thorough analysis of your needs, they may target one or two stores over others to get you the right suits in the timeframe you need, and within your budget. Since they know the marketplace and inventory, they might tell you not to buy your chosen suits right now since they'll be going on sale very soon. Their goal is to use their expertise to find what's best for you. They're focused on the long-term relationship, not just that transaction.
In terms of paying your personal shopper, they'll probably give you a variety of ways to do so:
- You can pay them by the hour
- You can pay them a flat fee to do a variety of shopping tasks OR
- You can pay them contingent on them finding you the suits that meet your approval but you would pay a premium for this choice since there's a risk that they will work and not ever get paid.
Therein lies the difference between traditional real estate sales and the new model of real estate consulting. Consulting is about providing quality, transparent choices to the consumer - both in what services they can receive as well as how those services can be paid for.
Consulting is NOT about discounting your contingent-on-a-sale pay or any of the other bargain-basement gimmicks that have been tried and failed. Consumers are not stupid and they see right through these types of come-ons. Consulting is not about making less - in fact our ACRE® (Accredited Consultant in Real Estate) graduates' experiences are that by providing choices, they earn MORE.
Most importantly, consulting places our highest value NOT on moving inventory, but on representing and advocating for our clients - value that can never be replaced by technology.
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