The first email that I read this morning was from one of the agents here at Diamond Dwellings. He was disappointed about a missed opportunity. A potential client has selected another Realtor because the client's wife has a very strong relationship with another Realtor. My friend was very disappointed -- particularly because he could REALLY use the business (couldn't we all).
This situation highlights a core truth about the real estate business...
Customers will always choose the agent that "best suits their needs"
(with little regard for how you feel about it)
That usually comes down to some combination of these two factors:
#1. The agent who truly has the very best relationship.
(has your competitor known them for 20 years?)
#2. The agent that REALLY knows more about that specific micro market
and/or commands more market share.
Let's just say (for the sake of discussion) that this homeowner decided to interview 5 agents before listing their house. There are only 2 agents who have a real shot at the listing (assuming that logic prevails which is certainly not always the case!!!) The winner will nearly always be one of the two agents mentioned above -- the one with the very best relationship or the true market leader.
Brian Buffini and several other great marketer/trainers have gone to great lengths to convince us that "best relationship" is the only way.
No doubt, it is a very very good way. No doubt, it is time tested. BUT, I'm not sure it's the very best way.
- If the decision is "pure business", then the local market leader will win the listing.
- If the decision is "pure relationship", then obviously the best relationship would win the listing.
In reality, each situation is some combination of the two -- "I want the very best agent, but I'm also human & relationship really matters."
So, who wins? ...You never know until you go play the game everyday!
But, here's what we know for sure... Nobody else EVER wins consistently.
I say "Be the true market leader".
And, "Oh, By the way" (sorry Brian, I couldn't help myself) -- You can actually be both... the best relationship and the market leader.
The Diamond Dwellings™ model gives you a complete strategy to dominate your market (and the help you need to execute it).
Diamond Dwellings is a boutique brokerage model, a web 2.0 marketing engine & a nationally scalable blog network.
NOTE: I'm writing a month long series of segments here on my active rain blog about the National roll out of the Diamond Dwellings ™ brokerage brand. Each individual blog post will give you just one piece of the overall strategy. I'm inviting you to read along throughout the next 30 days to get a more complete picture of what we're doing. If you want to get the "fast foward" version, call me or reach out through email or whatever.
Diamond Dwellings™ is the first truly scalable web 2.0 real estate brokerage. We're looking for agents & broker/partners in many US markets. We've got a model that will create market leaders & extend marketshare for lots of talented agents & brokers. If you are looking for a "better way" -- or you're just looking for a sweet business opportunity, please check out Diamond Dwellings™. Over the next month (leading up to SF Connect), I'll be writing about different pieces of our strategy -- but we won't publicly lay out the whole story until July 24th.
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I think that is what I like about affinity marketing to a niche. You CAN be the one that knows more about the niche... golf homes, tennis homes, horse homes, garage homes, etc... and easily build a relationship with the client because of the shared interests.