I love reading Seth Godin's stuff! If you think you are in a profession that is dependent upon good marketing, you should be reading it too.
Seth spells it out in plain English, conversationally, and almost always it seems he is dead on target.
Last week in his blog, in a post, "Where have all the agents gone?" Seth says, "The best ones provide a differentiated service that is worth paying for," when discussing travel agents. Might as well be real estate agents. Dead on for us too.
And when discussing real estate brokers, he says, "...a fiduciary responsibility to represent that house to the best of his ability. Just like every other broker. The great real estate brokers do far more than this."
Yep. Far more. Fiduciary duty is a technical and ethical skill. Every Buyer or Seller agent has those parameters to which they must conform.
The edge goes to those Realtors who will step outside the average agent's comfort zone, and be comfortable delivering additional value. It might be staging, or arranging for lawn care, or checking on a vacant house routinely or any of a number of services. They all add up.
The edge goes to the agent who does not immediately rely on, "I can't accept the liability," or, "That isn't my job," or, "My broker won't let me do that (A personal favorite for me. An agent who won't take responsibility for a decision...) or any number of other ways to slide away from bringing excellent value to a client.
Recently, I told a neighbor that I was dressed a little roughly one day, because I expected to get under a home with a buyer client. "Why is that YOUR job?" was the response. I thought, "How could it NOT be my job today?" It is my job to add value for my clients, pure and simple.
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