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Researching the Field There were four people vying for the position: Martha Coakley, Mike Capuano, Alan Khazei, and Steve Pagliano. (Sounds like a typical listing appointment line-up right? Except that rather than knowing who your opponents are, you're often flying blind.) It was a short primary process and therefore, I was coming late to the game when I started doing my research on the candidates. I received an email from a friend explaining to me why he was choosing Alan Khazei, so I went to the candidate's website to find out more about him. I spent a couple of hours watching videos and reading materials, but I have to admit, it's the debate that clinched it for me. Sizing Up The Competition Here's what happened on the debate. We had two experienced politicians (Coakley and Capuano) and two business people (Khazei and Pagliano). Pagliano never really had a real chance because, as the owner of several major sports franchises and a very wealthy man, he was really never a contender in our very Democratic state. He also had no political experience - and we as a country have proven over and over again that we don't want business people in high office - we want seasoned politicians. The Death Knell I was watching Khazei carefully. After all, my friend liked him, plus he got the Boston Globe's endorsement as well as some other very hard to get endorsements. But then it happened. About half way through the debate, he made a comment about publicly posting where money came from for the campaigns on the campaign websites and both of the seasoned politicians looked at him like he had two heads. Clearly they thought that he didn't have a clue about politics. They pointed out that the information was already published on the web for anyone who wanted to see it. It was like he was in kindergarten being schooled by his teachers. And that's when I decided not to vote for Khazei. Because if he was going to get that look from people on a debate that he had been prepped for, how seriously was he going to be taken in Washington? Narrowing the Field So then it was down to Capuano and Coakley. Capuano knocked himself out of the running. Not because he didn't know his stuff - he did - he was VERY impressive both as a person and on the issues. What killed him (at least for me) was that he kept taking he bait from Steve Pagliano who clearly had a personal beef with him. He got visibly riled and raised his voice on multiple occasions. And it was then that I decided not to vote for Mike Capuano. Not because he got angry, but because his anger could be used as a tool to manipulate him and I wanted someone with a calmer head in the game on my side. Choosing By Elimination Now you notice that I haven't said anything about Martha Coakley's performance. Nothing. Not one word. In the debate, Martha was clear in her communications, she was very obviously competent and experienced and she comported herself well. But I knew those things about her going into the debate. What I was looking for was the thing that differentiated her from the competition. Really, I was looking for a way to weed people out. I was choosing by elimination, not by acclamation. How Sellers Choose Their Agents This is also how your sellers will choose you as a listing agent. Short of just knocking their socks off - which few agents do - they are going to be looking for reasons to knock you out of the running. Martha knew she was the front runner, so she ran a very conservative campaign. She knew that if she didn't give people a reason not to vote for her, she would win. And win she did - with 47% of the vote in a four-person race. Why Did You Lose Out? So before you go on your next listing appointment, do a mental review of the last 5 or 6 listings you DIDN'T get. Think back and see if you can find that moment when you knew you lost it. That moment when you could feel the doors closing and people's faces going flat. Then consider what it is that you said right before that. This is what you want to avoid doing in the future. Learn From Their Mistakes And then take a moment to learn from the lessons of the other candidates. Don't speak badly of your competition - it only reflects badly on you. Play up the relationships you have with other agents in the industry. Sellers want to know that you cooperate so that more people will see their home. And, if you can, get the agents on the other end of the deal with you to write you a testimonial (or look at the emails they've sent you and cut and paste the "thanks for being so great to world with" comments out of them and use them in your presentation). Or, even better, join the leadership of your Board. This tells your clients that you are to be taken seriously. In short - don't give them a reason to weed you out. |
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - Palm Springs, CA
Vickie Jean the Palm Springs Condo Queen
Interesting how you would compare politicians and real estate professionals. Yet your presentation did make perfect sense. I guess it's because I tend to be an ostrich about politics and leave my head in the sand.
Dec 09, 2009 02:02 AM
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Helping make your real estate dreams a reality
Kelle, I love your post. By giving us your reasoning in choosing a candidate and then comparing that to how sellers choose an agent makes so much sense, and is so logical and sensible. Thank you--I think this will prove to be an important post for me.
Dec 09, 2009 02:15 AM
Top Agent Plus - Middleboro, MA
Tap into Judy's real estate expertise & resources.
Kelle - Excellent advice and I love the tie in with the campaign. Although I am not a fan of politics, this certainly captured my attention. This was very well written and thought provoking. Thanks.
Dec 09, 2009 02:26 AM
RE/MAX Select Realty - REALTOR and Green Homes Specialist - Pittsburgh, PA
Helping you buy and sell Pittsburgh's Best Homes
I think that process of elimination is common. Most times we don't feel that strongly about who we want but we do have very strong feelings about who we don't.
Dec 09, 2009 02:48 AM
Aurora, CO
Very interesting analogy. It also points out to me that we should be listening more than talking in a listing appointment.
Dec 09, 2009 03:54 AM
RE/MAX Destiny Real Estate Cambridge, MA - Cambridge, MA
Cambridge MA Realtor
Hi Kelle ~ And buyers choose properties to see (and to buy to some extent) by process of elimination too - which is one reason why I'm always in favor of fewer, better photos rather than a couple of dozen.
I'm happy to say that Capuano won in Cambridge. The short runup to the primary heavily advantaged Martha Coakley - the only candidate with a state-wide profile. And I have to say it was completely outrageous that Jack E. Robinson got so little attention. More than once the Globe showed each candidate - except Robinson. I only found out two days ago that he's a graduate of Brown and was head of Eastern Airlines at one time. I was also completely disgusted at the Globe putting three people who didn't vote's pictures on the front page too. Way to go - great reason to make the paper - "too busy" and too uninformed to vote to fill the seat once held by Teddy, JFK, Daniel Webster, and John Quincy Adams. Blows my mind.
Ok - back to real estate! This is super advice. I've often been amazed at what leaps out at sellers - good and bad - that influences their choices. Not that this kind of reflection is easy - I don't think it is. But the more info we can get about our own mistakes and shortcomings in a listing presentation the better.
Liz
Dec 09, 2009 08:44 AM
Fieldstone Historic Research - Medway, MA
Metrowest Boston
Interesting the way you built your argument and brought it around to selecting an agent. There are some appointments I went on that I still can't figure out what went wrong. I think I've decided those folks weren't really looking to hire an agent after all. They were just testing the market and seeing what their house was worth. They never did put their houses up for so. We'll have to be careful not to beat ourselves up too much about these folks.
Dec 15, 2009 02:11 PM
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