Switching from PC to Mac: a rite of passage. Not just a decision, but an experience.
As I navigate this gauntlet, a pattern has jumped out at me. Here were two outstanding machines – a Toshiba Satellite and a MacBook Pro – and I am stuck using them both right now. I know I need to make my move, but I hesitate. A new client from Carolina One Real Estate in Charleston told me I would never get out of limbo until I just “make the jump”. He says I must not hesitate, lest I cause myself unnecessary pain. He says I need to rip off the band aid.
The most compelling point he made, though, was in his encouragement to “make the jump”. Where had I heard that phrase before? Yes! It’s what Han Solo said to Chubaka when they were about to blast off to light speed. “Hold on! I want to make the jump”, he said.
Making the jump from better to best is not a decision, it truly is an adventure. Dangerous? Maybe. Worth it? Definitely.
I’ve been through this already, making the jumps from Blackberry to Droid to iPhone, and it was an adventure. With a smart phone. you are forced to make a clean break, which is a blessing because it gets the pain over quickly. There were things I had to give up, like a keyboard or a free navigation system, but the best is best for a reason. In the case of Apple, I don’t think the key benefit is reliability or features or sex appeal. It’s feel. The MacBook Pro and iPhone feel better than their counterparts. They seem heavier, even though I know they are lighter. PCs and Droids are great, but each button and hinge and finish on the Apple equivalent is better, and the sum of all those superior parts makes them best. Is that the key to best? The sum of superior parts? It couldn’t be that simple, could it?
It’s the same thing with cars. I love all cars. One of my favorite things about being on the road a lot is I get to rent all kinds of cars. I had a blast with a mini-van in Maryland this week, for example. Being a car guy, I’ve had a bunch of different cars in my life, and I wish it weren’t true, but American and Japanese cars are PCs and Droids. German cars are the Apple of their space. They feel completely different, like every individual component of the car, from the door handle to the steering wheel, is heavier in a good way. If you’ve driven all three, you know what I mean. I love them all, but Germans make the best because of their engineering, and the quality of each individual part, which translates to feel.
I would imagine musical instruments have this same quality differentiator. You can play a great guitar, and then you play a Les Paul and you know you have the best in your hand.
So, how does this relate to our business? I’m not sure, but if we take the mystery out of why the best feels like the best, it might just come down to the sum of a bunch of better parts. Glass and metal on an iPhone instead of plastic and plastic on a Droid.
Is it possible to accomplish the equivalent in real estate? Become tangibly better in little ways and achieve the status of best in the process?
It’s at least worth a try. Our clients have given us feedback that the things we teach in our OwnAmerica Investment Certification course are core to real estate. We teach a dimension of product knowledge that does make you smarter about the underlying asset you sell. Sure, we help our clients make more money by closing more transactions with new clients. And sure, we provide the only toolset in the business that actually makes it easy, but I am after something more. I want our clients’ clients to come away from the experience with a sense that they have just experienced the best. Something feels different. Like an added dimension to professionalism. Houses as homes. Houses as rental properties. All good. Houses as little pieces of America. That feels right.
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Thanks for reading…
-greg
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