I know this is hard to believe but my wife had never watched The Princess Bride so we had it on the other night. I can quote many lines since I have seen more times than I can remember, but one line caught my attention. It is when the Man in Black has defeated Inigo Monyoya, the giant, and Viceni, Inigo goes back to his village and is extremely drunk and screaming, "Viceni, you told me to go back to the beginning, and I have! Thought not as great as his quote for the six fingered man it got me to thinking about real estate. How many times have you seen agents try something new and if it doesn't work quickly they go back to an old method that didn't work that well but it is familiar to them so they quit trying to innovate. To those folks I have a quote from the famous author C.S. Lewis:
"You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending".
I remember when I got back from my cancer treatment in Houston in 2009 and my mojo was completely gone but I was so grateful to my girlfriend who dropped everything to make sure I survived and is any wonder I married this wonderful woman? She was the best at dealing with banks but not so much on the front end misery of prospective short sellers,and I at least wanted to help her, as well as give back to those in distress since so many people supported me. I would go to their houses and they would show me all the postcards they received after their listing went expired and couldn't be sold in the normal way. The postcards are looked the same at the basic size, and they all said the same thing which was I am the best so hire me and your troubles are over. However, there always seemed to be one postcard that stood out from the others. It was jumbo sized, laminated, professional addressed, and with a unique message.
The point is, that REALTOR® did not go back to the beginning, they started where they were in order to change the ending. Had this not been a short sale necessity I would think they would have gotten the listing. I am not a postcard guy and I hate paper but it can still work as long as you start with a fresh and unique prospective today. When I was helping my wife with short sales I was using this unique new marketing called a blog and it worked wonders. When it started to tail off I changed it, and I also added video.
My point is change is inevitable and it is also happening at a more rapid pace. AI, augmented reality, Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and maybe the hidden one with the biggest change potential, 5G. Ask yourself this question if you plan to stick around this industry and change is disrupting you; Are you going back to the beginning or starting today to change the ending? I see a coming bloodbath that will take it toll on many agents and we need to be nimble and quick on our feet. It doesn't mean that tech will completely take over off line marketing, it just means that we need to be updating whatever we do to meet that change, and this can change the ending.
To go back to The Princess Bride, when my wife says we need to make a change, I now have a simple answer for her, "As you wish".
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