You Can't Sell What You Don't Buy

You can't sell what you don't buy.  I've repeated that phrase in front of real estate professionals all across New England.  In front of small groups and large, new agents and experienced, managers and owners, I've said it, repeated it, preached it.  But what does it mean?

You can't sell what you don't buy.

For a real estate sales professional, it means you will not be able to convince a consumer that you are the best person for them to hire unless you believe it yourself.  Let me caveat that.  We've all met someone who could look us in the eye, lie, and not flinch a bit.  Most of us are not like that.  Most of us are not sociopaths.  Most of us, when we lie, give ourselves away with small signs that others can, often unconsciously, pick up.  You've probably experienced this yourself.  Someone has told you something they didn't believe, and you knew, you just knew, they weren't telling the truth.  Well, real estate consumers are no different.  They will know if you are telling them you and your company are the best, but you don't believe it.

For a real estate manager it means a couple of things.  How many times have you returned from a company meeting having been charged with telling your agents something?  Perhaps news of a new program, a new initiative, some change in the way things are done, whatever.  Your job is to get the agents to buy in, but you don't believe the program or initiative or change is a good thing.  Ever have trouble convincing your agents to join in?  Of course you have.  You cant sell what you don't buy.

If you are trying to recruit an agent, it means you will not have much success getting them to believe your company and your office is the best place to work if you don't believe it yourself.  How can you convince a potential recruit they will make more money, improve their skills, take their career to the next level, etc if you don't believe it yourself?  Unless you are a very skilled liar, you will have enormous difficulty.

You cant sell what you don't buy.  But you will sell what you do buy... whether you want to or not.

So, what should you do?

When you are preparing to sell a house, what do you do?  You learn as much about it as you can.  You walk through, you tour it, you measure it, you ask the owner, you look it up in the MLS and public record.  In short, you learn about it.  When you are preparing to sell your company to a consumer on a listing appointment (or a recruiting interview), you should do the same.  You should take the time to learn as many of the advantages, programs, policies, deals, stats, success stories, etc about your company and those of your competitors as you can.  You won't be able to sell the advantages of your company to a consumer (or recruit) if you don't know about them.  If you are an agent, ask questions of your manager.  If you're a manager, ask your regional manager or your Home Office.

You can't sell what you don't buy.  And you can't buy what you don't know.