And one other “thing” – Information vs. Knowledge (or Internet vs. Agent)

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

This past week our company had its annual sales rally, for lack of a better term. It consisted of the requisite motivational speaker who was charged with inspiring us to achieve greatness, greatness which apparently can only be realized after purchasing $600 worth of inspirational tapes, a State of the State address by our CEO, and a State of the Union address by our parent company’s CEO.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I generally abhor these things. My mortgage bill, my ongoing desire to eat a periodic meal, and the constant pressure to keep feeding the offspring those iTunes credits are motivation enough for me.

When I do find myself, through happenstance, momentary lack of good judgment, or as a result of being hog-tied and stuffed in a colleague’s trunk, at one of these pep rallies, I always apply the “one thing” rule. If I can leave having gleaned “one thing” that can be of value to me and my business, I feel it was worth the price (rope burns and the imprint of a spare tire on my forehead).

This time, I gleaned two things. Today, I’m Rocky Balboa at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Live and Breathe Your Goal – Check!

Our motivational speaker spent much time reminding us that successful people are the ones that have a goal, are unequivocally committed to that goal, and never, ever stop thinking about how to achieve that goal. Yep, that’s me.

When I am not worried about something, I tend to worry about why I don’t have something to worry about. When I am not thinking about real estate, I am dreaming about it. I had a college English teacher who once said that people who are creative during the day don’t dream. Hogwash!. Last night, for instance, after a rich and full day of Sunday fun which included showing property, sitting an open house, drafting a marketing piece, writing an offer on another house for a client, a half-dozen phone calls made and another dozen or so taken, I worked (“created”) all night. In my sleep, I sold two more homes, sat another open house, and met Bon Jovi wearing my shoes on the wrong feet (and consequently woke up singing “You Want to Make a Memory”). Okay, that last one is a little weird (and sadly true). But, the point is, I am good in the obsessed with success category. I’ll pass on the 12-tape series.

And Another “Thing”

It was what the parent company CEO had to say that was my little take-away gem of the day. Not a new idea, yet so elegant in its simplicity, that it gave me some much needed clarity.

We all know that the Internet has changed the landscape of our industry, and it is changing how we do business. We talk about it A LOT – We study and analyze the gazillions of information delivery choices available and emerging, and we debate the resulting alternative business models which endeavor to capitalize on the ready availability of this information which has historically been held and closely guarded by the industry through the MLS system. And we scream from the top of our blogging platforms that we, as agents, will always have a role in the real estate transaction, yet I wonder how many of us have silently questioned the accuracy of this last statement.

Quaker Oats

To all of the attendees, many of whom I suspect were silently quaking in their boots about the future of their profession (the remainder were asking one another, in hushed whispers, what a “Trulia” is), here was the CEO’s food for thought. There is information, and there is knowledge.

Last October, Innovation Zen touched on this concept:

Knowledge refers to the practical use of information. While information can be transported, stored or shared without many difficulties the same can not be said about knowledge. Knowledge necessarily involves a personal experience. Referring back to the scientific experiment, a third person reading the results will have information about it, while the person who conducted the experiment personally will have knowledge about it.

That’s it in a nutshell. I would submit that, regardless of the inevitable future technological advances in information delivery, the live, breathing, feeling, experienced, knowledgeable human being will never be replaced in real estate. And this is the fatal flaw in the Redfin-ish model.

It is very important to have this difference clear, specially in our Internet-based society. Today information is freely available to anyone anywhere in the world. An eighteen year old boy from the Sri Lanka could easily search on the web and find all the information ever produced about an Adenoidectomy. But I am not sure whether I would like to have this same boy performing that surgery on myself… what about you?

After Googling Adenoidectomy, I will answer with a resounding “NO”(which might have hurt were my adenoids not still intact). I see the information overload every day, and I see the dangers inherent in believing that information and knowledge are one and the same. I see it in the sellers who hire us to assist them in the sale yet won’t listen to our advice on pricing because their information (Zestimate, online listing data) is mistaken for knowledge. I see it in the buyers who wander aimlessly from listing agent to listing agent, from yard sign to yard sign, mistaking information for experience. And I see the glazed expressions of both buyers and sellers who, feeling empowered, cling to the notion that having access to the same information I do as an agent gives them the same knowledge necessary to smoothly and successfully transact a home sale or purchase.

Finally, I am starting to see the white flags raised by the same doe-eyed, well-intended people who ultimately recognize that raw data ultimately requires processing and interpretation, and that access to a search engine portal can not substitute for the wisdom of knowing what to do with that information. This week, one of our buyer’s agents spent several days touring homes with a gentleman relocating from out of town who had found us on the Internet. At one point, the buyer was taking calls and making showing appointments from other agents while in the car with our agent! While I would have be inclined to drop him at the next bus stop, our agent took it as a challenge. On day three, the buyer, exhausted and confused, said, “This is ridiculous and counter-productive. You are my agent”. He had an epiphany, and I think we will be seeing more of this.

What we have here are growing pains. To buyers and sellers, I, like you, welcome the free exchange of information. Information is essential, but knowledge is true power, and knowing the difference is what will ultimately empower you.