Dead or alive. Just kidding.
How many excellent agents are there in your area? Well, first let’s define “excellent” so that it meets my purposes. There are successful agents who were born in the right family and have “excellent” connections. There are sucessful agents who are excellent in the old way of doing things and they will die successful doing the same things — I’ll exclude them from “excellent” because I am developing my definition of excellent as I look forward. There are agents who are successful because they tapped into a big local builder and will be successful as long the builder is building — maybe beyond if they can transfer what they have going on. But how many agents are excellent at providing service, wired to web 2.0, good salespeople (great at marketing listings), proficient at information management, have excellent verbal skills, have comprehensive knowledge of real estate, have comprehensive knowledge of the area, have great people skills, have the energy to incubate prospects and follow up, have the willingness to work with and represent buyers and have the experience to be called an expert? How many are excellent in these ways?
I don’t know, but I can’t think of many. (Of course, I fit all these requirements for excellence, but modesty prevents me from broadcasting it).
The consensus when talking to the public about agents is that so many are inexperienced, don’t follow up, are pushy salespeople, etc. — but then they go on to say that there ARE good agents and they are useful, helpful, worth their weight in gold, on and on with different levels of kudos or positive evaluation. Except for the diehard agent-haters, I think most people would say a good agent adds value to the process. (While here I’m talking about agents, in regards to the real estate process, please keep in mind all types of professionals providing RE services such as lawyers, inspectors, lenders and mortgage brokers.)
This morning in my mind’s eye a vision formed out of disparate bits of thoughts that had been floating around in my brain for about a year. A group of brave souls had laid down a gauntlet and guantlet was Excellence (or as Greg calls it, Splendor.) They had scoured the country and found the best of the best that a brave new world could hope for, and they had formed a Network. As they scoured the country they found marketers who know the value of a good song and they were singing it to high heaven – Excellence is here! Splendor in the morning, Splendor in the evening, Splendor at supper time — they sang and then everybody was talking about a new way of walking, baby let your mind roll on. Yes, they sang the song of Excellence.
The RE consumer heard the song and they said “We’ll try it!” and guess what? It was Excellent. By God they were singing the truth. Oddly enough, a little old lady from Chatanooga, Tennessee tried it first. She went to the network and in three minutes shared her wishes over her daughter’s Mac to sell her home and move close to her sister in Pocatella, Idaho. She asked the Network for help and Os and Xs started flying, zip, zap, zing and in no time at all she had Excellence pouring out her screen — she had a listing agent whose Excellence was next to none, she had data that only geeks dream of, pinpoint information of sales and trends and gussyup yer home ideas for selling quick and high, she had Pictures of Idaho at it’s finest, she had a list of homes narrowed down to her most exact wishes, she had names of attorneys and inspectors and lenders and window washers and names of things she didn’t even know what they do — she had a buyer agent who would meet her promptly at her sister’s house and show her around while complimenting her feathered hat and explaining in excruciating detail everything a little old lady from Chatanooga would need to know about a foreign country like Pocatella. Had this ever been done before? We have heard tell of various incidents when the moon was right and the planets were aligned where excellence came together in harmony from start to finish. But the group of brave souls in my mind’s eye had captured this elusive quality in action in a Network. How did they do it?
First they demanded Excellence and Excellence only and weren’t afraid to call it by name or separate it from mediocrity. This group was a little off, they were crazy like that. I will visit my mind’s eye tomorrow for further details.
Joe Hayden says:
Mike…Please use your mind’s eye to send me the winning Powerball numbers for Wednesday! 25% back to you, I promise…;)
If you aren’t driving full-force towards this future today, new and unforeseen barriers to entry will have developed that could make it next to impossible for the ‘old way’. The basics of customer service will never die, but you may not be able to drive the vehicle if you don’t act.
February 25, 2008 — 5:55 pm
Mike Farmer says:
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It’s a little late, though, and my mind’s eye is a little blurry.
February 25, 2008 — 6:08 pm
Denver Mortgage says:
The people you are talking about are rare. I meet with a lot of professionals, and the group that consistently disappoints me is real estate agents. Like the others mentioned in your post, I will concur that there ARE excellent real estate agents. The group you are talking about is the 1% club. About one percent of professionals, whether real estate agents, mortgage brokers, lawyers, etc., fit the criteria that you mentioned. They make up the 1% club. I hope that more professionals take the excellence challenge so that I will have to start calling it the 5% club or even the 10% club. Until then, I’ll keep doing my best to be a one percenter myself.
February 25, 2008 — 9:07 pm
Budi Waluyo says:
Good idea. At least this can be a guide how to be the best marketer though it’s hard to apply. Thank for the sharing.
January 4, 2009 — 11:59 am