Your Career Success Depends on a Single Phrase -- Do You Know It?
Tue, May 28, 2013
"Why should I do business with you above all other options, including doing nothing or whatever I'm doing now?"– Dan Kennedy
“Your ads will practically write themselves and people will line up to buy from you when you have a really powerful answer to these two questions: Why should I do business with you, instead of any and every other option available, including that of doing nothing at all? And, what do you uniquely guarantee?” – Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd, Entrepreneur.com
How many agents do you directly compete against in your marketplace? A dozen? Two dozen? A few hundred? More? Whatever you answered, there’s no denying that the real estate industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world, and part of the reason for this is that the barrier to entry is relatively low. A manufacturer or retailer usually needs to come up with a sizeable financial investment to start up in order to secure physical space and inventory. It’s not the same for real estate agents. The real estate training they take to get their license has to do with how to fill out paperwork and the like. A new agent needs only a little cash and a good suit to get started selling homes. And with the perceived opportunity of making huge cash quickly and easily, it’s no wonder so many flock into the business. While competition is a good thing, it’s often difficult for agents to know how to differentiate themselves … to stand out. Everywhere you look, real estate agents make the same promises: personal, attentive, superior, expert, professional, knowledgeable, friendly, fabulous, wonderful, results-oriented SERVICE. What’s the trouble with this? Well, one smile looks pretty much like another, and if everyone is offering the same clichéd service promises, who can blame the prospect for making their selection arbitrarily? In truth, for the typical prospect, selecting an agent is not much different than shopping for eggs or apples. That may be difficult for you to believe. After all, you spend a lot of time, money and effort on your advertising in an effort to project an image you feel your prospects will connect with. But it’s tough for you to be objective about it and that’s because you’re looking at the image you’re projecting through an entirely biased filter … your own eye. The truth is that your vantage point is entirely wrong. What you must find a way to do is critique your advertising as if you were a prospect who didn’t know anything about you. What is your advertising saying? In most cases, agents use their marketing to tell prospects all about themselves. Seems logical, right? Wrong. Instead of creating your advertising message to tell them about YOU, you should be crafting it with this question in mind: “What can I offer prospects that THEY want or need?” The marketing that stems from these two different vantage points are completely different. Take a look around your neighborhood at some signs from competitive real estate agents to understand the point I’m making. I’ll bet there are at least a couple of realtor ads either in the newspaper or on a billboard or the back of a bus that say something like: “I care about your home sale” or “I will work hard for you”. I’m going to give you two examples of real life realtor advertising that make my point. The first is a typical agent message written from the vantage point of the agent. The second is a unique selling proposition that is based on customer needs. I recently came across a bus bench ad for an agent that has a nice head shot along with the caption “I Never Sleep”. I have no doubt that this agent is hard working and well meaning. I do “get” his message. It’s clear that what he’s hoping his prospects will surmise from this statement is that he will work round the clock to ensure the satisfaction of his clients. I want you to notice a few things about this message, though. First of all, notice that the pronoun he uses is “I” as in “Me”. Right off the bat, it’s clear that his marketing message is really about him, not you. And what is the WIFM (What’s in it for me) in this message? Yes, it’s admirable that this guy will kill himself to get the job done, but do you really want someone who has to work long hours, is potentially burnt out, and who doesn’t have a system to make sure that the transaction is handled well? If he really had things under control, as you’d want him to have if he were handling this most important of transactions, he wouldn’t have to endlessly kill himself. Too many agent ads fall into this trap of assuming that prospects will connect the dots and understand, between the lines, what the agent is trying to say. Even if prospects “get” what this agent is trying to say, though, it is likely that their response to the ad will be, “So what?” This agent has not given his prospects any reason to believe that their most important needs will be taken care of. At the end of the day, it is just as likely that this agent who never sleeps will fail to sell their home fast and for top dollar … which is the only thing they really care about. Now take the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) … the single phrase … that I became known for in my marketplace which is: “Your Home Sold in 120 Days or I Buy it”. The vantage point here is entirely different. First of all, the pronoun I use is “You”. It’s clear from this phrase that I am talking about my prospects and their needs. It’s also clear that I have a firm understanding of what their needs are, which is to get their home sold in a timely manner. Variations on this USP that I ran included “Your Home Sold at a Price Acceptable to You or I Buy it”. Again, I’m assuring my prospects that they will get what they need one way or the other. Many of the agents who have embraced my real estate coaching have adopted my “Your Home Sold” USP. Like the “never sleep” guy, they’re betting their livelihood on a single phrase. Who do you think will do better? Do you know what your phrase is? Can you answer the question: “Why should I do business with you?” in 60 seconds or less? If not, you will always be knocking on cold doors for your next prospect. We spend a lot of time on USP at my SuperConference and can help you find your phrase. Your career depends on it. P.S. You can test drive my ideas and systems absolutely free by signing up for Free Weekly Training which includes live weekly webinars, a monthly newsletter and priority invitations to free half day training events. This Free Weekly training will expose you to inexpensive and highly effective methods of lead generation (with no cold calling) -- what I call “Reverse Prospecting”, where qualified prospects actually hunt you down rather than the other way around, and then how to follow these leads through to maximum GCI via proprietary lead conversion and prospect presentation systems. This is the easiest way for you to find out with no risk or obligation what my system is all about and how it can help you profitably grow your real estate business and vastly improve your quality of life. JOIN MY FREE WEEKLY TRAINING PROGRAM HERE