Flickr by kit
We’ve long known that information is now ubiquitous. It’s out there in large quantities, always just a few clicks away and, best of all, free. Selling information is no longer such a good way to make a living. It’s dime a dozen stuff. But taking that information and mixing in a healthy dose of expertise…I believe people will still beat a path to your door.
After a seminar the other day, I spoke with a long-time friend of mine, David. An expert in matters of real estate and someone in whose opinion I place stock. I put the question to him: “When you think about the great experiences you’ve had in selling new construction…what made the difference?”
His answer was pretty simple. The site agent had a high level of expertise in the product, and the processes, surrounding the new home purchase. There were little to no surprises.The myriad decisions to be made were organized and not run like a fire drill. Communications were proactive and predictable. And when something went south, as it almost always will in this business, the information was delivered truthfully and in a timely manner.
If you take our rambling ten-minute conversation and distill it down, it came to this: he already understood how new construction worked (he had knowledge), but his expectation was that the new home agent still knew more about his/her product and processes then he did and could skillful apply that knowledge (expertise) to make it a wonderful experience for his buyer.
Seems simple enough. Yet in this brief dialogue lay so much insight into those characteristics and traits that separate the new home superstars from the also ran. Having a headful of information simply isn’t enough. You have to overlay that with a healthy dose of “expertise”, which is an entirely different skill set. So…are you peddling information or expertise on your site??