Somewhere in between Sales 101 and our first time in the "Sales Box" of a car dealership, most of us came up with what professionalism should and should not be. I think most decide, "whatever I just went thru in that dealership is what I don't want to do to people".
NAR has somehow led an industry that is wrought with lightweight sales training and has defined (better said, mislead) what should be the definition of professionalism. The behemoth organization's attempt at adding professional designations that require time and money by the "flock", but in reality add little value to an agents bottom line.
The failure of leadership can be seen in every Harris poll going back through time in the level of prestige given to Realtors from the public. This one from 2014.
Designations
Selling designations with acronyms have horrible meanings to the public, yet makes the governing body seem important. Instead as Marc Davison wrote in his Inman article the public is seeking value. The public wants what they want. And unless the Realtor Associate or the industry can explain what a designation means then it doesn't matter in the name of professionalism.
Some of Marc's pearls of wisdon:
Untrustworthy agents hear what their clients say. Trustworthy agents listen.
Untrustworthy agents make deals happen. Trusted agents help people buy and sell homes.
Untrustworthy agents work hard and make a case for it. Trusted agents work smart. They perform magic and do it quietly, with grace.
CRB or CCIM does not hold parallel value as "CPA" .The industry can try and pretend these cute acronyms mean anything. I always look at the top producers. DO they have these acronyms next to their name? Not many do.The reality is that a designation and education has always been lightweight and misdirected in the Realty Industry.
Maybe my own licensing test should have been a clue. I recall when I took my California Licensing exam that there was a multiple choice question on the meaning of "deciduous". Almost 20 years later that moment sticks with me. (I won't even answer what the definition means, but suffice it to say it has nothing to do with selling real estate).
Realtor Leadership
So NAR, who cannot even properly define its own standards in anyway that is meaningful to its reluctant members, also must defend these same members.I wonder if one does not understand its core business of its members can actually pull off any sort of defense against a Department of Justice that is hell bent to bust up your main advantage and creation. Called the MLS.
You would think in order for NAR to defend its members requires a deep understanding of the business of selling property. NAR defending its members is much like The Feds inability to prosecute Microsoft in the 90s for being a monopoly.It was dead from day one mainly because the prosecutes more than likely didn't know the difference of DOS and RAM, while NAR is clueless about the business of real estate.
The Twelve Minute Listing Presentation
My conclusion several years later after my exam was that this real estate business was being misrepresented by the "powers that be". There was way too much focus on what amounts to little in sales. But sadly, little is taught about how to put food on your families table.
Back in the late 80's I finally had dropped my 30 points of action presentation. I quit the fluff. My thing was calling expired listings. I got in the appointment and I "sold" them.
It was the late 80's early 90's and the market in LA had dropped 30%. I swear , my presentation was so simple it was ridiculous. But it was the truth. I was selling the gospel of truth and they either bought my preaching or they didn't.
The traditional lines of professionalism were out the door. I was there to make them feel the pain of not selling, and feel the pleasure of moving. My partner called it my "12 minute presentation".
It started off as the market sucks, how bad do you want to move? Are you sure?
Then I showed price today and convincingly showed how the price is going down by the week and they needed to be in front of that trend, or they would have to lower the price in another week. OUCH!
I would have to help them pick their jaws off the floor. I was simply selling truth. I was addressing the giant elephant in the room that my competitors simply failed to address.
Not one agent had given them this reality check. If they followed it they were in escrow in a matter of weeks as good prices always sold. If they didn't I explained to them they will be sitting in their home for the next five years or more.
The Truth As A Selling Tool
Some signed, some didn't. But we had some of the best inventory in our our markets. And they sold.
Many of the ones who did not sign appreciated my candor as a form of respect. They did not have to tolerate people coming through their house any longer.
I dropped the facade of them leading and I led. In the end that is professional.
So often we lose the meaning. Sales is leading. Not order taking. Even in the sales box of a car dealership it isn't that we find the leading as objectionable. It is the manipulation and lies that bothers us.
In the end, I am proud of the people I helped move. Otherwise, they would have been stuck for several years and even upside down in some cases.
Now not everyone has the finesse to play the direct sales game. Even though I played it, I did it out of desperation because my marketing sucked. It was all about survival.
The New Sales
What I did was sales at its most basic level. Today, the web has made it easier to capture mind share without the hard core sales approach.
But often I teach to know the hard core prospecting to know how to refine it.
So often though we put up a brochure website and call it marketing. It is akin to putting out a shingle and expecting the world to beat down your door (or "hit" your site). The masses hide behind suits and fancy cars without any closing ability. Unfortunately, most hide behind their websites and social media in the same way.
The reality is as long as your ethics are intact who cares what angle you use as long as it works?
First, a disclaimer. I am a Pennsylvania-licensed real estate instructor, a course author, and the marketing director of the state's largest school for real estate professionals. We sell designation courses, some of them NAR approved.
I wholly disagree, Tim, with your observation on top producers and designations. In the Northeast, most of the best agents have a string of letters following their names. It has nothing to do with the letters themselves, but everything to do with how they use what they learn from those designation courses. Because they know more, and because they can apply what they know to real property selling, they are more successful than those who simply hold a license.
In a market like the present, there is a well-defined need for more specialized training in the industry, not less. Some of that may lie in a designation. And training that gets results -- ie. gets homes sold -- will win new and referral business for agents every time ... whether they write a blog or not.
Posted by: Joe Zlomek | June 25, 2007 at 02:37 PM
Specialized training in what?
I would say define best agent?
I define best agent as # of sales.
In an industry where the national average of sides sold a month are 4 or 5, 6 sides makes you a superstar. In any other sales profession it would get you fired.
Professionalism is often the excuse that most make so they do not have to sell. This was my main point.
Posted by: Tim O'Keefe | June 25, 2007 at 02:53 PM
You likely are familiar with the speech most brokers give new recruits once they've been signed: "There's your desk, there's your phone. Now, you know, you're on your own." Even among major franchises with step-by-step training programs, broker training of new licensees in the basics of real property selling can be pitiful. Specialized training can be anything from how to market to niche selling; it's more than most agents get now. Again, some of that is found in designation courses, which you seemed to discourage.
What's a best agent? Well, if you're talking "sides," NAR's average agent (the member is a woman, in her early 50s, working about 45 hours weekly, and supposedly is "Internet savvy") is completing only 13 sides a YEAR. NAR accounts for about 60% of all licensees. Based on that average, 5 sides a month IS superstardom for this industry. Which only proves my point: licensees need education, more and more of it, to bring value to the client's table and close more business.
Professionalism is often insinuated simply because agents went through the rigors of obtaining a license. To be true professionals, we agree, they need to produce.
Posted by: Joe Zlomek | June 26, 2007 at 06:38 AM