The news out there for real estate continues to be bleak. Falling home prices, long market times, falling sales, credit issues for buyers, the list goes on. If you've been in the business awhile, seeing the ups and downs, you might be trying to hang in there while the "newbies" who jumped into the market in the last five years are steadily abandoning real estate for greener pastures.

But sometimes, even for us veterans, it's hard to keep up our confidence. Our industry is going through tremendous challenges with changes that aren't going to disappear once the current market recovers. That's because the changes we are seeing are systemic in nature, challenging our most basic real estate assumptions and practices.

We are seeing revolutionary growth in technology which continues to transform real estate, a huge consumer backlash against not only our commissions but our very value as professionals, combined with a growing bewilderment in our own ranks over what exactly our role as real estate professionals is supposed to be. Are we salespeople, charged only with moving the product (and paid only when it's moved)? Or, are we supposed to act as advisors, providing objective fiduciary counsel that's in the best interest of our client, not ourselves?

It's like we're walking a tightrope, trying to keep our balance between two roles that we've been asked to fill that are so often in conflict. Yet, in the midst of all of this confusion, when we clearly need some direction, it seems like all we're getting is the same advice from the same pundits that have been around forever, saying the same things like:

"It's time to get back to basics."

"Just practice up on your old sales skills."

Deep down we know that this old advice just doesn't fit the current realities of real estate, yet if we're honest, we'll admit that we like hearing it. It's familiar and comfortable, like a broken-in pair of shoes. Unfortunately, those old shoes won't get us to where we need to be. So, as difficult as it is, it's time to stretch our comfort zone…it's time for a new pair of shoes, a new way of practicing real estate. That new way is consulting, not selling.

Now, let me be clear: in referring to consulting, I am NOT talking about discounting where the agent (and their broker) continues to shoulder all of the risk, but simply slashes their reward (which is what you are doing when you cut your commission). Commissions only work when they follow a basic concept learned in Economics 101: risk versus reward. If you shoulder high risk, you MUST receive high reward if successful.

Nor is consulting limited to just simple fee-for-service where we break up what we do into little pieces and sell it off, a-la-carte, to the consumer.

No, consulting is a whole new business model that at its heart provides quality, transparent choices to the consumer, both in what services they can receive and how they can be paid for. The consulting model is built on a very simple principle: that of elevating the role of the real estate professional to one of a true fiduciary, enabling us to provide, not the one-size-doesn't-fit-all service package that fit the needs of consumers thirty, forty, or fifty years ago, but what they need and are demanding, given the technology and their capabilities of today.

Yet, many in our industry continue to find this model of providing choices controversial. Those of us who have embraced consulting find this attitude so strange because most business people, whether they are CPA's, financial planners or attorneys, professionals who need to be able to provide objective, fiduciary counsel, usually offer choices in the services they provide and they are often paid by a non-contingent fee.

By the way, a non-contingent fee is a fancy way to say: these people actually get paid for their work! I know, to us agents, actually getting paid for one's work is a rather foreign concept, but I've done some extensive research on this and it turns out … it's TRUE!

I thing we have a difficult time with the idea because change is very difficult. And changing an entire industry from one where real estate salespeople are paid contingent on moving the inventory, to one where real estate consultants are paid to provide vital counsel, guidance and representation is a big change. But if real estate is to survive and prosper, we must embrace practices that work in our favor while taking care of the needs of the public we serve. Otherwise changes will increasingly be dictated to us by enterprises that not only seek to diminish our value, but deprive the consumer of vital fiduciary counsel and care.

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky was asked once why he was so great. He didn't comment about his speed on the ice, the way he handled the puck, or even how he took his shot. He simply responded: "I go to where the puck is going to be, not where it currently is."

There is no doubt that with the growth of technology taking over so many administrative level tasks, consulting is where our industry is going to be. The only question is: "Are you prepared?"

Again, let me be clear: being prepared does NOT mean simply calling yourself a "consultant" or putting the title "Real Estate Consultant" on your business card because it sounds better. Any agent can call themselves a "consultant" (and many in our industry do), but without the training, it's just a title.

No, being prepared is taking the time to understand the consulting mindset and then developing the tools to provide today's consumer with what they are demanding and even more importantly, what they are willing and even anxious to pay for.