I've thought over the years about how real estate sales and
leasing is a business that is inherently different than most
other sales professions. Generally speaking it is a much more
complex business.
Think about it for a moment. If you were
selling copiers, computers, or medical equipment you would be
focused on selling only the products that your own company sells.
And with rare exception you'd be selling only this year's models,
too. In the real estate business, however, you can sell or lease
any property to anyone at anytime. And your inventory is not
limited to "this year's model." In fact, you have to become an
expert on the value of every property and every model that was
ever built in your territory, regardless of the year in which it
was built. And you have to tune-in to the nuances of the specific
upgrades and improvements that have been made to each property,
too.
In real estate, you are not only selling your own inventory of
listings but you're also selling the inventory of your
competitors, too. As a comparison, imagine that you're working in
a store that sells copiers. A customer walks in, you show them
all the copiers that you have on display, and then you get in
your car and drive the customer to all of your competitors'
stores to show them the models that they have on display, too.
But it doesn't really work this way now does it? But this is the
way it works in the real estate business. Your competitors'
products become your own products to sell. And this is what
allows the footrace to begin...
When you know exactly what your client is looking for you have to
continually be on the lookout for the moment when this property
appears on the market. For if you snooze and someone else submits
this property to your client before you do you could literally be
out of commission very quickly. When you know what your client
wants you can't just put the property on back-order and call them
when it arrives from the warehouse. You have to constantly be
looking and looking and looking for it and then run to your
client as quickly as possible when you find it.
As a real estate agent, you have to become an expert at estimating
value, too. Your territory is not like the New York Stock
Exchange where at the end of every day the value of each and
every property appears with absolute certainty on a big board.
Value, on the other hand, is completely subjective. And you
sometimes have to use your greatest charm and composure in
persuading someone that their property is not worth 20 percent more than
an almost identical property down the block that sold just three
weeks earlier.
You become a master of personal presentation, an expert on forms
and addenda (while not offering legal advice), a financial
analyst (while still insisting that they discuss everything with
their accountant), a part-time psychologist, and an expert in
crisis prevention. In summary, you become the quintessential jack
of all trades.
However, the payoff from becoming a true master in this business
is huge! You can make great money, meet wonderful people, and
truly be the owner of your own very successful business. And the
qualities that you assimilate as a person by working in this
business enable you to handle just about anything else that pops
up in your life.
It's a great business unlike any other one.
Published: October 30, 2002
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