Why should someone choose you to help them buy or sell their home? After all, it is said that everyone knows three Realtors and there are more than 150,000 Realtors in Canada (and more than 1.5 million Realtors in the United States). How many Realtors are in your marketplace who are your direct competitors to you?
What Sets You Apart?
Answering this question will give you a ton of confidence and will help you clarify exactly what you bring to the table in a real estate transaction and therefore will also help you improve, simplify, and focus your real estate service offering.
Many Realtors, especially newer Realtors, struggle to answer this question thinking that there must be a secret sauce or slick real estate system that they don’t know about. After all, the main competitors in their market are selling more homes than them. While those ‘Top Producers’ are likely marketing their services better than you, it is very unlikely they have a secret way of servicing clients that sets them apart.
How then does someone, even a new Realtor, differentiate themselves from their competitors? The answer is a quick, 15min to 20 min, process.
List the Things You Do
It’s time to take action. What specifically do you do to help a client through the real estate process?
Take 15 minutes and list the things you do, or will start doing in your business to:
- Get a seller the results they desire (5 min)
- Get a buyer the results they desire (5 min)
- Help a homeowner improve their lifestyle once they have moved in (5 min)
While many, or all, the things you have on your list may be exactly what everyone else does to service clients, you will be one of the very few Realtors who have actually listed it out, therefore setting you apart.
An added benefit of making this list is that you will easily be able to identify new things that you might like to include, or things that just don’t add value to the client and can be eliminated.
Name and Brand Your Process
Now that you have your processes for adding value to your clients defined, it is time for the super-secret step that instantly sets yourself apart from your competition:
- Name your processes (5 min)
By coming up with a unique, compelling name for your selling process, buying process, and homeownership process, you have created a complete bundle of services that is unlikely that any one Realtor has the same list as you. And even if they do, your unique name will set yourself apart and give you the marketing edge you need to win more business.
Here are some examples:
- Expose All Seller’s System
- Never-Miss Buying System
- Home-Sure Owner’s Program
Once you have the unique names, work with a graphic designer to create an image and brand for your collection of services that you can promote across all your marketing channels.
With a name and a brand created, you will be able to easily discuss your unique competitive advantage with prospective clients.
The Final Step… Promote It
By clarifying these processes, you should realize that you have a ton of value to offer your clients. Therefore, not sharing this value with the people you know and everyone else in the marketplace is doing a disservice to society. I am completely serious about this. You have something that can help people. If you choose to keep it to yourself, then what value are you really providing?
Begin telling people about your unique services and sharing these everywhere you possibly can. Make these a focal point of your marketing strategy as you begin to share stories and examples of how your services can help solve the problems buyers, sellers, and homeowners have.
You are different now!
Right now, you are one of a kind. Following the process of identifying your services, and then naming and branding your services, will instantly set you apart from the 1,000’s of other Realtors competing for the same business in your market.
You don’t need to wait for a burst of inspiration or any industry secrets to clarify the value you offer your clients and begin capturing more market share today.
