Part II: A Real Estate Agent's Guide Post-NAR Lawsuit

Welcome to a very special edition of Keeping it Real! This week, Todd Tramonte takes on the NAR lawsuit, breaking down all the major changes agents need to know.

This is part two of our four-part series on this topic. In this segment, you'll discover how Todd applies the Kaizen methodology in his real estate practice, different strategies to add value to your service offering, and the right ways to communicate this value to a client from your very first interaction with them.

In Part 1 of this series, we covered the concrete ways in which the NAR settlement will change our activities as agents and realtors, and how the effects of this lawsuit open up a huge opportunity for those of us who are committed to making real estate our full-time business.

Today, in Part 2, Todd breaks down exactly how we can leverage this opportunity, specifically focusing on how we can communicate value right from the start. This will help us get those Buyer Agency Agreements signed and become the exclusive agent of any given buyer.

How to Communicate Value From the Get-Go

Let's get into the specifics here.

How do we show buyers in our first meeting that we're the right agent to handle their business?

Great question. According to Todd, there are two sides to this:

#1: Mastering How to Add Value

"Let me give you the annoying answer first," says Todd when beginning to explain value, "different consumers will want different things."

He's not wrong.

Some people are more price-sensitive, some people care more about the relationship they have with their realtor, some people couldn't care less about either of those things and just want someone who can show them as many properties as humanly possible.

Looking at it this way, there are two approaches you can take. You can either:

1. Create a suite of "scripts" for you to choose from in your meeting with a buyer, and pick one as soon as you realize what type of buyer they are.
   
   For example, say that you quickly realize this buyer is very friendly and chatty, and wants to build a relationship with you, then you follow Script 3, which you wrote for this specific case.
   
   Note: this approach requires you to quickly figure out, through body cues and phrases, which kind of buyer you're dealing with, and just as easily flip between your scripts.
   
   
2. Decide what kind of agent you want to be, have a specific approach of delivering value based on what makes you stand out from other agents, and follow that, regardless of the type of buyer.
   
   

   Note: While this approach might put off some buyers, it also means you'll be working with the people with whom you connect with the best.

Besides these two approaches, there are some universal aspects of our practice that we can improve on in order to maximize our value as agents.

These are things like:

• Staging
• Better photography
• Better negotiation
• Better communication
• Availability
• Access
• Staff help
• Technology
• A clearly differentiated, unique seller proposition
• The ability to get more eyeballs on their property
• Getting better offers on their property
• Less liability

All of these things sound obvious, but most agents aren't doing them.

Todd likes to take the Kaizen approach of continuous optimization, testing hypotheses to see what works and what doesn't, and adjusting activities to get better and better results over time.

"At the end of the day," Todd says, "if you can put more money in the seller's pocket, you are worth more to them."

And the same goes for buyers, but in reverse. If you can take less money from their pocket than they were expecting to, you are worth more to them.

Another great way to add value is specificity.

Working only in one neighborhood. Working only with condos. Working only with a given price range.

Continuous improvement becomes much easier (and faster!) when you're focused on only one segment of the consumer base.

#2: Mastering How to Communicate Value

Let's assume you're doing all of the aforementioned things right – the next step is to communicate them effectively, and right away.

Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're a phenomenal agent if nobody knows about you!

Now, a big problem agents have with this is that they don't want to sound like they're full of themselves when they communicate their value.

Add to this the fact that we now have to make sure we nail our pitch the very first time we meet with a potential buyer, and we can really sound conceited.

But like we showed you in Part 1 of this series, there are subtle ways of communicating your value.

You know what isn't subtle? Posting on your social media all the great things you bought with your commissions.

That's a big mistake that many agents are making. Posting and talking openly about how great this industry is, how much money they make, the fact that they get to work with friends and family… it's all about them.

And that's the whole problem.

Customers don't care about you. They care about themselves, and you should too.

If you have a social media presence, that's fantastic. But you should be using it to showcase all the great things you've done for your buyers and sellers.

They should be the protagonists of your stories. Not you.

You are the facilitator here. The way you communicate value should always be focused on how you can make your customer's life better, not how great you are.

In other words, how great you are should be understood by the results you delivered to your customers. Show, don't tell.

Here are some examples of how you can do this during your first meeting with a potential client:

• Instead of talking about how many years you've been in this industry, mention other customers with similar needs that you've helped 8 years ago, 3 years ago, and last year.
  

• Instead of talking about how respected and loved you are in a given neighborhood, mention the guy who runs the local bar, or the school principal, or some of your previous clients who jog at the main park.
  

• Instead of dropping numbers about how big your database of sellers is, mention specific properties that fit the buyer's criteria.
  

"Oh, there's this lovely elderly couple, Sam and Patrice, who are selling a two bedroom with a pool that I think you'll love. Want to check it out this afternoon?"

Notice how all of these examples show, but don't tell?

You're indirectly letting them know how great you are, by showing them how you can help them achieve their purpose.

Final Thoughts

Do these ideas sound like basic common sense to you? Good.

It means that really, what you've been doing so far won't have to change that much in this Post NAR settlement world of real estate.

Find out what makes you stand out from other agents, dial in your value proposition, and learn how to communicate it more effectively every time.

Learn from your interactions, test out some changes, and optimize.

Make sure you catch our next part of this series, where we'll cover who is really going to be hit the hardest in this new chapter in our industry.