Unless you've been living under a rock, you know about the class action lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors.
Regardless of the outcome, this case is not a one-off. And we won't be able to understand the full impact these events will have on our activities for at least a few months.
But according to Greg Harrelson, the worst thing we can do is sit still and continue working as if nothing were to change.
Because the most likely scenario is that things will change.
So what should we do? How should we react to the NAR lawsuit?
In this article, Greg breaks it down for us.
"There's no way of knowing what exactly is going to happen" Greg says, "But what I do know, is that things are going to happen. And we can't wait to know exactly what these changes are going to be."
Greg advises us that the best way to adapt effectively, is to make gradual changes, consistently.
Every time we get a new piece of information, we should try something new in our practice, and measure the results. As if we were running constant experiments on how to best optimize for this new arena of real estate.
If we learn that buyers are more reluctant to be called by agents because of the result in one of the suits, text that week and see what happens. If we learn they need guidance over access, offer them free advice.
Test, test, and test again.
"If we continue to improve and make small changes now, and everytime we learn something new we continue to tweak and improve, when we finally know what the end result of the lawsuit is, it will just be a small adjustment."
What you don't want is the alternative.
You don't want to continue working, business as usual, only for a big change to hit you. And all of a sudden, you need to do a complete 180 in the way you conduct your business.
Small, gradual, evidence-based changes.
And here's the kicker: it's all geared towards value.
If the idea of testing and iterating new strategies seems daunting, remember that there's one thing all of your activities should have in common.
Greg summarizes it in one sentence: "The one thing we know for sure today is that presenting your value is going to become the most important thing when working with buyers."
If you were to poll 1000 consumers and ask them what the value of a listing agent was, you'd probably get a few answers.
After all, everyone who's worked with a seller has had to do a listing presentation. They've had to present their value as an agent, before the seller even considered a compensation agreement with such agent.
Several things go into that listing presentation:
It is only after we have done all of that, and if they see our value, that they'll sign an agreement.
That's why sellers generally know the importance of having a listing agent.
Can you say the same about buyer agents? Not really.
99% of agents don't have a buyer presentation. Leads message them through their website, they request access to a property, and then the agent offers access and then does a presentation on that property.
"Even if you are part of the 1% of agents who does have a buyer presentation - it's time to improve upon it." warns Greg.
Our advice? Start viewing buyers the same way you view sellers. And sell them on you, before you start selling them on specific properties.
Because guess what? Everyone can show them properties nowadays.
If you don't know where to start, consider following a similar format like the one you would on a listing presentation:
And most importantly:
Let's break down this last point and help you define your value.
The most important thing you need to convey in your buyer presentation is your value as an agent. What makes you stand out from your competitors?
Leads need to see this to that they pick you over all the other agents showing them properties.
"I know exactly what it takes to represent a buyer," says Greg "And agents who represent buyers work extremely hard, but they're misunderstood - they're not conveying their value properly."
If you were to poll buyers on what a buyer agent brings to the table, you probably won't get more than these answers:
"Agents present offers."
"Agents advice me on properties."
"Agents just give me access to see properties."
But as you know, that's just the tip of the iceberg of what a buyer agent does.
But if the consumer doesn't know what you're doing, then it has no value.
So here are a few questions Greg challenges you to ask yourself to decipher your unique value.
Here's an example, directly from Greg:
One of his values is that he not only knows all the properties on the market right now, but he also knows all the agents and the developers on the market right now.
Not only that, but he can leverage those connections through his experience and negotiation skills.
For instance, there might be one builder that the buyer's gonna write an offer on, that is never gonna negotiate a penny, and Greg knows this upfront.
But just about every time that my buyer gets a home inspection on a new construction, Greg and his clients have found something wrong with the home.
For example, recently, he influenced a buyer to get a home inspection in a new construction.
Care to venture a guess on what happened? They found 15,000 dollars worth of repairs necessary. And Greg was able to get the developer to fix them all for free.
"Here, I'm sharing my value. I'm explaining why I matter. I'm giving them a story to present my value. And I'm showing them what they can risk if they don't work with me (in this case, it was $15,000 worth of repairs!)"
All of this makes Greg stand out from the competition. So it's crucial that buyers know it.
If we wind back to the "risks" part of the equation, let's look at some other risks the buyer takes when they decide not to work with a buyer agent:
Feel free to use any of these when crafting your value presentation.
To summarize Greg's advice, our action steps for the upcoming weeks are:
And, as always, if you want to take your business to the next level, join RGMastery.com, Greg's private coaching academy, where he goes into more detail on every single one of these topics, week after week.