It’s funny how often homeowner’s getting ready to list their homes will ask if you’re an “insert specific type of property here” specialist. Usually, the question comes from a seller looking for an “oceanfront” specialist, for example, to sell his or her home. Ironically, this is after the last four oceanfront specialists who had it listed were unable to sell it.
What does it mean? More often than not, and especially in this market, it means the listing price has been higher than what the comparables suggest it should be. And that’s a hard sell, no matter what you’re specialty.
So here’s my take on specialties in real estate. The best realtors specialize in people. Just like the most successful sales people do. We understand what motivates buyers. We know their triggers. We know how to ask the questions that get people saying, “Yes”. And we understand how to segment our audience and sell benefits more so than features.
These are the things that all good realtors do, consciously or not, whether they’re selling a $3 million oceanfront estate or a $150,000 condo downtown. It’s also why you’ll find really good salespeople can sell just about anything, from ad space to cloud computing services. Certainly, they’ll do their homework to ensure they have a good understanding the product or service their selling. But that understanding of the product is always framed with the wants, needs and motivations of a potential customer in mind.
And the ability to do that is, indeed, a special skill.
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