Part 2 – Real Estate Agent2.0 Defined – The Drive To Be The Best

Steven Groves is back with the second installment of his growing definition Agent2.0.
Take it away Steve:

Agent 2.0 – Defined – The Drive To Be The Best

By Steven Groves
So far in the rollout of the Agent2.0 model, I have talked about social media and the resulting social capital.  Now I need to tell you that once you get in front of a prospect, none of that matters – it mattered to get them there, but once a prospect / client has requested contact, the needs of the Agent2.0 changes gears.
From that point forward, a whole other set of tools / tactics come into play; we’ll cover the personal drive to be the best first.

The Drive to Be The Best

“It’s a funny thing about life. If you refuse to settle for anything less than the best, that’s what it will give you.” – W. Somerset Maugham

Seth Godin recently published a small, very readable book called ‘The Dip’.  You are probably all getting sick of hearing about Seth and The Dip by now, but I like what he says about the personal drive to be the best at something… or when to just quit trying.
He suggests that quitting an unsuccessful effort to be the best at an adjacent strategy is not inappropriate – quitting one thing can free you to be the best at something else.  Like being the best real estate blogger in your part of the world.
How does one develop the drive to be the best?  Hmm… the short answer is by refusing to be less than the best, as the quote from Somerset Maugham suggests.
To put the two comments in context, I think you can be the best real estate agent your prospect / client knows by promising to show up and doing so – everyday. Return your calls in a timely manner, use email at least once a day or more, by caring about what a client honestly wants, and by treating everything and everyone in your life with honor and respect.  Be prepared to quit the situations and customers who ask you to be less than the best you can be.
I love Russell Shaw’s No Hassle Listing – while he works in Phoenix, I’ve not met Russell yet.  I admire his work however and respect the public persona he projects and how he pursues his craft.
If I were to guess, I would suspect Russ’ model is as much about no hassle for him as it is for the person who might hire him to sell their home; one of his phrases is ‘if you do not like my service, fire me…’
Maybe we’ll get connected soon and he can set me straight – I would like to talk about how much of the ‘No Hassle Listing’ strategy is deciding to quit a client who will not let him continue his quest to be the best in the world.

Agent2.0 Fallout Statistics

The accepted general stat I’ve heard about real estate turnover is that the real estate profession turns over 80% every two years.  The current market and the change to an Agent 2.0 model will likely accelerate the turnover.  Some agents will never adapt – quite honestly the model does not expect them.
Cronins’ Contant I think rules the day – for now.  It’s the comment from Jim Cronin that states that 67% of the market will try blogging and 96% of them will fail within 10 years.  This translates in to less than 14 successful blogging real estate professionals in a given community of 1,000.
I wonder if that percentage can be impacted by the other factors that make up the Agent2.0?
Yes, I think so, but again, if the ratio reaches 50 in a community of 1,000, I’d be very pleased with all the effort it takes to produce the Agent2.0 model and continue sharing it with you.
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Did you miss Part 1?:  Real Estate Agent 2.0 – Defined

Thanks Steve!

Steven Groves is Director of Marketing for a real estate brokerage in Phoenix Arizona, a technologist of 20 years in software and an entrepreneurial consultant on technology-based marketing and sales.
He posts at his blog, www.StevenGroves.com regularly about real estate technology, marketing and Second Life, an online 3D community emerging as the next interface to the Internet.
Steve is the developer of Agent2.0 the model of the real estate agent of the future and founder of InterReality Advocates in Second Life, promoting the connection between Second Life and Real Life as a platform for business and education.