Choosing Your Authentic Agent Type
TIME TO CHANGE EXPECTATIONS
Chapter 1 / 4
I'll admit it. Sometimes, when a person asks what I do for a living, I hesitate. I'll say, "I'm in real estate," before I admit that I'm a realtor. I do this because I know what's coming.
That nanosecond when the individual's expression changes, when you can feel them tense up. That nanosecond when they look for your designer bag and your sports car. That nanosecond when they prepare to be run over by disingenuous salesmanship.
Nobody wants to be taken advantage of, and somehow that's become the expectation when we show up.
I've seen that expression and felt that tension for over eighteen years now. It drives me crazy, and it probably drives you crazy too. Because we know.
We know what we do and the value we bring. We know the standards we hold ourselves to. We know the role we fill.
Like you, I've held the hands of people grieving a death, the loss of a job, and the pain of foreclosure.
I've hugged people crying tears of joy because they can finally move on with their lives in that new home, the one that fits their dreams perfectly. I've protected people from losing their life's savings and made sure others weren't grossly mistreated. I've been called to court to prove and disprove fraud. I've helped people solve problems without selling a home they loved, even though they believed it was the only way around a difficult situation.
I've seen a lot. I've done a lot. I've been the conduit for important, life-changing moments. Yet, sometimes I hesitate. Maybe you do too.
A few years ago, I started asking myself why.
What I've come to believe is that it's because our industry - we agents - have allowed others to redefine us. While we've been working hard, our reputation has been muddied and devalued. It's been rewritten to where we're likened to some of the lowliest professions out there.
It happened slowly and for different reasons.
Algorithm-aided technology has lots of incentive to convince consumers that we're redundant and unnecessary, and lots of money with which to do so. Part-time, sub-par agents chasing the sugar high of cash and driving prices down (and expectations lower). Consumers with more information than they've ever had, but absolutely none of the necessary, valuable context needed to interpret it.
But I'm not interested in casting blame.
Only in taking action.
Only in working hard to change the expectations around the value a seasoned, authentic real estate agent brings to the table.
Only in helping agents like you learn what took me many years and lots of mistakes to figure out.
That in a sea of noise, clarity is queen. That in a neighborhood of cookie-cutter homes, the unique design shines brightest. That the only way to get noticed is to do the difficult work of becoming remarkable.
To be successful will require we bring our honest selves to the table and act as the architect of our futures.
It won't be easy.
But nothing worth doing ever is.
THE FIRST STEP IS THE HARDEST
Chapter 2 / 4
We've got to be honest. We haven't been doing ourselves any favors. We've let these expectations sneak up on us by being too enamored with the way we've always done things. By being too scared to do anything except what everybody else is doing. By being undifferentiated and inarticulate and passive.
The truth is, we shouldn't be surprised potential clients can't tell us apart. We can barely tell ourselves apart.
But our integrity and our livelihoods are at stake now.
We can't keep doing the same thing we've always done. We can't find comfort in blending in and being like every other agent. We can't possibly continue competing to see who might offer the lowest rates...because there's a good chance we might win that race.
Then where will we be?
We'll be overworked and burned up. We'll overpromise and underdeliver. We'll be sucked in and spit out the other side - tired and frustrated and dizzy.
The first step in solving any problem is admitting you have one.
So, let's admit we have one.
We're losing a game we didn't even want to play in the first place. We need to change if we want things to change.
We need to stop assuming consumers understand our value and start building a resonant personal brand that makes it clear.
We need to stop assuming there is safety in sameness and start asking ourselves hard questions about who we are, who we're here to serve, and why the work we do matters.
To be sure, this kind of work isn't for everybody. There will be many who choose to play it safe, who want to make it a numbers game, who don't want to go any deeper than they've ever gone.
That's fine.
I wish them well.
But if you've wanted more, if you've been feeling like something is missing and that things aren't right, then maybe this is the way forward.
Maybe the correct response to all the mediocrity running rampant in our industry is for those of us who are ready to lean into excellence to do just that.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Chapter 3 / 4
Our industry needs more agents to stand up and stand out. It needs us to try something new, to stop using broken, unpopular, and ineffective ways of attracting business.
It needs us to stop being so scared of looking stupid. Because that's what's holding so many of us back: A fear of sticking out, taking a chance, and carving a new path.
Too many of us are emotionally stuck in the high school cafeteria, wanting to blend in, to go along, to do the "right" thing.
But we're not there anymore, and seeking the safety of the pack is actually the most dangerous thing we can do. Instead, we need to be courageous and vulnerable all at once. We need to be unique, and to build a personal brand around that uniqueness.
We need to be human, in other words. We're not just another cardboard cutout of what an agent is supposed to look and sound and act like. We're different. We need to express that, early and often.
We can begin to do that by asking better questions. Questions like: Who am I? What do I do? Why does it matter? Who's it for?
To answer them requires humility, honesty, and patience. It takes some soul-searching and self-awareness. It demands we recognize that we are not the right choice for everybody. (In fact, done right, what we come to realize is that we're not the right choice for most everybody.)
Stripping away the illusion that we're supposed to be all things to all people reveals our authentic self, which allows us to then bring that authentic self to every interaction and every contract negotiation.
When we do that consistently, and over a long enough time horizon, we begin to attract the right people - those folks for whom what we do and how we do it is precisely what they're looking for.
When we do that, when we find our people, we are well-positioned to overwhelm them with our brand of excellence.
And when we do that?
They can't help but talk about us, celebrate us, and advocate for us. They can't help but join us in building our tribe.
Those who don't, who stay at the surface level, who remain in the comfort of the crowd will be left to compete with discount agents around the lowest common denominators. They'll have no choice but to compete on price and commission and the speed at which they reply to an email.
My guess is that you don't want to do that.
I know I don't.
So we have to get better.
We have to move from being transaction- and volume-focused to becoming tribal.
Whereas the former measures themselves by production numbers and sides, the latter exists to solve real problems, not just sell.
Whereas the former focuses on short terms numbers, the latter invests in long-term relationships.
Whereas the former purchases computer-driven leads and makes cold calls, the latter sees every day as an opportunity to deliver value to a select tribe of like-minded people.
Most agents are somewhere in the middle, between transactional and tribal. They're striving to do good work but haven't yet figured out how to differentiate, stand out, or articulate a personal brand.
That's where I was for many years.
I struggled to make the most out of the coaching I got and suffered through periods of feast-or-famine. I wanted to grow but had no idea how.
It wasn't until I realized that what made me unique was me - my personality, my values, my perspective, my strengths, my kind of people. It was until I created a brand around those things that I began to elevate myself above the noise.
And that's what I want you to do, too.
The first step toward that is to be more aware. It's to recognize the attributes that draw you in, the types of brands you gravitate towards, the kind of people who are your kind of people.
The second step is to lean into those attributes, to uncover all the ways you can articulate and deliver them yourself. It's to be able to say, "This thing, in this way, for these people."
The third step is execution. It's to take all your coaching and filter it through this new brand. It's to find all the ways - big and small - you can deliver on your brand promise every single day.
The fourth and final step is to build a tribe. It's to attract the right people by being wrong for most people. It's to be patient and intentional and committed.
WHY THE WORK WILL BE WORTH IT
Chapter 4 / 4
If you have your brand purpose dialed in, your energy for the work will run deep. When we help our tribe members survive and thrive, we'll enjoy living out our brand purpose.
We'll do remarkable work when this happens because we will be at our best. And our best is what is needed now.
It's what we need to rise above the noise, to elevate ourselves above the mass of like-agents, to create a brand worth talking about.
When we work from a place of authenticity, there's no such thing as burnout. There are hard days, but no bad days. There is fulfillment.
I don't make a case for this kind of work, this pursuit of authenticity, because I think it's right for everybody. I know it's not. I do it because I've met too many hard-working, genuine agents like you who are doing everything you can to stay in the game, and I want you to have this one, essential unlock.
I want you to build the life you want with a career you love.
When enough of us do that, we will fundamentally change the expectations of who we are, the value we deliver, and the role we play…algorithms and regulations be damned.
