Roaring 20s Ahead

As a salesperson you must adapt to your environment. Because our environment is always changing, adapting is both challenging and exhausting. Sometimes change is subtle, and sometimes it’s substantial. Most salespeople don’t welcome change. Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.

Often, we only adopt new ways of doing business when a change is forced upon us.

Whenever we think about how a major event will change our business, we must consider if it will have permanent or temporary consequences. Some events, like the terrorist attacks on 9/11 changed the way we viewed security and safety. Some people predicted no-one would ever feel safe enough to fly again. In the short-term, it had a devastating effect on travel, but fast forward a few years and airports were busier than they had ever been. We adapted by adding a level of security at airports, but all in all, air transportation didn’t change.

When we experienced the mortgage meltdown of 2008 our industry came to a screeching halt. Overnight people were under water on their houses. The foreclosure market became a main source of business for many agents. It was terribly painful for a lot of people, but did it change our business forever? No. Did it change the way we sold houses for the long-term? No. After we recovered, we went back to doing business the way we always had. I believe the same will hold true with this virus.

Some predict real estate will never be sold the same way again.

They think we will conduct all client appointments virtually, no-one will hold open houses anymore, no-one will door knock neighborhoods or attend large networking events. For the record, I don’t believe this will be the case. I believe the change we are facing today is temporary. Once people feel safe enough, we will go back to being as social as we ever were.

I believe history repeats itself and a booming market is on the horizon.

A good example of this was the Spanish Flu of 1918. It infected 500 million people and caused 100 million deaths over a 2-year period. You would think after a virus that devastating, people would be scared to ever leave their house again. Yet that led right into the roaring 20’s with speakeasys and parties and a booming economy.

How do these stories translate to how you approach your business during the pandemic? I believe the changes you are adopting now (virtual listing appointments, limiting showings, closing transactions digitally, etc.) will get us through a temporary period, but it will not last. This crisis is temporary.

That doesn’t mean you can stick your head in the sand and wait for things to go back to the way they were. Everything you do now to educate yourself and make your business more efficient won’t go to waste. The better you are with technology and systemizing your business, the better you can market your listings and deliver superior customer service in the future.

Education is never lost.

Knowing how to do a virtual listing presentation is great, and it will continue to be useful for out-of-town clients, but I know that as soon as we are able to safely get together again, face-to-face appointments will always get you better results. It is much harder to build trust with someone if you are not sitting across from them at the kitchen table. And in sales, relationships are everything. The moment we can go back to getting face to face with clients, I believe everyone will be better off.

Stay healthy and safe.

Chris Leader
President
Leader’s Edge Training