Real Estate Agents

Stand Out From your Competition Using Powerful Unique Selling Proposition (USP)!

When I was in tenth grade, my math teacher told me something that resonated with me and driven me to distinguish myself from everyone else. It was truly an eye opener for me. He said:

"It is no longer enough to be an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer. There are many of them out there. What matter is to be the best engineer, the best doctor, or the best lawyer"

That really raised the bar for me. Up till that day, I wanted to grow up and become an engineer. What he said made me focus on becoming one of the best at everything I do. I was no longer satisfied to become a Programmer, or an Investor. I needed to figure out how to be distinguished at what I do. That did not mean I had to work harder than everyone else, but smarter.

One of the marketing secrets to accomplish this is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot be better agent than everyone else, but you can offer something better. You cannot be better investor, but can be more creative.You need to offer different service, specialize in a niche, or by simply communicating better with your customers.

We are all professionals, but some of us more than others

During some of the presentations I was giving to Real Estate Agents, I went around the room asking each agent "why should I do business with you?"

Think about this question for a minute, see if you have a clear answer for it… By the way, this question applies to Real Estate Agents as well as Real Estate Investors. In fact it applies to every industry, every business, and every sales person and employee.

As you may have guessed, the answers were very standard: "I am professional", "I will work hard for you", and some variations of these. Most agents never thought about it before, so they just had to think about the answer. I then asked them "I am a prospect in front of all of you, why should I do business with you versus anyone else in this room?" and no one had an answer, they did not have unique service.

You see, when a prospect contacts you, they expect you to be a professional. They expect you to be a hard worker. They expect you to do a good job. So being a professional and hard worker is not enough to get their business. I never claim to be any of these things because I am expected to be all of these. I try to find something else, something above and beyond what every other agent offers. I may even offer the exact same thing, but I present it differently.

Here is how you stand out from your competition!

You need to have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP needs to emphasize the benefits of doing business with you, making your prospects believe you are the best person to contact. Being professional is a characteristic of you, not a benefit to them. Their house won’t sell because you are professional. And trying hard does not mean it will sell either, because it is not quantified and qualified. What exactly are you going to do to sell their house?

You need to find out what sellers want, and not only do you need to provide a service that address their need, you also need to communicate it to them. now there isn’t one universal USP, or everyone would be using it. You can however, have many of them and use each one for different type of prospects. Lets look for some examples.

When marketing to Expired Listings, one of the obvious issues is that the house did not sell and more importantly, an agent could not sell it! So why should they list with you? Find an answer to that question, and market to them using this message. Can you offer a guarantee? are you specialized in selling hard to sell houses? can you offer free assessment?

When marketing to pre-foreclosures, can you offer a service to negotiate with the bank to save them from having foreclosure on their records? can you help get the bank to reduce the balance so you can sell their house fast?

When marketing to geographic area such as a neighborhood, or side of town, can you offer specialized service, or knowledge? can you position yourself as the agent for this neighborhood?

Here is a good one for you. Can you guarantee their house would be sold in X number of days? I can… many Agents already doing so… figure out how you could do it, and use it in your marketing message.

For Real Estate Investors, can you guarantee their house sold in 2 days or 24 hours? Can you offer all cash?

You must work on your unique selling proposition

Having a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is really not an option or an extra thing. It should be the core of your business and the message you use to communicate with your prospects. You don’t have to have only one, you can have as many as you want and use each USP with different type of prospects. There is no length limit to your USP, and no set rules. It as long as it needs to be to communicate the message with your prospects.

Don’t confuse a USP with a slogan. A slogan usually a short phrase easy for people to remember. Your slogan can be your USP, but your USP should be more than that. It is the extra or specialized service you offer, the way you conduct business, the benefits your prospect won’t want to live without and that only you offer.

 

Happy Marketing!

© 2008 Fadi Zeidan’s Articles.