Are you different enough?
Niches and USP’s go hand in hand…
Competition… Does that word scare you or engage you? Unless you have been living under a rock, you are aware that there are many different things/people competing for your real estate business. It could be other agents, other offices, online services providing discount real estate services or private sale companies.
Thinking about competition can make some agents stomach curl. What about you? A lot of agents think competition is a bad thing – and if you are thinking of competition the way most agents do, it is! Trying to “fight” your competition head on usually is a constant uphill battle.
But what if you looked at it from a different angle? What if you learned to service your clients by learning from your competition and were able to help them in a “unique” way? (That’s kind of the premise of the entire Niche Agent concept…) You can use this strategy to not only blow your competition out of the water, but not even worry about them!
So you are probably asking… How the heck do I make my real estate business unique?
Lets look outside our industry for a second to give you some insight. If you haven’t read the book “The Blue Ocean Strategy” I highly suggest you do! In the book they looked at the circus industry. As years past, sales and interest were weaning. Other circus acts thought that more animals or “big name” performers would provide the needed boost. These things just added more cost, and didn’t even really increase their bottom line.
Then along came Cirque Du Soleil. They realized the performance was what mattered. They got rid of the animals, focused on the “artistic” approach, and then charged a premium. They weren’t trying to appeal to kids. They weren’t trying to make their money from selling peanuts and souvenirs. They basically created their own “blue ocean”. Rather than competing against circuses, they created their own market and left them in the dust.
That is a great example of a Blue Ocean Strategy – or a Unique Selling Proposition (U.S.P.)!
So how do you create a USP for your real estate business? Start by answering the following 5 questions:
Who do you sell real estate to? What services do you offer?
2) What benefits (not products or services) do you offer to your clients?
3) What do you do better than your competition?
4) What do you do best?
5) What part of your business could use the most improvement?
A lot of agents get stuck on number 3. But that is the most important part in finding your USP. If you need help figuring it out, check out your competition.
- Read their marketing
- Find where they advertise
- Read reviews
- Check out their websites
- Sign up for their newsletters/drips h
- (Don’t tell them I told you this one, but ave someone call as if they were a buyer/seller and see how fast they reply, what they offer etc)
Once you figure out what it is that separates you from your competition, write it down. Put it into a sentence or two. If you can’t boil it down to that, then you need to re write it.
Now here is the best part (and where most agents fail miserably)… Put it into action! Make it part of your business! Whenever you get a sign call, listing presentation, buyer appointment, showing properties, writing ads etc… It should be tied into your USP.
Our past guest on The Niche Agent have a true understanding of what their USP is and they make it part of their business. And they are succeeding. So why can’t you?
Make a promise to yourself to start standing out from the rest. I promise you won’t be disappointed with your success!
To you and your niche,
Ryan Smith – The Niche Agent
(P.S. Email me at TheNicheAgent@gmail.com and tell me about your niche… or even your ideas for one. I want to know what you are up to!)
