I had an awkward conversation with a friend of mine the other day.  He has been out of steady work for at least a year, and he keeps getting jobs that aren’t going well for him.  Open up any job site online these days and you will see hundreds of entries for salespeople.  I know that in real estate, selling means knowing the product.  I’m not sure about any other fields but I can tell you where my friend made a huge mistake.

The Setup

Ever get a call from one of your friends and they are acting odd?  Without even really comprehending the words they are saying, you sort of sense that they are trying to sell you something.  It’s funny to me because there’s no reason for your friend to use a canned speech on you if you are really friends.  Anyway, my friend called me, and immediately started in on his canned speech.  He said that he had started to work for a new company and he was doing some recruiting.  Not all that interested in the conversation, I asked him what his title was.  He said he was a service manager.  I asked him what that meant.  He then said, “you know, I put out fires and stuff.”  Honestly, I don’t know what a service manager is for the type of company is that he is working for.  To me, his statements, “you know”, and “I put out fires”…That doesn’t indicate that he knows anything about selling the product.  In my market, selling real estate means knowing the product.  I have a hard time believing that this isn’t true in others.

Why Should You Know Your Product?

I thought this was rather obvious, but apparently it isn’t.  In real estate, we can use our knowledge to make quick and informed decisions.  For example, if a potential client called me today and said that they wanted to buy a home in Clayton for 100,000, I know that my time is wasted.  I would tell my client that most of the time, the properties in Clayton go for much higher prices.   If there is a house selling for that price, we should be skeptical.

The Real Estate Market Is Always Changing

Ask three different agents how the real estate market is doing, and you’ll probably get three different answers.  These differences are the result of just how vast the real estate market is in St. Louis.  Some areas can be really hot, and at the same time other areas might be very slow.  To keep my knowledge as fresh as possible, I am always out looking at new homes for sale and going to open houses in areas I know my buyers are looking.  This is in addition to looking at new listings whenever they come up on my computer.

What Should My Friend Have Done To Increase Knowledge In His Product

My friend was right to talk to me about his new job.  Just talking about it helps you to learn it faster and more accurately.  The other thing he could have done was just a lot more research about how his service manager job was alike or different than other jobs with the same title.  For example, I don’t know many service managers whose job it is to recruit.  I also don’t know many service managers who take all customer calls and manages the bookkeeping.  That seems like a different job title, but my friend was telling me that this is what he does.

At Deerwood Realty, when you are getting ready to sell your house, consider that we know the marketplace.  We’ve been in the community for many years, and we understand many of the things that can go wrong during a sale.  If you are getting ready to buy your dream home, we very much value getting to know our clients during their search and we know that it helps to make everyone comfortable during a process that can take patience.  You have an advantage working with Deerwood Realty.  Let us show you how that works.