The best smoothie ever

There are a million plus real estate agents in the U.S. Well, there are way more than that. The question is, “How many are doing any significant and/or serious business?” I’m going to guess around 200,00 - 300,000 are actually doing business on purpose. What are the other 700,000+ doing? That’s a different story for a different day.

For this discussion, let’s say you are one in a million. Why you? What makes you stand out from the other 999,999 real estate agents?

Firstly, not everyone works in the same market, with the same knowledge, niche, or even in the same neighborhood. Nevertheless, you might be “competing”, or compared to thousands of other agents. The question still stands, “Why you?”

Several weeks ago, I was in Wisconsin. It was early fall, and the weather was spectacular - perfect for a morning run around one of the lakes. As I came back to the hotel, I decided to grab some breakfast before I went back up to my room. I started walking to Starbucks, but on my Google maps, I saw a juice/smoothie place right next to where I was standing (I just couldn’t see it because it was hidden from my view on the street at that moment).

I walk another 50 yards, take a right, and see the shop. I hesitate before walking in because it looks closed, even though it says it opens at 9:00 a.m. I check my watch, it’s 9:08, so I walk in. Immediately after entering, I look over and a young gentleman was on his phone, sees me enter, gets up, and looks me dead in the eye and says sincerely, “Sir, I am so sorry, my truck has not arrived yet this morning, and I cannot make anything for you. Would you mind waiting or coming back in 20 minutes?”

After thinking about it for a moment, I reply, “No problem, let me go back and shower, I will be back in 45 minutes.”

He says, with deep sincerity, “Thank you so much. My name is Arthur. What is your name?”

I tell him my name, and he thanks me again. I go back to my hotel, shower, pack, bring my bags down to the lobby, and walk back over to the juice shop.

Arthur greets me by name and thanks me for coming back. I look over the menu, not sure what to choose. Arthur says he can make me his favorite one. “Sounds great,” I reply.

He makes me the smoothie, adds in a few extra things I want (for free), hands me the smoothie, and anxiously waits for my response to his creation.

“It’s the best smoothie I have ever had.”

I mean, it’s not quite the best smoothie I have ever had, but it’s the best smoothie experience I have ever had.

So, why you?

It’s probably not your marketing, your process, your expertise, your brokerage, etc.

I have said this before, most (not all) clients who are considering you already assume you are competent and have all of that stuff. What they are deciding: are you a fit for them? Can they trust you to take care of their needs and situation?

If you think about your best clients and the experience they had working with you, might it be something like getting a smoothie with Arthur?

"Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people.” - Stephen R. Covey

“Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” - Seth Godin