I’m a mortgage guy. Mortgage guys (and gals) will often talk about how highly they regard and respect the professionalism and expertise of Real Estate Agents, and they paint thise adoration with a very broad brush.
Real Estate Agents have a big ‘ole brush as well as they sing the praises and glory of how efficient, communicative and quickly Mortgage folks do their job to ensure a speedy and worry free transaction.
(The sarcasm should be about waist deep by now)
And you know what? (this applies to both groups) They are Smarter than you – at marketing to their services to thier prospects, they are Better than you – at doing their job, and they Know More than you do – about their business (most of the time!). Here’s the kicker….we have the exact same clientele.
Here’s a question: What can you learn from someone that’s not in your line of work that will make you better, smarter and cause you to innovate?
A couple of years ago I read a book called the Medici Effect that quite effectively makes the case that true innovation is realized at the intersection of different disciplines. There are no new ideas, only new ways of looking at things that already exist…maybe just not in your world.
If you think about it, mortgage types and agent types are different disciplines. Some people can pull off both and make a good living at it, for the most part however, these are two different personality types.
The very best in one field of the Real Estate profession is rarely the very best in the other field as well. We’re not talking about having competence in either discipline.
I’m talking about being cutting edge, innovative, kick-ass, gonzo marketing fools. This isn’t vanilla agent or loan officer stuff we’re talking about. I’m talking about raising the bar and being a thought leader in your market.
For the past few years I have belonged to Vistage, an Executive Coaching and Business Leadership group that promotes “better leaders – decisions – results”.
My group is made up of 12-15 CEOs from different businesses and industries and we meet once a month for 8 hours to talk about issues and opportunities as well as other business building skill sets and ideas.
Viewing the trials, tribulation and triumphs of the past two years from a non-industry perspective was an essential ingredient in my recipe for success through a challenging market and economy.
One of my favorite events over this past year have been attending Real Estate Barcamp (REBarcamp) accross the State of California. I attended 5 this year. I found it fascinating to learn and understand the challenges that Agents perceive and the innovations Agents have created to survive the past few years….it was different than what most mortgage types are talking about.
Neither of these groups are about mortgages or lending and yet I take black pearls from each meeting or event I attend, innovations that others have applied to their own business, and modified it to apply to mine.
Some of my best ideas come from places that have absolutely nothing to do with lending or mortgages, sometimes not even the Real Estate industry.
So next time you you get an opportunity to join a group, or attend an event that is NOT about doing your job better – Jump on that opportunity.
I guarantee that you will take away more cutting edge, innovative ideas than you ever could by attending this year’s Goliath industry event designed to tell you how to do your job better and by the way, here is a nifty new product/system we created to help you improve your business – and if you buy today…….You get the idea.
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