I have been in real estate long enough to become cynical, and that may be a good or a bad thing. I like many others in the real estate industry take a lot of claims from other agents with a grain of salt. Our reputation amongst our peers in our industry is one that based partially on fact, but mostly on puffing and ego. Clients and the public will use still another standard; it is called "Performance!"

Performance is the final judge of abilities. It is the demonstration of skill, abilities, knowledge, experience, and persistence that gets the desired task completed. For all deals it is final and successful closure. The successful sale of a home in these difficult times, earns the agent the right to boast of their abilities, and accomplishments. Their performance allows them the right to market their accomplishments, and stake their claim as "Expert!" That should bring them other business.

So I thought this would be an intriguing question to ask to experienced real estate agents and home sellers ... so here goes ..."How Many Homes Do You Have to Sell Before You Are an Expert?"

In real estate these days there are so many catchy phrases, slogans, and tag lines that promote the employment of an agents that is marketing his/her abilities or skills are superior to others! A seller would then employ them as a matter of trust, safety, ability, and can do attitude! It is quite impressive to say the least. Words are very powerful in marketing, but deeds are more important! Slogans that claim "neighborhood specialist…, experts,….consultants….or the results team," may become trite, and overused! At this point, there is a danger that there is little or no experience to back up these claims.

These phrases have no bearing on ability. The problem arises for a home seller that has employed the services of an agent making these claims. What happens when the seller that is in dire straights find out that that the agent/or agents have never sold a single home! Is that misleading? Was it right to mislead even if the sellers never asked for testimonials, or references from closed sales? Was it more important to take a listing, than to explain the truth about your limited marketing abilities?

So when can an agent claim that they are experts in a given field? The answer may lie in what they choose to demonstrate their accomplishments. This can be easily be accomplished by charting: years of experience, awards. Testimonials, units sold/units listed, list price/sales price, days on market (DOM), expired listings, withdrawn listings, testimonials, web statistics, web inquiries, and more! The successful employment of these statistics – can easily separate your performance and achievement from other real estate agents. An example of this is an agent that is recognized visually by signage as a neighborhood specialist. Are they really successful, or is the consumer bonding with the signs that are all over the place because they are not selling? In their neighborhood there are lots of signs for sale with only their name. Residents believe they are the specialists, but reality is different. They may only sell 30% or less of what they list, their list price / sales price ratio could be way off other competing agents, and be in the low 90's, and other agents whose signs they never see ... because they actually come in list the home right, sell higher and close the deal rather than go on the market for 9 months plus! So who is the real neighborhood specialist now? It is easy to demonstrate if you have the right numbers!

Published: January 29, 2009

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Jim Crawford, ABR, e-PRO 500 is currently licensed as a Broker Associate with RE/MAX Greater Atlanta in Atlanta Georgia, and as Broker Associate with Distinctive Realty Inc. in McLean Virginia. Jim and his wife Ellen work as a husband and wife team in the northern Atlanta suburbs. As the team's rainmaker, Jim is a self-taught webmaster and designer, and he relies exclusively on the Internet for marketing. He is considered an expert on marketing, nationwide relocation, cutting edge technology, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for real estate, and Internet marketing. Jim's seminars, online contributions, and technology ideas assist real estate agents to maximize their business results, and raise the industry's professional service level skills. His common sense marketing ideas have been published and quoted regularly in trade publications. He has also consulted and advised NAR offices regarding Internet issues, and Internet ethics for Realtors. In between sales, Jim is a popular speaker at national and regional real estate seminars, and retreats. He is also an online real estate coach, with a self-tutorial coaching site for real estate professionals. Jim was a featured speaker at the November 2004 National Association of REALTORS® convention in Orlando, and has spoken at the several REALTORS® conventions both in the United States and Canada. Visit his website at RealEstateTechCoach.com, or e-mail him at .