Our industry is ubiquitous with misinformation around marketing.
The absolute worst form of misleading advertising—in my opinion—are some of the “Guaranteed Sale” programs offered by various brokerages across North America.
In every “Guaranteed Sale” contract I’ve ever seen, only the most easily saleable homes “qualify” in the first place.
Even if your home does qualify and you agree to the “numerous ridiculous conditions,” the bottom-line guaranteed price (after all deductions) will be so stupidly low, that hardly anyone in their right mind would ever agree to the terms.
Almost everyone reading this already knows that these programs are essentially “bait and switch” schemes. The primary purpose is to get in front of potential sellers, and then convince them that they don’t need the program, anyway.
“Oh, sorry, your home doesn’t qualify due to the lengthy list of ridiculous conditions. Darn!
But no worries! We’ll get your home sold, anyway! Sign here, please,” said the Salesy Slickster. ✍️
They get around the laws against illegal “bait and switch” tactics because technically it is a “legitimate” and legally-binding program, assuming there is a homeowner somewhere (?) who would accept the ridiculous terms.
Real Estate is also the only industry on the planet where the biggest advertisers brag about how much they spend, “We spend thousands… tens of thousands… hundreds of thousands… on marketing every month!”
The implication is that they’re spending all this money on marketing your property, which we all know is more nonsense.
Tell me, please: How exactly do I benefit from your billboard, radio or TV ad, bus bench, or practically any other form of Real Estate advertising?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with promoting yourself and your services! Just don’t imply that the money you’re spending is for my benefit, thank you very much.
Can you imagine if other industries did this? “Here at Ford, we spend millions advertising ourselves every month. Therefore, you should buy a Ford!”
How stupid does that sound?
So how are you supposed to compete with the Big-Box Teams and Celebrity Agents who spend kajillions on advertising?
Easy! Just tell the truth, my friends. See above.
If you run a successful Real Estate business where almost all your business comes from repeats and referrals, now THAT’s something to brag about!
Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that the only way to run a successful Real Estate business is to spend kajillions on misleading advertising, learn mindless scripts, and chase after poor-quality Internet leads.
That’s just more nonsense.
