A Personal Trainer for Your Business

Your Pathway to Making More Money per Hour

Friday, November 8, 2013

Knowledge Trumps Information

Recently, I skimmed an interview in Fortune where Warren Buffett talked about the best advice he’d ever been given, along with his secrets to success.  The thing that struck me most was Uncle Warren’s comment that his “big secret” was that he was good at “lifelong learning.”  Wow, what a simple idea, and one we so often forget as we get caught up in our day-to-day spin!

So, taking a page from Warren’s book, I decided to do some reading and turned to the Inman News website and was of course delighted to see that a new Facebook app “let’s homeowners tweak valuations” so they can “adjust their published online home value….”  As Charlie Brown likes to say, “Good grief!”

But then I found another article that lowered my blood pressure a bit.  The writer’s lead line had to do with “knowledge-driven services,” and since I love knowledge and I love services, I dove right in.  The article pointed out the widespread public availability of a vast amount of real estate information that has become staggering compared to what was out there even ten years ago.  The consumer can be overwhelmed by not only the amount of information, but the wide variety of sources. 

Unfortunately, having access to information can be confusing and misleading, and is no substitute for knowledge! 

And that’s where we real estate professionals come in.  Our expertise and experience allow us to analyze the information and recognize subtle patterns and quirks that make one element of that information more important, for example, than others.  Our understanding gets us to the “how” and the “why” of the information that are crucial in making decisions.  Voila, value added!

The article goes on to remind us that not only is knowledge power, but that given the near instantaneous generation of information, such knowledge had better be delivered quickly.  Enter technology!  The writer urges us professionals to make sure we’re fully integrating the latest tech tools—tablets, digital contracts and signature, etc—and that we’re comfortable and professional in their use when we’re with a client. 

So, where are you with the integration of contemporary technology so you can leverage those tools and showcase your high level of knowledge to win and impress your clients every day?  Your coach is there to help you assess your integration of the various tools, and the snow will be coming soon, so you can spend some time on the practice field honing those docusign skills if you need to.  Get ready to showcase your knowledge to its best advantage!

David M. Hassler

Director of Coaching

No comments:

Post a Comment