Context Sharpens Clarity.
Clarity Creates Understanding.
Understanding Creates Trust.
Trust Attracts.
Attraction Leads To Employment and Referral Recommendations
Blah, Yada! If you’ve been around the block, you know about the importance of sharing the benefits of all your features. It’s wise. Do it!
If you want to pogo to the pro level, you’ll want to focus your brand, marketing, presentations and conversations with the clarifying lens of context. First features, then context, then benefits.
Context Sharpens Clarity
Minus context, our messages are recieved as fuzzy, out of focus and either uncertain, untrue or BS.
Examples:
Fuzzy: Mortgage rates are at an all time low. Mortgage rates are at 5%, buy now.
Focused: Mortgage rates are at an all time low, can you believe they’re interest rate is only 5%? That means for every $1,000 dollars borrowed on a 30 year loan, the monthly payment would be a mouse sized $5 per month. A $300,000 mortgage payment would only be $1,500 a month in principal and interest. People can afford to buy homes they only dreamed about when rates were higher and appreciation soared.
Fuzzy: We sell homes for Top Dollar.
Focused: We sell homes for Top Dollar. That saying is cliche’. To separate the bullshit artist from the performers, take a look at the track record for the Original List Price to Sold Price Percentage. Our firm is averaging 96.5%, which is higher than our competitors and the MLS average of 94.5%. Take a look at this graph. What this means is that with an average sold price in our market of $332,094, a 2% difference would equal over $6,000 in net proceeds for the seller. Take a look at this chart*.
Fuzzy: The Federal Bailout only costs $700 Billion.
Focused: The Federal Bailout only costs $700 Billion. If paid back at a hefty rate of $1 Million per day, it would take 1,923 years to pay it back. That’s with no interest.
Fuzzy: Today we’re going to look at 8 homes.
Focused: I spent yesterday afternoon doing research for our house hunt. There were 38 homes that fell into your price range and general criteria. I eliminated 8 of them because they backed to a busy street, which you didn’t want. I whacked 7 of them because you want a master-up and these were down. 12 didn’t have a pool and 4 have dated kitchens, which you hate. So that leaves us with 8 homes that closely match all the things you want. I have these two here I wasn’t sure about, take alook at this information and see if you’d like to include them. [For added context, I'd show them the individual printouts of the eliminated homes, with a big red Sharpie slash through them.*]
Fuzzy: We sell homes fast.
Focused: We sell homes fast, with favorable terms. The Average Number Of Days On Market (DOM) for all Active Listing Inventory in The Woodlands is 127 days. In our market, The Woodlands TX, the DOM for sold listing average 87 days. Our average is 79 DOM. Here’s a printed chart comparing our Average DOM to our competitors*.
*NOTE: Generally speaking, we believe less about what sales person “tells us” and more about what a sales person “shows us”. Anytime we can use third party proof, we should.
Clarity Creates Understanding
Including context makes an otherwise featherweight message heavywieght with meaning. Meaning leads to understanding.
Understanding Creates Trust
When we understand, we’re more likely to trust the message or the messenger.
Lack of trust blunts our ability to connect and retards progress. In some cases, lack of trust prevents progress completely. In worst case scenarios, lack of clarity and trust causes people to runaway from, avoid and or, ignore the messenger.
Trust Attracts
Our subconscious radar is keenly tuned to detect bull-shit, we ping constantly for suspicion, cynicism, doubt and uncertainty. We are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages a day. Generally we ignore the common, avoid the uncertain and shun the unsafe. As sales people, if what we share is perceived as common, uncertain or unsafe, we’re in BIG trouble.
We’re attracted to people and things that ring safe. We’re attracted to people and things we trust. We buy things and hire people we trust. We also share, refer and recommend trustworthy things and people to other people we trust.
Context Conversion
Including context in your marketing messages isn’t that difficult. Don’t get me wrong, it takes effort and commitment, but it’s not hard, it a matter of execution and habit.
Here’s A Simple 5 Step Process
- Evaluate your marketing messages. Examine what you write, what you say, how you present, how you market and advertise.
- Look for the loosely defined and fuzzily described.
- Figure out how and where to add context.
- Add context.
- Re-create, Re-Launch, Re-Engage and reap the rewards Context > Clarity > Understanding > Trust > Attraction > Employment and Referral Recommendation.
Get Crack’n & Share
Good luck. Get started today. Share this with a friend and if you have some tips on how you sprinkle your marketing message with Context, we’d love you even more if you’d leave you gift in the comments.
Cheers and thanks for reading.
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Consumerism, Geo-mapping columnist
Marketing columnist
Good Stuff as always Ken. I’m sharing this with the other agents in my office!
Best,
Erin
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Thanks. Glad you found it helpful. Cheers and Happy Holidays:-)
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Ken, cliches don’t make money or explain a darn thing. They are passed over. You gave some great illustrations on how to build trust.
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Good point Missy, TRUST is the straw that stirs the drink, and the ice cubes and the mixer and the al-ka-doll, I guess we’re the glass and our SOE is the party. Who’s thirsty? Thanks for the compliment and cheers for a Merry Christmas.
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Your problem is you are correct!
I only say that because there are too many people that believe the simple things out there and get bamboozled by bad agents.
But, we have to keep on pushing the truth!
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Amen Fred, the “truth” will set you free, the days of BS, sucking up, posing and generally being faux are bye-bye, if you want to succeed anyway. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
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I love the post and the concept. Now, Ken-to-Ken, your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to explain how you can get from Context to Trust in 60 seconds. That’s about how much time any of us have to get through to someone before their eyes glaze over and they get bored.
Oh, can I really use words like “bullshit” and “whacked”. I’d love to.
Merry Christmas, Ken!
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60 seconds from Context To Trust. You know what? I think it happens that fast. The in-between stuff; clarity and understanding is the subconscious connecting the nano-dots. Add context, not just the good, but the bad and ugly, people will respond positively.
As for bullshit, whacked, WTH, crap sandwich, douche bag, etc., most definitely use the correct words (sparingly), it’s surprising and therefore attracts interest and makes you Top Of Mind Awareness sticky.
Of course, avoid overuse and unnatural adjectives, verbs and nouns, doing so is viewed as crass-punk-ass-grand-standing and generally being a “dick”, which of course is counter productive and self destructive.
Merry Christmas to you too Ken.
PS. Have I ever told you what a cool name you have?
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Well said, Ken. Educating clients with facts and clarity is as important as educating ourselves. Too many people in sales spew so much bull they can no longer discern the truth themselves. My grandfather used to say, “If you are going to throw around a lot of bull, you’d better wear galoshes.”
Ha, yeah, sometimes the galoshes need to be hip-waders. Cheers Gwen;-)
Damn Ken. This was solid solid. Thanks. As more agents become content creators posts like this message should resonate stronger and wider…
I’m gonna plug it to me list
[Plus "bullshit" and "douchebag" certainly make for a more trustworthy read imo... Who can trust anyone who doesn't use these words regularly?]
Thanks Ryan. And, Damn-Straight, when someone is pristinely correct and poofy-proper…you gotta wonder?
Cheers and Merry Christmas
I enjoy it whenever I can use the word “douchebag”. ‘Tis one of my faves.
Yeah, me too. It sorta rolls of the tongue and makes you laugh-inside when you say it. I think the same thing when I call something a crap-sandwich.
Merry Christmas to you. Cheers
Ken,
You peggged this 21-year Navy man between the eyes with your bullshit, woke me up, got me FOCUSED!
I certainly liked: “Anytime we can use third party proof, we should.” This solidifies your place as the market expert, especially when you show cause and effect…. As you can see (from the chart provided), the increasing inventory of homes in that area has pushed prices down, and Days On the Market is up, if you want to sell, you’ll have to price ahead of the market….
Navy Chief, Navy Pride
I am going to start reading what you have to say not sure I understand everything. Have to get into this blogging and twitter stuff.