Say No To Great Ideas

In my current job, I work with Real Estate agents. For those of you who do not know, Realtors are probably the most marketed to demographic in the country. Their job is almost 100% entrepreneurial, and there is enough money in it to make them an attractive ideal customer. However there are so many ways to find and convert customers, that is gets to be overwhelming.

Off the top of my head, I can probably name 20 social media strategies ALONE that could get a real estate agent customers. That does not count networking, cold calling, physical marketing, email marketing, door-to-door strategies, paying for leads, or contacting their sphere of influence.

This puts many real estate agents in a very tough position. What is “the best” way.

The sad reality is there is no “best”. That is like asking the best pant size. It comes down to the individual.

So how do you figure out what is the right customer acquisition strategy if you are in real estate. The sad truth is many don’t. They often either try to do everything at once and burn out or end up paying a ton of money for leads when they do not have to.

Here is the thing about real estate sales and sales overall. You don’t have to be great at everything. You simply have to be the best at one thing.

In Good to Great by Jim Collins, he describes what he calls the hedgehog concept. You see hedgehogs are at the bottom of the food chain, and many predators want to eat them. The hedge hog does not have a million ways to evade an enemy. They have one. They curl up into a ball so their spines are pointed out, making them nearly impossible to eat.

That is it. No super speed or poison barbs. They don’t puff up to intimidate their predator. They simply curl up in a ball until the fox gets bored and leaves.

The key is to learn what your hedgehog concept is. This is broken down into three things.

1) What you are passionate about.

2) What can you be the best at. (Not great, the best)

3) What makes you money

Without having all three of these criteria met, you will always have a tough time. And once you figure out what these three things are, your job is to stay committed to them and avoid distractions.

You are going to have to say no to good ideas. Hell, you are going to have to say no to great ideas. The key is to avoid any of them if they do not fit these three criteria.

Remember, the man who chases two rabbits catches none. Figure out what you can be better than anyone else at and stay the course.