Steve Jobs’ taught us so much about life and business over the years, but can those of us who don’t work in the tech sector really apply his philosophies? Let’s extrapolate one of his principles, and apply it Real Estate to find out!
How does one single man accomplish what Steve Jobs accomplished. It is almost blasphemous to think that one can do what he did! Starting with nothing except a mantra of “focus and simplicity” he not only created a business empire (Apple), and an animation powerhouse (Pixar), but he set the world on fire with a hunger for more!
He understood that humans, as intellectual beings, are predisposed to asking “why can’t I do this?” And he taught us the answer is “you can!” Jobs taught us about life, and he showed us how to live it. He battled his terminal cancer with the tenacity of a Gladiator, and never once complained. He captured our hearts, and our minds, all the while pushing us to be better. To go outside the box. To push the limits. To never stop innovating. Steve Jobs was an inspiration to us all, to say the least.
One of the most amazing aspects of Steve Jobs’ life was his ability to give the consumer what they wanted before they knew that they wanted it. We can sit around and hypothesize all day on how he was able to get inside our heads and understand our desires, but I think he put it best in this excerpt from an interview with Playboy Magazine in 1985:
“We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build. When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”
My father once told me, that when it comes to choosing a company to invest in, “all you have to do is find a product that you like and believe in, and then buy that company’s stock”. The underlying principle in this statement is that all consumers are similar; and by identifying what we want, we can know what most people want. I believe that Jobs had a profound understanding of what he wanted from his products; and by fulfilling his own desires he was fulfilling the desires of consumers world-wide.
This same principle can be applied to every type of business, but when applied to a consumer driven industry such as real estate we can really learn a lot. So often the only concern of a real estate agent is getting the deal done. After all if they don’t close sales then they do not get paid. For this reason agents have gotten a very bad reputation for being pushy, and artificial. A reputation that is ultimately devastating to the most crucial skill a real estate agent must possess: the ability to foster a trust based relationship.
So how does one create a trust based relationship with their client? Simply being honest is not good enough. We must go one step further. By applying Jobs’ principle of “knowing what you want, and then delivering that to your clients” we can create a mutually beneficial scenario. One in which the client gets what they want, and we get the deal closed.
The “knowing what you want, and delivering it to your clients” principle, in practice, should be executed exactly as it sounds. For example:
Let’s say you have a buyer who is looking for a 3-bedroom house in Southern California, in the price range of $350k. You should act as if you were the buyer. Find a city/neighborhood you would want to buy in. Find a property that matches their criteria, that you would buy. Most importantly find a deal for your client at $350k that you would buy if you had the $350k.
As “experts” in real estate we intrinsically know what to look for. We know that a larger house in one neighborhood is not as good of an investment as a smaller house in another neighborhood. We know that the difference of one block can separate your client’s kids from going to good public school system, versus a weak public school system. We know that while one property may have the need for a little TLC, the land value alone makes it more valuable than that brand new track house a mile away. Ultimately we know a good investment, and while it may take a little longer to find that good investment for your client the reward is tenfold.
So find the product that you would want, were you in their shoes, and deliver it to them. By doing this we can ensure that our clients are satisfied; and the power of word of mouth advertising/referrals should not be underestimated. It is easy to tell when someone believes in what they are selling, and it is never easier to sell something than when you believe in it. Steve Jobs knew this, and by adhering to this principle he turned a world of consumers into a world of clients.
John is the Vice President here at JohnHart, and as such is responsible for managing and directing the firm towards obtaining its ultimate goals.
He is also one of our main contributors on the Blog. (please see his profile page on the main site for more information.)
“You had me at hellow” but lost me n the end.
I agree with much of what you say and do certainly think one of Steve Job’s geniuos’ has been his ability to give something to people they did not even know they wanted.
While some of that does carry to real estate, the one thing missing in your article is that real estate agents really NEED to listen tothe wants andneeds of their clients and THEN translate that into showing them the best opportunities FOR THEM (which may not be anything you would ever consider buying).
Nevertheless,your sense that we can all learn a great deal from Steve Jobs is true and I think it will be for decades to come.
When we talk about giving the consumer what they want (in real estate) I think we should examine exactly how we want our communication, the things we actually would want an agent to do for us, proof that the agent was listening to us, and treat us as WE would want to be treated. Agents are often known to say–“superiour service, or the best service”–what does that really mean? What do our clients want? We need to have their back and let them know it.
Thank you both for the feedback!
Vito, I appreciate your feedback, however you are misinterpreting what is being said. We are not saying that you should sell you client a property that you want, based on you own criteria and wants; we are saying that you should act as if you were your clients. Take the criteria that they are looking for and find a property that matches what they want, but that you would buy if you were them. By doing so you will be able to find the best deal for your clients, and fulfill their wants and needs.