Said
with enough conviction, you can make almost anything sound true. Preface the fabrication with “according to a
recent bi-partisan government study,” and you’re three quarters of the way to
selling the lie to a lot of people.
Seriously, try this.
The
next time you’re at a dinner party or having coffee with friends, pepper this
little tidbit into the conversation: “I read something really interesting the
other day. According to a recent
bi-partisan government study –
I think it took them three years to get it all done –
middle-aged men who drive either a Toyota Camry or a Honda Odyssey have more
testosterone than younger men who drive either a Ford F150 or a Dodge
Charger.” You’ll get some raised
eyebrows and looks of mild disbelief, but don’t let that deter you. Just lift up your hands, palms outward, and
say, “I just think it’s interesting, and it makes sense when you think about
it” –
and then change the subject to something completely unrelated. Guaranteed, your friends will repeat what you
said in another setting no more than two or three days later: at the office,
standing in line at the grocery store, overthrowing a Marxist regime in a
third-world country, etc. It’ll take on
a life of its own, believe me.
In
the real estate and mortgage world, we’re driven by data –
and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
We want to be sure we’re spending our time and resources wisely, so we
want to know what’s been proven successful and where the next trend is going to
take us. However, we have to be careful
how we receive and interpret that data –
it behooves us to do some digging and get to the heart of whatever piece of
information is being shared with us.
Here’s an example –
and it’s true:
• A
study conducted this summer revealed that an overwhelming majority of a
person’s “digital time” is spent on a mobile device (smart phone).
If
you took that at face value –
there’s nothing false in what was stated –
that might lead you to believe that you should devote all your marketing budget
to mobile devices or that you should spend all your time house hunting only on
your phone. Before you do anything
hasty, here’s the statistic in its full-blown glory:
• A
study conducted this summer revealed that 57% of a person’s “digital time” is
spent on a mobile device with 32% spent on a computer and 11% spent on a
tablet.
Nothing
in the first statement was false or even misleading. A “majority” simply means the bigger half –
the use of the adjective “overwhelming” is simple poetic license. However, if you took that statement to mean
that you’re wasting your time on anything other than mobile devices, you’re
cutting yourself out of exercising 43%
of your options. If I’m an agent, I’d
rather have 100 potential clients than just 57.
If I’m looking to buy or sell my home, I’d rather have an agent who
reaches 100 people than just 57.
For
example, whether you’re an agent or a client, telling someone that you won’t
entertain a VA loan offer because “they’re too complicated” or “they take too
long”, you’re cutting out a large number of potential buyers –
and you’ve obviously had a bad experience with the wrong lender because neither
of those reasons is remotely true.
There’s something to be said for the old saying, “You can’t be
everything to everyone.” However, the
more options you make available to yourself, the better off you’ll be. That’s simple logic –
and you don’t need a bi-partisan government study to tell you that.
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