Skip to main content

Individual Value Trumps Group Opinion


When my friend was in college, he minored in English and enrolled in a course called “Feminist Literature” (don’t worry, we’re not about to get political, I promise), which was taught by a very outspoken and intelligent professor who polarized the small university community.  On the first day of class, the professor introduced herself and welcomed everyone to the new semester, and then she handed out the reading list for the course.  As the professor was giving an overview of what she wanted the students to take away from her course, my friend started scanning the reading list.  The authors and their subjects didn’t surprise him in the least – he went into this happily and with eyes wide open.  What made him do a double take, though, was the sheer number of books he and the rest of the class were going to be required to read fully and be prepared to discuss at length and cover in exams.  At that moment, he knew he was going to need to make a beeline to the administration building after class and withdraw from the course – there was no way he would be able to pass all his other courses if he devoted the time needed in this one.

The professor then asked that they go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves and tell the class why they chose to take this course.  She started on the opposite side of the room, so it gave my friend time to get a feel for his classmates and see if there was a slim chance that he could convince himself to stick it out.  The class was composed of about thirty students with four of them (including my friend) being male.  Almost every single person who introduced her or himself gave a very (I’m using his term) “brown nose” answer to why they chose to take this course – everyone was clearly in love with this professor and the idea that they were taking this course to “rebel” against the conservative nature that pervaded the small university he was attending.  The funny thing was he also noticed that each time a student sort of professed her/his love for the professor’s daring nature, the professor had a look on her face that could be interpreted as stoically pleased or slightly perturbed. 

At long last, it fell to my friend to introduce himself and tell the class why he had chosen to take this course.  Still not quite sure what the professor’s “look” was telling him, he decided to gamble by just introducing himself and then going silent.  As the next student was eager to introduce herself and was about to launch into her story, the professor stopped her and asked why my friend was taking this course.  He smiled and took his time to look around the room and make eye contact with as many of the female students as he could and then said, “Because I’m looking for dates.”  Amid a few groans and some stifled laughter, he looked up at the professor and noticed that his gamble paid off: she smiled and openly laughed – she valued sense of humor over blind servitude.

He had decided to withdraw from the class (the “brown nose” classmates clinched it for him), and he knew that in the future he might cross paths again with that professor in another course.  He figured if the professor remembered him, and remembered him positively, that would bode well for him.  Even if she hadn’t found it funny, he figured it would be a lot easier to reason and work things out with one person than a group of them.  (And he already had a girlfriend who would become his wife, so dates weren’t something he needed.)

In the real estate/mortgage world, it’s all about focusing on the single person rather than the group.  If you’re someone who is looking to purchase a home, it’s important to focus on yourself (and your goal) by foregoing an occasional night out at the bar with the group so you can save for a down payment – the group won’t be buying the house for you.  For us on the business side of things, it’s a sad day when you ask someone if they can name the agent and the lender who helped them buy their first house, and their response is, “I remember he/she was with X Company, but I couldn’t tell you his/her name.”  When that happens to you, you’ve been lumped into a sad group, and that group isn’t going to help you get new business.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Numbers Don't Lie, But Wherein Lies the Truth? (Posted November 21, 2016)

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 u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dumb as (or Smart as) a Box of Rocks (Posted June 27, 2016)

Obviously, you all want to know what Brexit means to the economy and the housing market specifically.   So do I!   But since my crystal ball is at the cleaner’s, let’s give the Brits and the European Union a little time to work out the terms of their separation and look at something else.   What’s a “fad ”?   With the help of Google, this is what I got as a definition: “an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze.” In April 1975, an advertising executive by the name of Gary Dahl invented the Pet Rock.   The idea came from his sitting in a bar with some friends who were complaining about the cost and time required to take care of various types of pets.   He marketed his “pets” by placing a rock in a box cut and shaped like one you would get at the pet store to carry home a puppy or a kitten.   Along with the box and the rock, a booklet was included...
Post a Comment
Read more

Left Behind (Posted April 4, 2016)

It’s highly likely that almost every single one of you already read the Yahoo! Finance article about the survey that Chase recently completed.   For the seven people who decided to take a nap under a rock last week, I’m going to share some of the major talking points here – the rest of you can step away and have an ice cream or paint your cat’s toenails.   First off, the survey shows that an ALARMING 68% of Americans are starting the home search on their own (gasp!) with 45% using a computer or laptop (as opposed to some other type of technologically advanced processor like a microwave oven) as the first step in this search and 13% using their mobile devices.   (In other related news from the Department of the Obvious, scientists have found that fish still have no use of a bicycle and looking directly at the sun is inadvisable.)   With numbers like these, we should just throw in the towel and join the circus, right?   Here’s the weird thing: in the ...
Post a Comment
Read more