Selling feelings

Something I’ve been struggling with is the value of a real estate service. When you are a real estate agent and the product is yourself, it's hard to come up with a price.

My absolute biggest fear is getting a complaint from a client who says: “I could’ve done this myself!” This fear, that my service isn’t worth the price, has been a huge mental block for me.

Today I read a chapter of Seth Godin’s book This is Marketing which gave me some great insight to overcome my fear.

Seth says that as a marketer your job isn’t to sell a product. Your job is to sell a feeling. People don’t need a white leather wallet. Many other wallets will suffice to hold their money. The utility of a white leather wallet isn’t what is getting people to buy it. The way someone feels when they own a white leather wallet, the luxurious feeling of owning one, is what drives its demand.

In the same vein, someone doesn't absolutely need a real estate agent to represent them in a property transaction. A real estate agent provides them peace of mind.

What makes my service worth the price is not that my service is better than everyone else's or that my service can't be found anywhere else. What makes my service worth the price is the relief that someone feels knowing they don't need to spend hours looking at homes online or the confidence that someone feels knowing they will move into a new home by the end of the year.