As appraisers, we get a lot of things right, but we often fail on how we present ourselves.
“I’m an appraiser” is a one-dimensional description that limits your respect, income potential, influence and relevancy.
Communicate your value with clarity.
We know how to order, create and review appraisals like nobody’s business. We’re the best at it, hands down. When it comes to the valuation, nobody’s better.
So why is the market’s perception of valuational professionals so limited? Part of the problem is that our product is viewed as a “have to have” versus “I really need”.
Clay Hebert is a marketing and branding strategist who sums it up succinctly.
“Poorly explaining what we do is our most frequent mistake.”
Clay teaches us that, “The goal of any conversation is real, human connection.”
Why do we get introductions wrong?
- We never were taught
- We were taught poorly
- We believe the three myths
3 Myths of Introductions
Myth No. 1: it’s about you.
Reality: No it’s not, it’s about who you help and why.
Myth No. 2 it should be 100% complete.
Reality: Nope, don’t kitchen sink it…it also should be interesting.
Myth No. 3 it should be 100% accurate.
Reality: Don’t be boring, be confident.
We’re more than report makers
Google answers our brand with:
A commercial real estate appraiser is tasked with determining a property’s value through extensive research and analysis. Appraisers gather comprehensive information about a property and generate a detailed commercial appraisal report.
Zzz…BORING!
Google’s description may be what we do, but it doesn’t describe a business outcome, a meaningful benefit, often having a significant financial impact.
The Perfect Intros for fee appraisers
- “I provide confidence to our clients.”
- “I’m like a sharp shooter, only with real estate values.”
- “I turn data into real estate investment decisions.”
The Perfect Intros for chief appraisers
- “I help our bank make good loans with workflow software.”
- “I’m like a firefighter, saving our bank from bad loans.”
- “I turn appraisal ordering into an art.”
Do, Achieve or Become
Achieving a goal also includes how you help your clients do, achieve or become something. So with DataComp Suite, we facilitate commercial appraisers “do”ing more (and better) appraisals with a comp database, report writing and workflow. YouConnect, our appraisal and environmental ordering platform, allows chief appraisers to “do” (or handle) high appraisal volume with confidence.
Gain Operational Efficiencies
The “becoming” for chief appraisers may vary. For example, Bob Clark, Chief Appraiser of Pacific Western Bank, was looking to “become” more productive by gaining operational efficiencies by conversion from RIMS to YouConnect and at the same time, improve operation’s between his West Coast and East Coast staff.
Bob’s becoming story:
“The switch from RIMS was seamless and there was no loss of production going with YouConnect. West Coast was less stressed and was getting more done. The move to YouConnect allowed the East Coast to align with the West Coast organizational structure. YouConnect has made life better for everyone. We had to do the RIMS conversion to bring efficiencies.”
Cody Jetton, MAI, CRE is CEO of the Mearstone Group appraisal firm in North Carolina. Cody gained operational efficiencies with Edge report writing. Moving away from the old-school typing over old Word docs had a great business outcome for Cody’s firm.
Cody’s becoming story:
“Edge allowed me to have more confidence with my appraisers, especially the trainees since all they had to do was follow the script. I had a feeling of progress as I automated my reports that were not only faster, but the reports got better with fewer mistakes. The better quality reports helped me retain clients and compete like a national.”
Elevate Our Industry
If your message isn’t repeatable, then it’s not sharable. If it’s not sharable, it doesn’t spread.
Appraisers get a lot of things right except introducing ourselves. Let’s change that.
Did you get my message?
