POWER TO CONVENE
In Chapter 4, I explain that agents can develop and use their “power to convene” to become more dominant in their market. Technically, the power to convene is a right given to the President of the United States by the Constitution for the purpose of forcing Congress into session, presumably in a time of war. Informally, I have used this phrase to encourage agents to invite prospects and clients to take part in a customized, interactive event.
Ultimately, using your power to convene reveals your brand equity. If you invite a prospect to a sporting event, or hold a market update webinar, or throw a party the night before a trade conference – and the prospects and clients show up – you have brand equity. These people are “voting with their feet.” They have moved toward you upon your ask. They want to be with you.
There are three points I want to make now that I wish I had made more forcefully in the book:
- When you engage people in these interactive events, you learn things that you would never learn in a prospecting call. The invitee is relaxed, and appreciative of being included. They’ve made the decision to participate, and now they make the decision to share their status, concerns, questions, anecdotes, perspectives, family details and feedback with you.
- The time, money, and effort you put into these convening events often has dramatic return on investment. Because you are getting high quality time and sharing a wide range of ideas, an agent often walks away with an assignment. One agent took a client to a pro basketball game and earned two listings from the client. I have heard many similar tales.
- Very few agents even think about their power to convene. I polled an audience of 100 CRE agents, before the pandemic, and discovered that less than 5 had taken a client to lunch in the last month! No wonder your efforts to convene your audience are so successful – no one else is doing it.
Want to become dominant in your marketplace? Increase your brand equity? Convene your prospects – and watch what happens. You’ll wonder why you didn’t do this sooner.
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