Jul 23, 2009 9
Honesty… Is Such A Lonely Word
But I don’t want some pretty face
to tell me pretty lies.
All I want is someone to believe.- Billy Joel
I had a very interesting conversation with a realtor friend of mine today on the topic of personal branding. She said something like:
You know what phrase I hate the most? “To be honest with you.” Like, what else are you gonna be? And since you’re now going to be honest, does that mean you’ve been lying to me up until now? I never want to tell someone I’m trustworthy; I want them to know that I am some other way.
A recent buyer’s survey I vaguely recall reading (at 2:10AM, I ain’t gonna go look) said that the number one reason why buyers selected an agent was “trustworthiness”. It seems that consumers above all value someone they can trust to look out for their interests in the biggest financial transaction of their lives.
So why does it seem that when one thinks of real estate agents, honesty is rarely the first word that pops into one’s head? (The same goes for, incidentally, marketers….)
Could it be because they (and we marketers) spend so much time telling people that they’re honest and trusthworthy?
