Sometimes in life it's hard to understand things. Like what is the difference between something being a commodity and something being imaginative? Simple, commodities are taken for granted and imaginative things become icons or classics or set trends. Now what does all this mean?
Let's take rock n roll for example. During the early 1950's, nobody saw the rising youth market for music as it started to swell up. Before and during the war swing bands were the thing. Sure there were some small offshoots here and there and there was "black music". Then suddenly from Memphis, a swivel hipped young man showed up, then sang and danced his way into history. Imagination made Elvis...Elvis. Being good looking didn't hurt though. Then what happened. Madison Avenue and Hollywood commoditized him and we got Frankie Avalon, Bobbie Vinton, Fabian and anybody else they could throw against the wall to see if they would stick.
Then, the same thing happened with The Beatles. Imagination morphed into The British Invasion and lastly, and ghastly, The Monkees.
So who decided that 440 was the right number? George Carlin once said that while he wasn't looking and without being asked, someone changed toilet paper into bathroom tissue. My question is who set 440 as the de facto standard for the number of sheets on a roll? Who spread the word? Why did every company do the same thing then try to redefine themselves with a cute campaign like, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin". It is so much easier to be identified as unique by being unique. Now Charmin even has a website called enjoy the go to try and be different yet they still sell 440 sheets on a roll. Only Scott offers 1,000 sheets on a roll. Yesterday, when in the grocery store, I did not find any other sizes available. Isn't that odd? Some companies are trying the "green routine" to sell more TP but nobody wants to change the number of sheets.
How about real estate? I would ask the same questions? Who decided that all landscaping is described a s lush? Who decided that every view is spectacular? Who decided that all open houses are Sunday, 1-4? Once you become a commodity the only thing you have going for you is price. Period. This gives way to the discount agent. And I could show you 100 examples of how taking this path leads to a smaller final check when selling. Statistics will certainly bear this out.
When I started in real estate 8 years ago, I joined a company that sells many very large homes and was given a listing that had been in the company inventory for 2 years. During that time, 2 very experienced agents handled it without selling before turning it over to me. A quick analysis of the situation determined we had to do some things different and with only 1% effort I sold the house in one month for a million dollars. The owner of the company called to say nobody sells a million dollar home as their first one. Well, obviously experience wasn't on my side. It was, as GE now says, Imagination at Work.
I guess I'm blessed (or cursed) with looking at things a little differently but I too would like to say Imagination at Work. In 2010, GE sold about $ 150 billion so there's the proof. So if you are trying to sell your home be a leader not a follower. Sometime I'll tell you the story about another creative tool I used to sell a property when others weren't able.
