The Secret of Differentiating Yourself

by | Apr 9, 2025

Many of you who read Insight every day are trying to build teams, offices, and companies inside the insanely competitive real estate industry.

From a recruiting perspective, it’s harder than ever to separate yourself from competitors based on traditional features and benefits.

So, how do you differentiate yourself?

To find the answer, I encourage you to set aside some time to listen to Marcia Kilgore’s story.

This is a long podcast (58 minutes), so you might want to save it for when you’re driving or working out.

Marcia was the founder of Bliss, and over an 11-year period she differentiated her company in the ultra-competitive world of skincare services.

She had to answer the question:  What is the real difference between a facial given by one esthetician and the next?

By successfully answering this question, she went on to sell Bliss for over $70M and then founded 5 more companies.

You’ll be inspired by this story, and you’ll also pick up some ideas on how to differentiate yourself in a competitive marketplace.

One thing is true–you can’t just do what everyone is doing and hope for the best.

You must be different.

 

The Simple Psychology of Real Estate Recruiting [2nd Edition]

Unlock the secrets of effective real estate recruiting. Revised to include actionable frameworks for sharper execution and to help you turn psychological theory into a repeatable recruiting system.

Find a Struggle to Share

Find a Struggle to Share

If you want to connect with someone beyond the surface level, find something they’re struggling with and share in their pain.
Authors Chip and Dan Heath describe how this works:
One study found that when strangers were asked to perform a painful task together—in one case, submerging their hands in tubs of ice water to perform a sorting task—they felt a greater sense of bonding than did strangers who had performed the same task in room temperature water.
This bonding happened even though the task was pointless.