I wonder what John L. Scott's definition of a specialist is?

These "semantic" are just that. And I submit that they dilute rather than uplift the brand. Unless of course…you can prove your specialty. My support of Web 2.0 is that will some finesse and the proper use of technology and 2.0 you most certainly can without giving away the ship.

Right up there with the popular renaming semantic craze in the 80's when garbage men were referred to as sanitation engineers and stupid people as mentally challenged.

Buyers don't buy in a vacuum. They generally must work through a miriad of tradeoffs–square footage versus view, for example. In other words, our goal is to help them make an intelligent decision. It's an education process that often takes weeks, if not months. They're certainly not going to buy a home because we have slick closing techniques. That's actually laughable. In fact, 'technique' with todays more sophisticated consumer is pretty transparent and a turn-off.

My goal has always been to make the client the expert. I can't possibly hope to do that unless I have expertise myself.

Then another aspect of this quasi-sales / quasi-consulting mix is helping clients make decisions that are often counter-intuitive. Now comes the psychology of influence, though distinctly not manipulation. For example, they want to list high so they don't leave money on the table, not realizing how over-pricing is a formula for doing just that–because of the market worn phenomenon; and because the early activity is the best, most motivated activity, etc. Similarly, on the buy-side time is generally not on their side, though today they certianly have reason to believe that it is!

So, it isn't like selling widgets and it's not like being a consultant in the clasic sense. But it is an art (the art of influence) and science (managing and interpreting data) where you where many hats under the umbrella of REALTOR.

Consultant; Executive? It's a semantical jungle. Regardless of what you want to call yourself, my concern in this regard is that when 90% of new agents never renew their license, it's hardly a profession for most. These life-changing, major financial decisions in buying and selling homes are being handled too often by rank amatuers. It's probably a good thing that the 80/20 rule is alive and well and probably more like 90/10!!

A consultant is paid for advice, expertise, knowledge and ideas.

From wikipedia-Often a consultant provides expertise to clients who require a particular type of knowledge or service for a specific period of time, thus providing an economy to the client.

When you have a product that you want the client to use, you are selling, not consulting. Your product is you.

I bet if we asked these guys at 1000 Watt when they are "consulting" that they bring in people from the outside that are experts in what they do.

A real "real estate consultant" would say something like "you know the best thing for you to do is go FSBO. You have a great home, great location, and you are willing to price below market, because you desire a quick sale. My consulting fee will be $350. Best of luck."