Travel agents… gone.
Stock brokers… gone.
Real estate brokers… in trouble. Photographer’s agents, too.
Literary agents?
The
problem with being a helpful, efficient but largely anonymous middleman
is pretty obvious. Someone can come along who is cheaper, faster and
more efficient. And that someone might be the customer aided by a
computer.
The airlines don’t want to pay travel agents, because
the travel agents were making more money on each flight than they were.
Some house sellers hesitate to pay real estate brokers because they
don’t believe the 6% payment is an opportunity. They see it as a tax.
Investors abandoned full service stock brokers because trading stocks
directly is faster and more accurate than using the phone.
Middlemen
add value when they bring taste or judgment or trust to bear on a
transaction that isn’t transparent. Literary agents are crucial when
publishers believe that their choice of content is essential but have
too many choices and too little time. But publishers don’t trust every
literary agent. They trust agents they believe in. Key point: anonymous agents are interchangeable and virtually worthless.
Agents that don’t do anything but help one side find the other side in
a human approximation of Google aren’t so helpful any more.
Think
about how anonymous the typical real estate broker is. He will sell
almost any house or represent almost any buyer. When selling a house,
he has a fiduciary responsibility to represent that house to the best
of his ability. Just like every other broker. The great real estate
brokers do far more than this.
Travel agents still survive, but
in a very different way than they used to. Now, the best ones are paid
by the traveler, not the airline. The best ones provide a
differentiated service that is worth paying for. Instead of being
middlemen, then, they are the front men, the attraction, a key asset to
the traveler.
To thrive in a world of self-service, agents have
to hyperspecialize, have to stand for something, have to have the guts
to say no far more than they say yes. No, you can’t publish this book.
No I won’t represent you. No, don’t take that flight. No, I won’t sell
this house, it’s overpriced, list it yourself.
The second thing
agents must do to make a smart transition is to consider who they are
selling to. Should talent agents only sell to Hollywood? Literary
agents only to book publishers? Should ad agencies specialize in Google
Adwords, not just Super Bowl spots? When markets change, agents can
lead the way, not follow along grudgingly.
(Image source: jluix.com)
