Why People Are Scared Of Innovation.
I run a company trying to sell new things to a traditional industry. I’ll be honest: It’s far from a walk in the park.
Why? Because we sell something different, unfamiliar, innovative. And all those things are associated with change, which is associated with loss – Ask a room full of people to change their appearance in 5 seconds, and the majority of them will remove a scarf, a hat, a shoe. Very few will add something.
Despite most of us advocating exciting technology and change, many people avoid being the first to adopt it. It is hard to give up something that made you successful in the past, in exchange for something that is not guaranteed to work.
The human brain is wired to avoid pain rather than seek rewards.
As humans, we are scared to embrace ‘new’ due to the fear of losing what originally made us successful – many people believe that what worked then will work in the future.
But the world we started business in has changed. The choices we made then were based on things we knew then. Now we know more.
But it is this safe haven of ‘business as usual’ which is holding many of us back from embracing the most exciting companies/products/possibilities hitting the industry. Today we live in a hyper-paced business environment where we cannot afford to be looking backwards; we must prepare to adapt.
It still surprises me how many agents are blind to the real value of social media and resist technology to help them harness it. It is no secret that the estate agency industry is challenged by online alternatives picking up speed, yet many businesses choose to resist products that can help them not just survive, but thrive.
And I don’t blame them. The industry has been stung by companies promising the world and failing to deliver. But if we never try, how do we expect to prosper in the future?
Choosing to do nothing is to stand still, which in this world means moving backwards.
Fear prevents progress, that is, before others try things for us. Then we happily jump off the fence and move from skeptic to advocate. But we need to ask ourselves, what are we afraid of in the first place? Surely slipping into irrelevance is far worse a fate?
At Propertyflock we provide estate agents with free software that makes social media a more worthwhile and less time consuming task. Find out more at: www.propertyflock.co.uk
Image Source (edited): Flickr / CC BY 2.0
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