Over the holidays my wife and I were invited to our daughter and son-in-laws home for dinner.  He is also my dentist and he has a brother-in-law in California who I thought was also a dentist but discovered he is an ondontist.  A discussion emerged about root canals. 

I was aware that my son-in-law can perform root canals and was interested to know if there was any difference.  He explained that his brother-in-law was a specialist in root canals and that was the only dentistry he practiced.   

I asked if that meant his brother-in-law was better at root canals than he.  He smiled and indicated yes, an ondontist is better at root canals because that is all they do.  Then he assured me that if I needed a root canal I need not go to California to get one.  He was confident that he could handle it.  I laughed and asked, “but an ondontist could do a better job, right?”

I was not aware there was such a speciality that excluded other dental procedures.  He laughed and said it’s kind of like what you do in real estate.  Any real estate person can help people buy or sell real estate.  But your practice is a speciality.  You only help people buy real estate and if I understand it properly, you don’t sell properties because you to focus only on the buying side.

I laughed and asked, so if you were in real estate and I was a specialist in home buying would you agree that my speciality compared to your generalist approach is better?  He was adamant about the fact that any specialist brings more to the table than a generalist.

I left their home affirmed in my exclusive buyer broker approach in real estate.  I was affirmed as a specialist.  That, along with the wine and great food made that holiday dinner memorable.

If you want a root canal find an ondontist.  If you want to buy a home, find an EBA.