Highly sought after, rarely seen, yet greatly appreciated when found.

Many claim to practice professionalism within our industries, yet how are you actually perceived by those within your industry? How are you perceived by the consumer, the benefactor of your professionalism?

When something is outside your scope of responsibilities, yet well within the bounds of what the client should expect, how should you respond?

A recent experience caught me watching and examining my interaction with a professional’s support staff to get simple, routine questions answered and meetings scheduled. While the professionals involved are extremely well-versed and knowledgeable in their own niche, their support staff did not portray the level of professionalism I suspect they believe they provide their clients. I certainly struggled to find their professionalism meeting *my* expectations.

Expectation Management

When we speak to a professional’s office, we expect, right or wrong, that they can accomplish things on our behalf because they are the professional in that arena. To hear something less than, “We can get that done,” is disconcerting. Granted, I am not expecting a doctor to square away my tax return; that would be extremely unreasonable of me.

Simply scheduling these meetings, I was told that the person on the phone “did not have the authority” to make the appointment as the scheduler was on vacation. Huh? So, the professional’s office shuts down when a support staffer goes on vacation?

My expectation when I called to set these appointments is that someone who picked up the phone could give me a definitive answer. Nothing changed those expectations, rather they were mismanaged by someone operating outside their work place responsibilities.

Maybe this post is more a gripe than anything else and I should simply expect this level of ‘pass the buck-ism.’ I simply refuse to believe this is the best way for clients to be served.

To steal a seminal line from the Charlton Heston flick, Soylent Green,

“Clients is people!”

We, as people, all want to know that our concerns are being heard and addressed. We also crave being cared for, on some level. When the ‘front line’ of a professional’s office gives off the impression that, “It’s not my job,” what message does that send to the client? To me, it says that my business is not needed there and that I should consider looking elsewhere.

What are you doing to show your clients and people that depend on your knowledge, that you hear their concerns and will do all that you can to address them?

The Power of Word of Mouth (WOM) Marketing from Eric Bryn on Vimeo.

Brian Boero of 1000WattConusulting has an “off the beaten path” post on the bizarro world that is social media.

The money quote, for me:

This social media thing was made for real estate.

But does it feel to you like real estate has really nailed it?  It doesn’t to me…

There are lots of reasons why. The details are less important than some of the faulty assumptions driving them:

• That hundreds of thousands of under-experienced practitioners could play effectively on a platform that rewards substance

• That the social media opportunity would get bigger the easier it got to participate

• That social media marketing could be sensibly peddled to agents by many of the same folks who convinced them that haranguing their friends and neighbors with scripts was a good idea

Right there is the rub…Are you in real estate to earn a living, change lives or be friends?  And this doesn’t apply merely to real estate!  If you are in any kind of business for yourself, and you are utilizing social media, you need to be asking yourself, “Why, how, & how much?”

Why, How & How Much?

Ok, so this is pretty much like touching the third rail of politics, Social Security.  Once the folks in the swamp even breathe that they are going to ‘reform’ social security, the rails come off their individual races for re-election…In other words, folks get all hyperventilated when someone begins taking on their beloved program.

Why are you using social media for your business?  Is the aim to get more business?  Presuming the answer is yes, what is your strategy?  Do you even have a strategy?

I stand by my analogy of social media as a giant Chamber of Commerce networking event.  To make good use of your time at the networking event, you arrive with one of two objectives: meet 3 folks that you need to “round out” your business network, or give away X number of business cards while having meaningful conversations.

If you are going to engage the SocNets for your business, you better have a strategy, or at least a well-thought out plan of utilizing the services provided.  Otherwise, you run the risk of wasting a lot of time and money or entirely trashing your business’ reputation online… and Google’s memory is greater than an elephant’s!

How are you using social media? See where that strategy thing might come in handy?  Are you simply spewing links about your business and incessantly talking about your business?  Do YOU like ‘talking’ with people like this in meat space?

When you throw a party, you really shouldn’t, as the great host you are, usher people into your dining room, whip out the white board and hard sell your product to your guests.  They are all there for a party.  And a party is about getting to know each other and enjoying each others company.  The same holds true on the SocNets.  It is about creating meaningful connections, relationships.

How much time and/or money are you spending on the social media side of your business?

• Social media marketing costs just as much or more than “traditional” marketing. You’re going to need to spend a lot more in time and spend your money in different places. On a marketing director with great writing skills, for example. Or a video producer who can do right by you. Social media needs to be treated with the same care that big newspaper ad contract received back in the day if you want results.

Brian hits it out of the park with this point ALONE!  Real estate agents have positively flocked to social media as a panacea to their lack of a marketing strategy (dang! There’s that word again…).  They’ve heard or been sold a bill of goods that says, “Get online and all your problems are solved.”  Truth is, getting online will only magnify the positives, or negatives, that your business currently has.  Seeing as many agents don’t operate with a business plan, this social media “strategy” has the double-plus, ungood effect of showing their marketplace they have no business plan, marketing plan or strategy.

Harsh Words…

Yep.  Reality can be that way.  This is not to suggest that folks practicing real estate or social media “the unapproved” way can’t be successful.  Far from it.  I simply posit that the majority of real estate agents, and folks using social media for their businesses, have no idea the damage they can do by “playing around” on the SocNets without a clear strategy.

Information/data is the new economy.  How are you using your information/data?

One thing that I remember, constantly, as I interact online is: “My grandkids will be able to see what gramps was like in the early aughts.”  Can you see how this thought can apply to your business too?

Hat tip to @heyamaretto for this awesome listing…Might be outside her marketplace, but there is something to be said for spreading the marketing far and wide…

“…infestation by flying monkeys”

Joseph Ferrara is one of those rare characters you get the opportunity to meet once in a while in your life.  He shown a great grasp of real estate marketing and how it’s driven by the end-user.  Writing for Inman, he pens, er… bangs out this post on MARS, “mobile augmented reality systems.”

Two money quotes from the article:

The MARS user can access and visualize data that is tied to their physical location and environment…

Imagine walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City and getting a guided tour, courtesy of your iPhone. Unlike virtual reality, which seeks to replace the real world, MARS supplements it. This is not the future. MARS is here.

Ok, see, this type of melding of digital information on top of our physical world is truly exciting to me.  I recently finished re-reading a book by Vernor Vinge, titled “Rainbows End,” that sets

The concept of wearable computers and instantaneous access to data to overlay on our “physical” sight/location is intriguing and exciting.  Instead of diving for the iPhone or BlackBerry to figure out where the closest pizza joint is, you would be able to get step by step directions, menus, reviews, tips and likely be able to order your meal enroute.

As real estate agents, we generate a LOT of information.  Being able to search and analyze that information has become increasingly important to the real estate transaction.  With nearly 90% of the home buyers utilizing the internet, at some point in the purchase process, it is important for our information to be out there.

It is becoming even more important that the information is user friendly and easily accessible.

What about Real Estate Marketing and Information?

A few years back while taking a Certified Commercial Investment Member class, one of the instructors was admonishing the students that the next step in COMMERCIAL real estate marketing would be something very similar to MARS.  In fact, the instructor was talking about a demo he’d seen where Chicago had been recreated in 3D within Google Earth.  Commercial RE brokers, within this 3d Chicago, could “hang” for sale/lease signs on individual suites in the buildings downtown and that if the user decided to look at suite 325, they could simply “fly” into and through the unit…a virtual showing, if you will.

The possibilities for real estate, commercial or residential, are mind blowing.  Can you imagine the marketing you could do with your current marketing efforts.  You could easily organize your high resolution photos, full-motion video and room by room descriptions to take advantage of a MARS.  Some keyword marketing, paid and organic, coupled with some QR tags on signs and fliers and you’ll dominate the up and coming real estate consumer in your marketplace.

Imagine a prospective buyer sees your listing as they drive by.  They could scan the QR code or simply access the real estate layer of the MARS in that neighborhood and see all your listing has to offer.  Almost like doing an open house 24/7!

A Glimpse of the Near Future

]]> http://toddwaller.com/2009/09/the-future-of-real-estate-marketing-now/feed/ 0 http://toddwaller.com/2009/09/7-reasons-you-shouldnt-read-this-post/ http://toddwaller.com/2009/09/7-reasons-you-shouldnt-read-this-post/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:53:03 +0000 Todd Waller http://toddwaller.com/?p=144 Seriously, you don’t want to read this post.  Your marketing is just fine.  You keep knocking on doors, cold calling, sending out postcards with recipes and football schedules.  You’ll do just fine in real estate.  After all, what’s worked for real estate marketing in the past will continue to work, albeit at a progressively lower success rate.

Technology is changing your customer, and your customer will change your company.

Let’s face facts:

• Al Gore invented the internet 
• Real estate information, once loose on the internet, can be found everywhere (and for free!);
• The once iron fist of listing information that agents’ held is pretty rusty, and extremely porous;
• No matter what real estate agents think, access to information creates a smarter consumer;
• The real estate industry is undergoing it’s greatest change in a very short period of time;

If “your customer will change your company,” then knowing the trends of today’s consumers will help you adjust to their needs and desires down the road.  But, again, your 3 by 5 postcards featuring you, your dog and the illusory statements of “the best real estate service” in your marketplace will get you a few appointments.  So, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

Trends, Statistics & Consumer Behavior

The Counterintuitive CEO, George F. Colony, has a great summary of his company’s most recent survey on consumer behavior.  Instead of me rehashing his words, check out the “super-condensed summary” with “what it means (WIM)” points for you to consider:

1. The 2009 customer is unrecognizable from the 1999 customer. What it means (WIM) to you: If your business looks the same now as it did in 1999, you are risking irrelevancy.
2. Consumers in every age group are quickly moving from offline channels to online. WIM: If your marketing department is filled with people that still over-emphasize TV or magazine advertising rather than a more balanced approach to the customer, you’re wasting your money. [emphasis added]
3. Americans spend 8 hours per week with old media (TV, newspapers) and 8 hours per week with new media (Internet). WIM: spending on your Web site and new media advertising should be comparable to your old media spend.
4. 25% of households have digital video recorders — devices like Tivo that let TV watchers record shows and fast forward over ads. WIM: you’re probably over-paying for TV ads.
5. 88% of people under the age of 40 are regular Internet users — at home and at work. WIM: while all of your customers are changing, your future customers (young people) are changing even faster. Moving slowly now will inhibit market share and new customer acquisition over the next ten years. [emphasis added]
6. Half of all Americans research products online before buying. WIM: your customers are ever smarter about what they purchase. All the more reason to treat them like partners and enlist them to help you design your next product. [emphasis added]
7. Half of all U.S. adults play computer games. WIM: begin to use this medium, as IBM has done, as a training medium for your workforce.

My realm has been real estate for some time.  Real estate marketing has become an extreme interest of mine in the last few years.  The main reason for the foray into real estate marketing has been the National Association of Realtor’s own studies showing the increasing number of consumers utilizing the real estate tools and resources available on the internet.

Technology is changing your customer, and your customer will change your company.

Finding my consumer changed how I do business.

If you have your clients back, can solve their problems, provide balanced advice and bring them closer to the promises you make, don’t hesitate and make that great video. But consider taking a different approach. Instead of playing the role of Court Jester, consider:

• Listing the concerns you know haunt the consumer
• List the things you’ve discovered they desire & recite them to the viewer
• Explain what you’d do to assuage those concerns and come through in the clutch
• Illustrate the tools you use and/or methods you employ
• Place guarantees on the promises you make
• Conduct yourself with an air of humility. And a demeanor that drips with professional acumen.

Marketing gone awry.

As ever, Marc pulls out some lessons real estate agents should heed when it comes to marketing you and your services.

The big point to walk away with, in my opinion:
put yourself in your clients shoes and see the transaction, the house buying process from their viewpoint. What are their fears, what are their goals and how does your unique approach to real estate solve those goals or alleviate those fears?

In the housing market, the red flag should have been loans made to people who couldn’t produce any proof that they could pay for them, or 30-year-loans for homes—or worse, investment properties—with terms that never required the buyer to pay one dime toward principal.

With the congress critters batting around a $15,000 no strings attached home buyer credit, are we really going to open this can of worms again?

What “bubble” avoidance measures should we take this time around?

In Michigan.

This, of course, means that the last few years have been….interesting to say the least.  With the automotive industry collapse, followed by the housing industry collapse, followed by the economic collapse, there has been an almost palpable “when’s the next shoe going to drop” feeling in my industry.

This year has thrown up it’s own challenges, to be sure.  However, new ways of getting business done are emerging.  So when this headline and article came out, it didn’t raise much but an eyebrow and the blood-pressure:

Taylor Bean Ceases Lending

Taylor Bean is was a pretty decent sized lender.  When the Feds pulled their eligibility to originate FHA loans, TB could do nothing but close it’s doors.  Nearly 50%, and likely more now, of all loans originated this year have been FHA loans.  This was obviously a key part of Taylor Bean’s lending business.

But this post is not about Taylor Bean.

This post is about how some folks saw an opportunity and jumped on it.

Check that!  James K Barath with MyBenchMarkMtg.com jumped on the opportunity to grab some business.  Clearly, James is ahead of the curve in using social media (he’s actually there!) and he knows how to use current events to his advantage.

How can you use current events and social media to your benefit?

1. Find local or national news that affects your industry
2. Engage your social network by offering assistance/guidance
   
3. Rinse
4. Repeat

It really isn’t that hard…

Chris Brogan has a great satirical post on how to gain followers on twitter on a regular basis….It all boils down to consistency.  If you consistently offer value and assistance to your network, business will come.  Online Social Networks are no different than any other prospecting you’re involved in….it all take work and consistency.