1. On harnessing the youth — I think it's important to understand how our next generation of clients and customers is most comfortable communicating (i.e., texting vs email). But at ages 14 – 21, your Advisory Group won't have the context through which to consider a real estate transaction. We can learn their technology likes, dislikes & tendencies but we can't expect them to have an opinion on something they've never experienced. What about an Advisory Group that's made up of 50% people who have done at least 1 real estate transaction and 50% people who plan on buying their first property in the next 5 years? Mixing equal parts experience and expectation might be a better way to stay in touch with today's clients as well as tomorrow's.

2. About ending the "disconnect between my ad agency and reality." I'm willing to bet that in most cases, the "disconnect" is found within the minds of the executive team of the real estate company. The way to end that disconnect is to be totally clear on your vision and equally committed to communicating it.

3. On digging into "the agent marketing mess". I'm quite sure that your suspicions on the effectiveness of tri-fold brochures are correct. But the lesson shouldn't be narrowed to the effectiveness of brochures, but rather learning the importance of applying metrics to ALL of your business-building efforts — from brochures to blogging.

As one of the "really big" companies, I'd start a data-mining project designed to create predictive lead lists solely from our company's past transactions.

Most importantly, I'd be willing to raise the bar…to instill a high level of standards in everything we do from hiring agents to delivering service to our clients. The company that becomes best known for their high standards will always win, regardless of the specific measure that our clients may wish to apply.