[Warning: A rant - or maybe, more accurately, a sustained wail - follows.]
I received the following in the mail one day last week:
- A “personal note” from an agent who lives thirty minutes from my home but claims to be my new neighbor and a Redwood Heights (my neighborhood) “specialist”
- A glossy, card stock brochure from another new agent laced with some of the most mangled, typo-ridden writing I have ever tried to read
- A jab at Realtors contained in the weekly newsletter I get from the organic farmer from whom we get our vegetables
New agents – the new breed we hope will “get it” – busting out the same old stuff. Plus a note vibrating from the cultural drumbeat of anti-Realtor sentiment.
Pass me a Vicodin.
Here’s the back of the envelope from item #1, the “personal note:”
I’ve been programmed into a drip campaign by my ersatz neighbor. I expect to receive many more of these pieces. I don’t like it. Not because junk mail bugs me (in fact, as a student of marketing, I read darn near every piece I get) but because I feel bad for the young woman. In an age where 175 million people are connecting on Facebook and authenticity is the smart marketer’s mantra, is this really going to do it for her?
And I’m curious: Do you, like me, find something a bit off about someone you’ve never met glibly asking for your business?
At least I can be assured that should I elect to send someone I care about to an agent I don’t know to transact the most important business of their lives they won’t be forced to deal with someone “too busy” to meet their needs.
There are many fans of the Buffini program – and many success stories – but it didn’t work for me, Brian the consumer. How many people like me are out there? Or am I the oddball?
Here’s the cover of the hideously expensive brochure I received from the other agent:
I guess this is an attempt at lifestyle marketing. But the inside is all about her. With copy filled with unsubstantiated claims about how great she is. All written at a 5th-grade level.
Now my farmer friend. Here’s his riff:
“In hindsight, the economic mess the world is now in was a slow-moving train wreck that should have been easy to see coming and predictable in its scope. Instead, the entire world adopted the ever-optimistic outlook of the National Association of Realtors. On every car of the economic train, the conductors told the passengers that everything was going to be alright, even as the car in front of them was crushed before their eyes.”
The rest of his newsletter deals with conserving farmland. But he’s pissed at Realtors. Jeez.
Can I have a beer with that Vicodin?
The venom of the crowd
It’s really easy to deconstruct bad real estate marketing. I am only doing it here to preface a really important question:
How do we create a more professional real estate industry bound to higher standards?
Licensing is a joke. We can raise the bar there, though I doubt that will have the curative effect many desire.
More training? Only if we begin from a place of competence. I could train my 5-year old to write marketing copy all day every day, but it would be wishful thinking.
So I’m left with the wisdom – or maybe venom – of the crowd. Some might call this the “market,” where bad actors and inferior products or services are weeded out by competition. There’s a lot of competition in real estate, but also a peculiar cooperation. This cooperation sustains inferiority, rewards incompetence, and diminishes those who truly deserve to be called professionals.
Some knucklehead agent may just deliver his cousin as the buyer you’ve been waiting for. You may know the guy listing the house your buyers love is a sleaze, but you have to deal with him. And so it goes.
Some brokers recruit people who embarrass their peers hoping for a couple fat friends and family deals. Too many throw them in front of trainers and technology vendors that have not the slightest understanding of the epochal shifts underway in consumer marketing.
Can we stop all that?
The only way toward a better real estate industry is through self-policing. Period. Real estate will get what it tolerates.
There are few short-term incentives to do this. But there are plenty if you’re building a business to last.
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“How do we create a more professional real estate industry bound to higher standards?” – I’m happy to hear someone asking that question. I’m tired of seeing expensive listings in the MLS with six dark photos, or worse, no photos; of agents who play games to increase the odds that they get both sides of a commission (to their clients’ detriment), and I’m really tired of being tarred with the same brush by the general public.
I’ve tried to talk about this with other agents, and about 3/10 agree that something needs to be done, 4/10 don’t care, and 3/10 are hostile.
I don’t think better practices can be enforced by licensing. I don’t think NAR will go very far if 7/10 agents are hostile or indifferent. So what can the 3 out of 10 agents do?
One thought I’ve had is that we form a group (can’t think of a good name – Better Practice Agents?) where membership is based on the willingness to meet some set of higher standards and to accept criticism (from any REALTOR, not just members) of ones work, and willingness to act if the local board of this group finds your work does not meet the groups standards.
We would then have to educate the public that working with a member of this group is a good idea, just as CRS, e-PRO and GRI do. The goal would be to have market pressure eventually cause the public to prefer better practice agents.
Your post today is right on – almost. The one area I have issue with is your criticism of Buffini’s program. For full disclosure, I am a “Buffiniite”, a mentor in his program, and fully endorse You throw the Buffini baby out with the bathwater because one agent misunderstands and misused sound personal marketing principles.
I found a contradiction in your statement/question “Do you, like me, find something a bit off about someone you’ve never met glibly asking for your business” and your statement that the Buffini program “didn’t work” for you, the consumer. The whole POINT of the Buffini program is that agents should not waste their time or the consumers’ time “glibly asking” for business from someone you don’t know. It is ALL about personal contact, building relationships, becoming a trusted advisor to people who know you and are referred to you by people who know you.
It seems to me that you, of all people, should endorse and support those concept of building relationships one at a time. The fact that some – ok, many – agents who take the Buffini classes don’t get it or implement it clumsily, or try to make the whole world their personal relationship database is not the fault of the Buffini’s fault (ok, selling the stickers is a bad idea). You throw the Buffini baby out with the bathwater because one agent misunderstands and misused sound personal marketing principles.
Many Buffiniites are successfully using his program via social media – not spamming twitter or facebook, but building real online relationships that translate into realtime, real life. Most are using traditional methods – mail, email, personal visits and phone calls – to build and maintain personal relationships. Some, maybe many, are stuck in the old mindset and think that a personal database is the same as a mailing list. But you have people who misuse and misunderstand Social Media – anyone who has a twitter account or a facebook account can attest to that.
Again, this was a small issue I had with your overall post. I always appreciate – and often try to implement – your insights and suggestions.
Sorry about the mess I made in paragraph one – it’s what I get for trying to edit my poor writing
Very funny rant, I couldnt agree more. I like your style.
@Ken
I hear you – that’s why I qualified my statement. I know there are many people who have succeeded with the Buffini program. My point – as you note – is that this agent, and many, many more I have seen, seem to cling to its most ham-fisted elements.
A sticker?
The idea of meaningful relationships as the basis for your business is sound. But I question whether this “system” is an effective means toward that end now that the game has changed.
I think this message is way too cynical. There is a reason why so many real estate agents use classic “farming” techniques. They work to some extent. Yes, there is Facebook. Most would agree, however, that only 20 somethings, and maybe 30 somethings use this social networking medium. In many of the higher end markets, this would not even be the demographic. Also, nobody wants to be hounded to buy something by a friend, probably for the sake of not losing that very friend.
Regarding your quote: “And I’m curious: Do you, like me, find something a bit off about someone you’ve never met glibly asking for your business?” Are you referring to the advertising business as a whole? Obviously, most marketing targets people you have never met! Does Apple’s Steve Jobs know the millions of consumers he targets in his T.V. commercials?
And the farmer’s editorial is a load of you know what. To blame the failure of the United States economy on real estate agents… I mean how delusional do you need to be? How about taking a closer look at Wall Street (i.e. Bernie Madoff and others like him)?
Finally, you will never be able to achieve an industry where all the participants are fantastic professionals. It’s just not realistic. There are cheesy doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, etc. I am a firm believer that you bring class to a profession, not the other way around.
My suggestion to you would be: stop being so negative about an industry that has just as many opportunities and pitfalls as any other. You are being a bully in the school yard and your victim is thousands of real estate agents, some of whom have great integrity and as you call it “professionalism”.
Anonymous:
You did not understand my post.
Care to elaborate Brian?
Brian – thanks for your reply. I did see that you qualified your statement, and trust me, I think that selling stickers is – well… you’ve said it well. I don’t know if you’ve taken the Buffini course, but I do believe that the “system” – which really consists of nothing more than notes, calls, and personal visits – is an excellent tool in an increasingly impersonal world. It’s a shame that – as you point out – many, many agents take his scalpel approach and turn it into a meat cleaver (and that Brian sort of adds to that problem by the stickers, let alone his standard “gentlest of all reminders”: oh, by the way, I’m never too busy…
As I said, I’m a fan of 1000watt – keep up the sharp commentaries!
The best all time sticker is the one that reads “I ‘heart’ referrals” oh boy.
Anonymous makes a good point behind his/her shroud of secrecy. The requirements to be an attorney are high but I still see ads from “The Strong-Arm Frank Azar” all over television and media telling me that if I am injured call him to “get my check.”
Maybe it has more to do with the amount of money in real estate (like personal injury law) that is the cause.
I’m far more intrigued with the new web based ‘professional marketing’ like this: http://tinyurl.com/d7mj7q
I can’t think of a better reason to fire a realtor if I were a seller.
This piece is DEAD ON! I actually like Bill’s idea about creating a higher standard that is voluntary but with some increased level of service.
The Buffini thing rubs me the wrong way and always has. ‘I’m never to busy for your referrals,’ sounds very presumptuous.
As for Anonymous – farming methods may have worked in the past, but is that the justification for continuing to market ourselves that way? Look at the consumer perception of Realtors? Doing what we used to do hasn’t necessarily created a winning image. We appear self serving and slightly narcissistic as we slap our photos on every piece we print.
Maybe it’s time to elevate the industry and provide meaningful, educated information to consumers. Instead of asking for referrals, maybe we should focus on providing trends in the market, loan information, and news that impacts the consumer. Many real estate websites are useless templates, many property ads serve only to promote the agent or the company, and far too much is done to promote ourselves rather than serve.
I don’t think we need to worry that Brian is being to negative about the profession. The consumer population is doing more than enough of that on their own and until we address that as an industry, it won’t change.
This piece hit home for me – sorry to get on my own rant.
[...] so right. Remember that brand-new agent I wrote about last week – the one who pretends to be my neighbor and uses glossy stickers to ask for my business? [...]
[...] idea is fraught with legal and ethical issues, but it would be interesting to try something. As I pointed out a while back, I do not think regulation is the path to a better real estate industry, and the incentives are all [...]
“How do we create a more professional real estate industry bound to higher standards?” – I'm happy to hear someone asking that question. I'm tired of seeing expensive listings in the MLS with six dark photos, or worse, no photos; of agents who play games to increase the odds that they get both sides of a commission (to their clients' detriment), and I'm really tired of being tarred with the same brush by the general public.
I've tried to talk about this with other agents, and about 3/10 agree that something needs to be done, 4/10 don't care, and 3/10 are hostile.
I don't think better practices can be enforced by licensing. I don't think NAR will go very far if 7/10 agents are hostile or indifferent. So what can the 3 out of 10 agents do?
One thought I've had is that we form a group (can't think of a good name – Better Practice Agents?) where membership is based on the willingness to meet some set of higher standards and to accept criticism (from any REALTOR, not just members) of ones work, and willingness to act if the local board of this group finds your work does not meet the groups standards.
We would then have to educate the public that working with a member of this group is a good idea, just as CRS, e-PRO and GRI do. The goal would be to have market pressure eventually cause the public to prefer better practice agents.