Yesterday I participated in a session at the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World conference on “The future of technology.”
I thought about this a lot before the event and decided I didn’t want to talk about technology, for two reasons:
First, technology is – in the real estate broker’s world – thoroughly paradoxical. That which offers brokers a promise of liberation (from legacy systems, from antique business practices, from burdensome costs) often ensnares them in a Web of confusion, dependency and waste.
I’m thinking here of the transaction management systems that cost more to train on and operate than the Old Way; the whiz-bang websites clotted with “map search” no one knows how to use; the iPhone “apps” stamped out by chop shops (which are now, thankfully, being clamped down on by Apple).
Second, discussions of technology among brokers can frequently be compared to a group of foodies talking about utensils: They usually miss the point.
So I asked the brokers in the audience to put aside trying to figure out what’s next in technology for a moment and shared a couple quotes that suggest larger strategic issues:
“If HP knew what HP knows, we’d be three times as productive.”
This was Lew Platt, CEO of Hewlett-Packard in the 1980′s.
“Every company is a media company.”
That’s John Battelle, one of Wired Magazine’s founders and CEO of Federated Media.
These words are relevant for any broker trying to reclaim brand equity with consumers and deliver long-term value to agents.
Think about it: good real estate data will soon be ubiquitous. Broker A’s charts will look like Broker B’s charts. In any good brokerage, though, the intelligence stored in the minds of executives, managers and agents is likely more distinctive.
But it’s locked away, unleveraged. Most brokerage companies don’t know what they know.
The idea is to explore that. Tap the knowledge within the organization, shape it, refine it, dress it in your brand’s clothes and channel it out to the marketplace.
In other words, act like a media company.
This presents challenges of course. Suspicious agents. A lack of internal resources. More immediate concerns for self-preservation.
If you can pull it off, though, and once you determine who your target customer is and what it is you know that is most likely to engage them, then – and only then – think about the technology you’ll need to make that happen.
Maybe you compile a comprehensive library of neighborhood photos, annotated by agents who know these places house-by-house.
Maybe it’s an email newsletter (I know, so un-sexy!) from your CEO who’s been in the business for thirty years that layers her perspective on each month’s market data.
Maybe, if you’re really fired up, you publish consumer reviews of every one of your agents.
Lots of options. Lots of technologies to bring them to life. Pick the ones that play to your strengths and run with them.
Just think technology last, not first.
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“act like a media company” we indeed find ourselves doing this more and more each day. Maybe it is about time we accept the fact.
Thanks for your contributions. #Leading2010 was a great conference.
John De Souza – @jdesouza – blog.johndesouza.com
Spot on.
I thought we were leading the revolution. lol Sorry I missed the event.
Good thought on tapping into the minds within the brokerage. Busy agents may not have time to write every day, but 50-100 of them can think of one killer article a month to share on the company’s multi-contributor blog. It’s an easy model, and makes perfect sense for brokers to encourage.
“If you can pull it off, though, and once you determine who your target customer is and what it is you know that is most likely to engage them, then – and only then – think about the technology you’ll need to make that happen.”
Yes. Why this is so hard to understand is beyond me. I think agents/brokers are scared to put stakes down in the ground and finally claim “what they do best”. They are afraid of limiting themselves or giving something up on the broader approach.
As an ex-HPer, the best years were before Lewis when the company was run much like we want our brokerages to be run; everyone pulling towards a common goal and on the same page, like a family. But as an ex-IBMer also, my favorite person along theme of this post has to be Ross Perot. Ross was always saying “I don’t care what it is you do, just make sure you’re the best at it”.
So Realtors need to pick and understand what it is they do best; what areas they cover best or demographic they serve best, and then leverage technology to help them do it even better.
Great advice. Realtors sell property and are not media savvy, we need to bring people in to help us.
Aloha,
Keahi
Brian – I attended this session and couldn’t agree more with this post. “If HP knew what HP knows, we’d be three times as productive.” is a brilliant quote…
Tom – I’m sorry I missed you. Saw you in the audience but got hung up after the session ended.