Sorry, just took a call! How cool is that?

HTC was so smart that the hooked onto Google to make Android based phones. And baby, Google is one cash cow! They don’t really care if they make any money right now off this Android stuff because they will figure that out later. Their Android burn-rate must be amazing.

(Wait a minute, did you even mention the Google? Am I missing a subtle message here since it isn’t even mentioned in comments?)

But HTC is making a profit right now, raking in the sales numbers because they make the Android phone. Hmmm, would HTC be so cool if they weren’t Android based? I don’t think so.

I want my homes to stand out from the crowd and I want to give viewers the opportunity to fall in love with my homes online, so that when they call and visit, they’ve already started the love connection and the sales process. And I want them to have something creative and exciting for them to review and share when they’re home or at work, so MY home remains a hot topic of discussion, even when their agent is trying to sell them something else. And I want my marketing to better educate other agents so they to say WOW I need to show my customer this home. This is something that’s so easy to accomplish, yet no one does it. Is that too much to ask for?

Brokerage / Realtors have created the obstacles to selling homes faster and for higher prices.

It’s all about the home, and it’s all about getting quality calls rather than lots of calls. Brokerage has to learn how to stand out from their competitors rather than peddle the same merchandise the same exact way as their competitors.

A Realtors website is nothing than a storefront for a retailer. People gather around storefronts in NYC. Retailers know it’s a huge draw and know how valuable it is to their business…they don’t want people to walk past and make a purchase somewhere else. We see that ourselves every day when we walk by a store or visit a website that sucks, yet brokers expect their viewers to be different. The industry needs to look at the business from the eyes of the consumer, and not from their own side of the cash register.

Sorry, but most brokerage sites are like shopping at Kmart, when they need to be like Neimans.

At what point does the industry wake-up and see that they’ve got it all wrong…and change?

Apple beat the record, phone and book business (and others) at their own game, as did amazon with their kindles, and it’s only a matter of time that someone wipes out the existing online real estate business. You can only be asleep at the wheel for so long before you crash.

Sorry for babbling on and on, bit its so frustrating to those of us who have a home to sell

Like it or not, an agents role has changed and the key to success is online marketing…listings, websites, emails, texts and newsletters. That’s they way buyers search and ultimately make their decisions to purchase. Brokerage will never go back to where it was, so it has to catch up to the present and the future, or be worthless.

Every agent tells me that they speak better than they write, and I tell them to record themselves, and they’ll see how wrong they are. For decades agents have had it easy…they’ve been order takers. Those days are gone and now they have to be real business people, with a message of how they create solutions to problems and add value to sellers and buyers.

We all have to embrace and learn a new way of doing business, and youe site is a perfect example of a company who understands that. You blow away the major franchises who still don’t understand consumers, and they don’t care to. More power to you!

In person, for many agents it is easier, the trust, feelings, experience, and other important attributes come out in conversation casually. When you attempt to transfer the essence of what people identify with you personally print and media it is difficult. Part of the reason is when it comes time to write the copy agents with experience, who care, feel forced to communicate their accomplishments in an effort to stand out from the rest.

After spending two weeks in CA – San Fran to LA (Inman, work, and vacation) I noted all the real estate ads with little knowledge of the market. (print, bus stop ads, billboards, and other materials) Being an agent I know the ads try to communicate that they have the experience, knowledge, understanding, and desire to be your agent. But, being a stranger to the area I could clearly see that most of the ads were misplaced and the message was lost in a sea of “I am #1, my brokerage is #1, my website rocked 5years ago, & my dog is cool too – hire me.” And I know from experience that it is very likely that some of those agents are probably excellent agents and have a lot more to offer than the copy on the bus stop.
As we start our new brokerage, recently left the big firm, we continue planning the build out of our current and future websites, and begin to craft our voice – I have taken you up on the challenge to create a message more like HTC. – I am a few drafts into the idea. We will see what happens.

But she does sell a lot of real-estate.

Sent from my HTC EVO!

Be creative? Yearight. Their best marketing strategy is still a few free web listings, a street sign, a few open houses, and a lot of waiting for someone else to bring a buyer. Thankfully the market was great for a long time and homes sold by themselves, because in bad times, they have no idea how to make it work.

I saw one of Joel’s presentations online a while back where he quoted Einsteins Theory Of Insanity…that’s real estate brokerage…at it’s best.

You even went as far to say that most have learned the business the wrong way and are now teaching it the wrong way. The industry needs to attend the 1000WATT university and start paying attention to what’s going on in the real world.

I’d hate to have to sell my own home right now and have to deal with all the outdated mindsets that realtors bring to the table. It’s scary to leave the value of your home in the hands of a brokerage company who relies on luck more than skill.

Start your own franchise, and I’ll be in the long line to sign up with the rest of your followers.

Keep hammering away, maybe someone in brokerage land will eventually listen.

As always great stuff and thought provoking. The struggle many in real estate have is the line between being creative and engaging, and just flat out cheesy. Being fun and interesting while being professional and informed.

It is tough to sex up and create a buzz around a business most people could care less about most of the time.

Good read and a good analogy. Customer service is not for one specific industry. If you don’t serve your customer you won’t have any customers to serve.