Putting Together the Tools
If I had to start from scratch in a new market with no experience, I would start with only a few basic technologies, and in this installment, I’ll discuss those essential technologies that I believe every agent must have in this new age of real estate. Continue Reading…
Desire + Tools + Training = Success
In the previous installment, I discussed how agents are beginning to take their offices wherever they go — well, maybe not the entire office environment, but at least the advantages of the office. Left behind are the endless interruptions, the noise, the mess, the well meaning colleagues “helping” or asking for help. Still very much available, yet remotely, are an array of technologies from telecommunications, to software, to IVR and LCM customer acquisition technologies, to websites, and CRM solutions. Virtually all the tools of a typical office (only often better) all available remotely. Continue Reading…
It’s Not the Building — It’s the Power!
In my last installment, I discussed how our industry is changing dramatically. I discussed how over the last few years telework has become mainstream, and is now amounting to nearly a quarter of our work force. I cited how working remotely is increasing in popularity as technology is developed and costs associated with commuting increase. Five years ago nobody would have even considered a virtual office, and yet at the current rate of growth, in a few short years virtual offices will no longer be the exception, but rather, the rule. So what do I mean when I talk about a real estate “virtual office”? Continue Reading…
Today’s successful mega-producers are generating plenty of business, but unlike the customers of yesterday, today’s real estate customer is beginning online. According to the latest figures, in excess of 90% (94%) are beginning their search online. In my last installment, I explained how successful agents today are going way “upstream” to capture their business — before the customer has had the opportunity to be attracted by old-school marketing techniques. If you haven’t read it yet, you owe it to yourself to start there. Continue Reading…
In my last post I discussed the difference between yesterday’s pull marketing and today’s push marketing. I explained how pull marketing is reactive — “If you build it they will come.” Push marketing, on the other hand, is pro-active — “If you build it they won’t come so you have to go get them.” (Click to view previous blog post.) Many agents today have experienced that very phenomenon: doing lots of advertising and getting little if no results. Today’s successful agents are going upstream and capturing the lead early — generally during Phase One of the buying cycle. Continue Reading…
Before we launch into this segment, let’s recap the last installment. In it I was discussing how in the 1960s and 70s, our industry was in a Broker-centric Era. The brokers had all the power. Customers had very little access to listing inventory except through them. Agents had no business except through them. Modern real estate brokerage was in its infancy. By controlling the inventory, broker-owners were able to build real estate dynasties. It was common place to see multiple office operations with teams of agents, and it was during this climate that companies like Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, and other similar broker-centric companies became huge empires. Continue Reading…
When CNN’s Pulse on America program featured us two years ago, they were investigating an interesting phenomenon in our industry. It seems that today there are two real estate worlds coexisting simultaneously. Like in the movie The Matrix, there was the “perceived” world and then thee was the “real” world. In our industry there is much the same today. Those agents who are practicing real restate this new way, are doing quite well — many better than ever. But those who are hanging onto the old-school real estate model are finding themselves working harder and harder and making less and less money. In order to understand this “new way” of doing real estate, we must first look at the history of real estate practice and see how it has evolved. Continue Reading…
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