Where's the 'wow'?
Realtor Notebook
By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, June 26, 2008.
My e-mail is filled with spam from vendors trying to sell me products or services for my real estate business that will make me rich. They often include testimonials from agents who use the product or service and are now rich.
The real estate companies are almost as bad. The notes come through about the training classes, often on how to use a product or service that will make us rich yet I don't see my peers taking the classes and becoming rich. The agents who were successful before they took the classes are still successful, and the agents who were not doing so well don't suddenly become superstars.
When it comes to marketing and technology I am not seeing any new products or services that wow me, or that I even want to try. I keep seeing the same kind of get-rich-quick advertising. I might be missing some good products because I can't get past the spam that contains a lot of red and yellow and looks like it was designed by Ronald McDonald, or the fact that salespeople find me on the Internet and "cold call" while I am in my car.
I get an invite from a vendor that tells me that I need its new Web site to grow my business. Someone is making money from the sites but it isn't the agents who are providing all the free content or the listings. Do we need more Web sites that have some of the listings on them for the entire country? Where is my white paper? Is there a study I can read on how consumers feel about navigating a zillion Web sites to find a local listing or local Realtor?
Vendors sell their ideas to real estate companies that in turn recommend them to us. There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. The top coaches in our industry are influenced by vendors, especially when it comes to technology, and they go out and teach agents how to use products that are cumbersome and expensive and that create more problems than they solve.
The agents who can't sell real estate are told it is because they are not using "XYZ" product or they are not using it correctly. There is no evidence that several of the highly touted real estate technology products increase sales or actually help us sell homes. Yet we buy them.
There are products and services we could use. Like an easier way to put one listing on a zillion Web sites. Or better yet, take our listings down from those sites that confuse consumers but that we are forced to use "because they exist and someone may find them."
Less complex client and transaction management software for those of us who don't "drip" or create mass mailing campaigns would be nice.
It should be a lean, mean, inexpensive and easy-to-use client and transaction management system that can be synchronized with our handheld devices. I dumped my high-end, high-maintenance client management system and went back to MS Outlook. I have not seen any negative impact on my business and have one less bill to pay each month.
It would be nice to have more products that use RSS (really simple syndication) to distribute information. Just a heads up: E-mail for business is doomed. People are forced to use spam blockers, making it increasingly difficult to communicate with people who want the communication. It isn't good enough to have some of the listings available via RSS -- I want them all. I want the ability to set up searches and send my clients an RSS link as an alternative to e-mail, and my clients should have the ability to set it up themselves with the greatest of ease.
Every agent should have a GPS (global positioning system) device. No one talks about that, and there isn't any special software for Realtors. I would love to be able to load my destinations into my GPS directly from the MLS. I can get both GPS and MLS on my phone -- maybe that is where the two applications could be synchronized. Why not? My GPS saves time and gasoline and gives me more time to delete my spam e-mail from vendors.
I am tired of being sold to, cold-called, spammed and even preached to. It would be nice to be listened to. Don't tell me what to use -- ask me what I need.
But not while I am in my car.
Teresa Boardman is a broker in St. Paul, Minn., and founder of the St. Paul Real Estate blog. Boardman will speak at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco, July 23-25, 2008. Register today.
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Submitted by Brad Coy on June 26, 2008 - 1:22am.
>The top coaches in our industry are influenced by vendors, especially when it comes to technology, and they go out and teach agents how to use products that are cumbersome and expensive and that create more problems than they solve. = FAIL
Why is this happening?
It seems that we are in a interesting position right now with regards to RE and Technology. Everything is becoming cheaper and easier to track, yet the tools given to use IN real estate don't have these measures for the most part. What's wrong?
Also, I agree with you about email marketing. Yet, I am told again and again that we are in the extreme minority. I can't do something I don't fully believe in personally.
Brad Coy
Realtor/VP at San Francisco Real Estate Services
Submitted by Juliet Johnson on June 26, 2008 - 5:10am.
The GPS thing is so true! Even if it can't take MLS#s at least let accept multiple entries so that it can map a route. Isn't it funny - it wasn't so long ago, we all managed without them. Then when they arrived - aah! what a Godsend! Now, we are irked that they're not good enough, yet. Are we all never satisfied? There again, should we be?
The cold calling thing in the car is just bizarre! I have a number that used to be a bail bondsman. 10 years later, I'm still getting his calls. I can totally hear you on that one, Teresa!!!
Submitted by Jim Lee, Knoxville TN Realtor on June 26, 2008 - 5:54am.
That old saying: "The more things change, the more they remain the same." still holds true, especially in real estate.
I've been searching for the proverbial "magic bullet" since I got my real estate license in 1978 and I'll admit I've bought some of the 'latest and greatest' products designed to make you successful and wealthy beyond your wildest dreams.
Most didn't work.
The only one I've found even remotely worthwhile I'll post below free for anyone that wants to take advantage of it.
Are you ready? Here is it is:
).( X 20 per day (or pick your own number)
That simple and successful formula just says, put your belly button next to 20 other real live people's belly button each day and talk to them about real estate.
I believe if you apply that to the Internet and provide what consumers want, make your website findable, and give them reasons to contact you, they will.
It works if you do. ;->
Jim Lee, CRS, ABR, GRI, NAR Certified e-PRO Trainer
Realty Executives Associates, Knoxville, Tennessee
www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com mailto:Jim@JimLee.com
(865) 693-3232, My Personal Toll Free # 1-800-662-2488 ext. 163
**********************************
Submitted by John Rowles on June 26, 2008 - 5:57am.
The vendors are selling you what you want to buy using methods that work.
Real Estate Agents and Brokers WANT to believe that there is a technological silver bullet, so the GPS and Web site vendors will position their product as that silver bullet, and you fall for it.
Its like the opinion polls that say we are sick of negative, Swift-boat attack politics, but then who gets elected? The politician that goes negative.
I can tell you from personal experience that it is a lot harder to sell brokers and agents what they need (tools and training for the work that is required to market on the Web effectively) as opposed to what they want (magic technology that does the work for them).
John Rowles
Managing Director
MainRhode LLC
Google-Powered IDX Search
www.mainrhode.com
Submitted by Barry Kushner on June 26, 2008 - 6:25am.
Barry Kushner
REALTOR®
Realty Professionals of America
Huntingdon Valley, PA
215-698-2654 home office
215-868-1194 cell
BarryKush@aol.com
www.PhillyDreamHome.com
www.Search4PA.com
Submitted by George Hobson on June 26, 2008 - 6:39am.
Thanks for your commentary. I thought I was reading my own thoughts. As a 4 year old newbie in this business, I find the harder I work, the luckier I get. But coupled with the raising of my Financial Consciousness", with the help of those like Bob Proctor, my successes have been increasing. While most vendors are marketing the material, I believe it is an "inside" job.
Submitted by Matthew Gosselin on June 26, 2008 - 6:41am.
Theresa:
I just love this post. Yet, I'll be the first to tell you that I am the business development director for Xpressdocs, a real estate vendor (although we always consider ourselves a true partner to R.E. companies).
I was debating commenting on your post because I didn't want to come across as selling our product. The fact is that you are absolutely right. I am happy to say that we have operated very differently then most companies/vendors out there. We rarely if ever do cold calls and never directly to real estate agents.
Here's the big one. In the 10 years we have been in business we have never done any formal marketing. Some (including me) would say that this is absolutely crazy but it is true. In fact we just hired our first marketing vp last week. What is nice about this is that we have managed to grow our business completely by referrals. This is the most innocent and organic of all business growth. Time and time again we have been forced into proving ourselves so we can get that important recommendation to obtain another client.
In your post, you hit on something big. Vendors/partners to RE businesses need to do a better job at creating case studies, white papers, research and more. At Xpressdocs we are just beginning that process and I couldn't appreciate your feedback more.
atthew S. Gosselin
Biz Dev Exec., Xpressdocs
Author of My Blue Goose
Speaker, Blogger, Author
BlogofGeese.com
Submitted by Barry Kushner on June 26, 2008 - 7:02am.
Hey, Teresa, thanks for sharing your healthy sense of skepticism. FYI, I used to be a vendor and sold web sites (Number1Expert) to agents & brokers. Then I became an agent myself and now I sell houses. I'm in my 3rd year and I'm finally doing very well, working with lots of buyers, some of whom actually pull the trigger and make an offer on something that actually gets accepted. At some point in my 2nd year I found what I would refer to as the magic bullet...the holy grail...the WOW of online lead generation. I've mentioned it before on Inman News and I've also talked about it on RealTalk. I also invite (via emails and phone calls) other top Realtors around the country (many of them my former N1E clients) to join me in using it. Unfortunately, most of them, like you, are quite skeptical. But that's a good position from which to start learning that WOW just might really exist.
The product I'm talking about delivers about 100 leads per month directly to me, and to each agent on our small team. The leads are genuine: real names, real email addresses, even real phone numbers. The leads bring us real business; not just buyers, but sellers too. The product is so good that most agents don't believe it's as good as I say it is. Yet, it's also deceptively simply. So simple that I've wondered why no one thought of it before. Here it is: a non-branded (aka "stealth") IDX web site, driven by search engine PPC advertising, that captures as many leads as you want to pay for, and includes an automated contact manager that emails listings to the buyers based on the search criteria they've entered themselves.
In a nutshell, the product is the perfect marriage of IDX and PPC. It works because it's what buyers want. "Just show me all the listings in the geographic area I'm interested in," they tell me. So, here they are. All the listings. Right at the top of a Google or Yahoo search in my market (or any market). At the moment, there are a small handful of vendors offering this kind of product. Maybe only 3 or 4 of them nationally. The vendor I happen to use (and whose praises I sing) is a small start-up based in L.A called TigerLead Solutions. They aren't perfect (I just discovered a couple of minor glitches in their system; I am a techie, after all.) But they are very nearly miracle workers. And, at a mere $11 per lead (the approximate cost in our market), it's ultimately a cost effective means of capturing buyers (and some sellers) without having to stress out over other online marketing tools like blogs and SEO and listings syndication.
Listen, I've been looking at lots of struggling agents scrounging for business in my market (and in lots of markets) over the past year or so, and when I tell them I have more good buyer leads than I can possibly handle, well, you can imagine their level of healthy skepticism.
Anyway, if you or any other Realtor would care to check out my lead generating IDX home search site - my magic bullet - please visit www.Search4PA.com. And feel free to register. No one but me will see your contact info, and at least you'll get to see what my buyers see and why so many of them are glad they've found the site, which helps ensure their loyalty to me as their new best friend and buyer's agent.
And if you or any broker, team leader or top selling agent would like to see my amazing back office, just call me and I'll be glad to walk you through it. One really cool thing about my search site's back office is that I can see every listing a buyer click on...the moment they do so. Big brother really is watching, you know.
Barry Kushner
REALTOR®
Realty Professionals of America
Huntingdon Valley, PA
215-698-2654 home office
215-868-1194 cell
BarryKush@aol.com
www.PhillyDreamHome.com
www.Search4PA.com
Submitted by John Rowles on June 26, 2008 - 7:20am.
Wow, Barry, it takes cajones to spin a missive about being overwhelmed by sales pitches into a sales pitch.
My hat is off to you in spite of myself.
JR
Submitted by Nicole Nicolay on June 26, 2008 - 7:24am.
I feel you Teresa. My parents are successful brokers here in the Bay Area (CA) and it seems like my dad is bombarded almost every day with yet another "product person" trying to weasel their way into his office. I say "product person" because these peeps usually know one thing...their own product and how to push it. No matter if you already have a system in place. Most of them don't even understand what RSS is?
Getting back to the TECH side. I understand your frustration with the barrage of offerings....not offering what you are looking for. That is one of the main reasons we started MyTechOpinion.com, to sift through what's out there and deliver our opinions, product overviews and implementation tools. (BTW-MyMarketWare is an SPS solution which incorporates RSS, social media, over 70 links to area amenities, a listing widget for you blog and more.)
Oh, and I AM pretty amazed by technology every day...the Surface, mobile printers that use less ink,etc.
Teresa...I think what you are really annoyed with is POLITICS....too many egos standing in the way of getting the technology we need now....created now!
Submitted by Steven Stearns on June 26, 2008 - 7:28am.
Teresa,
I do not want to sell you anything.
I just want you to smile. In your car.
Steve
Submitted by Paul Deaton on June 26, 2008 - 8:16am.
MLS & GPS. Chances are, someone is developing an application that will combine the two. The first one to "hit the bullseye" will win. After all, there are X#'s of Realtors who could potentially use it.
It would need to: Map out your showings from a list you can select AND notify you (RSS FEED)when a new listing hits the criteria you are looking for.
Submitted by Teresa Boardman on June 26, 2008 - 8:32am.
Steve - you always make me smile, and I am smiling right now. I wish other vendors were more like you. You got get to know us and you listen. You network with us and add value. You read our blogs and laugh at our lame jokes. When you try to sell us something we are sold. :)
Submitted by Teresa Boardman on June 26, 2008 - 8:35am.
Matt - I have been very busy. I have to leave my phone on silent becasue of all the sales people and I am about 500 emails behind as I slog through the electronic sales calls. I will look at your product becasue you have credibility with me. Still love those white papers though. LOL
Submitted by Mike Parker on June 26, 2008 - 8:58am.
Mike Parker
mparker@theblackwatercg.com
Many good points, many frustrated rants; we all feel the same way, in part. Specifically, however, Point2 Technologies has the easiest mass syndication of your listings and will soon partner with your MLS to make it possible to post ALL listings just once: to MLS and about 30 other portals.
Speaking of portals, you are right on this one: no one needs them. In my opinion, portals are techies justifying their feature creep to other techies. Consumers just want to see homes in the neighborhood they wish to live in, in the main.
I have an ax to grind, but I have found that automating the lead collection process to the extent possible is a huge time saver; texting real leads from your site to your pone, that sort of thing. So many agents don't even check their email regularly that many leads go unanswered for days.
In life, there are no silver bullets, unfortunately. In real estate, I believe sound business practices that utilize NECESSARY technology (such as the Internet as a shopping ground for buyers)can increase an agents efficency greatly. Simple is best and that's why we manage our agents sites for them to produce their own leads, leaving the agents to sell the prospects. It's also not a silver bullet, but it sure can help.
But your point has much validity: most agents need to realize that it isn't about "Web 2.0" or other technology geeks, that video is not the way to sell static images, and that most "must have" technology things are simply one techie trying to build a revenue stream from a modification of an existing ability. Often, the frenzy to produce revenue severely overcomes the necessity of the development. We call it "feature creep." Added to a product because it can be, the list of such items adds to the cacaphony competing for attention and the essential messages are lost. In my opinion, that's not the way to sell more houses, but what do I know? Welcome to the "age of technology."
Submitted by Mary Bargteil on June 26, 2008 - 9:04am.
Great post. The greatest irony being the large banner ad on the top and the side bar for realtygenerator! I realize you don't control that but you have to admit, it's pretty ironic.
Mary Bargteil
Director of Communications
Champion Realty
Submitted by Al Clark on June 26, 2008 - 9:04am.
HI, I have been in the "RE" Vendor biz for about ten years. Every product or service I built and sold has an easy opt out for the agent, like money back and cancel at any time. I see some of the problem with the "magic bullets" is they lock you in for a term- so just TRYING a service is very costly. All agents should look for a true no cost trial ( without putting down a card) for ancillary services ( Newsletters, CMA tools etc. Those other services which require work and ongoing persistence( website) on the agent and vendor part, need to be delivered with a "expectation of effort" ... We will do this and you will need to do that"
Most vendors that are trashed in blogs and boards have terrible return or cancellation policies mired in small print- that needs to be fixed.
Albert Clark, Principal Partner
realPING Click To Talk NOW
realPING.com
Submitted by Teresa Boardman on June 26, 2008 - 10:24am.
Mary - see ad, am cracking up. :) Must behave myself . . I really do try. LOL
Mike - looks like you could have written the article. :)
Submitted by Matthew Hardy on June 26, 2008 - 1:24pm.
Quoting myself from elsewhere
While there is still plenty of physical vendor crap available, it’s the digital stuff that agents really get suckered for. That kind of vendor crap exists because nearly every technology vendor sells via a subscription model. They’ve made their calculations - they know the average income of real estate agents as well as the industry attrition rates - so selling the lie that there is an “automatic button” for success is their real offering.
I got into the business I’m in because of seeing the vast disparity between vendor offerings in real estate as compared to other industries. I see this disparity as an opening - to facilitate an agent’s ability to leverage their work for their own maximum benefit.
Just as there are bone-headed realtors the public should avoid at all costs, there are highly conscientious, customer-loving real estate professionals who deserve their higher-than-average commissions. This holds true everywhere.
A second major reason there is so much crap is that many agents continue to rely upon their franchise for advice. Every major company has “approved vendor lists” comprised of items that have not been tested or even reviewed. What does it take to get on one of these lists? Large cash payments; pure and simple. Just listen for the tout: “we provide only the most advanced cutting-edge tools for our agents!”
I’ll never forget meeting the CEO of a large real estate company who wanted to buy our company because he saw it as a way to put “another set of golden handcuffs” on his agents. Nice, huh?
I based my current work on the inevitability of disintermediation in the real estate industry. It’s great to watch it continue to unfold before my eyes.
Also recommend "The Next Generation of CRM Explained by Matthew Hardy"
Submitted by Sam Martin on June 26, 2008 - 1:56pm.
Juliet - I recently purchased a TomTom Go720 GPS unit and it does exactly what you describe. It has a function that lets you plan an itenirary, putting in multiple destinations, rearranging them into the order that you want them, and even more impressive, it uses voice recognition as one means of location input. You simply speak the name of the city, the street and the street number and it finds it. Makes it really convenient.
I'm a Realtor, not an electronics salesman, and I really enjoy my TomTom.
Thanks!
Submitted by Diane Cohn on June 26, 2008 - 8:11pm.
Teresa, every time you write, it's like you're talking about my life. I no longer publish my cell phone anywhere due to the overwhelming number of waste-of-time pitch calls I receive trying to sell me leads, referrals and expensive guru conferences.
Now I have an 877 number that goes straight to voicemail, which automatically emails as an audio attachment. This seems to filter the noise pretty well.
But lately I've been toying with the idea of a 900 number, where people I don't know actually have to pay to talk to me. I'm sure this sounds horrible (can't wait to hear the backlash on that one)... but I think it could be a useful tool for screening the fake potential clients from real ones, don't you think?
Diane Cohn, Realtor
Chase International
www.renorealtyblog.com
www.chasenation.com
Submitted by Rob Aubrey on June 27, 2008 - 5:08am.
Here is an article I wrote a while back about this topic
http://www.3poundsofrealestate.com/lead-generating-companies/
Thanks T
Submitted by Julie Ferenzi on June 27, 2008 - 7:16am.
Theresa, I was cracking up reading this. Somehow I recently became a target for all kinds of solicitations myself. I love when they get me on my cell and they just start talking, and talking, and talking...
I think the Realtor GPS idea is genius! You are on to something. Now we just need a cell phone spam alert for sales calls :)
Submitted by Julie Ferenzi on June 27, 2008 - 7:17am.
Sorry, I meant to leave out the "h" in Teresa ;0)
Submitted by adrian sherwood on June 27, 2008 - 8:27am.
Teresa - Your words ring true on several levels. My application is unlike anything mentioned or seen before. I have not promoted it because it's not ready. The website does not flow and has many typographical errors. Anyway, my application lets you produce, publish, and distribute new to world videos, email, brochures etc.. by speaking into a phone(no internet connection required)and hanging up. I call these 'engagements' because the messages resonate on a personal level; a level that is missing in RE. I was making plans to come to RE connect as one of the '5 Great Ideas' but didn't make it. Any system should address three key questions for agents:
1. Why should I hire you? - System answers
2. Why am I paying you thousands$? - System helps you differentiate
3. Why should I keep you around? -System makes it easy
My system requires you to learn 5 words- that's it. No manipulative books(oops, I mean scripts) to memorize, and it focuses on four areas(marketing, prospecting, CRM, and lead management). I can show you how to attack BOTH dicounters and large brokerages using 5 words. I know it sounds crazy but this is my baby, and it will breathe new life into a dying breed.
Submitted by Christine Donovan - Costa Mesa Real Estate on June 28, 2008 - 11:20pm.
I would love to have a GPS that was a bit more user friendly for real estate agents. It would be a time saver.
Website: Costa Mesa Real Estate
Blog: Costa Mesa Real Estate Blog
Submitted by Blanca Gohary on June 29, 2008 - 3:26pm.
I am the proud owner of a GPS and I consider it the most valuable investment I have made as a Realtor. I am directionally challenged and my GPS has saved me from looking incompetent infront of my clients because I do not get lost while driving. That aside, it is hard to drive, carry a conversation, and look for addresses at the same time. It had definitely made my life easieer.
www.pclifestyles.com
Submitted by Ralph M on June 30, 2008 - 8:14am.
Very good article.
But, for every 1 real estate person who can utilize the technology your are loking for a company to devise, equates to 100 lazy real estate professioanls who will not upload a single photo onto a website nor has the ambition to update their own listings..
www.aarsteam.com
Submitted by Joseph Ferrara on July 1, 2008 - 3:48pm.
Unfortunately, lost in the vendor noise is the music of useful tools, also by vendors. Equally unfortunate-- your ears are the best filter.
@Diane Cohn Have you tried GrandCentral.com? Calls are free, you can screen, record, send to voicemail or create a "this number is no longer in service" recording for the pains in the butt. You are also able to channel calls to various devices at different times of the day.
Submitted by Deborah Madey on July 4, 2008 - 9:43pm.
Teresa,
I couldn't agree w/ you more about the frustrations of the sales calls on my cell phone.
Joseph,
Tks! I tried GrandCentral.com just now. Awesome!