As I sit working on my iMac, I think back to my old PC. It was a machine. I, its operator. We fought. We disagreed. We hardly communicated. We had a love/hate relationship. I loved it for getting me through the day; I hated it for being so self-centered. It was all about itself. "Talk to the hand" it often said as it froze up.
But I settled for it. After all, it seemed as if it was the best I could do.
Then the hard drive crashed. I lost everything. Work. Personal things. But in some ways I was relieved. I felt I could start over.
That night I watched an Apple commercial. And I saw myself. And I was not a PC. That was never me. The next day I entered a Mac store. I never realized computing could be like this. I never imaged a retail experience could be like this either.
Over the next few days, I discovered a level of computing I never knew existed. I had never viewed a computer as a work of art. A computer had never beckoned me to compose on it.
For Mac users, the device makes a statement about who they are. Apple has seen to that. In its relationship with its customers, they have defined them. How they feel. And how they relate to the work experience. Its users are part of a growing culture.
This relationship between brand and consumer eludes most brokers and agents. They either don’t understand it or just believe it’s impossible to create. They haven’t dug deep to learn who their customers are. To learn what makes them tick. And react.
For the most part, real estate just tries to throw a net around everyone.To be all things to all people. Well, the sad part is, that doesn’t work. You end up appealing to no one. You are like everyone else. Plain vanilla yogurt.
Mac commercials resonate because they speak the same language as the customer. Brand and customer are on the same side. Real estate doesn’t even pretend to do that.
What you call a listing, is really my home.
What you refer to as a lead is really just a person looking for some information.
The neighborhood I live in you call a … farm.
Once I make a simple inquiry, you incubate me as if I were an egg.
To keep me interested you drip on me rather than shower me with affection.
When you sell my home, I become a notch on your top producer belt.
You market to me as if your personality means more to me than the value of my home.
In the end, many real estate consumers feel like I did before I bought my Mac — forced to use something suboptimal because there is no other alternative. What an dysfunctional relationship.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
There are going to be those people who read this, look at their 20 sales and say, "I did 20 deals last year — you know nothing". To that I say, while you think you did 20 deals last year, I believe what you really did is help 20 American families — moms, dads, sons and daughters — acquire for themselves a slice of the great American pie. And if you did 20, who’s to say with a little change, you couldn’t have done 40?
- Davison
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Parallels to mac experiences and seeing buyers and sellers as real people is perfect. The issue is deeper then it appears. Our MLS system requires me have a PC to use 'PARAGON'. This is the real estate data interface. This system won't work with a mac. SO, I use both. Jumping back and forth between the two worlds. When people come to my office, they never say; "Oh-cool, a PC!" And I don't feel that way using it. I hope to provide a 'mac' experience to those I serve. "Oh, cool… Wiebe is helping you sell you home."
Thinking in terms of offering a Mac experience to customers i.e., speaking to them on their terms and/or offering them an experience that is transitional will do wonders for your business.
We just bought 2 Mac's today, one lap-top for my daugher who is 17 and my husband a desk-top. I am done with PC's as soon as I have time I will get a MAC too. It is unbelievabable, I will never see my husband now. He was a MAC user until I went into RE 13 years ago and we all switched to PC's.
One reason I am hesitant to switch asap is our mls mlxchange doesn't do it either. I can't imagine logging of what I would be doing on the MAC to go tell a client calling about a house. What is wrong with the MLS's around the country. Do any of them work with MAC's.
Missy,
Thanks to Parallels (http://www.parallels.com), you can install Windows on your Mac computer. I am running Windows XP on my Macbook Pro right now to access the MLS while I do all of my other work in OS X. Life has never been better.
Apple has spent millions of dollars positioning its brand as being the very best customer computing experience. From their award-winning "lemmings" TV spot in the early 80's to today's "Mac vs PC" spots, they have always been on message…and then they've delivered on that message.
There was a period of years in the early 1990s when Apple's products didn't quite deliver on their message — and their sales suffered. When they re-aligned their product with their brand (beginning with the introduction of the iMAC) their sales rebounded and their company was literally turned around.
So the 2 questions for real estate companies to consider are:
A) Are you willing to talk the talk and build your brand on an exceptional customer experience? AND IF SO…are you willing to spend the marketing dollars necessary to communicate your message (i.e. — ADVERTISING WITHOUT LISTINGS)
B) Are you willing to stop hiding behind "the problem with managing independent contractors" and walk the talk by providing the support, training and then enforcing standards of performance among your agents so that your brand can deliver on its message?
The first company to step up to the plate with the resources to say "yes" to both questions will win the game — literally.
Well done Jon.
Thinking through this, on the cheap, is for the discussion to occur internally at the broker level. A decision needs to be made as to who they serve.
We know they must serve the agent and have done so with offering wonderful splits. But agents need more than that. Splits are great when there is a buying frenzy. But 90% of a quiet market — 90% of $0.00 is $0.00.
What everyone can and will benefit from is building a sense of meaning. Building a culture. A culture that extends from the plush corporate facility right down to the aura around every agent as they sit at their favorite cafe, working on their laptops and dreaming up their next deal.
This can't cost that much. It's a start. And it can spread WOM which is still the best and freest form of marketing there is.
Marc – This post is a masterpiece.
Steve, I sincerely thank you.