Alright! Everybody up
You say, I cannot get there from here
Then I don’t care where I’m goin’
Here’s to your thin red line
Mmm, I’m stepping over
– Van Halen, “Unchained”
1978
Van Halen erupts onto the music scene finger tapping and tremolo diving like no one ever had before. Their music was living, breathing and pulsating from Eddie’s guitar and out his Marshall stacks in a wild combination of looped guitar effects sequenced in a whole new way.
They rewrote the book on how to kick ass.
I know, I don’t ask for permission
This is my chance to fly
Maybe enough ain’t enough for you
But it’s my turn at a try
What makes a rock star
True rock stars bring something different to the table. It’s why they rise to the top and stay there. They have a their own look. Their own special feel. It’s that difference that cut Zeppelin apart from Sabbath. And Deep Purple apart from Cream.
It’s the same in business. Rock star brands set themselves apart. Their look, their feel, their products, message, and service are all carved from that same sense and position. It’s what sets Apple apart and sends its sales soaring.
Then there are the clone bands. The ones that copy someone’s else’s look, sound and feel. Like Badfinger. Like every hip-hop act since Tupac.
Tell me that our industry isn’t filled with clone bands. Each copying the other. Same yard sign. Same newspaper ad. Same website. Same consumer proposition. Their lead singer agents? Mostly glam, no gravitas. Their lead guitarists? More suited for the campfire than the big stage.
I had posters on my wall as a kid. My room was a shrine to the artists I worshiped. I came to know them intimately through their music, their lyrics, their album art, their music.
As adults, we still build shrines. Only these days, the things we worship are the products we buy. The brands we swear by.
But does this relationship occur as often as it should in the context of the most important purchase American’s make? What real estate acts do consumers worship? What agent posters do they hang? And no, refrigerator magnets don’t count.
2008
Real estate could use a few good rock star brokers encased in spandex, air humping their way across their boardroom inciting a riot. Inciting change. Or a solo artist agent crotch thrusting through their marketplace building new fans into a frenzy by virtue of their ingenuity, flair, and intense market brilliance.
Real estate rock stars believe they do more than sell homes. They believe their customers are more than just leads. They believe in the big picture. They don’t reflexively resist anything different.
Change, nothin’ stays the same
Unchained, and ya hit the ground runnin’
Change, ain’t nothin’ stays the same
Unchained, yeah ya hit the ground runnin’
Unchained
Nothing ever does stay the same. A European invasion is rocking our shores with foreign brands like Engel and Volkers, Dothomes and others coming into our space. Rock star practitioners like Noah Rosenblatt and Kevin Boer are emerging in market after market bringing with new strategies, new philosophies, and a forward looking disposition.
Whatever you thought was untouchable, unchangeable or sacred about your business, the emerging rock stars are leaving by the wayside. They’re bringing a whole new sound that is taking each of them up to the top of their local charts.
If you’re clinging to what you did, what was, what you know and what everyone else does …
Nothing ever stays the same.
Whatever, whoever, tries to keep it that way will wither.
And wander off into the fade.
– Davison
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I appreciate your "take" on the RE world. This riff is especially on the mark. Many are called, few are chosen.
Well done. Thanks. kb
Terrific post. Anytime you can get a Van Halen video into a post on real estate I think that you have a winner. You are really on the mark on how these "clone bands" are everywhere in the industry. Hopefully tomorrow's Rock Star Agents will blaze a new trail- raising the level of service of all REALTORS, while putting their clients interests at the forefront. Let's make it less about me the REALTOR and more about you the client. Exciting things happening (even here in Madison, WI)…just looking to be a part of it!
One of my favorite posts so far in '08!
Eddie rules!
Some shall lead…
Thanks people.
Such a simple message – to go back to the beginning, to that spark that inspires any if us when we enter business and shed all those things that suck out individuality, that suck out creativity, that suck out aspiration and find the rock star in us that we know we are and want to be.
Such a simple message. Seems cool to just share it and spread it around.
When you reach your personal pinnacle imagine what you can then give the consumer.
I can't imagine this not being ok.
A good analogy Marc.
….And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll…
Marc, your comment on bringing something new to the table really struck home with the VideoHomes philosophy.
What is the definition of Art?
Strip away all the crap and the answer boils down to: Uniqueness.
Art is defined by it's level of uniqueness. I can remember when I first saw a video for the band Slaughter on MTV. It was like seeing a stake being pounded through the entire music scene of the time.
Things returned back to the core after that and same will happen for the whole real estate media scene. At http://www.VideoHomes.com our approach is a bit different than most but we feel it embodies this return. We wanted to create an online marketing media that can be used offline as well as online. "…list with me and I will advertise your Orlando home on My Website, OrlandoSentinel.com, OrlandoVideoHomes.com, Realtor.com, and many others…" Sort of like the first version of the Gilligan's Island theme song "and the rest.." Not that these 'national' guys aren't huge and important and have millions of VC to prop up on. It's just that I can't seem to keep up with yet another national real estate search media that promotes the same basic thing. If I can't keep up, what do you think sellers and buyers are going to do? Your post is a return to the core of what this whole thing is about. Marketing. Strip away all the crap. Forget "online" or "offline" or "Web2.0". Find what makes a connection and use it.
Well done… everyone has their own opinions (ahem!) but I happen to know from reliable sources (me)that mine is always right, and I say, "well done."
I get the obvious-that zeppelin is better than sabbath, but deep purple better than Cream, I'd have to call a tie.
Brian when you finally stop by, we can discuss!
Ahh, not better Louis – I meant cut apart as in the distinctive differences between the two. Both were great, but so radically different. There's no denying though that back then, Clapton was considered a god. He was for me until I heard Blackmore soar through the solo on Highway Star. That is still some of best 90 seconds of solo ever.
here! here!
I cant tell you how much I enjoyed this article. I consider myself a "rock star" agent and this really hit home.
Thanks for the article and please check out our innovation at http://www.rehava.com.
We are reinventing real estate.
Well this post sure has hit a nerve with some folks in the industry and sparked much discussion elsewhere. (bhb and 4realz).
I agree with the idea of real estate needing new ideas and needing some provacateurs to shake up the industry. Too many of us are caricatures.
I'm not sure that I agree that the rock star is the image that works best when moving the discussion towards being consumer-centric. Rock stars seem to be about me, me, me and there is already too much of that on the re.net. The real estate agent 3.0 has to realize it's about you, you, you. You are not a lead, I'm not a rock star..
PS. Congrats on being invited to speak at the big Windermere hullabaloo this fall.
Thank you for offering me an opportunity to explain the metaphor.
"I'm not sure that I agree
that the rock star is the
image that works best
when moving the discussion
towards being consumer-centric."
I am positive it is Geordie and here is why. Rock stars are about me, me, me. And so are real estate agents. That's a fact. And it's cool. It's what makes both these people tick. I know. I managed talent for 20 years and now, after ten years in real estate I can tell for sure they are cut from the same stone.
I offer this as a positive attribute.
And here is why the consumer-centric analogy works. Spend an evening with me backstage. Watch the transformation a rock star goes through from the few hours they spend in the dressing focusing solely on themselves, to that moment they take the stage.
When those lights turn on, as they stand there exposed in front of their customers, their fans, they give 110% of themselves. I've seen it first hand — the blood, the sweat — as they jump, writhe, swing from rafters. In those moments, they are more consumer-centric than any ten businesses combined.
Frank. The Boss. Meatloaf. Garcia. Bono. Elvis — No holds barred. Each unique. Each reaching deep inside pulling out everything they have for the benefit everyone who buys their music and concert tickets. It can be argued that some (Garcia comes to mind) died in the throws of giving to their fans.
Rocks stars are the pinnacles of consumer-centric. The Clash fought their record label hard to release Sandinista (a triple album) for the price of a double album. As a result, they earned almost $0.00 in royalties. They did it for their fans.
Consider all aid benefits put on by rock stars. The hundreds of millions if not billions collected and donated. Every artist I ever managed or met has in their careers made critical decisions that while not in their own best interest was in the best interest of their fans. This is the world I came from and the one I know.
Artists spend years crafting the perfect album at a great expense to themselves. Radiohead's last album was posted free online in lieu of donations risking millions of potential record label revenue to do right by their fans. That decision by the way, turned out well in their behalf.
Rock Stars don't dabble in lead generation. Or incubation. No drip email campaigns. No boilerplate content and monthly newsletters they buy from some music publisher. Every song, every note, every hairdo — original.
Yes, behind it all is their ego pushing them to be the best they can be. Find me a Realtor who is hugely successful and they fit that profile to a tee.
If my belief that agents have this juice inside them bothers some people, let it.
If some find me "simple" for suggesting that my clients and those who read this blog strive to be original and different. Let them.
Selling real estate is a public performance. Having a website viewable by the world is a real estate persons center stage. Their visitors – are their fans.
Their postcards, newsletters, their blogs, their advertising – these are their songs.
They are their statements to the world. They have a choice — copy the works of others or rise to a new occasion. And write hits. Be egotistic in the dressing room. But in public, give it up. Like a rock star.
If this is controversial, cool.
If it’s unnerving, cool.
Tension creates change.
I'm not trying to hurt anyone or brow beat a single soul. Just offering my sense of how I see it.
Thanks again Geordie.
Yes, onstage, musicians are about GIVING to their audience (it's not about the ME onstage)– giving them what they paid good money for, fulfilling a need, bringing them joy. But the rock star goes further than the merely talented musician– the rock star creates love.
While we're talking music, allow me to add my favorite, Frank Zappa. An anomaly of success. Never commercial but widely successful, loved by his legion of fans to this day. And that is a big part of success– many are talented but a rock star is loved.
Here's a taste of Frank (Muffin Man)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CGO9I8rmkE
Well done Joe. Zappa. Indeed. He was never more on than when he appeared on Crossfire back in 86.
I have, in the past, cited the book Lovemarks and delved into the art of going past the brand, past the trademark to where a company creates a Lovemark with a customer. To where a company creates that diehard customer.
Loyalty to the death. As I am with Mac's. And Porsches. And Adidas. And W hotels. And Rob Levy – my agent in Portland.
I love these entities because in their own way, they have loved me back.
I know that so many agents get into this business for the right reasons. They aspire to be something great. For themselves and for their customers. I say, don't ever lose that desire. If you have misplaced it, find it and go for it. Now more than ever. The American customer is hungry for great real estate leaders.
Marc
I see now. I was confused with your analogy.
Clapton had his roots in the blues, Blackmore in Bach (Highway Star is a direct lift from Johann Sebastian) Cream and Deep Purple are easily distinguished but both were unique top notch bands.
Zeppelin and Sabbath, not so easily,at least not on the core heavy metal portion of their work. Hence my confusion.
Nice post though even though I didn't get it the first time!
I am impressed with your knowledge of Blackmore. If we are ever in the same place with a guitar, I will impress you with my note for note capability. Are you familiar with the track Burn? That's even more narly.
Anyway, me thinks, this post confused a few others as well. Perhaps I went too far with the metaphor. But at the heart of the post was a positive message. I hope that came through.
Marc
I've got a few live versions of burn that I don't try to play myself
I am seeing Brian on Friday. I will be sure to not play the guitar in my office when he is here.
Play. Ask Brian to do his Wayne Newton impression for you.
I'd rather see your blackmore imitation, but in 15-16 short hours I will have the pleasure of asking Brian to do his Wayne Newton impression.
One of my favorite posts so far in '08!
Eddie rules!