All right. We get it. Real estate’s in a pickle. Former NAR Chief
Economist John Tuccillo’s recent observation that Realtor competence
has fallen to its “lowest point ever”, has got everyone thinking, how
much worse can this get?
Some of us are glass half full people. Others are glass half empty
people. Me, I just finish the drink. Barkeep, pour me another. So why
wonder how much worse it can get? Let’s start thinking how to make this
whole thing better.
The small broker
Let’s start here: the local real estate brokerage with fewer than
100 agents. The following is a list of ten things I would do if I owned
"Davison Real Estate":
1. Hire the best, not the most – And when I say best, I don’t mean
some top producer I’d obsess about poaching then give away the store
to. I’d recruit people who are passionate about my vision and give them
real training in real business skills: negotiation, property marketing,
management and more. No "quick trainings" or "boot camps" for my people.
2. Create an in-house concierge department, hotel style. Whatever,
whenever – This concierge department would be ground zero for anything
clients needed locally: tickets to shows, directions, coupons.
Everywhere referrals. Why just sell someone a home when you can help
them live a life?
3. Retail – People buy homes. As soon as they move in they start
shopping. Furniture. Bathroom accessories. Kitchen gadgets. If the Wynn
Hotel can house a Ferrari dealership, Davison Real Estate can sell
welcome mats, sheets, plush terry cloth robes and aromatheraputic
candles. All these things would be offered to my customers at a great
price and branded to Davison Real Estate. Far-fetched you say? Note how
many T-shirts sporting luxury brands you see on your next trip
downtown.
4. Downsize – Remove all of the office cubicles (we’ll deal with the
agents in a second). Open the space up. Make it shabby chic with shag
throw rugs, oversized mismatched chairs, Mac computers. If my agents
and their clients need privacy they can use my boardroom. Or, even
better, they’ll cut deals in the outside world, where the client
prefers to be anyway.
5. Install a coffee bar – Depending where I was, I might add a wine
bar too. Who would man it? At my full service, 6% commission facility
every single agent would also be trained as a Barista. As would I. If
someone walked in interested in my five-figure services, I’d be more
than happy to whip them up a double espresso.
6. Davison Depot – I’d have a shed. Inside would be mops, buckets,
painting gear, landscaping tools, light bulbs, etc. (again, all branded
to Davison Real Estate). When someone buys a home from me, I’d want
them coming to my place to borrow whatever they need to get their new
place spiffed out.
7. Go paperless – All Davison Real Estate agents would be required to
own a tablet computer. Those who balked would go work for the
competition and bleed their profits going through ink cartridges,
overnight packages, paper clips, staples and stamps while wasting sales
time standing in front of a fax machine. My agents might be steaming
milk for a client or serving them an imported cheese snack, but there’s
no way I’d let them fish files from a cabinet.
8. DavisonRE.com – The home page would feature an interactive map
saturated with neighborhood polygons. Users would drill down to street
level to retrieve information about every home — active, pending and
sold. The best available local information, school data, and market
trends would be fully integrated into the site. It would be completely
open to user-generated content. Every homeowner could post home with
pictures and video. I’d hold a "best home video contest" and dole out
prizes each month. Homeowners could list and sell themselves for all I
care. We’re not greedy at Davison Real Estate. We see the bigger
picture.
9. Go all-in on online marketing- For one reason, and one reason
only: Internet consumers are more intelligent, earn more money, spend
more money and use up less time. Those are the clients I want –
sophisticated people who appreciate sophistication from their service
providers.
10. Obsess on image and brand – If any of my agents have dogs, none
of my clients would ever know unless they asked. My people would dress
sharply. No Tommy Bahamas, shorts and flip flops. We’d be transacting
six- to seven-figure deals, and we’d dress like it. You don’t see
lawyers, doctors or talent agents walking around with Bichon Frise
earrings dangling from their lobes, shirts with their image
silk-screened on them, and 20 stuffed animals lining their dashboards.
Think I’m kidding? I’m dead serious. It’s time to re-imagine the
whole deal. Start from the ground up. It’s going to be fun. For those
who are game.
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A mist of difference
Freaking...
Where do I sign up? Some thought-provoking ideas here, some way overdue! Great post!
I am ALL in on the wine bar, friend! Deal falls through? Drinks for everyone! Deal closes? Drinks for everyone! Think of how low your turnover rate would be!
And of course I appreciate the focus on Internet marketing, and the clients it attracts, because that's certainly what I'm working on!
I love it! A very cool vision. I'm tempted to try something like it.
(1) Who is doing this and (2) where do I sign up? Seriously.
Interesting post Marc. You almost evenly divided your focus into four key elements: 1) The quality of the people you would hire and the training they should receive 2) The office environment you would create and perks you would give 3) The service you would provide consumers and 4) The technology you would use to reach them.
This doesn’t sound like ‘rocket science’ at all, so why aren’t brokers doing it today? What needs to happen to get an industry like ours to change? Is it only time…
Marc
Why not do it?
There is an office like this in Santanna Row in San Jose called
Intero !
A person with vision and drive. I see big things for your future!
I'm game, this is fun.
I like to dream big, I'm assuming you are throwing ideas out there, and that's very cool but let's really think this through. If you are going to compare RE agents to doctors and lawyers, lets really start at the ground up. Let's require a minimum of 4 years higher ed, some sort of residency or internship or junior partner status before agents are let loose on the public.
>My agents might be steaming milk for a client or serving them an imported cheese snack
And neither my dr. nor my lawyer pour the coffee, let alone pull on the apron and step behind the bar.
I like some of these ideas, but c'mon- branded home furnishings? You are only "transacting six- to seven-figure deals" and you want to *sell* a DavisonRE welcome mat for the grand foyer? That's kinda scary, even if done tastefully.
Now, an in-house, independently owned and operated coffee bar, okay.
An in-house independently owned and operated interior decorator? Sure, why not. My point is that I worry about becoming too scattered- Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Although it's certainly fun to think about, and you have given me some great jumping off points for beefing up my own service model, which I'm sure was your intention.
Stefan – Why not do it? Mmm. 1000Watt Realty. Has a nice ring to it.
John – There are others as well with cool, upscale environmental branding. What comes to mind immediately is the Windermere office in Portland and the Equitable Sotheby's facility (the epitome of luxury) in Phoenix.
Norm – Go for it. Find something from list or develop your own. Buy an old English Taxi and tour clients around in it. Put a Wii station in the office for the kids to play while you meet with their parents. There are a million simple things to consider and implement that could distinguish you from every one else.
Teri – Great comments. I hope for that everyone understands as you do that what I'm proposing here are just ideas or jumping off points as you indicate rather than concrete, do what I say, ideas.
Granted, while doctors don't pour coffee for customers, they do get their hands (or fingers) dirty performing less than desirable procedures on occasion – all part of the job.
Frankly, the only thing I think is beneath an agent is the act of driving paper from point a to point b and then standing in front of a copy machine making copies, the collating them, affixing paper clips and filing them into a cabinet. What a waste of money, time and environmental resources.
I say, get your hands dirty. Whip up a cocktail. Entertain your guests/clients. Do what you can to provide them a memorable experience.
It is fun to whip up some off the cuff ideas. That's what the post was. Seeds to be watered.
With listings now everywhere and accessible by everyone, and with everyone starting to blog, brokers and agents are going to have to look for something new, progressive, fun, experiential and different to build their brand and value proposition around.
1000Watt Realty? Mmm – Stefan, wanna buy a franchise?
And this to can be coming to your neighborhood. I really like the whole idea and seems like an idea for a franchise and this would be attractive to so many communities.
This concept would work great in my market. Great ideas.
Yes. These are tangible ideas you can build a real brand around.
Thats exactly what we have been saying! Move over baby boomers generation Y is movin' in!
I would love it if you could join us on our radio show to discuss this futher!!
Marc – GREAT ideas/suggestions/nudges for the RE industry! And I mean great! I have been noodling over some of your concepts for a while and you've added a few extra to consider.
Stefan – 'Why aren't broker doing this today?' That's an easy answer: traditional brokers are not in the business of selling real estate! There, I said it! Traditional RE brokers are in the business of renting desk space or a place to hang an agent's shingle.
Marc's concept would blow the doors off traditional brokeraging and place RE back to the "mom and pop" corner shop with a smaller agent pool, but wicked knowledge of the area, technology, and consumer minded service.
Hmm. You want to have all this cool shabby chic stuff in your office, coffee bar, comfy chairs, etc…then you say this:
"they'll cut deals in the outside world, where the client prefers to be anyway."
If the clients would rather be in the outside world, then why create such an environment? And if you're going to have such a posh environment, why make it so difficult for them to work with their agents there?
Something doesn't add up. LOL
Some of this stuff is cool and I love the idea. One office in the area has a built in coffee machine for customers, fireplace, sofas…cozy, homey atmosphere.
Yet we're outselling them. We're in a tiny, cramped, office upstairs above a pizza place.We outsold them for the first quarter this year. We got a higher average sales price than they did.
I don't think the fancy office is all that it's cracked up to be. Or maybe our buyers just like the smell of pizze as they walk down the alley to the door…I dunno.
This is fabulous…and progressive!! But
limited to an office smaller than 10
Awesome post! Love the fresh ideas. The coffee bar is a great idea. Let's franchise 1000WattRealty and make it a one of a kind company where all agents share, contribute, and redefine the real estate market in his/her city/neighborhood. Should I purchase http://www.1000wattrealtycedarrapids.com yet???
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Thanks Marc – you have some fresh ideas!
Thanks Mary.
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Thats exactly what we have been saying! Move over baby boomers generation Y is movin' in!
I would love it if you could join us on our radio show to discuss this futher!!