There’s an interesting article in the current issue of Fast Company any broker looking to differentiate should read.
The piece documents Starwood’s successful effort to burnish the Le Meridien Hotels brand by thinking outside the bounds of what most people think a hotel should do for its customers. They got out of the hotel business and into the business of creating memorable experiences.
The program, in a nutshell: Meridien now performs the role of tastemaker and curator for its guests, presenting them with art installations, cooking classes, signature fragrances and more. The company hired a French museum director as its "cultural curator." The "LM 100", an international group of "cultural innovators and artists," fuel the program.
You may find this sort of facile dilettantism pretentious. But it’s working. Online bookings are up dramatically.
Here’s the summation, delivered by a hospitality industry analyst:
"The old-school version of this would have been to put together a
committee, redesign the hotel, and that’s it," says brand maven Addis.
"Instead, these guys are going to be perpetually curating on behalf of
– not marketing at — its audience."
Are you, or is your company, "marketing at" your customer? Does your idea of what you could and should be doing prevent you from inviting them to share a distinctive experience?
Why shouldn’t your company ride a long tangent off the tight circle of conventional wisdom? It’s not like the old stuff is just too good to let go.
Really. Get out of the real estate business as you’ve known it and start differentiating. Slash your print ad spend and put an interior designer and landscape consultant on your staff (prospects get a free consultation; clients get on-site evaluations). Run home safety and self defense classes in the room you now use for office meetings. Check out this post from Davison for more ideas in this vein.
Could you make these things work in your company? I don’t know. You know. The point is to try something different, something neither you or your customer ever expected. Do it now, while the whole industry is off balance, while consumers are jaded. While everyone else is cutting their marketing teams. A cool drink tastes better in the desert.
Step outside the real estate business for a while.
– Brian Boero
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I so agree with you! I read this article in FastCompany exactly a week ago today sitting in Logan Airport in Boston. My first reaction was: This is how a company re-invents itself! And the hotel industry, like real estate, is in box as far as doing things as they've always been done. Le Meridien took a risk and made a substantial investment in this experiment and as of now it is paying off. I would also point out that they assembled a team of subject matter experts from outside the hotel industry to bring their unique skills and perspective to the creation of a totally different customer experience. They have also worked to cultivate a different attitude among their front line staff who actually interact with customers. Those concepts are a radical departure for most businesses and certainly for real estate.
Our company is making some of these changes and we definately aren't using print advertising anymore. Keeping these types of professionals on staff is expensive. So we have tried affilate relationships with industry professionals.
I think that in order to make it is this market we must think outside the box. Whether it is changing our advertising avenues or hiring people with different backgrounds, something new might be what we need. It is great to have new and different perspectives outside of a company or profession.
Rather than try to change what we were, we are starting from scratch with a new agency and we're soliciting any and all opinions at http://www.rebuildingrealty.com. An interesting game to play to come up with fresh ideas(I think this came from the book Thinkertoys) is to come up with a list of companies that have very distinguishable brands – Apple is the low hanging fruit here – and imagine how they would run a brokerage. Starbucks Realty? Home Depot Realty? NASCAR Realty? Try it.
I find it interesting how many companies feel the need to "reinvent" themselves when so many successful business models are so prevalent in our industry. We at Keller Williams Realty see the current market as the "Gift of the Shift" as it will allow us to pentrate markets peviously held together by flimsy firms who failed to undersand bedrock principles for success in our industry. It's very simple, lead generation and lead conversation! Done consistently with follow-up. Getting the client to raise their hand and then treating that lead like a jewel is the key. I'll buy them a couple hours of free landscaping after we close escrow!
another good example is tempurpedic – their marketing just shifted from selling foam beds to selling what the consumer really desires – sleep.
Our company is making some of these changes and we definately aren't using print advertising anymore. Keeping these types of professionals on staff is expensive. So we have tried affilate relationships with industry professionals.