1000watt blog

If you think your customers know you because of your website bio, think again.
If you think you create loyalty from a simple brand statement, think again.
If you think all this innovation separates you from tradition, please think again.

The Past

Every Friday morning, as a boy, I joined grandma on her weekly trek to
the butcher. Shelly knew exactly what kind of chicken grandma preferred
for the Sabbath meal. It  was bagged when we arrived. Her name, scribbled across the wrapping. A few  marrow bones thrown in for her soup. No charge. And a sugary bow tie cookie for me.

Every so often as a boy, I’d join grandpa to the shoe repair store.
Mario, the owner, was a tiny man dwarfed by stacks of shoes and shoe
parts. His olive skin held a shiny patina from all the polish he
handled. "Marco Polo!" he’d scream as I entered his shop. "Looka how
bigga you get." Even if he hadn’t seen me for a year. Even though I had
hardly grown.

Back then, New York’s Lower East Side was our Internet. These shops
were our destination sites of choice. The owners garnered loyalty the
old fashioned way — by being there. Holding court. Playing to the
crowd of visitors, customers, members.

They’d talk and joke — share their opinions about anything.

Shelly and Mario were yesterday’s webmasters. Social networks’
architects. They epitomized the very essence of what "local" meant.
When I think of them, memories overtake me. They had an intimate
relationship with their customers. Chicken is chicken, but there was
only one Shelly.

Sometimes, the conversations inside their stores were about politics.
Sometimes it was about sports. Often, it was about the neighborhood.
Who did what to whom. Who bought a new car. What home was for sale.
Sometimes, it was idle banter.

But  it was always real. Honest. It mimicked life. And it was the foundation of their business.

Today

Meet Tony. Zappos resident shopkeeper. Standing behind his counter. Like Shelly, garnering loyalty the old fashioned way. By being there.  Sharing his thoughts. Playing to the Zappos crowd.

I received a Twitter message last week regarding his thoughts on service.
It prompted me to go to the Web site. I shopped around and ordered
three pairs of Doc Martins — sneaker shoes and a pair of summer
sandals. Asked for 3-4 day delivery. They arrived the next day. Just
like his tweet suggested.

Tomorrow

I  know this whole Web 2.0 stuff is seemingly fleeting, trendy and difficult to  measure.

I
know it can be argued that so much of what is being twittered about –
especially in real estate — is hardly quotable, and borderline
rubbish.

I know that discounting many of Web 2.0′s higher
possibilities is a predominant sensibility in real estate especially
among die-hard traditionalists holding onto old-fashioned ways.

But
I submit that what you are discounting is deeply rooted in good
old-fashioned tradition. I submit that if applied correctly, blogs,
Twitter and the like could very well be the vehicle by which those
old-fashioned ideologies we honor so dearly can be resurrected.

I
submit that these Web 2.0 tools stand to better connect you with your
customers than the template, static, boilerplate Web tools you have
been using for the last 10 years.

Nostalgia

Shelly or Mario never said anything all that memorable. But the
social experiences inside their establishments have lingered for 40
years.

Your establishment is online. This is where conversations
must now take place. To fight this inevitability is to buck the very
tradition you hold dear. Real estate begins with a conversation, and
what better way to start and carry one than with the array of free 2.0
tools at your fingertips?

Granted, learning how to properly use
these tools might be an arduous swim upstream. But sometimes a trip
back to the past is where you can birth a new future.

What  have you got to lose?

- Davison

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