Research everything that you are being told.
My first blog post for 2015 tackles the important issue of bringing some important changes to the Real Estate industry. When I started in business in 1980, it was believed that business was operating under a 5 year cycle, and by 1983 it was down to a 3 year cycle and by 1985, there was no cycle; it was now just one continual time of change. This situation has maintained ever since and every business owner knows the importance of keeping their company at the forefront of change in order to survive.
When I came into the Real Estate industry I was amazed how the marketing concepts were so old hat, you would have thought the marketing was from the 80’s or 90’s. It is only Real Estate Agents and Politicians who still fill up our letter boxes with junk mail or making unsolicited calls. Even what was being taught in the Real Estate course was marketing techniques out of the last 20 odd years.
Where has been the continual change in Real Estate Marketing that other industries had gone through since the mid 80’s?
At the end of last year I was prompted to prepare a presentation after seeing the reluctance of the Real Estate Industry to do things differently.
My New Year Resolution is that 2015 is the year for the change to start in Real Estate. It has been my experience over many years in my own businesses operating in different industries, that too often the successful incumbent operations within an industry are limiting the change process because their systems have worked so well for them in the past and are not prepared to change. The problem is that their reluctance to try new things has landed them into a rut that only gets deeper and deeper further limiting their ability to adapt to change.
The change process occurs within an Industry only by the influence of two external groups, which are:
There are very few people today who do not do something, without first researching on the internet. Thereby, they become very savvy about many things on which they are going to embark upon. The real issue for the incumbent industry leaders, is that the client is no longer as gullible as they have in the past. Tell something that cannot be supported by good evidence, then you are more likely to be found out, and not only will you lose a potential client, you lose their respect and they will talk. There are two good examples of this, which are:
If you survey most of the people, particularly in Queensland, they do not like auctions. Yet auctions are pushed by the industry as well as by the majority of agents. It is often sold as a means of getting above market price, when in truth it is really only getting a fair market price. But worse still, from Corelogic RP Data, only 1 in 3 properties taken to auction sell at the time. More and more will be written about this, and more people will become aware and fewer vendors will be convinced to go to Auction.
This usually goes hand and hand with the first example. Where vendors are convinced to spend large amounts of money on advertising to support the intending auction. It usually involves the costly large press advertisements that you see in the weekend Real Estate magazines. It is supported by articles like this “Major study proves Power of Print”. You will only require one guess as to who writes this material. This is comparing Online +Press Advertising against just Online Marketing and they extrapolate such outlandish outcomes like:
They will come mainly from outside the Industry and will be attracted to the Industry because they see there is an opportunity here because the incumbents are not looking at the needs of the consumers and they are prepared to. For a period of time, it will be difficult for them to get a foothold into the Industry, because they will be seen as new comers without experience. But that will not discourage them, they will stay committed to their desire to give their clients what they want, and only a few vendors will try initially, but they will talk and the client base will grow. So if you are Selling your Home, it is important to give them a go, even if just to meet them as part of your own due diligence. Remember they have your best interests at heart, the reason why they came into the Industry.
"Times are a Changing" so it is so important to face the facts and not be lead by good sales talk. Research everything that you are being told so you are receiving the true facts.