Opportunity

Posted on 08. Feb, 2008 by Jay OHare in Create Value, Real Estate, Steamboat Springs

I meet with & talk to brokers just about all day and I see tremendous opportunity for a few brokers. A few brokers who commit to radically changing their game because they realize that
A. They’re not in the Real Estate business.
B. The market/their clients have more choice than ever before.

They realize that old methods like copying & pasting (listing descriptions, email newsletters, newspaper ads, “market reports,” etc.) simply add to the noise and provide no real value.
They realize the game is not changing – it has already changed.

Not in the Real Estate Business

Every once in a blue moon I meet with a broker who realizes they’re not in Real Estate. They understand they are in the “value creation” business. They understand that the once exclusive MLS is no longer exclusive and is as commonplace as a light bulb. Hire you because you have “access” to the MLS? So what? So does everyone else with sites like Iggyshouse.com.
The value of exclusivity is gone.

They understand that they must create value for the buyer, the seller and the market. That’s all they have. They have to create a perceived value that’s higher than their commission. That’s it.

A few brokers realize that having a “great personality” is not enough. They’re going beyond what anyone else is doing and creating real value. Improved communications, new marketing techniques, establishing relationships in other markets, blogging…

Why? Because they realize that all other brokers are their competition. And they want an edge thru creating value. I just had coffee with a broker who has suspended all print advertising. All of it. Every penny of marketing will be spent online and on technology. This broker even turned down a listing because the client insisted that Homes & Land be used. She realizes the value of a magazine like H&L is gone. As she put it “It’s a crowded commodity marketplace whose value doesn’t justify the price.” Guess what, the client called back a week later with a signed listing agreement. Risky? Maybe. But I never saw anyone make it big without taking a risk and I happen to agree with her.

Your Clients & Prospects Have More Choice Than Ever Before

Online all “real estate” is neutral. There’s no location advantage. It’s just as easy for me to browse to your site as it is to your competition’s. And if your competition has a better story, an offering that’s aligned with our worldview and can demonstrate how they’ll solve our problems more effectively than you, they win & you lose. And even worse than loosing, you are invisible. We don’t even know that you exist. That’s what happens in a world of infinite choice. 1 in 22 people in Steamboat Springs are Brokers – that’s infinite. With an infinite choice why pick anything but the best? Why pick anything other than that which aligns with my worldview?

Those blue moon meetings are what motivate me. Far too often I have the opposite type of meeting. Stale, complacent, bored, lost brokers who are looking for a quick cheap fix. That’s a good thing for those who recognize the noise and complacency and choose a different path. To those I say get busy.

Related posts:

1. I Don’t Care
2. Keep the Best, Loose the Rest
3. We Decide, Not You