Chava, my trophy wife of 30 years and personal Assistant, showed me an article entitled. “Our Industry May Cease to Exist.”  She said that it was the opposite of what I believe.  The reason that articles of this nature bother me so much is that they are based on a horrible premise about you, the Real Estate Agents and Brokers. 

The article describes a potential scenario in the not too distant future where 3D television is common.  So, Sellers display nearly holographic experiences of their homes for just $200.  And Buyers can click on a button to get prequalified for finances, credit, and even a criminal background.  You get the idea.  It is the Agent-less transaction. 

It feels possible, particularly when you look at booking flights, buying auto-insurance and other businesses in which the Internet continues to gain market share.

That specter of an Agent-less transaction belittles and devalues the significant importance that the public receives from Real Estate Agents.  The horrible premise that bothers me so much is the inherent assumption that the Real Estate Agent is nothing more than the purveyor of information.  This is often the perception of people who have not been in or been successful in Real Estate even if they are lenders, attorneys, inspectors or others close to the business. 

Buyers will always want to walk through the real houses before they buy them.  (Perhaps there are a few that wouldn’t want to walk through the real thing.  Here’s the test.  Would you buy your next home without physically walking through it?)  Buyers will not want to do all the research needed to discover which inspections are most common for their area, the use of attorneys, title companies, and other professionals. 

What is the average person’s experience and negotiating?  How eager is the public to engage without advocacy?  

There are other discussions that are interesting about fee for service models; the experience and skill level of the average Real Estate Agent; the ease of licensing and more.  We’ll reserve those for another time. 

For now: two bottom lines; one is that until there is a mildly pervasive model that is a real threat, all the talk about the demise of our profession as we know it is just noise.  The second bottom line is that this talk is disrespectful and naïve regarding the reason people want to engage a Real Estate Agent.  (By the way, it is always a red flag to me regarding the level of respect someone has for Real Estate Agents and Brokers when our profession is referred to as an “industry” the way the author of that article referred to it in the title of his article.) 

There is a reason that our profession has survived for over a century with very little difference in how it is conducted aside from massive increase in ethics, quality and use of technology.  The same could be said of doctors.  They still tell you to open, say Ahhh, put a stethoscope on your back and tell you to cough.  At the same time the ethics, quality and use of technology has increased dramatically.  The reason both professions have survived and will continue to survive is that what we do has tremendous value to our Clients and the public.

What do you think is worse?   The person who wears you out with hourly phone calls and multiple emails…or the person who seems to never return a call or email? 

It’s a real life story for sure!  Surveys show that one of the biggest reasons that sellers get frustrated with their listing agent and buyers move on to get the services of another Realtor® is often due to the lack of communication.  An important tenet of any relationship is the interchange and connection that is fostered through purposeful and relevant communication.

 I work with several top producing, very busy professionals that often WOW me with instant or quick response.  And if for any reason they are even remotely delinquent, I get a solid apology and acknowledgement…. and that makes people feel valued and important!

But so often in any business, tardy or non-existent responses can set a negative tone.  No response is considered a severe rejection, and if that is not your intent, then get better at communicating.  Use multiple mediums and never forget that document always trumps conversation, so take good notes in any interaction and clarify so everyone is sure that all parties are clear and informed.

 There are hundreds of historical examples of how miscommunications caused wars; deaths and family break ups…so why don’t we be more purposeful when communicating?

Here are a few thoughts for you to ponder

1) Simply ASK your client, customer, prospect, friend, spouse, or partner how they prefer to receive their communications from you.   Do they prefer email, text, phone, letters, or is Facebook their favorite medium? In any case, using a medium that is their preference does increase the probability that they will in fact respond to your communications.

2) Have a system in place that makes it easy for you to connect. If you use a smart phone, then communication using text and email can be more easily exchanged. If they prefer Facebook, then get a Facebook app for your phone to save time.

3) Email is still a popular medium, but in general we all suffer from email overload.  A smart move is to not assume that your communication actually went through.  Spam filters, and email fatigue contribute to lost connections and if your email was not read or was lost in a junk file, your lack of response can easily be misinterpreted that you are not interested, don’t care, or are unwilling to communicate.

4) Don’t mistake using a singular medium as the only type of interchange. Good old fashioned voice connection should be included in your communication strategy periodically.  Letters, postcards and voice mail can still support the exchange of information. But hearing the tone, inflection and timbre of a voice tells you more than any flat medium can provide.

5) Always confirm what you think was transmitted.  Clarify. Ask Questions. Confirm….all are important to keeping the conversation clear, understood and validated.

6) Be cognizant of the 4 generational dynamics of age and behavioral styles when communicating. People are always more comfortable when you speak to their core values and preferences and through a channel of their choosing.

No matter what you are doing with any one person or group, communication is the KEY to relationships and clear responses build ongoing referrals, trust and confidence.  Pump up your awareness and get better at communicating!  Now…who should you call…right now?

Bio: Terri Murphy, is a Social Communication specialist is an author, speaker, communication consultant, and author of 5 books, including her latest with Donald Trump. She is the founder and Pres. of WomensWisdomNetwork.com  www.MurphyOnRealEstate.com and serves as CIO of U. S. Learning in Memphis and Email: Terri@TerriMurphy.com – And for more info visit: www.MurphyOnRealEstate.com

Every market is a good market.  Every market sucks.

It’s true.  There are too many Buyers or too many Listings.  People are not “pulling the trigger.”  Buyers are making low offers.  Sellers are expecting too much.  It goes on and on until you learn to tell the truth in a compelling way.

Here’s today’s true story in many markets.  For  Buyers: “People may look back at the summer of 2010 and say, ‘I wish I had the foresight to have bought then.  Interest rates are under 5% for the first time in our lifetimes and it is likely not to happen again in our lifetime.  With the current political landscape it is possible that after the election in November we will see that change.  Home prices are excellent.  And when things change they will change fast.  Rates will rise in the matter of days.  If we have an inflationary bump and house prices rise significantly like they did in the early 80’s that too will begin to happen in a matter of weeks and months.  You know the expression, buy low and sell high.  Buy when others are selling and sell when others are buying.  Well, it’s a Buyer’s market, people are selling, prices and rates are low.  If you are thinking of buying or know someone who is please give me their name or have them call me.  This may be a real moment of opportunity.”

And for Sellers: “If you don’t have to sell and you are not buying up, stay put.  But, if you are selling a less expensive house and buying a more expensive one, holy cow, this is an amazing time to make that move.  The lower priced houses are holding their prices much better than the higher priced ones.  So, you could get a very good price for your present home and a great price for the one you are buying.  And you will get a mortgage interest rate that is likely the lowest we have or will see in our lifetime.”

And for Sellers not buying: “If you don’t have to sell for a few years, then stay put.  But if you are going to sell in the next few years, now may be the best time.  Rates are at record lows so Buyers can buy and are willing to pay a better price than they will when the rates rise again.  Also, even though it is slow, there are flurries of activity when a bunch of homes will sell in a weekend for no apparent reason, just a burst of pent up demand.  You can’t wait to put your house on the market when it happens because it is over by the time you do.  So, you put it on the market for a reasonable price and are a bit more patient than you may have been in the past.  We position yours to be one of those that catch the flurry so you take advantage of this market.  Does that make sense?”

Successful Agents look for the opportunities in the market and practice relating the true story of where the opportunities are.  This attracts business directly.  It also makes the Agent a compelling figure in their community; a voice of optimism and reason in the midst of uncertainty.

In our last post, we discussed the three major areas that the new Google Caffeine will be looking for these three important areas are:

1. An important “keyword rich” domain name
2. A “keyword rich” Title (and Titles throughout your site), and
3. Keyword rich content

The easiest and most effective thing that you can do to your website to get noticed by the major search engines is to change your Title, using rich keyword phrases. For example, if you lived in Denver and you wanted to focus on luxury condos, you might want to use the Title “Denver Colorado Luxury Condos”. If you really want to make a powerful statement with Google, add more features such as “Denver Colorado Luxury Condos and Beautiful Estate Living”. So far we’ve used 56 characters and spaces. Keep in mind that Google will only read the first 66 characters and spaces. After that, it’s as if there is nothing there. Yahoo on the other had will read up to 110 characters and spaces, so put your second best information next.

For more information on the power of what you can do with building effective Titles, take a look at the following video:

It must be their skills.  No, it can’t only be their skills.  There are many Agents with good skills struggling.  The Agents succeeding in this market are the ones who worked hard to develop new skills (short sales for example) and strengthen old ones (pricing, price reduction, negotiating to name a few)

It must be their attitude.  Yes, that is it.  But it’s not quite that simple.  There are many Agents with great attitudes who lost their steam through this market.  It was that Agents who had the ability to manage their attitude who were able to lose badly.  Get knocked down.  Get back up and generate the focus and courage to jump back into the fray.  And do this repeatedly.

Lance who moved from Dallas to Tampa just before the market busted.  Despite the fact that he spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours learning short sales, search engine optimization and more  was still only closing one out of twenty offers written as the banks kept changing the rules.  He kept that up until now when he is having a record breaking year (big numbers).

Mike who moved from Buffalo to Sarasota just as the market slumped.  He used his masterful sales skills and his new construction experience to not only survive but thrive by associating himself with an organization that had the ability to strategize and succeed (along with the good judgment to hire people like Mike) through the challenging market.

Debbie in Los Angeles, Naomi in New York, there are lots of these winners in every State, Province and beyond.

Now, let’s understand one thing.  There are a lot of good people who, despite their best efforts just couldn’t make it.  And many of them are now coming back strong.  (I won’t name them.)

All of these Agents have those two things in common.  They kept learning and growing.  And they learned to generate an attitude of positive expectation even when everyone and everything around them was telling them that their positive expectation was naïve and futile.

I love these people.  I really do.  I love those I know and those I’ll never meet.  I love their indomitable spirit, their passion, every fiber of those qualities that are the basis for success.

For some all this comes naturally.  For most it is learned behavior.  You can be the winner you imagine.  You can have the life and the business you imagine.  You can have it now.  It starts in this moment with a decision to learn and grow your skills and your attitude.

Oh, and I love this business that provides the opportunity for me to share this with you.

Many people are starting to wonder “Hey what’s happened to my Google rankings?” Simple. Google has recently (as of June 8th) changed its entire algorithm, or the way that they decide who gets to be on top of their search engine. Google is now faster, more relevant and doesn’t care as much about many of the areas that were important before.

So what are the major changes? Well Google is trying to cut through all the spam and find out which really are the best and most relevant websites for the search being applied. To get to the bottom line of this, Google first looks at your Domain Name. Is it relevant to the search or is it only relevant to you (BarbaraSmith.com for example). A highly keyword rich Domain Name might be MyDenverRealEstate.com or LuxuryCondosInDenver.com. In this case, if I’m looking for “luxury condos in Denver”, Google says WOW, this website’s Domain Name is part of their search. It MUST be relevant.

The second area that Google looks at is the Title of the website (located at the uppermost part of the browser). If you start off the Title as with our previous example of say, Denver Luxury Condos (the words don’t need to be in the same order as the search) then bells and whistles go off for Google. It tells Google that this website is REALLY relevant to the search being made.

Finally, and probably the most changed area is the area of content. If you write about yourself on your Home Page, Google figures that your website is only about yourself. Therefore you must write about what the buyer wants to read about. If your content is laced with information about Denver luxury condos, you are ripe for climbing the Google ladder.

There is MUCH more that Google has changed in its new Google Caffeine, but these 3 steps will get you headed in the right direction. In addition, you can get additional information with this “pocket presentation” about getting a good domain name.

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, International Speaker

My dad used to say when my sister and I were behaving badly he thought we needed a ‘whack up the side of the head’. Don’t worry. He didn’t actually do it, but we did pay attention when he said it, because we knew it was time to stop, look, and listen—and change our behavior! It’s time, I think, for brokers to get a few ‘whacks up the side of the head’, too.

Why Listen Up Now?

You have heard many of the ideas here before. Businesses in other industries have embraced these business concepts in the past decade. But, brokers simply have not adopted them. Why should brokers listen and take action now? Because times have changed enough that we can’t afford to keep persevering in old ways and expect to make the profits we deserve for the risks we take and the hard work we do.

Small actions finally create a ‘critical mass’ and a trend.

In his book, Microtrends, Mark Penn identified 75 microtrends sweeping the nation. One of them he calls ‘southpaws unbound’. Since I’m a lefty, I read that trend with interest, because I was one of a few of those children of my generation who learned to write properly with my left hand. When I was about four, my mother, a schoolteacher, taught me to write, and let me use my dominant left hand. When she found out schools were forcing kids to become right-handed, she asked my kindergarten and grade school teachers to allow me to write with my left hand.

Now, though, the trend of making all lefties into writing with the right hand (or at least trying) is reversed. According to Penn, the number of left-handed people has doubled in two generations.  Why? The idea of writing with your ‘natural hand’ has reached critical mass. Parents are encouraging their children to use the naturally dominant hand. Schools are now teaching left or right hand writing. What does that trend mean to business? A wealth of opportunities to create left-handed gadgets. What does that mean to the lefty? No conflict in the brain about natural dominance. No failure in school because we couldn’t translate the right-hand directions. More confidence in our own abilities. This trend may seem very ‘micro’ to you, but, to a lefty, it’s huge!

(My mom, who worried a lot about what people think, would feel very pleased that her bravery in insisting I stayed left-handed in school was vindicated).

A ‘Whack’ for Brokers and Recommendations

As with all adopted practices, several principles and actions come together to create a ‘critical mass’. Below is my observation about one of our very important traditional business practices that has become ineffective, due to consumer dissatisfaction, business expectations, much more education, mass communication, and market conditions.

Whack: Recruiting can no longer be thought of as an ‘on accident’ occurrence.

In a fast market, everybody wanted to sell real estate—and, most of them could sell—a bit. Then, the market turned and it seemed no one was selling real estate! As the market picks up, it’s our opportunity to change the way we recruit and select, so we won’t experience that lack of sales to that degree ever again. To change our businesses for the better—forever—we need to find agents who will actually develop careers. That means brokers must search for capable agents on purpose (just like agents must lead generate on purpose).

In the next blog, I’ll make several suggestions about how to ‘whack yourself on the side of the head to recruit on purpose–and double your profits.

Question: What ‘whacks’ do you see that brokers need to give themselves now? What ‘whacks’ are you giving yourself?

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is president of Carla Cross & Co., a speaking, coaching, and resources provider for the real estate industry. Carla specializes in real estate leadership. She’s the author of 6 internationally published books, including Up and Running in 30 Days. Recently named one of the 50 most influential women in real estate, Carla is a former master level CRB instructor, writer of coaching/training programs for most of the major international franchises, and is a National Realtor Educator of the Year. Contact her at 425-392-6914 or www.carlacross.com.