Category — Real Estate

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From a project we’re working on. You are not alone.

We just released the latest version of our eBook Alterations entitled “Selling Steamboat - 10 ways to think differently about selling real estate in Steamboat.”

It’s free so download it, read it, copy it and give it to a friend in need!

Alterations - Selling Steamboat

Most real estate professionals I meet are slashers. That is they don’t do just one thing. They’re a real estate broker/investor or real estate broker/retail shop owner etc. Get it - the “/” slash?

Slashers are people who have multiple parallel careers whereas a moonlighter has a side gig they work on after hours. One of the authors gives examples of lawyers turned writers & coaches (including herself), a teacher with a modeling career, a computer programmer who also directs a theater, a lawyer who’s also a Baptist minister, Sanjay Gupta, the CNN health correspondent who also does surgery a few times a month, and the list goes on and on.

This is a rather long video(56min) but if you’re trying to play the slasher game it’s worth a look.

(Click here if you can’t see the video.)

Here’s a 2 minute video from one of my favorite authors, Jeffery Gitomer. His get-real approach to business and sales is extremely refreshing. This should be required reading for all real estate professionals.

(Click here if you can’t see the video.)

If you don’t have any of his books, do yourself a favor and pick up a few. I promise you’ll get a ton out of them.

Pick up a few today!

I have choices when it comes to getting my hair cut. I could go to Mountain Cuts for an inexpensive “blow & go” cut by a recent cosmetology grad. It may be a fine service for some but I prefer a little more experience and a higher quality hair cut so I go to Savanna at The Comb Goddess. I pay more and I get more. I pay more and I experience lower risk that it’s going to be screwed up & I’ll look like a fool. Both are hair cuts but they are not the same. They’re not fungible. (Fungible means that there is no difference in value between two or more items. For example, a $20 bill is fungible with any other $20 bill and it’s fungible with roughly $200 Mexican pesos.)
You can’t swap either haircut for the other and have the same result (the guy in the picture doesn’t get this). Savanna delivers additional value and I pay a higher price.

Most if not all of what you do to market a property is not fungible.

How about your real estate marketing? Most if not all of what you do to market a property is not fungible. Point & Shoot digicams won’t capture the same essence of a property as an experienced photographer with a digital SLR. You can’t simply trade one for the other and have the same value.

Writing ad copy 30 minutes before the deadline is not the same as a well crafted message done by a professional copywriter.

Venturing into the online realm with the cheapest web company you can find won’t be the same as investing time, energy and money with an experienced e-business outfit.

Just as we, the consumers, can tell the difference between a bad “bowl cut” and a killer style, we can tell the difference between elegant marketing that tells a compelling story and cookie-cutter-hack-job marketing. They are not the same. They’re not fungible - they don’t have the same value. In a crowded, competitive market, paying more attention to the quality of your marketing and less about the price can make a huge difference. We notice.

Here’s a little clip from the no BS financial guru Larry Winget that really sums things up.

Click the green button to play:

 

 I Love Money [2:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There is such great opportunity for those who think beyond the Pilot & MLS to provide extreme value to their clients & potential buyers.

Provide value first, do what you say & build your brand.

You can find Larry’s books here:

Because they’re consistent in investing and improving their business in both good times & bad times.

I hear the same objections over & over regarding investing in their business. In good times many brokers say “Why should I spend any money to market myself or my properties? Business is so good, these properties just sell themselves.” Then they go play golf.

In bad times they say “Business is too slow right now. I can’t afford to spend and invest in my business. I’m going to cut way back till things get better.” Then they wait.

But the brokers who are successful in bad times are the ones who take a consistent approach to investing and improving their business in good times & bad. This works because it lengthens the good times and shortens the bad. As they continue to improve & invest in their business they put themselves in a position where they have more opportunities and more lucrative transactions. So when the market begins to turn south their opportunity pool is much deeper than otherwise, thus extending their good business.

They not only make more money but they also take deals off the table that could have been there for you.

When times are bad the same brokers continue to invest & improve their business Their down market is shorter than others. Why? For two reasons. First when many other brokers scale back their efforts those who maintain a strong presence have a greater chance of being noticed. Second, for the most part, the market pendulum will swing back the other way and when it does, those who have continued to invest & improve will catch the upturn much earlier than others. They not only make more money but they also take deals off the table that could have been there for you.

Cam Boyd recently hired a full time marketing person - in a down market. By doing this he’s positioned himself to catch opportunities much earlier and free his time & focus to find & properly market those opportunities.

There will be no green light for a better market and by the time you read about it, a ton of money will have already been made.

It turns out that many brokers have things a bit backwards when it comes to marketing properties. At a recent conference I learned that a study of real estate buyers shows that 80+% of buyers prefer great photos over virtual tours (the “spin-around-to-see-the-room’ kind) and 80+% of brokers prefer virtual tours. A bit backwards wouldn’t you say?

So in reorienting some to the reality of what buyers want, great photography is something that brokers should require of themselves as a minimum. I’ll try to illustrate some differences between really good pictures and the uninspired, drive-by point & shoot photos we see way too often.

I was recently on a trip and took a picture of some super colorful shops. Online, someone else had posted the same shot but with very different results. Take a look & imagine yourself in the market. Pay attention to how these photos make you feel.

This first version was taken by someone else with a simple point & shoot.

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I took this picture with serious camera gear and an inspiration to get a great photo:

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Big difference. Or how about this photo of a ranch:

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Compared to this one I took last fall:

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Which one would interest you?

Photos are such an important asset for real estate agents and here in Steamboat there’s almost no excuse in having crappy pictures. Hire a great photographer and smile when you pay them knowing that you have awesome photos that tell a story and sell property much more effectively. Great photos will pop on the MLS and can be leveraged in many ways.

Kim Keith is an excellent local photography resource. She’s a real pro and puts art into her photos. What this means to you is you’re likely to get photos that evoke emotion. More emotions equals more sales at higher prices.

Kim Keith Photography
Studio K
2550 S. Copper Ridge Rd, suite #204
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
(970) 846-3680
kim@steamboatgallery.com

Following up on the last post, the only clips included here are either exceptional plays or huge screw ups. Those are the things we remember.

The Most Memorable College Football Plays of All Time

Click here if you can’t see the video. 

I mostly remember either the stuff that was really exceptional or the stuff that was really bad. I remember stuff like Dan from back in 1988, the exceptional Nordstrom sales guy, who mailed me birthday cards. I remember the awful boat rental shop in Lake Powell called “Do Powell” from back in 2003. However, I can’t tell you the name of the title exec that helped us close on a property just a few months ago. She didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t do anything exceptional either.

With so many brokers concerned about referrals are you memorable enough?

There is so much average stuff in the middle there’s not enough room to remember it all. I suppose it’s a bit like this graph with the painful experiences being a little more memorable:

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If you do everything right & meet expectations, you’re average.

So many Steamboat Springs brokers are concerned with referrals but I wonder if they’re really doing the stuff that’s memorable. Are you memorable enough? 3 years from now will your clients remember the exceptional experience they had with you. 3 years from now what will your clients say? Will they say you were average? If you’re truly average, I doubt they’ll remember anything at all. And in today’s world truly average is actually a pretty high bar.

If you do everything right & meet expectations, you’re average. It’s only when you exceed expectations or really screw things up do you become memorable. Going with the flow, blending in, doing what everyone else does feels safe but we won’t remember you come referral time.

Buying & selling a home is such a life changing experience for your clients the goal should be to make it THE most memorable experience of their lives so there is no way they could forget you.