Category — Real Estate

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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:

Click for larger

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.

Really interesting representation of US Home prices adjusted for inflation. Take a ride on a roller coaster as it traces home prices from 1890 to 2007.

(Can’t see the video? Click here)

Interesting perspective from Seth Godin. I’d comment more on this video but I think it’s one of those things that either you get or you don’t.

(Can’t see the video, click here.)

Just had breakfast with yet another broker complaining about yet another split adjustment by yet another managing broker who refuses to see the light. Desk fees, time in grade, tiered splits, volume splits – the circus goes on & on.
Here is what I see over & over again. I see brokers using their cell phone numbers on their ads along with personal email addresses. I meet with brokers on a consistent basis who are trying to either get a website or redo the one they have. I see brokers who spend 95% of their time out of the office. I see brokers who invest heavily in self-promotion. And yet the number one complaint I get is related to splits.

Why?

In 1988 it made sense for a managing broker to take a heavy split of your commission. It was extremely expensive to operate a business. Printing costs were enormous, early computers cost a fortune and of course the Internet didn’t exist. National TV campaigns drove serious business to the big franchises and the phones rang because of it. As consumers we had two choices to get in touch with you, dial a phone or turn a doorknob. “Floor Duty” was a lucrative use of your time because of that. So a managing broker taking 50%+ of your commissions made sense. The bulk of your business came from your association with that company.

Today, the complete opposite is true for most brokers I meet. The majority of their business comes from leads and clients they personally generate. Most brokers I meet view “floor” as time to get office work done. They view their association with a brokerage as “doing time” as required. And yet commission splits have remained almost unchanged.

So, I think you deserve more money.

You deserve to keep more of what you earn for the very reason that you’re doing more to earn it and your managing broker is doing less. You have more choice than ever before. Don’t spend yet another year hoping things will get better. If they haven’t by now chances are good they won’t. With companies like Colorado Group, there are alternatives to the commission split game. And it is a game, which most managing brokers should know is coming to an end.

Every evening a managing broker watches his entire company drive away. He can only hope that his company comes back in the morning. It’s my hope that the sooner managing brokers realize this the sooner they’ll approach their job differently. They are no longer the gatekeeper they once were. Their value has shifted to other areas. Maybe attend a conference or establish a new media initiative instead of adding yet another page to the split spreadsheet.

The good stuff isn’t on the main trails. It’s hidden away in tough places to get to. On a powder day we seek the edges. We try to stay away from where everyone else is. We avoid the tourist areas. As locals we understand and appreciate this.
I think this same thought process applies in real estate/business. The good stuff isn’t found by blindly following the crowd. It’s not on the “Main Trail.” Try following a maverick into the “business woods” sometime. You’ll be surprised what you find.

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 loose. 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.

Ok it’s the second half of January - how are all the New Year’s resolutions coming along?

If your desk still looks the same, your inbox is still full and your still trying to get it together here is a lifesaver. This guy changed my life a few years ago and his GTD (Getting Things Done) system is sweeping across the globe. This is a fantastic overview video featuring David Allen himself (the creator of GTD) giving a talk at Google.

The video is 45 minutes. If you’ve got a ton on your plate and really want to move the ball forward this year this approach will certainly help.

(Can’t see the video? Click here)

The one aspect I really like about GTD is you can implement most of the system immediately and receive immediate benefit.

For more info check out these GTD resources:

Buy the Getting Things Done book.

www.43folders.com

www.davidco.com

www.dyiplanner.com

And 100 more links for GTD

A quick review of the current Homes & Land reveals the following URLs that contain the word “Steamboat”

buysteamboatsprings.com

steamboatvillagebrokers.com

steamboatproperties.com

steamboatlistings.com

buyeragentsteamboat.com

stanforssteamboat.com

sharonsteamboat.com

howesenplacesteamboat.com

remax-steamboat-co.com

steamboatdream.com

steamboatsprings4sale.com

buysteamboat.com

steamboatagents.com

steamboat-realestate.com

onesteamboatplace.com

steamboatrealestate.com

forsalesteamboat.com

steamboat4sale.com

steamboatmountainproperties.com

steamboatestates.com

prudentialsteamboatrealty.com

olympiansteamboat.com

alpinemountainranch.com

What gets me about these domain names is that none of them are memorable, interesting or unique. The biggest offenders are

steamboatsprings4sale.com
steamboat4sale.com

steamboat-realestate.com
steamboatrealestate.com

Utterly confusing. Domain names are essentially free and yet these Steamboat Springs brokers are content to stick with confusingly similar domains.

Since a primary function of a broker is marketing, the domain name of choice not only reflects on that brokers marketing and understanding of internet marketing but also can impact the response rates to their magazine ads.

Stinky Water

“stinkywater.com” is one of my favorite domain names for a Steamboat Springs business but it’s for sale for $800. If I had a true need for it I’d buy it in a heartbeat. It speaks to an aspect we all know and love about Steamboat Springs and it’s memorable. A week from now you’ll remember stinkywater.com but you’ll be hard pressed to truly remember any of the names above in any meaningful context. Yes stinkywater.com is odd & “out there” but that’s precisely what’s needed in a very, very crowded market.

Here’s a few tools to help find a unique domain name:

www.nameboy.com This service will search for available domain names based on your keyword input.

www.dnscoop.com Fun site that tells you how much your domain name is worth as well as other stats.

www.snapnames.com If you subscribe to the snapnames newsletter, you can see which interesting domains are about to be sold for not much money. No guarantees as to how effective this service is, but it’s a neat way to think about what to build next.