The Horse May Have Left The Barn, But...
It sounds like many of you have already dealt with the issue of the lead generators and referral companies in several different ways. I commend you for creating your business strategies and moving forward with them. Some have decided to never pay any more referral fees to those companies and go after creating the leads yourself on your own websites. Some have chosen other tactics. No matter what your strategy, the Internet cannot be blamed as the culprit for the reducing or removing the real estate professional from the transaction. The blame for that must lie with those who refuse to acknowledge the power and efficiency of the Internet for our business. It is imperative that you design your strategy around that.
The "Discount" brokers have chosen to say to the consumer, "Real estate services are not worth much. You don't have to pay me for the value of my services." This gets the consumer's attention for low prices, and then the "discount" broker either fails to provide any services of value, or switches the consumer to menu pricing that actually costs the consumer more money.
The Lead Generators and the Referral sites have chosen to say to the consumer, "We will be a repository for your information and then we will find you a professional real estate person to help you. We believe in real estate professionals, but we are going to charge them a bunch of money for giving them your information." Someone described the Lead Generators as the person who shows up at the church pot-luck dinner with only a fork, and then expects everyone to pay them for bringing dinner. I think that describes them very well.
Unfortunately, we as real estate people have not been very good at letting the public know the value of our services. Most people think that just because there is an abundance of information about properties on the Internet, that the cost of a real estate transaction has gone down. This is absolutely false. The costs of a real estate transaction are not about the information database; the true costs are about advertising, insurance, governmental regulations, risk of litigation amongst others.
We must continue to let the consumer know the value of our skills, rather than let them think that access to real estate properties for sale is all we get paid for.
The "Discount" brokers have chosen to say to the consumer, "Real estate services are not worth much. You don't have to pay me for the value of my services." This gets the consumer's attention for low prices, and then the "discount" broker either fails to provide any services of value, or switches the consumer to menu pricing that actually costs the consumer more money.
The Lead Generators and the Referral sites have chosen to say to the consumer, "We will be a repository for your information and then we will find you a professional real estate person to help you. We believe in real estate professionals, but we are going to charge them a bunch of money for giving them your information." Someone described the Lead Generators as the person who shows up at the church pot-luck dinner with only a fork, and then expects everyone to pay them for bringing dinner. I think that describes them very well.
Unfortunately, we as real estate people have not been very good at letting the public know the value of our services. Most people think that just because there is an abundance of information about properties on the Internet, that the cost of a real estate transaction has gone down. This is absolutely false. The costs of a real estate transaction are not about the information database; the true costs are about advertising, insurance, governmental regulations, risk of litigation amongst others.
We must continue to let the consumer know the value of our skills, rather than let them think that access to real estate properties for sale is all we get paid for.
posted by Realty Executives Int'l at 7:04 PM
2 Comments:
"We must continue to let the consumer know the value of our skills, rather than let them think that access to real estate properties for sale is all we get paid for."
Amen.
I've been putting together a strong team for the past year and we are set to double in personel and agents this year. The one thing I drive into their minds as often as I can is to add value to our service and make sure the client recognizes the added value. Not only do we give our very best service to each and every client, we strive to add something extra, something unexpected. After all, this is a people business, face to face relationships that last for decades (if you do it right).
I here too many people crying like chicken little that "the sky is falling" when really things are just changing as they always do and always will. Fail to adjust to the new ways of the world and you'll be left behind before you even know what hit you. Sit around and cry that the internet is the end of business as you know it and you'll be right. But, it's the ones who recognize this (and take it up as a personal challenge to adjust themselves to) who'll still be here ten years from now.
Matt Pellerin
PhoenixHomes.com
Paradise Valley Realty Executives
PS, Rich, we need to talk. I can help you edit this template and add some links, etc. where it says "Google News" and "Edit Me" and much more. Just let me know...
I just checked Google and this blog is now in their index! Thanks to my friends mortgage site MattSmithMortgage.com (where I inserted a link to this blog on his home page temporarily while we upgrade his site).
Rich, if you ever read these comments, call the Paradise Valley office and let's talk about this blog and ways to improve its visibility.
Matt Pellerin
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