Eating the Elephant 2.0 bites at a time

(Photo by Anna Grist at Stock Xchng)

All I can say is WoW!

Who is THAT Hungry?

Most Realtors are - or should be, or are gonna be really fast, this year.

There are those meandering and grazing in the bloggosphere that are having a hard time stepping up to their new diet.

You might say to those people:

-you are crabby and just don't like that other Realtors got the hot stuff first;

-you might be getting crabbier because other Realtors got their first and are having seconds already;

-and fuming at the fact that you are stuck because you do not want to admit it is time to stop being late for dinner and do not know here to start.

(Boy, haven't we all been THERE...)

The simple fact is that this hard market requires soft skills: blogging, social networking and being in on line communities.

You also need to use the online tools the consumer is using!

Being engaged, not on auto-pilot, auto-answer, I-can-get-a-program-bot-to-scribe-me-up-some-content kind of coasting mode.

The shakedown is still shaking: if Realtors-yes, Realtors- do not engage and get up to their earlobes in what is going on-well, who wants to eat?

Realtor Pros remain. Why? Likely because they ARE engaged, nimble and are not afraid to change their work mode as quickly at their day-old socks.

Getting started eating this elephant? EASY!:

Read, comment and learn in the forum of a on line community.

Then, set up a blog and make it real-about you , your neighborhood, what YOU know about real estate.

Expand your Rolodex network into a social network - ask around, you might even get a friend to invite you in!

Just don't sit there - grab a plate and get on line!

Dessert is gonna be really, really good!

Obeoman

steven.stearns@obeo.com

Markets are like donuts - who do you face?

As ideas are like compost, so Donuts will bring you a customer or two, despite all the gluten-intolerant and calorically-conscious people out there.

The hard sell does not work; the real evidence of this: the fact that most Realtors still do not have a website. (You do have to have donuts for this group -reaching them on the phone is possible but may take all year.)

The other group of Realtors still do not understand the basic premise that marketing is achievement, not activity. They point themselves at marketing programs reluctantly, often not considering the cost and are often sold a bill of goods on DIY, SEO and SMS ending up with alphabet soup and nothing S-O-L-D. (For this group, you sometimes need therapy.)

The rest of the Realtors and brokers often stare at each other before the stare at a vendor. The broker will usually tell a vendor all his Realtors work independently, so a meeting with them will be tough. And these Realtors know what they are doing, often don't want to work in teams, but can't figure out what globalization is doing to the real estate market, don't honestly believe that they are a conduit for information and service specialists and get beat down with the commission stick by sellers. (Their stare is a hungry look. They need to eat, obviously - but they don't necessarily want to pick up the tab.)

So who do face?

Do we use the consumer to drive the Realtor to the vendor?

Or should we put the donuts on a stick?

Obeoman

steven.stearns@obeo.com