New Standards of Performance for the Modern Real Estate Professional

NAR is turning 100 years old this year. Think where we have come in 100 years. Think how fast our business has changed since the mid 1990s with the introduction of the internet into the business sector.  With this anniversary in our midst it is time to think about new standards of performance for our business. Why? Today's consumer is unlike any consumer we have ever known. This is because of the rapid acceleration of the internet and the rate at which people like to communicate.  They expect and deserve new levels of professionalism from us . These new standards start with our communication with the consumer.

New Standards in our Industry need to be applied to our marketing, so take a moment and find out what the consumer wants . . . and then give it to them.

Every year NAR publishes its Profile of Today's Homebuyer and Seller and one section focuses on the "Most Valuable Features of Web Sites" – items consumers demand when they are on your website. Here is the breakdown:

• Photos: 83%
• Property Details: 81%
• Virtual Tours: 60%
• Maps: 43%
• Area info: 37%
• Agent info: 31%

NAR says that 96% of consumers  start with a property search. If you don't have a search button predominantly displayed, allowing the consumer to drive the experience they will search somewhere else. A consumer will stay on your website for just a few seconds if they can't find what they are looking for.

When they find listings, do you have the featured items above? If not the consumer will eliminate properties  from their home search. If they do a search and half of the listings only have one photo, those listings are eliminated immediately.

Do you have more than ten photos per listing? Even shoe websites like Zappos has ten photos of shoes. Shouldn't your listing client at least enjoy the same amount of photos that a pair of shoes does?

Staging is key with today's photos. Martha Webb author of "Dress your House for Success" says "With all the emphasis on staging, it's important to remember that preparing a home for market is a process that starts with the basics of cleaning and uncluttering. Clean, clutter-and-odor-free account for 35% of a buyer's first impression. This can be accomplished in a few hours and at almost no cost. Next, a coat of paint will create a clean, fresh feeling for minimal cost. These simple steps show buyers your house has been well cared for, and that translates into value!"

Just by uncluttering a listing will make your photos more appealing. You listings will have more staying power on the internet. Take time to revisit your listings and the photos. If your photos need help, consider hiring a professional. If you can, investigate a staging course like Certified Home Marketing Specialist and learn the dialog to help the consumer partner with you to make their home look the best it can in photos.

24% of homes sold last year were found directly on the internet. That means after filtering through home after home the internet consumer found the actual house they wanted to buy. They called or emailed you and you showed it to them, and SOLD it to them. The first showing for many buyers is happening on line. 

New standards of performance are simple. Give the consumer what they want, photos, lots of them. Make sure they can reach you by email, phone or text messaging – in the time and way they require.

Technology can help streamline your communication process and your marketing efforts. Welcome to the new millennium.

Web 2.0 and Real Estate

Web 2.0 and its brain child, Social Networking are beginning to gain a foothold in the real estate industry. Not only are we starting to see results by posting our comments on blogs, but we are participating more and more online on our own networks. What started as the listserv phenonomen of Realtalk with tens of thousand of users has evolved. Many technology experienced REALTORS® began looking for  more interactive outlets. We wanted to share ideas and learn from our counterparts across the country with more than text. What has happened are sites like ActiveRain, Realtown, LinkedIn, Zillow, Trulia and Plaxo, just to name a very few. 

Activerain and Realtown are REALTORS® own blog experiences. There are over 61,000 members right now on Activerain. They are the grown up MYSPACE experience for our industry.

LinkedIn is another example where all types of adult professionals find people to network with, in front of their computer. What they are finding is that they don’t have to travel to a convention to do so.

It’s all about the conversation  

Web 2.0 is an online experience that is dynamic and interactive. With a click of a button you can be connected with amazing knowledge to be shared and relationships to be made. 

Open and honest membership interaction is key in this new participatory phase of the Internet.  Forward-looking REALTORS(r) are using their online presence as a conversation tool to promote visitor-generated content, to gather visitors feedback and new ideas and to put organizational emphasis where it truly lies:  the potential clients!

Online technologies like blogging, podcasting, wikis and RSS feeds, pave this two-way street of communication and could provide us with the tools to grow our business and increase activity and excitement among our clients. Lets start with the basics.

Social Networks – Web users create online parallels of their circle of real life friends. They expand that relationship by encouraging other users to share their own content online, including photos, videos, music, and other digital files.

Blogging – A blog is a web site where you add commentary on an ongoing basis. New information ends up at the top of the blog so people can scan and see your articles by dates. If someone wants to, they can comment  or link to your blog or email you.

Podcasting – Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The distribution format of a podcast uses the RSS feed. iTunes has a 1 Click subscription to audio and video podcasts.  

Wikis – Hawaiian for “quick” or “what I know is . . . “ A website created by a group for collaboration. Inman has a wonderful wiki.

RSS Feeds – The goal is to attract readers and earn subscribers. This is done with RSS. (You are here reading this aren’t you?) You can subscribe through the RSS button on on this page and never miss an post! .

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. It enables software like newsreaders to download your content, (text, images, audio, or video) automatically every time you publish. This is also know as Push Technology.

•         IE7 (25% of consumers use this) has 1-Click Subscription of RSS Blogs.

•          Some people read Blogs in a “reader.”

This is just a primer, just a beginning. Lots of possibilities – what will work for your business?