This past week alone I had conversations with the senior management of two medium-sized real estate companies that hammered home just how desperate some firms are getting.  They each mentioned how they were thinking of training their sales associates on how to use social media (i.e. FaceBook, Twitter, etc.) which of course “everybody” is doing.  When asked if their sales people were even responding to the online leads they already had, the answer in both cases was an unsurprising “no”.  Hey, if our sales associates can’t figure out how to make it in today’s market, let’s give them some bright shiny objects, at least it will take their mind off the fact they’re drowning…

Giving a Ritalin deficient sales force yet one more thing to distract them from the disciplines of doing real business, is like giving a crack addict a brand new pipe.  Social media is not some kind of silver bullet that will solve all their problems.  In fact, for most of them it will substantially add to their frustration and probably hasten their exit from the business. “RDR” (Realtors Don’t Read) is common refrain.  And if you believe that is true, consider the natural sequitur “RDW” (Realtors Don’t Write).  Social media certainly can complement one’s marketing efforts, if (and this is a big IF), one is a very good writer with some semblance of a unique and engaging “voice”.  Out of the million or so Realtors still in business I wonder how many fit that profile.

This is just one more example of how typical real estate management responds to desperate times with desperate Hail Mary, spaghetti-on-the-wall measures, rather than with something so few seem to exhibit —leadership.

The Real Crisis in Real Estate

Imploding housing values, constricted credit markets, skittish consumers and an overall deep recessionary economy are simply part of a cycle.  A nasty one for sure, but just a cycle.  Barring an extinction level event, people will always buy and sell real estate.  Currently, sale volumes may be lower and the methods of how we help them with the process certainly change, but business will continue.

There is indeed a crisis in the residential real estate industry, but this current cycle does not define it —it instead has revealed it.  Boom times tend to mask flaws.  And as Warren Buffet so aptly put it, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.”  This market has made it very clear that skinny dipping has been a favorite pastime for the management of most residential sales companies.

Getting caught with your pants down during a market down turn is due to one primary factor —lack of strategic leadership.  Having been intimately involved with residential real estate for over 33 years, it has always been clear to me that this is one of the most reactionary industries there is.  Strategic thinking and execution are so rare that it almost takes my breath away when I am fortunate enough to witness it.

The very foundation of successful strategic thinking and its execution in this industry is sales force accountability.  It doesn’t matter how brilliant your ideas or how shiny the new objects you provide your people.  If you don’t hold them strictly accountable to implementing your strategic vision you will fail, every time.  Yet accountability is the anathema to the body-shop model of hiring and managing sales associates found in the vast majority of companies.  And it is precisely these companies that find themselves in dire straits and most likely to name the economy as the source of their woes.

It was interesting that one of the brokerages I spoke to actually bragged about how they hold their salespeople accountable and explicitly denied providing “bright shiny objects”.  Yet when I asked them how they expected social media training would convert to new business for their people, or how they would even measure it, they responded with “We don’t know.”  Hey, if it glitters…

The current market cycle is an incredible once-in-a-generation opportunity to take significant market share if only because so many are frantically reacting.  To do that requires strategic thinking, superb execution and holding your salespeople accountable.  They need to understand that this is a serious business, not a pastime.  You can give them that perspective and the means to thrive even in the worst of today’s market.  However, if you fall into the trap of providing solace through the glitter of bright shiny objects, you are merely forestalling the inevitable.

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If you are scifi aficionado then you are doubtless familiar with the evil Internet-based artificial intelligence called SkyNet which is bent on destroying humanity (i.e. Terminator).  While definitely not evil or conscious, the next major evolutionary step for the Internet IS here.  It’s called Wolfram/Alpha and it is a major game changer for Google and a potential life changer for everyone else.  Here’s why…

Google’s primary mission is to index the world’s information and make it immediately and freely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.  Many people on the planet use it every day because finding the information we want when we want it is really useful.  However, we’ve actually had search engines since the early days (circa 1994) of the Internet.  Google just happens to be the best at it.   However, any search engine has limitations as to what it can do with the information it finds.  In most cases it only returns references to documents that may contain the information you are looking for.

This is where Wolfram/Alpha provides a quantum leap over any search engine no matter how good (or rich).  In addition to indexing the Web, it also curates the information and codifies it so that it is “computable”.  That is, it allows you to ask regular human questions regarding just about anything that has a specific answer and it will provide you that answer plus abundant supporting information.  Now this is where it gets really interesting, the answer may or may not be found anywhere on the Net, which is irrelevant because Wolfram/Alpha computes the answer in real time.  Since all the indexed information in Wolfram/Alpha is computable, this also means you can ask questions about relationships between any number of things and it will spit out the answer.

The folks at Wolfram Research call it a Computational Knowledge Engine.  This can be a bit tricky getting your head wrapped around this one (a typical malady associated with quantum leaps :o), so here’s a demonstration video featuring Steven Wolfram (CEO of Wolfram Research) at a Harvard University gathering just last Tuesday.

Now Everyone Can Access Expertise For Free…

Google gives us information, but is not capable of really telling us much about that information and its relationship to anything else in the world.  Wolfram/Alpha on the other hand gives us access to expertise that is limited primarily by our ability to ask the right questions.  Now all the rapidly growing petabytes of information on the Internet has suddenly become a whole lot more valuable —in ways that no ordinary search engine could ever hope to duplicate.  The technology behind Wolfram/Alpha is nothing short of astounding and represents hundreds (if not thousands) of man years of development in computational knowledge areas that are highly proprietary (i.e. Google with all its might and money is not likely to dupicate this one).

So how is this going to affect your real estate sales business.  I honestly can’t say for sure at this time.  But I do know this, it will affect your business and just about everything else we do from this point on.  Information by itself is not knowledge.  Instant access to expertise that understands nearly endless relationships between bits of information is the most valuable kind of knowledge.  Wolfram/Alpha totally redefines the bromide “Knowledge is power.”

NOTE: Wolfram/Alpha is currently in restricted Beta but will be released to the public later this month.  Keep an eye out in this blog as I will keep you up to date as I fully explore Wolfram/Alpha specifically with respect to it’s impact on the real estate business.

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In this market your sales associates are looking to you more than ever for training.  With the order taking days long gone, they certainly have the time for it and many are getting desperate for the “silver bullet” that will magically turn their dire situation around.  We all know that silver bullets don’t exist and real change requires hard work, dedication and commitment.  Yet most training programs, even started with the most sincere intentions, are doomed to fail even before the very first lesson is taught.  Here’s why and how you can make any training you provide totally effective and with a lot less stress…

First, let’s define what we mean by effective training.  Effective sales associate training occurs when their behavior permanently changes to align with what is being taught.  Based on this metric, most real estate sales associate training fails miserably.  Either your training efforts are a frustrating exercise of “talking to a wall” or at best, you have information transfer but little or no implementation.

Kids Are Easy, Grownups Not So Much…

Training adults has never been easy.  Unlike kids, most adults abhor change and long-term behavioral change is the very essence of effective training.  And, the accelerating pace of technological innovation and procedural complexity within the real estate industry makes this task that much more formidable.  Yet the increasingly competitive environment makes effective training a top strategic priority.  Without it, your company is not likely to make it through the current tough market cycle intact.

There is a very powerful and proven way out of this mess.  And to best understand how and why it consistently works requires that we first examine how most training is done today.

There are three basic categories of training for real estate sales people:

1. Licensing – for the purpose of obtaining or maintaining a license to help people buy and sell real estate for compensation.  Real estate schools, brick and mortar as well as online, currently fulfill this need.  It should be noted that the word “training” in this context is a bit of a stretch.  As the purpose of this kind of instruction is not so much to change one’s behavior as it is to help them achieve the objective of becoming and remaining legally licensed.
    
2. Basic Skills – to help new sales people a) work effectively from a procedural standpoint (i.e. understanding listing and sales processes, forms, procedures, regulatory requirements, etc.) and b) develop fundamental sales skills that will enhance their ability to generate new business and see it to fruition.
    
3. Strategic Skills – to help experienced sales professionals develop attitudes, skills and behaviors that will maximize their long-term business growth and success.  This kind of training can include team building, marketing, business planning, use of technology and the Internet, etc.

It is with this last category, Strategic Skills training, that the industry struggles with the most because it requires the greatest amount of behavioral change from the students.  Yet until a sales professional’s long-term strategic behavior changes in accordance with what is being taught, no training has occurred.  It is the change of the sales person’s behavior, not the passing of tests that determines the efficacy of any training initiative.  And most strategic skills training initiatives fall far short of this goal.  The stakes are very high because effective training of strategic skills will also have the biggest impact on your company’s competitive positioning and bottom-line.

The Power of Collaborative Training

There are currently three approaches to training strategic skills being employed.  Perhaps it is best to think of them as hierarchies, with each subsequent approach subsuming the previous one and adding something extra to enhance training results (i.e. long-term behavioral change).

Training 1.0 (Immersive Curriculum)

All training requires a well thought out curriculum with specific learning objectives.  Many large sales organizations and franchises invest heavily in this type of strategic skills training.  Delivery can be both in the classroom or online, synchronous (live instruction) or asynchronous (self-paced), or a combination of both.  While this kind of instruction can measure whether a student understands what is being taught, it does not enforce the ongoing implementation of what was learned.  Therefore, given most adults’ proclivity for avoiding change, the impact of this training model is very limited (just ask any trainer).  It is akin to throwing information at a wall and seeing what sticks.  What is sorely lacking here is ongoing accountability that will ensure what is being taught is also being used.

Training 1.5 (Immersive Curriculum + Accountability)

This is the model used by most of the coaching companies that work independently of the sales organizations.  In addition to teaching strategic skills, these groups (Brian Buffini, CKG International, Mike Ferry, Tom Ferry, etc.) provide a means by which the student is held accountable for implementing their new strategic skills.  While an effective means of achieving long-term behavioral change, this training model has some serious drawbacks.  These include expense (often $400 - $1000 /mo or more) and lack of scalability.  Even the largest of coaching organizations have been able to attract barely 1% of the REALTOR population.  And, in times of down-cycle markets, substantial student attrition occurs when high-cost coaching is one of the first things to be let go as budgets are squeezed.

Training 2.0 (Immersive Curriculum + Accountability + Exclusivity + Collaboration)

This emerging training model addresses all the limitations of earlier ones by leveraging typical sales person behavior rather than fighting it.  It accomplishes this by incorporating the following:

Exclusivity – Not all sales people are ready to be trained.  There are three kinds of “cats” in any sales organization…

• Cool Cats – these are the ones that see today’s challenges as opportunities, are committed, coachable and willing to collaborate and share ideas with others.  They are much more interested in having a career selling real estate rather than just a job (represent only 5% - 10% of the sales force);
   
• Tom Cats – these are the “fence sitters” who tend to blame everything and everyone for their problems.  They are not coachable or committed to a real career and think of their business as simply going from one transaction to another (represent about 85% - 93% of the sales force);
   
• Fat Cats – these are the “old-timers” who are typically very successful but not at all coachable and probably will retire within 3 – 5 years (represent 2% - 5% of the sales force).

The key to success in the Training 2.0 model is to work only with an organization’s elite group of “Cool Cats”.  Sales people want what they can’t have and this type of exclusivity leverages that behavior.

Collaboration – This is where all the “Cool Cats” collaborate, brainstorm and support each other to succeed in the implementation of what is being learned.  This innovative approach allows each individual to tap into the collective IQ and creativity of the entire group.  What emerges is an esprit‘d corps that powerfully enhances the ability to change student long-term strategic behavior.  It is also a way to quickly generate and implement strategic solutions that simply would not have emerged from any one individual.

Accountability – Each “Cool Cat” signs an Accountability Agreement that stipulates the special privileges, responsibilities and accountabilities (including specific consequences) as being part of the elite group.  Any member that fails to hold themselves accountable is removed from the group without hesitation.

Immersive Curriculum – To achieve true scalability, training must be provided online both in synchronous (live group coaching) and asynchronous (self-paced video lessons) formats.  It must also provide a way for students to prove that they have implemented what they learned in each lesson.  Implementation is the first step toward long-term behavioral change.  This approach also allows the curriculum to be disseminated for far less per person than a typical coaching program.

My company has used variations of this Training 2.0 model for the benefit of many real estate sales organizations since 2000.  I developed an “eTEAM” training protocol that involves forming elite groups of sales professionals that are the “Navy Seals” of doing business online within the brokerage environment.  A company’s “Cool Cats” are given a chance to self-identify and apply to join the eTEAM.  Each application is scored by measuring the commitment level of the applicant and their willingness to work with others.  Accepted applicants must then sign the eTEAM Accountability Agreement and pay for their own training.  Once formed, a broker’s eTEAM meets once a week and is facilitated by an eTEAM Leader whose job is to make sure the group works collaboratively and each member is held accountable for implementing what they learn.

The eTEAMS grow over time since some of the “Tom Cats” within the organization that see the success and benefits of being an eTEAM member will eventually seek to join.  Perhaps most importantly however, this Training 2.0 approach turns the typical sales person entitlement mentality into one of commitment and responsibility resulting in long-term positive behavioral changes in a highly scalable manner.

Traditional methods of strategic skills training clearly do not work well if at all.  And, there are no silver bullets.  The industry needs a model that addresses these issues and leverages the power of collaborative networks (both online and off), enforceable accountability and use of the latest online training platforms.  This emergent Training 2.0 approach incorporates these capabilities and provides a proven way to get sales people to change their long-term strategic behavior (for any kind of training) while adapting to rapidly changing competitive environments.

Then again, you could stick with the way you are doing training now and expect different results —but we all know where that leads to.

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Despite the title of this article I am not a big fan of the term “silver bullet”.  It implies that if you do (or purchase) just “one thing” the sky opens up, the birds start singing and all your business problems will suddenly disappear.  There is no such thing.  However, if you implement what I’m about to share below you will realize the closest thing to a “silver bullet” to doing more business online that has ever been offered in the real estate industry.  And, it won’t cost you a dime…

The Amazon River of New Business

Even in today’s toughest markets, the Internet is still the “Amazon River” of new business that most sales people either ignore, or haven’t a clue on how to fish.  In fact, most business is lost with the very first email a sales associate sends as a response to an online inquiry.  How you reply to an initial online inquiry will ultimately determine whether or not you are going to do business with them.

Remember, the online consumer is someone you can’t see, shake their hand, check out their body language or even hear the sound of their voice.  They prefer shopping for properties and services under the veil of anonymity provided by the Internet.  Any attempt to impose traditional (i.e. face-to-face or on the phone) sales techniques with this consumer will only serve to drive them away from you.

Crafting an appropriate response to an initial online inquiry requires understanding what is important to the online consumer:

• Privacy - everybody who does anything online is concerned about privacy;
• Staying In Control - this means they want to be in control as to when and how much they reveal about their needs and wants;
• Unrestricted Access to Information - consumers use the Internet because it gives them instant access to tremendous amounts of information while remaining anonymous. Being required to reveal who they are to receive information will only frustrate them.

Critical First Response Email Script

Let’s apply what we know about the online consumer and create an email first response “script” that will attract the consumer rather than repel them.

Now assume for the moment that you just received an inquiry that looks something like this: 

Most sales associates (if they bother to respond at all) typically start probing for more information and/or attempt to qualify “Jane” -which is exactly the wrong approach.  The following is a script that is specifically designed to “speak the language” of the online consumer and is the closest thing to a “silver bullet” you can find online:

Put yourself in the position of being “Jane”, who just sent the inquiry to a REALTOR.  When you get this kind of response back, how are you feeling?  What does this response say about the sales professional who sent it?

You will note there are two versions of the Critical First Response script above depending upon whether or not the consumer provided their phone number.  Many sales people think that if the online consumer provides their phone number in their initial inquiry, then that is an open invitation to call them.  Ironically, that is typically not the case.  The second version of this script shown above helps you address this situation.  Just send the response, wait 24 hours and then give them a call (assuming of course they did not explicitly ask you to not call them).  You will find that by doing this the reception you will receive at the other end of the phone line will be considerably warmer.

By using this script you will immediately change the relationship you have (or could have) with the online consumer.  And, your ability to convert them into new business goes up tremendously.  In case you have any doubts about the efficacy of these scripts, I receive emails from sales associates all the time who tell me how well it works.  Here’s just a couple I’ve received recently extolling the power of this approach:

I thought Charles’ offer to take me deep sea fishing was quite generous until he said that as a direct result of using these scripts he earned an extra $100,000 in commission in just 3 months.  Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that about 70% of the closings in his market are REO and Short Sales -without question a rather tough place to do business.

Here’s another sales associate who was so excited when she saw the results of using this script that she shared the consumer’s response with some of her fellow associates:

The first part of the consumer’s response to Talley’s reply is very instructional (highlighted section).  You will see that she explicitly voices the very things we discussed earlier that are important to all online consumers.  It’s as if it came from the mouths of babes!

If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It!

These scripts are easy to implement.  Simply create an email signature for each version of the script, making sure that your spelling and punctuation is correct.  DO NOT be tempted to alter these scripts by even one word (other than of course your contact and PS: copy).  Invariably, when sales people “tweak” the text they introduce their unconscious bias’ into the copy that typically reduces its effectiveness.  I’ve heard some sales associates complain that the scripts don’t “sound like them”.  Chances are they don’t, otherwise they wouldn’t be having the problem of converting online inquiries into closed transactions!

Success with online consumers is all about understanding human behavior.  By applying this understanding in a practical way via “Critical First Response” email scripts you greatly increase your chances of turning casual inquiries into serious new business, no matter how tough your current market is.  While not a “silver bullet”, they certainly are the next best thing.

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

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OK, all you non-believers out there!  There is yet more evidence that not only does selecting a niche market increase your success, but that the more extreme you go with it, the better off you are.  I have been preaching this for years, yet there is a stubborn majority out there that refuses to listen.  Or, there’s the even more guilty segment who do listen and fundamentally agree, but keep putting the decision off saying they are too busy to make changes now and other lame excuses.

My Niche Back Up Singer

Well, I’m tired of it - my voice is hoarse and my fingers numb from repetition.  So, here ya go… read this article recently posted on Inman News by Lai Saetern: Real Estate Niches Stretch from Nudists to Celebs and the follow up, Real Estate Jobs with Dogs and Logs . Lai’s articles escort us to specialty niches in every corner of the country, ranging from nudists to celebrities to military to dogs (puts a new meaning on the phrase “in the dog-house”, but hey - everyone needs a place to call home, right?).  The point of the article is to describe the extraordinary successes the agents/brokers are enjoying in these highly specialized and somewhat unusual markets.  Now, why would that be?

Oh, and by the way, two of the featured agents in these articles are students of mine.  OK, that’s enough of a rest for me, back on my soapbox for my favorite subject… 

REAL Men (and Women) DO Eat Quiche - AND Have a Niche

One of the number one reasons I hear people quip as a counter argument is “Well, that may work for some people, in a perfect world.  It would never work in my area.”  And another, “But if I limit my market, I’ll exclude so many people - think of all the business I’ll lose!” 

Well firstly, the agents in these articles are REAL people operating under the same market conditions you are, not fictional fairytale characters in a in some distant land once upon a time (though if you think about it, some of those characters would make downright horrific clients!).  And if it works in every region from Florida to New York to Texas to California to Maine, as Lai’s articles show it most certainly does, what makes you so special (or not?) that it won’t work in your neck of the woods?

And speaking of necks of woods, as you know, I travel all over the place giving my schpiel, and I have discovered that over 98% of audiences (representing over 10,000 agents per year) don’t niche!  This leaves a huge opportunity open for those who do to eliminate most of the competition out there.  Besides, you don’t actually have to select just one niche to specialize in!  If you are reluctant to, in your perspective, “limit yourself”, you can specialize in more than one niche - as long as you have separate sites for each target market.

Finally, by wrapping a targeted service brand around a niche provides you with a handy dandy automatic, and lucrative, exit strategy when you are ready to move on.

So, please, do us all a favor, and stop with the lame excuses.  Stand up with the really successful agents and get yourself a niche!

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Sad to say, the number of people trying to short sell their home to avoid mortgage default or foreclosure increases daily.  One may think a savvy real estate agent would look upon this situation as an opportunity to specialize in the short sell process, and garner a fair amount of business by doing so.  However, let’s take a look at the bigger picture…

The Short View on Short Sells

Basically, a short sale is a desperate measure for desperate times - for all parties involved.  The person selling their house is obviously in severe financial distress, and the lender is just looking for a way to cut their losses on a loan gone bad.  The sales prices on short sold properties are well below market value, requires a terribly complicated process, and the time involved for the deal to be completed is painfully long.  These factors combined have to make you wonder if the time you need to invest is worth the payoff.  Trying to make up for it though sheer volume will simply add the headache of tracking and maintaining all these deals to the heartache inherent in the situation.  In other words, it’s a lot of work and hassle for little return.  Wouldn’t it be better worth your time to focus on a niche that would garner less work and greater return?

The Long View Ain’t So Pretty Either

The realities of the short view on short sales aside, let’s take a look at the longer term view.  If you’re like most agents, a fairly decent percentage of business comes from either returning customers or referrals from happy clients.  Well, people who are forced to short sell their homes are neither happy, nor are they likely to be buying a home again for a long time given the hit their credit will take.

Also, although all prognostications say we have yet to hit the bottom of this mortgage crisis, the fact remains that it is ultimately a short-lived situation.  In a year or two, the market will level out again and a new normal will be established.  Short sells will be a beast of the past instead of the everyday occurrence they are now.  Where will that leave your niche, the specialty for which you are known?  You’d be coming’ up short, my friend! 

Primary vs. Secondary Niche

Now, all this is not to say you can’t glean some benefit from the current situation.  After all, most the people who have been backed into the short sell corner genuinely need the assistance of an experienced professional broker or agent to help them through this difficult time too.  There is no reason you should not be ready for the opportunity.  If you see enough value in short sells in your particular area, go ahead and develop short sales as a niche - BUT, do it as a secondary niche to your primary target market.  It would be a short-sighted mistake to rely on short sells as a long-term business strategy.

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The latest and greatest is not always the best and most useful.  This can be especially true of some of the more recent social networking innovations like Twitter (www.twitter.com).  This minimalist  texting / mini-blogging medium ideal for quick and easy connection with your friends and colleagues has caused quite a stir lately.  From a business enhancement perspective however, it appears to be one more “cool tool” looking for a problem to solve.

Twitter is a free service that enables you to send short text messages (maximum of 140 characters) to your “followers” -other people who use Twitter that have specifically chosen to receive your messages.  Think of this as a one-to-many (or in some cases, one-TOO-many!) instant text message.  You can send updates or messages (”Tweets” in Twitter parlance) via the Twitter Website, email, your mobile phone, IM or a special free program on your computer called Twhirl (www.twhirl.org).  As a follower of someone else’s Twitter messages you can receive them on all or any of these devices (i.e. mobile phone, IM, email, Twitter Website, etc.) as well as in the form of an RSS feed.  Twitter is also like a mini-blog since it aggregates all your updates which you can put on your Website or within your regular blog.

So, why bother Twittering? 

Well, from a purely social networking perspective it is easy, fast and very convenient given all the means to send and receive your short Tweets.  It’s also very addictive and completely free, not counting text messaging fees if you use Twitter to send or receive on your mobile phone.  As a serious business communications or marketing tool, I still have doubts.  First of all, the 140 character message limitation puts a severe constraint on any kind of meaningful communication in a business context.  You also have to build your base of “followers” in order for them to receive your Tweets.  At this time one would be hard pressed to say that any sizable base of potential real estate customers are currently using Twitter.  And while one-to-one private messaging is possible, Twitter was really designed for one-to-many communications which makes private discussions about properties or offers somewhat problematic.

Real Estate Twitter Not So Tweet…

In various blog discussions about the business uses of Twitter, some suggest that it is a great way to keep agents within a brokerage or members of a team up to date.  I can see how this might work if you personally help each person set up their mobile phone to receive your Twitter messages, otherwise forget about it.  Agents have a hard enough time just following their email consistently.  For the purposes of this article I interviewed Andy Kaufman of Williams Realty in Berkeley, CA (www.myeastbayagent.com), who is arguably the Twitter “Guru” of real estate agents.  Over the past year and a half he has amassed nearly 2,100 followers (what he refers to as his “online village”) and really loves the social networking aspects of Twitter.  When asked if he has actually seen any new business from it during this period he said he is currently working with one prospect he met thanks to Twitter.  However, he feels the biggest business benefit is meeting other REALTORS^® who use Twitter and developing referral relationships as a result.

While Twitter may be the next great Web 2.0 application that is out of this world (NASA recently used Twitter to keep fans of the new Mars Lander up to date on its adventures), its use as an effective earth-bound business tool has yet to be proven.

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A recent column by Teresa Boardman titled “Consumers Don’t Want to be Captured” on Inman News about whether or not agents should capture people’s personal information generated a firestorm of commentary.  It also demonstrated pretty darn clearly how divided the real estate industry is over this topic!

The people who commented fell pretty much into one of two categories:  Gatekeepers versus Free-Willers. 

Gatekeepers are the “command and control” types who feel the need to monitor and manage each interaction.  This is typically done by restricting access to their site, requiring visitors to register to see valuable content, hence divulging personal information most would prefer to keep private until a decision is made.  The end result here is people registering under a wide array of aliases (apparently Brad Pitt and Bud Weiser are interested in the same kinds of properties!) if not being scared off altogether.

On the other hand, Free-Willers rely on the premise that if they provide enough valuable and compelling content, visitors will see their site as an indispensable resource, and register of their own free will (hence, the nickname for this group of thinkers).  The result here is they may not get as big a pond to go fishing in, but the fish are much more willing to bite!

The Lead Capture Argument

I was fascinated reading the back and forth volleys the two sides in this written battle were lobbing at each other!  Both had arguments based on everything from statistics to studies to consumer psychology.  There were agents who avowed they would never do it another way and agents who had tried it both ways, and there were a very few agents that tried to walk a careful middle ground.  Some were getting, ummm… “testy” would be an understatement in defense of their particular position.  There were doubts expressed about the success of drip campaigns, there were questions about the conversion rates from lists.  You can read the whole series here: http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/teresa-boardman/consumers-dont-want-be-captured

But, here is what it boiled down to for me:  the title of the article is 100% correct.

Think about it - NO ONE wants to be captured.  The very word “capture” is threatening!  It basically says “Come to my lovely website, where I will hold you hostage for the rest of your days.”  Fortunately, there is a way to make it work for everybody, internet consumer included!

What Both Sides of the Capturing Leads Argument Are Missing

Sorry, Gatekeepers - your way may have worked in the past when the internet was new and there was less competition on it, and the threat of misuse of personal information was not a daily concern.

Sorry, Free-Willers, but it really is ok to ask people for information.  You just have to do it in the right way.

Yes, everyone agrees you need to have compelling and valuable content to draw visitors, but forcing them to register to see it is simply a symptom of not knowing how to deal with the online consumer.  Most agents attempt to “take charge” of the interaction by getting the visitors’ information and continually probing them thereafter (and space aliens can do it more gently than some real estate agents I know).  What these agents need to understand is the difference between a “lead” and an “inquiry”:  95% of qualified online inquiries (they are not “leads” yet) are just trying to gather information and are not ready to open up about their needs.  However, the other 5% who are ready to do something within a short time frame (actual leads) still want to remain in control and be assured that their privacy will be protected.

This does not mean that you should not feel free to ask your visitors about their current status or intentions.  One of my Online Dominance students has a simple yet highly effective means to do this - he asks them to pick a self-rating:

• A = I am looking to sell or buy now
• B = Will probably want to do something in the next 6 months or so
• C = Just looking and not ready to make any decisions. 

When people answer A or B, he then asks their permission to contact them with updates they would find useful.  He then determines what this information may be by judicious use of search and request forms scattered about the site.  However, regardless of their answer, they have full run of his site.

Capturing Leads for Sales versus Marketing

A number of Gatekeepers expressed the opinion that they are in the business to sell and make money and site visitors should inherently understand and accept that, hence be willing to play by their rules.  Well, here’s the problem with that mindset (and this is going to blow some minds) - a real estate website is NOT about Sales.  It’s about attracting visitors, providing good information, positioning yourself as an expert in your niche, in other words… it’s about Marketing!  

These are two completely different undertakings, yet are so easily mushed together by the average real estate agent.  I’ve been teaching these principles for over 13 years and it still amazes me how this is such an “aha!” moment when agents really get it.

Your Turn to Comment!

So tell me, what are your thoughts about capturing leads?  Do you do it, and if so, how?

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The use of Google maps has long been a listing display enhancement feature for many real estate agent Websites in one way or another.  However, it wasn’t until very recently that Google’s latest mapping innovation, Street View, was made available to individual agent sites as well.

Street View is the newest feature of Google Maps that allows you to literally see a 360 degree “street view” of any location that has been map-enhanced in this way.  The best way to see this for yourself is to use Google Maps to view any of the cities that have Street View enabled (go to http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=68384&topic=11640 for a list of cities where Street View is currently available - 40 as of this writing).  Then click on the “Street View” option in the upper right hand corner of the map Web page.  Those streets that have been continuously photographed (at street level) will show up in blue outline.  When you click within any of the blue outlined streets, a little person icon shows up along with a window containing the actual street view image.  You can rotate this image by simply dragging your mouse left or right with the mouse button held down.  You can also “travel” along the street by clicking the direction arrows imposed in the image.  Google even uses a pointer under the icon to indicate which direction you are looking relative to the rest of the map as you rotate the image.  And, these street view photos are high resolution images which can be blown up to near full screen size for incredible clarity.

Up until just recently, Street View was not available to 3^rd party users of Google Maps (like individual agent sites, or property search sites like Zillow).  However, on ­­­­March 27^th, 2008 Google formally released the Street View API (Application Programming Interface).  These are the instructions Web designers need to plug Street View capabilities into 3^rd party Google Maps.  Well it didn’t take long.  Literally within three days of the API’s release, individual agent sites were starting to incorporate Street View into their listing’s Google Maps.  To the best of my knowledge, Kevin Tomlinson of Miami Beach, FL had the first agent site to feature Street View for his listings.  You can see an example of how he uses Street View by going to www.kevintomlinson.com/condo-map.php (be sure to zoom the map a bit to see the roads more clearly).  You can expect to see many more agent sites incorporating Street View.  This is also true for many of the listing aggregator and search sites.  In fact, Trulia.com just announced that they were incorporating Street View into the maps of the areas that have it available.  If you are interested in using Google Maps Street view on your site, check with your Web developer, chances are they already know how to do it.

Google really pulled off some magic with Street View.  Using a battalion of vehicle-mounted roving cameras that take 360 degree view photos, they have shot many of the streets of the largest U.S. cities.  This technique along with a highly intuitive user interface gives the sensation of really “being there” to the person viewing the map.  The implications for potential buyers getting a better feel for the surrounding neighborhood of a listing are immediately apparent.  This also begs the question if this is a good thing for all listings.  All you can do is hope that the day the Google Street View Mobile drove past your listing, a bunch of overstuffed garbage cans or an old junker wasn’t nearby and became irrevocably incorporated into the scenery of your new listing. 

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Says me!  Everyone has their idea of what works and what doesn’t.  And, considering the overwhelming quantity of webinars and e-courses and cd sets and ebooks out there on everything from “Real Estate Staging” to “How to Conduct Webinars” (seriously!), apparently Everyone wants you to pay for them to tell you what they think.

So how the heck are you supposed to figure out who is worth paying for their opinions or not?  It’s almost as confusing as, say, a Democratic presidential nomination :o)  OK, political jokes aside, this can be serious given the investments some of these classes require.  Well, here’s my suggestion - like with anything else, do your due diligence. 

Don’t just jump at a topic that seems interesting to you.  Find out what kind of experience the presenter has, their qualifications for presenting on the topic.  Someone may have great ideas, that should work, usually, in theory, if a black cat circles counterclockwise around a mulberry bush while the planets are aligned properly…  In other words, if the background of either the practice or individual seems way too far fetched for you to get behind, then it isn’t for you.  You need to have a basic acceptance of the premise to start with before you get any value out of it.  Similarly, be sure to find out about the presenter’s approach and philosophy.  For instance, someone may know how to make a ton of cash off people but if their approach is brutish, or just not the way you would want to be treated, then don’t wate your time or money.

So, who is to say what are the Best Practices for Online Communication?  Says me!  Or well, me and my years and years (and years…) of experience.  Plus the fact that these practices have been proven by countless agents and brokers who use them to operate successfully everyday.  So read on - see how these resonate with you.  And of course - yes, the obvious plug is coming here - if these do work for you, consider trying out Online Dominance and see what else my years of experience can help you with!

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