"Project Impact" Dominating real estate the Walmart way

Want to dominate your market area?  Are you wondering how?  Well you could take after one of the biggest retailers in the world and focus on getting the business that steep discounts alone won't buy you.  Walmart, the nations leading discount retailer, is launching a new campaign aimed at crushing the competition.  Coined "Project Impact" Walmart plans to focus on three initiatives to drive the competition out.

1. Cleaner less cluttered stores to improve the shopping experience. 

2. Friendlier customer service. 

3. Focusing on categories where they can beat the competition.

 

Two of these really aren't anything new but lets take a look at how this applies to the business of real estate.

1. Cleaner less cluttered stores to improve the shopping experience - If you're a real estate agent, your storefront is anywhere a client interacts with you. Theses things include your appearance, your office, and your online presence.  I'm going to assume you've got enough sense to dress properly and keep a tidy office so let's talk about your online presence. 

Your website and your blog are prime examples of a storefront where you and potential clients interact.  Treating your online presence like a superstore will help you to dominate in the online game.  Start with a web hosting account that can handle the traffic, you wan to make sure you have plenty of parking for all your customers.  Make it easy for people to navigate and find what they're looking for.  Don't clutter your site by riddling your home page with links to every other page.  Give them plenty of well laid out aisles to peruse and links to the shelves of information so they can easily find what they're looking for.

2. Friendlier customer service - If you're having trouble wrapping your head around this one, read Sales 101, and by they way there is no 102.  All the discounts in the world won't make up for poor customer service.  Not even Walmart with their deep pockets and technology can avoid this cutting into their business. 

When a customer has a question, you better be there to answer.  This is a pretty simple one to accomplish.  First, answer your phone.  Second, return phone calls.  Third, when a visitor to your blog or website asks a question, respond, and do it in a timely manner.  Pretty simple stuff but it's a violation of the fundamentals that will get you every time.

 

 

3. Focus on categories where you can beat the competition -  This is and important one.  Everyone loves an underdog story where a guy with nothing to lose is outmatched and outgunned but somehow manages to prevail.  The truth is your chances of success in those instances are very low.  Identifying market niches that are under served or at least have a level playing field are prime picking.  Larry Easto did a great blog on finding market niches. 

You should focus on areas where there isn't already a dominant player or you have an advantage.  Once you've thoroughly covered all the bases on your defined niche, you can add another. 

A substantial webpresencne and a blog loaded with local content gives you a highly coste effective way to dominate your local area.

 

You can bet Walmart has spent big bucks to identify these needed areas of improvement and you can benefit from applying them to your business as well.