Although a long blog, I feel compelled to tell my story to the fullest, as my reign in my local real estate market and the special tool I used to get to the top led me to what I do now.
In my new line of work I hear this all time "My sellers won't know the difference, it's not worth the extra money" or "I'll wait until I'll see the majority are using in". Neither statements are true as it worked beyond comprehension for me. These are the words of followers and followers do what followers will do, they follow. But whom do they follow? The pioneers of course. People who separate themselves from the pack and lead the way, which is normally way out in front. Is it ever a wonder then why the 80%-20% (actually more like 90-10) rule exists in real estate? To avoid frustration, I'll start by saying that my new line of work is producing professional real estate videos. Please do read on and let me elaborate quite a bit! I'm sure you have read some of the blogs from other video producers but I can speak from experience on both side of the fence, as previous my current business I was a very successful agent with a seven-figure income.
A lot of agents reading these next paragraphs will agree with the content yet still continue on the same old path. Nonetheless, change will be inevitable.
A top agent who stays at the top of their game does so because they always maintain an edge over their competition, period. When that edge is razor sharp there is little competition for them. The major difference is that top agents are willing to invest money in taking risks with new ideas and keep doing it even in the light of some of them failing along the way. They're not afraid to try new things. Most of us know that without risk there is little reward. Even though most everyone knows this they with allow the fear of failure and the fear of change to hold them back. I guess luck was on my side, as I neither feared failure nor change.
Veteran agents will remember some of the earlier examples of change due to technology: Exchanging that big thick MLS telephone book of listings for a computer and MLS online. This was a big change for a lot of agents, as most did not own a computer at the time. Overnight, it enabled agents to be 10 times more efficient when searching for homes, no need to elaborate on that one. Then came printing brochures in color. Staying with the black & white or worse yet, the old dot matrix printer could not compare with color. Digital Photo versus film, and the list goes on. Each time a major change came along that it took a long time before all the agents boarded the ship.
Point is, fast forward to today. I believe that any veteran agent wishing to stay in this business in the not too distant future will almost need to be a technology chameleon just make a decent living let alone rise or stay at the top. Younger generation rookie agents will automatically be in the fast lane when it comes to knowledge of the Internet and computers as they were attached to their hips when growing up. They are also used to the constant change in technology and are completely comfortable because the they grew up with that too.
Today technology has been changing at a rate faster than anything else we've ever encountered in the previous twenty years. Marketing real estate has become a technology business in order to stand out in the crowd. As intimidating as it may seem, the fact is its not going away. It is important to adapt to change and embrace technology more than ever before.
To the absolute surprise of my real estate friends and colleagues, I stopped selling real estate at the peak of my career. As I mentioned previously, I had reached a point of producing a seven-figure income (I'll get to why I stopped in a moment). "Are you nuts?" I'd be asked. But getting there was relatively easy (except of course the long hours). As far as I was concerned there was no competition. No competition? How can that be? Let me clarify. I didn't see any of the agents that I met in my rookie days of 1998 that were embracing new technology tools available to the world at that time. Having been completely self-taught and not growing up on with any kind of technological hardware or background, I still had the business insight to know that people didn't invent new tools just for the heck of it so I fed my inquisitive mind (and still do). I ate up as much of it as I could and created a thirst that I did not want to quench. I realized the tools that we there to help me were the ones few people bothered to even find out about let alone be using them. Keeping that difference between me and other agents that were vying for the same business is what made the difference.
Even when I tried new technology that didn't work, it still worked in a way. Huh, confused? The reason it still worked is because I was showing my listing prospects something different that I was prepared to try in addition to the same status quo material such as postcards and real estate newspapers that all agents offered. This answered the proverbial question that always seemed to be asked, "What are you going to do different from any other agent I could hire?" and I got the listing, every time.
So then why did I walk away when I seemed to have figured it out? Money of course, I'm not that foolish! I also knew what that long road would entail aside from Research and Development side of it; waiting for the agents to accept change and embrace the new way of doing things.
About 5 years ago the one main thing that I was doing to differentiate my-self from other agents was the use of video. With the promise of a professionally produced video (which included a professional written script and narration) on the prospects home I secured the listing each and every time. Notice I italicized the word ‘professional'. Yes Real Estate Agents are professionals so of naturally I used a professional to do something that not a single real estate agent can do (unless of course they were a videographers in their previous career), so don't try it at home as it will look like you tried it at home. After it was produced it was converted to DVD, which I hand out on every showing, mailed it out to my farm area, gave them out at open houses and various other things. Also burned onto the DVD was a professional Biography of me as the agent. This brought my personality into the homes of people without meeting them. Relatively Expensive? Not really. Different from anyone else by far? Absolutely. Compared to what it cost to get one page in a glossy magazine it was actually cheap to get each home filmed. It worked so well for me that my double dip ration soared to 73% over the 3 years that I was videoing all of my listings. Time to develop a company that specialized in this but unlike no other.
I started the company Hometakes knowing that I would not be the only company that would target the use of video to agents. But what I knew if I were to survive in this new arena would be something special. When we started Hometakes we knew the Internet would not have the bandwidth to stream video at a quality equivalent to that of watching TV so I made it the #1 goal. Two years later we not only made it but surpassed it. It was so good that we actually ended up being able to stream True HD resolution even at full screen mode. When we mean full screen we mean that we tested it on a 48 inch screen which had true HD Resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels. Hometakes own goal was smashed and now has the very best streaming video presentation in the world. Now we were ready for market.
As you already know, today's buyers have turned to the Internet to search and educate themselves. Which agent will they contact? The answer is simple, Whoever stood out and impressed them with the presentation of their listings, ease of use of their website and tools that gave them the most insight into the listings. Video is not just a replacement of the virtual tour because it is better to look at. Its because it can be used is so many other areas. As a link it can appear on any website. As a DVD it can be handed out after each showing, used at open houses, mailed to farm areas, placed in ‘take one' boxes that are attached to agents ‘for sale' signs, placed on TV as an ad or on demand cable. This is not just an improved version of a virtual tour or make belive video which comprises of stiched together photos put on a player. Video is the most compelling form of marketing that real estate has seen and will see for years to come, only to be surpassed by 3D TV (and we'll be working on that). But don't take my biased word for it now that I run Homtakes read this.
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