Recently Allen Tappe, author of "The Power of Purpose Performance" and national sales trainer spoke to our Houston sales group about the "The Real Estate Market Today". It was a thought provoking talk filled with insight that made those of us attending begin to see a different picture as it relates to our industry. Allen shared with us that he had just closed down his real estate company in Fort Worth due to the dynamics of what was going on in the industry. His personal experience gave him a real perspective as he had lived through some of the issues and changes he would share with us.
A statistic that made our ears "perk up" was that in July of 2007 The National Association of Realtors had over two million members. As of July 2009 they had less than nine hundred thousand. Their membership is down by over half in two years - why? Allen's opinion is that this market is unlike any other experience in his or my real estate career.
The average age of the real estate community is fifty two years. Many entered the business after the thrift "melt down" of the eighties and basically have never experienced hard times. Those that did experience that market are faced with the challenge to re-invent themselves. Allen's opinion, and I agree, many will choose not to do so. It will require going back to the basics - working the expired listings, cold calling, working their data base (which most have not actively maintained) and for sale by owners. On a positive note, some will take up this challenge and we have examples in our own market. Weldon Rigby a prominent high-end real estate agent for forty years is doing those things needed to "re-work" his business approach. I had the opportunity to speak with Weldon on what he was doing differently to succeed in these challenging times. Historically, Weldon has focused on the Luxury Home Market where the sales price begins at $1,000,000, but Weldon stated, "I realized I needed to seek a different price point". He then began marketing other price ranges as one change in his business strategy. Another approach was to use a local food drive to go "door to door" in his market area. He is working at becoming more visible or as he says, "more present" in his farm area and walks it each morning as part of his exercise program. He said, "I see everyone I come in contact with as a prospect - in the grocery store, at the cleaners, everywhere". Although he is not working FSBOs and expired, he said, "I should be". Weldon went on to say, "This is a period of adjustment but it is all about attitude". It was exhilarating talking with him.
Allen shared an example citing Randy White, a very successful real estate professional in Fort Worth and the basics he was implementing to save his business. As a top producer with a history of approximately 300 transactions per year, he suddenly saw his business dissolve as his builders went out of business. He had not done the "basics" on years and had relied on his builder base of referred business. Once he realized his situation was different he changed what he was doing - he went back to the basics and later told Allen, "I am having my best year ever". Weldon Rigby said it, "It is all about attitude". Both professional and any others who take up this challenge will have to work very hard. We have many examples locally where the agent has already given up. So where will our business of the future come from? That is the exciting part and what is referred to as "The Re-birth of an Industry".
In the past we profiled and pursued those top producers in the upper 20 to 30 percent of the real estate population. We have historically used the "Realtor Pyramid" introduced to us by Ralph Williams, President of Bottom Line University, to identify those high profile producers occupying the top three rungs of that pyramid. Along with those proven producers we looked for the "up and comers" - those new agents who exhibit signs of future excellence and will someday be a top producer themselves. Allen Tappe built a strong case that our focus going forward will be on those "up and comers" who will dominate the real estate production in the future. Characteristics of these new sales leaders will be high energy, enthusiasm, a glass half-full mentality, and a hunger for the basics. This will also mean that in the short -term we will have to increase our production targets by twenty five percent.
This will create a challenge for those of us who have built careers based on our ability to identify and build relationships with those real estate professionals who drive the business. It will be a business mixture which, based on our past experience, will seem "topsy-turvey". The bulk of our business, if this premise is correct, will come mainly from those new rising stars. The challenge will be our ability to identify these players - the rest is a plus for those of us who know and use the consultative approach to selling driven by Socratic probing. Using this proven sales approach we will deliver much needed tools, education and information to these driven sales professionals. We stand poised to have opportunities others will not have. All we have to do is to be professionals at a much higher level as we will drive the business in ways where we in the past may have been driven.
These are exciting times filled with new opportunities and horizons we have not explored before. We like these new rising stars will have to embrace this energy and enthusiasm if we are to be a major part of this "rebirth of an industry".
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