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Really...Are You Kidding Me? Agents, You Deserve Better

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Education & Training with MarQeteer
This is the same as my previous post, just posted again to the groups I couldn't include on the first posting...

I'm a sports nut.  In the mornings after I get back from working out, I usually have ESPN radio on while I eat breakfast and start my day.  Mike and Mike in the morning and, if I work from home that day, the incredibly opinionated (and usually right on the money) Colin Cowherd.

There's a NAR radio ad I keep hearing that just chaps me.  I wish I had the script for it so you could see. It's a brilliant example of the kind of self-important advertising approach most of corporate America has used for the past 20 years, and now people just aren't buying it anymore.  It's this approach and the resulting erosion of trust that has driven now 90% of consumers to research online and get their most decisive information online rather than from the talking speaker or the talking picture box.

Why?

Because they don't believe radio and TV ads like they used to. And these NAR ads aren't helping.

I ranted a little about this yesterday and I've been critical of NAR, but the fact is I know way too many good real estate agents who sincerely pour their heart and soul into helping their clients and I feel that these ads do agents a real injustice.

They bring generic facelessness to a business in desperate need of a good, honest, connection with people.  Here are a few quotes I pulled from ads you can listen to for yourself at  http://www.realtor.org/pac.nsf/pages/radio.  It's a public awareness campaign...just exactly what are they trying to make the public aware of?

Here are some of the quotes:

"The Realtor Code of Ethics is about honesty, integrity and commitment. It's a promise each and every Realtor makes and lives up to, to protect you as a homebuyer or seller."

Really?  Tell that to all the people who lost their shirt when the bubble burst or are now in an upsidedown/short sale/foreclosure situation...with their financial future in the balance.   "Each and every Realtor"...Really?

"I can't call myself a Realtor unless I complete ethics training."

Really?  So absolutely NO Realtors ever bend the rules?  Then why are we where we are?  Remember, law is what you have to do, while ethics is what you know you should do.  I don't know about you, but I've been in countless sales environments where people had no problem putting ethics to the side to meet their quota.  Law exists to attempt to keep people who disregard ethics in check.  Keep in mind, too, that with such a high turnover rate (i.e. 80/20 rule) you're very likely to have a client that was in sales at some point and has their own cynicism, justified or not.

"The National Association of Realtors wants you to know that a home isn't just a great place to raise a family, it's also the key to building long-term wealth.  On average, the value of a home nearly doubles every 10 years."

Are you kidding me?  NAR should be ashamed of that last sentence, especially in the wake of the bubble.  I almost don't know what to say to that one, and by broadcasting it NAR leaves you to defend and validate it.  I live in a home in downtown Lititz, PA and I love it here.  When I refinanced after my divorce, it was valued at $140,000.  According to this ad, I could reasonably expect the value of my home to be between $200,000 and $280,000 in ten years...and between $320,000 and $400,000 in 20 years.  Before you pick me apart, realize that this is the mentality that has been cultivated over the past 10 years and falsely justified by the housing bubble before it burst.  Now people know better.  Don't believe me?  How many people do you have "on the fence," indecisive and just not committed to buying yet?  Granted, the ad in question here is from 2008 but it is part of the table that was set for today's RE business. 

For all the money NAR brings in from dues paid by Realtors every year, they could have done far better than this.  

I'm admittedly playing Devil's advocate here, but this is the kind of stuff all real estate professionals are up against.  I don't like it any more than you do, but it's reality.  Consumers are more cynical than ever.  The proverbial "lowest common denominator" that advertisers target is way more educated than ever before and these ads, in my opinion, are insulting because they regurgitate the very corporate approach consumers have grown to distrust...just with different verbage.

The target market has outgrown these methods.

And I really don't think I've ever seen a commercial trivialize buying a home quite like this one from 2009...

There's a reason comments have been disabled on these YouTube videos or are moderated to keep any negative comments out.  And, as one smart business owner told me back in my radio days, "If you have to tell people you're trustworthy and ethical, there's a much bigger problem there."

I really dislike being so negative as I am here, but I just believe you all deserve better than to have to defend questions raised by consumers due to poor advertising choices by your governing body.

Social media and Internet marketing…I’m your guy.  Call me at 717-538-8940 or email me marqeteer@gmail.com.

Comments (2)

Andrew Mooers | 207.532.6573
MOOERS REALTY - Houlton, ME
Northern Maine Real Estate-Aroostook County Broker

CS Lewis called it "situational ethics". NAR is awful big and I think the top echelon is out of touch with the guys and gals wearing the "R" in the trenches. Out here in the real world. More chasing politicians than helping the little guy out here in the hinterland. Let agents, brokers tell the story that is broadcast...not give it to an ad agency that does not understand the real estate field. We are more than the honesty, integrity, blah blah blah. Buyers and sellers want to know what we can do for them, help them save money, make communities stronger. 

Apr 06, 2011 08:40 AM
Mark Boyd
MarQeteer - Lancaster, PA

Andrew thanks for your thoughts.  You make a great point, too...why DON'T they get real live agents to tell the story?  I could recdommend quite a few wonderful ones:)

Apr 06, 2011 09:56 AM