“Oh the times they are a changin.” Dylan, you poet/prophet, you. I hear a lot of Realtors talking about the fact that, no matter how much information is made available, people still want and need the warmth and security of caring human relationships and that, technology notwithstanding, relationships will still form the foundation of business and the future of Realtors.
I’m trying hard to agree.
But what if we’re all wrong? What if relationships as we currently define them become a relic of the past? What if what most people want from a relationship radically shifts? How could that happen?
In case you hadn’t noticed, two of America’s Values have become:
- We value speed; and
- We value the lowest price.
The Internet, blink of an eye technology advances and a robust entrepreneurial culture have combined to make those Values achievable. But speed and price are made possible at the cost of numbing down (and maybe eventually eliminating) the Values upon which traditional relationships and long-term loyalties have been built. And if speed and price become the foundation of relationships, delivering them –every time – becomes the ante to be in the game.
Consider this possibility. Most of what are seen as today’s transaction complexities could be built into a manageable matrix of tasks that will be routinely and competently handled by a trained staff of administrative people who are paid modest salaries. Only the most complex problems will require individual attention by a relatively small number of highly trained professionals. Marketing will be done by people who fully understand technology, the psychology and techniques of brand-building and who are capable strategists. The role and importance of Realtors would change radically. So will the definition of relationships and the Values/behaviors that drive those relationships.
Envision this.
20% of the kind and number of tasks needed to complete a normal real estate transaction probably account for 80% of the quantity of transactions done (Pareto’s Law, aka the 80/20 rule). In other words, 80% of all purchases and sales are routine and require no special handholding or expertise. So by focusing attention on those 20%, it would be possible to routinize and automate 80 per cent of all transactions – a large majority. Certainly large enough to create an industry shift.
If this were to happen, the automation of tasks would mean that a Realtor could handle many more transactions than they currently do. And since the Internet would be the primary source for clients and Realtors to meet and establish new relationships, two major changes would occur: fewer Realtors would be needed – a lot fewer; and only those Realtors with a strong Internet presence would have a chance to survive this Darwinian change.
Many people consider this premise ridiculous; impossible. For you folks in that camp, I offer this: Newspaper publishers believed that the Internet could never cut into their advertising revenues or their readership. Most auto dealers believed that no one would ever buy something as personal as a car on the Internet. And travel agents believed that the personal services they provided, the expertise they possessed and the relationships they built over years could never be replaced by anything as impersonal as the Internet.
What keeps people stuck in the current paradigm of relationships is the belief that the definition of relationships will remain the same. That belief stops creative thought. So whether or not my premise will come to pass is not the central theme. What is central is that we suspend our beliefs and go to a place where today’s realities shatter and we can envision a future that is not an extension of the present.
In that new place, here are two big questions: What will be the new definition of a relationship? How will you establish trust?These are a couple of questions that Jeff Turner and I are wrestling with as we speak. So here’s my request/invitation. Join the conversation. Put your thoughts together and tell me what you think might be the new definition and shape of relationships between Realtors and their clients in this future reality. Together, we might just come up with some great ideas for transitioning to the future.
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