One of the things that has always disturbed me about our industry has to do with the sub-industry that exists to sell us stuff. To be clear, I'm not referring to those companies who are involved with the real estate transaction itself - lenders, inspectors, title companies, etc, - but rather those that have goods and services they want to sell us.
Further, I have no problem with the concept that companies would want to sell us stuff. We're a capitalist free-market economy, real estate agents are a large discrete market, and we need stuff. And please note that this isn't a blanket condemnation. There are certainly some great vendors out there and some excellent products - but they're few and far between, and they're not who I am referring to in this rant.
What bothers me about this whole deal are two things: the sales methods used on us generally lack professionalism, and the quality of the goods and services offered is poor more often than not.
I'm not going to dwell on the products and services themselves. Most agents who have been in the industry for a while know there is an amazing amount of junk out there, and have learned to avoid it. We know we can't make $600K a year working only 20 hours a week, that most leads we can purchase are worthless, and that there aren't any magic bullets that make everything easy.
But let's talk about the marketing techniques we're subjected to. As for the really stupid stuff - the robo-call recordings and script-reading robots - that's just bottom feeding. I'm sure there are some agents out there who listen to that stuff and get hooked - there has to be, or we wouldn't still be getting those calls every day. And those techniques are the perfect method for marketing garbage - throw it all at the wall and see what sticks. These miserable pitches rely on ignorance, inexperience and desperation, and if someone gets sucked in, they're unlikely to be able to recognize a poor product until it's way too late.
Sometimes, though, we actually wind up talking to a salesperson. How often have those calls been from a vendor who knew anything about our specific business, understood our industry, or even had a clear idea of what we actually do every day? How often have they taken the short amount of time necessary to do enough research to understand our specific needs? How often have they asked us questions about our business? That kind of effort isn't difficult, terribly time-consuming or unreasonable to expect - it's just basic professionalism in sales.
But we rarely see it. And maybe it's because our professionalism isn't respected. Maybe they feel they don't need to make that effort because we're all clueless rubes.
Can you imagine how our businesses would suffer if we approached our prospects in a similar fashion? Sure you can, because that's what some agents are actually doing, so it should also be easy to imagine how well that's received by home buyers and sellers and the general public. I won't argue that it doesn't work in a fashion - if you artlessly approach 100 women in a bar, you might interest one, but you'll really annoy the other 99.
If a company has a product or service they'd like me to buy, they'll need to approach me professionally, by taking the time to at least Google me, check out my website, and try to understand what I'm trying to do. I need to know why their product or service fits my specific needs and why it's worth my time and money. They're going to need to address that, and they need to get right down to it quickly or they'll be listening to a dial tone.
But if they do it right, I'll listen and I might buy. I have an IDX website and blog on AR today because 6 years ago, I was treated like a competent professional by a salesperson who didn't try to hustle me, but did the research necessary to relate his product to what my real needs and interests were.
And he also got my name right.
Comments(40)