Internet Bullies. If you don’t pay you can’t play.

Unfortunately it seems that everyone out there wants a part of our commissions and your title is exactly right.

Hello Richard,  You are so right, times are changing and no telling how this will play out down the road.

You know I have going for me that no one searching for what I offer is looking for what the bullies think they are looking for.  No one types in the zip code, no one types in the name of the towns.  So I'm doing okay in my little corner.

Kind of like being charged to receive your buyers or listing leads from something that puts a shadow over all of us...

Unfortunately, with the pending merger of Z&T, the toll will go up...my opinion!

Richard,  Bullies have weaknesses, and IMO niches are more than crumbs.  I'm getting my phone to ring regularly, and without paying Z&T anything extra.  A call this afternoon from our WP site and IDX search and showing them a condo tomorrow morning.  Also this afternoon, a patio home buyer called and have started seeding the ground to make them a buyer client.  We can still kick the bullies where it counts and bring them down enough to give us a fair shot at the business. 

Richard, I would love it if we could un-ring that bell. What's happened and continues to happen is criminal yet lawful/legal. 

Richard, They can't have it all, because they don't have the knowledge and expertise to take it all.  Ultimately, most rationale clients want the expertise that only comes from boots on the street.  When Z & T can tell the, you know that golf course over there?  It's about to be sold and turned into more homes.  And that school levy fight?  If they don't resolve that soon you're likely to take a 10% haircut off your property value.  And until my MLS creates a standalone category for patio homes, if local agents can't even identify where they are, how is Z & T?  They're only as good as the data in, and data gaps are prime marketing areas for the agents that take the time to analyze and exploit the gaps.  So yeah, I've worked on developing a wicked right hook thanks to the Rain training :) 

I complain endlessly to our board and it's members every chance I get.

What resonates with me is the consumer (probably a poor choice of words) but those who may be a client in the future. The public is getting smarter and there's no way you can control what they think, how they operate, what interests them, and where they think they will find the truth. We're in a confusing, mixed up, chaotic time and it's not the 21st Century Bridge, that's ancient history. The bigger it gets the more we, members of tribes, will depend on each other to help us! ~ just sayin'

The biggest thing we can do is educate, educate, educate.  continue to show what we offer

Hey RICHARD WEISSER,

It is pretty normal, yo know when the topic is all about money... things kinda run diffently....

anyway, have a great day!

I'm with Liz and Bill Spear we can dominate the SERPs in ways that ZTR can't. The truth is as the buyer gets closer to actually purchasing, he needs the assistance of a local agent. This is especially true for buyers who aren't in our local market and need our knowledge of the local area. Buyers can look at homes online but they aren't going to find all the details necessary to a purchase. ZTR can't tell them if the addition added two years ago to a home was properly permitted. As long as we keep plugging away at the long-tail keywords, we can be found.

Hi Richard, I agree, all these internet places think we are made of money.