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Realtors who drive away business!

By William McCauley

Services for Real Estate Pros with marketmedia,llc

September 10, 2008 04:04 AM

Hello AR,

Well it's been awhile that I've posted a blog, that would be due to me TCB and not having the time and that is a good thing, it means business is good. As a real estate marketing company owner in the Dayton & Cincinnati Ohio area www.marketmediallc.com. I always see listings in another light as those of you who sell listings. Well the time has come for my wife and I to look into making a move across the country and in what spare time we have we search the local area we would like to move to and house hunt.

As usual I can't help but see some awful marketing going on out there in the market place. The most common thing I see is 1. No photos or only one image 2. Poorly taken images 3. really bad virtual tours that are more fancy zoom in pans & fades that don't show the rooms 4. websites that list all the local listings but then in order to see any information about the listing the end user has to sign up. So today I'm posting to you all as a end user and NOT as a real estate marketer.

This deal with asking people to sign up and give you personal info and email address so you now have a lead generator is understandable from a business point of view, however from the shoppers point of view it is very VERY annoying. As a person who is now in the market to buy a new home in the location we are going to, I can tell you that if your one of these Realtors who do any of the things I numbered above, you are losing business!

The first thing I do and any other buyer who is searching the web will do is click the big red X! Because you limit your website viewers to seeing the information about a listing by requiring them to provide you with personal info for your lead generator you come across as the "used car salesman" and consumers hate the used car salesman, it is one of the biggest reasons why home buyers in today's market turn first to the web..... To avoid dealing with sales people who are pushy or who spam you because you have to sign up on their website in order to see a listing in more detail.

I'm here today to tell all of you out there, that there are a number of agents who we will not be doing business with next week while my wife and I are in the area we plan to move to, WHY? because you have limited our ability to do our home work and research. Had you not not done so and you were the listing agent or I took the time to click on your website, GUESS WHAT< I would have called you to set up an appointment to see the property! Consumers don't want your spam and sales calls from your lead generators, we'll call you. So any guess who's phone will be ringing next week? That's right your competitors across town!

So those of you who do this type of lead generating and use really bad photos and virtual tours in your marketing, and there is a lot of you out there, not only are you losing out on sales leads and clients, your doing a really poor job for your clients listing.

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Vickie Nagy

Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - Palm Springs, CA

Vickie Jean the Palm Springs Condo Queen

Thanks for these pointed reminders what NOT to do. By the way, I completely agree with your viewpoint .

Sep 10, 2008 04:12 AM

Li Read

Sea to Sky Premier Properties (Salt Spring) - Salt Spring Island, BC

Caring expertise...knowledge for you!

Excellent points -- thanks for sharing your experience, here. It's kind of like the doctor who has to go into the hospital, and for first time understands the consumer's point of view.

Sep 10, 2008 04:52 AM

William McCauley

marketmedia,llc - Lawrence, KS

Hi Endre Barth

Your right I would like to work with someone no doubt, the point I'am trying to make is if you lure people onto your websites but then hide your listing info behind a lead generator it comes across as the old bait and switch and everyone these days hates to be spamed, all I want to do is search your listings first without you pestering me to work with you, if I see a home I like from the 700 miles away and you have done a good job of providing nice clear photos and listing info I, like most people would call you and even set up a showing.

I know for a fact one of the biggest things agents hate is the buyers who call up and ask you to run them all over town to "tire Kick" listings and burn up your gas, today agents should be tickled pink that people like me are doing our own home work and finding the listings that we want to see or get more info on, we're doing your job for you and saving you time & money. People want to shop from the home or office online and not be bugged by sales agents calling or emailing all the time, get used to it that's the way the future is heading, why do you think 90% of car buyers go after hours...... To avoid a face to face "Mr. or Mrs. used car sales person".

Sep 10, 2008 08:55 AM

Glenn S. Phillips

Lake Homes Realty & Beach Homes Realty - Birmingham, AL

CEO, Lake Homes Realty & Beach Homes Realty

Here, here! We just bought a house and we agree. I think each real estate agent should do some shopping for as if they are a typical shopper and only use the tools a typical buyer would have available. It will help understand what works, what doesn't and how you can better help clients and potential clients.

Sep 10, 2008 09:01 AM

Kerry Jenkins

Prime Properties - Crestline, CA

With me doing my own research on investment properties, I disliked having to put in my info unless I wanted to be contacted. I realized that my websites were automatically set up to get the information before searching the MLS, so I immediately changed it!

Sep 10, 2008 12:18 PM

William McCauley

marketmedia,llc - Lawrence, KS

Endre,

If your not doing the things I'm talking about then you should have no reason to resent me calling those who do "used car sales persons" types. If you are doing the types of things I pointing out in general, then maybe you should take a review from a buyers point of view.

Don't take it so personal, I'm bashing some realtors YES. I'm also trying to do research and find a new home on my hometown from 725 miles away, I'm very well virsed on the city and county and know it like the back of my hand, what matters to me is location, location, location & price, on the websites I'm bashing on I can get location & price, but what I can't get is more detail like how many BR's, basement?, parking? photos? all the needed extra info a person might like to see and know to rule out or decide to take the time to set up a showing.

In my personal case I don't need an agent to show me around town, I need to have my list of home to go see in a day to two days time MAX and then leave to return to pack up my own 18 wheeler to drive back, in other words people want to do there own searching from the comfort of home or office and then once we have our list of propertys to see we will call a realtor to set up showings of the home we feel meet or exceed our needs.

It's all good, have a great day!

Sep 11, 2008 03:27 AM

Brenda Harmon

Century 21 Beal, Inc College Station, Texas - College Station, TX

Major town in texas. I had a client wanting to buy a 4th home there (condo).

Searched for a referral agent around the area so my client could search the web

through the agent's site. They clients could not search their sites within providing

contact information. Very frustrating and they would not use these agents to buy.

So William, I guess you hit the nail on the head with this post.

Sep 26, 2008 03:52 AM

William McCauley

marketmedia,llc - Lawrence, KS

Hi Brenda,

I'm not surprised at all to hear your story about your first hand exp. with your clients. It's been two weeks from the time I wrote this blog, in that time I been to the town we plan to move to and while there we didi a number of drive by's of the type of properties and price range we can afford in order for my wife to get a better idea of the parts of town she might like and what kind of home we can expect to buy there. I spent a number of hours on the web searching sites like Realtor.com, this is after I first searched yahoo for local Realtors.

I choose to stay with realtor.com for a number of reasons, the main one being the point of this blog! After we went around town I also stocked up on a number of the local real estate books for the long drive back to our current home. After looking at not only poorly done websites and these books, I find myself wondering how in the world some of the folks in this business can make a living? There are so many badly done marketing of listings it's a wonder anything sells and in this market I can't understand why they do it? ( I plan to write about my moving and shopping exp)

I did get one AR agent who read my blog to send me an email and wanted to help, he has been nice and sending me listings around town that meet our needs, I have even told him were not buying for a while so we can really get what we want and our ducks in a row as well as sell our house. He said he didn't mind helping and is trying hard to win my business. One thing that kind of bugged me about one thing, is I asked about foreclosure's in the area and if there was a list of distressed property, and I was asked to sign a one year buyer broker agreement in order to see it, because it was so much time involved in researching them. Well one cool thing about active rain is as a member I have met and talked with a number of people from all across the country and have what I would call "friends" even though we have never met in person. One such agent I know in not to far from the area I plan to move, I called her up and told her about this foreclosures deal, with out begging for my business or wanting anything from me at all she set me up for a weekly email to track distressed properties in the area.

Now I hate talking bad or calling out in public Realtors peers, but sometimes it just needs to be said from an outsiders point of view, my hope is those agents who really care about being the best in the business in their home town will learn something and use it to better their future clients and current listings and improve their sales.

Sep 26, 2008 10:37 AM