Success In Real Estate Brokerage — Branding — What the Public Really Wants

Daniel Pink has put out a video with some interesting facts learned by those in science studying human behavior in the workplace. It’s relatively short, chock-full of information, much of which goes against what we’ve all ‘known’ for quite awhile. Watch it or not, I’ve included it to allow you to understand how I’m relating its content to the real estate industry.

In a nutshell, credible studies tend to show that money isn’t the predictable motivator we thought it was when it comes to doing things requiring, you know, thought and stuff. In fact, they learned that when it comes to tasks requiring real thought, that the more reward promised, the bigger the failure. Hhmm

Supposedly if management in large real estate firms would allow greater autonomy, create an atmosphere fostering mastery, and give purpose to their agents, they’d crush the competition.

Many in real estate have compared large real estate brokerages to boutique brokerages using this template. The assumption is that boutiques draw agents wanting to be part of the mix, so to speak. Yet except for the large dinosaur operations, many if not most of the BIG firms are at least making valiant attempts at becoming agent-centric, in spirit if not in fact. This, in my opinion, is why the big firms won’t die out. They’re making the turn — it just takes carriers longer to achieve the actual directional change.

The discussion though, has now turned to how all this affects branding — in real estate. Let that sink in — but first install the three main words used by Pink’s video:

Mastery — Autonomy — Purpose

Before continuing, know I’m with you. Mastering what we do for a living is a good thing — as is sufficient autonomy and having a purpose important to the practicing agent. But seriously, real estate? Branding? Get outa here.

Look, I understand there are niches of price, location, property type, etc. Ultimately the buyer or seller has to choose a company. Whether your home is a million dollar showpiece or a $99,000 condo conversion in an iffy neighborhood, the bottom line reason thinking people use to pick an agent will always be the same — at least 80% of the time.

Let’s talk about what works with sellers and what doesn’t.

Sellers often host their own Listing Olympics, with agents giving all levels of listing presentations. When I was a house agent, from 1969-1976 it was true then too. Going full time in 1974, I started a farm, a newish concept back then. Once established, know how I won Listing Olympics almost every time versus far more experienced, and easily more impressive agents?

“Mr. and Mrs. Seller, here is a list of the last seven homes to sell in this development. I personally listed and sold four of ’em.”

This was immediately followed by the Medal Ceremony.

In that farm’s peak years of production, I was 23-25 years old. I worked for a three horse operation who thought marketing was seeing folks at the Little League game and sayin’ hi.

Our brand back then? Our listings sold fast — for a lot — and closed. I was one of those three horses. The other two were a retired Navy Chief who looked like Buster Keaton wakin’ up from a nap, and the owner who was a displaced sixth generation farmer from Iowa who looked the part. Brand smand.

Mastery

Please point to the agents in your market you’d grace with the status of Master Agent. Know even one? Who really spends time mastering the skill sets required to be in our business? Not freakin’ many. Why do ya think they stand out like the Hope Diamond on a dungheap? There’s precious little mastery in real estate. Thousands of master posers, but that’s a different post.

Autonomy

Come on now, we’re talkin’ about real estate here. Tell me what’s NOT autonomous about the typical agent’s day to day life. Each day is a blank check, which most agents manage to bounce on a regular basis. If there’s a business not suffering from a lack of autonomy it’s real estate.

In fact, who will disagree out loud that autonomy isn’t the very reason most agents and new firms fail miserably? Yet they mew and whine about ‘corporate’ real estate, which finds them moving to the newest boutique brokerage, which only means they’ll fail looking maybe a bit more hip and stylish, technologically speaking.

If I ever again hire agents to work under me, they’ll do business the way I tell them, or work elsewhere. Mine is not the only way by any measure, but it’s the way you’ll work if my company name is on your card. Autonomy my ass.

For most agents autonomy is the enemy.

Purpose

Is there anything in real estate more overrated than the so-called motivating ‘Purpose’ of brokerages? “Our mission is to spread the American Dream” and dozens of other meaningless reasons for existence. My all-time favorite is the one about “Serving others, while making the world a better place in which to live”.

Even if it’s genuine, you think sellers will choose you cuz you’re makin’ the world a better place? Even if you do believe that, you don’t have the huevos to say it in public. 🙂

Wanna know why Hyundai is now so popular with car buyers? While GM, Ford and the rest, including Japanese carmakers are touting the same warranties and claiming the same high quality as they have for decades, Hyundai just walks up to the confused car buyer and says one thing.

“Our cars carry bumper to bumper warranties for 60,000 miles and our power trains are warranted for 100,000 miles or 10 years.”

That’s why there are so many more Hyundai’s on the road than there used to be. No fireworks, no impressive PowerPoint presentation. 🙂 They’ve put their warranties where their claims are.

Visit any neighborhood in the country, and the guy/gal who’s listing and successfully selling the most listings in that area for the highest prices, quickly — wins. When they don’t get the occasional listing, it’s rarely they were ‘beaten’ by their competition. It was more likely family, or friend, etc.

Marketing? If I’m not performing, and you are, I lose. Marketing only gets ya in the door. If the other guy is sellin’ the hell out of that neighborhood, you’ll be shown the same door. Marketing smarketing.

Dad laughed all the way to the bank with this mindset, which is why I think that way now. All he did was list and sell houses — over and over and over. Try 1,000+ sides a year for four consecutive years, while never having as many as 30 full time agents.

Lookin’ through the wrong end of the telescope

I suggest the central problem in real estate brokerage is not the business models. It’s not the technology. It’s who’s hired to do the job. Dad had a three question job interview.

1. Will you work honestly and with integrity?

2. Will you work HARD?

3. Will you work my way?

‘Yes!’ was a must answer for all three. Applicants looked into his merciless eyes and knew he wasn’t messin’. This was business, and he was in charge of hiring successful people. Posers cowered in his presence. His agents slaughtered the rest of San Diego’s brokerages for average annual income — year in, and year out. One of his main competitors had 16 office for Heaven’s sake and still couldn’t keep up. Why do ya think he always had way more than his share of super-star agents? They KNEW they’d make more just by being able to say the company name to a seller.

Dad wasn’t on TV or radio. He wasn’t even a member of the Board of Realtors OR the MLS. You were fired on the spot if you sold another broker’s listing. He didn’t cooperate with anybody. What his company listed, it sold. Hell, he didn’t even have ‘For Sale’ signs. At any given time, his firm had more listings at or under the median price than the entire San Diego MLS.

He was not a popular guy at the Board, but boy was he popular with his own agents. The buyers and sellers on those 1,000+ sides each year were kinda fond of him too.

All he did was list and sell homes. And homeowners knew this. Sellers and buyers would hafta go up three rungs on the ‘I Care’ ladder to be apathetic about your purpose for being an agent or a brokerage owner.

Look through the end of the telescope used by buyers and sellers. They’re constantly scanning the skies for the agent who is producing R-E-S-U-L-T-S — not promises or hi-tech marketing plans.

Wanna know why much of the public thinks real estate agents are fulla shit? Cuz all the marketing, all the face to face and online conversations are about everything under the sun — but not about the results for which they’re searching.

I figure he hates this when I do it, but Greg Swann is the perfect empirical example of getting things right. Yeah, I know, he loves to talk about all the TechCrap and how what he does in this or that realm of the business sets him apart — and to a large extent it’s true. (Here comes the big JayLo but) BUT, most of what he’s done the last several years has been geared to be able to say just one thing to sellers:

“That house down the street, with the Historical Designation? Yeah, I sold that, and the other two a few blocks over too.” OR “Here’s what we did for the last investor who wanted what you want.” Medal Ceremony

Greg produces results — period — end of sentence — stop arguing cuz you’re embarrassing yourself. He does it his way, Russell Shaw does it another way, but they’re both winning most of the listing wars in which they care to fight. Both those guys have higher IQs than is safe, but still…They win cuz they can state simply — and prove just as simply — that they sell homes.

Succeeding in the Real Estate Industry

This blog has been preachin’ how to succeed since Day 1.

Gain true Mastery of the required skill sets.

Wisely use the nearly infinite Autonomy this business allows you. (Um, that’s code for ‘Get off your lazy ass and work HARD.)

And my favorite — Have aPurpose. For the most part, what it is won’t matter to anyone but you, but have one. Or, even better yet, just decide to do everything you do ON Purpose.

If your so-called ‘brand’ doesn’t translate to the public as you consistently producing their desired R-E-S-U-L-T-S — either change what you’re doing or find another way to make a living.