This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic. Not by coincidence, I’m talking about the curriculum of our forthcoming marketing conference.
Consumers to Realtors: “Don’t push me, I’ll pull you instead — and if you push too hard, I’ll pull away”
There is a quiet revolution going on in the world of real estate marketing — in the world of marketing in general. We are gradually changing from a push-based kind of selling to something that is much more pull-oriented.
What do I mean? Picture me pushing my business card into your hand. Or pushing a flyer at you. Pushing an ad in front of your eyes in the newspaper — or a commercial on television. Since marketing began, it has always been about pushing things, with the effort being led by the pushy salesperson.
As with everything else, the internet is changing this. Your own pursuit of information — not just marketing information but putatively disinterested facts — is becoming more and more pull-oriented.
Interested in wide-screen TVs? You might visit a store or two tomorrow, but tonight you’re going to research everything you can find on the internet. You might start with a Google search, then go to Wikipedia to learn all the arcane details. You might click on a few manufacturers’ or retailers’ pages, but you’re just as likely to read weblogs or discussion forums to find out what real people just like you love and hate about their new televisions.
By the time you show up at a store — or more likely an on-line store — you will know enough to make the right choice without any help.
And here’s the interesting thing: If some pushy salesperson tries to talk you into making the wrong choice — you’ll understand exactly what is going on.
Buying or selling a home is more complicated than shopping on-line, but more and more consumers are going through the same research process before they contact a Realtor.
What does it mean? In the long-run, push-based marketing is a diminishing return. Consumers are going to shop until they find a Realtor they know they can trust — and only then will they make contact.
Moreover, the pull-oriented consumer is not going to be pushed into anything. Realtors who don’t learn to adapt will learn to do something else for a living.
Technorati Tags: disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing, technology
Scoot says:
I personally am very happy for these changes.
I sold cars for two years after getting out of driving trucks for a living. I never wanted to be the pushy salesman, but my managers really believed I needed to be. I never went along with the program but I sold plenty of cars anyway. I think I proved to myself that I didn’t need to push anyone, if they’re ready they’ll buy, if not, it just aint gonna happen.
I only knew that I wanted to treat people the way I would want to be treated. And it *worked* – wonder of wonders!
November 23, 2007 — 4:24 pm
Jim Gatos says:
Yeah, I agree…
I personally stopped using the dumb marketing flyers myself YEARS ago; everytime the price got reduced I’d have to change the flyers. I never sold one damned house with those flyers… My wife swears by them; I just post them on the internet in our blog or if I have a home website.
November 24, 2007 — 5:11 am