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On November 16, 2010, for the second time in 10 months, real estate speaker, author, educator, commentator and icon Stefan Swanepoel (@Swanepoel) joined us on #RTB on the Radio (you can listen to the original broadcast here, and the more recent broadcast here).

As I noted in a blog post I wrote earlier this week, Stefan occupies a completely unique place within the real estate space. I’m not aware of anyone who spans more companies, concepts and trends than does Stefan.

He is a literal “knowledge machine.”

When Stefan talks, every smart person in real estate listens. Intently.

Prefacing Comment: ROI of SM

The relationship that I have with Stefan was borne of and developed entirely because of Social Media. Per Stefan, we’ve communicated “500, 600, 700 times” via Twitter and Facebook in the last 18 months. The power of Social Media is that it allows us to get to know people over time, and frequently these “Social Media” relationships turn into “IRL” (in real life) relationships. I mention this only because so many people continue to question whether there is “ROI in Social Media” (more on that below). I would point to Stefan as “Exhibit A” in support of the position that yes, indeed, there IS ROI in SM.

That prefacing point out of the way, following are some of the highlights of our most recent conversation with Stefan (please listen to the full archived recording, because there was simply too much to include in a single blog post):

2011 Trends Report Comments

Every year, the new Swanepoel Trends Report is published the first week of February. I asked Stefan to highlight a few of the big points for 2011, and here are a couple of the things he mentioned:

• QR codes, which Stefan wrote about in the 2009 and 2010 Trends Reports. Per Stefan, QR codes are important, but some are viewing tagging of this variety as a “silver bullet” of sorts, which it is not. He believes that the industry seems to be overreacting to this concept right now.
• The “rating/review of agents” concept (popularized recently by Bob Hale/the Houston Association of Realtors), which is absolutely gaining momentum. Related to this, Stefan said that we are “two years into a five year growth process, and I think you’ll see that escalate over the course of the next three or four years.” He also stated that he is (emphasis added):

…upset and concerned and frustrated by the low quality of professionalism in our industry and the many research pieces which come out and tag our industry to be pretty low on the totem poll.

• Consolidation, which he referred to as “the number one trend right now.” He made the following additional comments relating to this issue (emphasis added):

We literally have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of companies going out of business every single month of the year, and there are thousands of consolidations and acquisitions taking place… It’s not that this trend is new, but it more prevalent than ever before…  The industry is going to come out a completely different animal in a couple of years because of this consolidation trend.

Advice for Agents Right Now

I asked Stefan for any specific advice he has for Realtors right here, right now, in November of 2010. Here are his key responses (emphasis added):

Stay away from the shiny toys. It’s not about the toy, it’s about your poor implementation of that product… Understand the power of the tools that you have and use them…

You cannot keep doing the same things and expect different results. If the industry is dynamic – technology, Social Media, etc. – YOU should be dynamic too!… That means you have to reinvent yourself and change and grow just like Social Media and mobile media and technology is changing and growing, you have to grow. So, I would say to you, reinvent yourself every six months…

You’re not going to buy your way out of this. Social Media is not about money. It’s about connecting… Agents talk about not having the time to learn Social Media. If you want to succeed, go make the time.

Stefan’s Observations…

We then continued with a wide-ranging conversation. Here are a few of the highlights (emphasis added):

On an Aging Realtor Population…

The resistance to change is universal, and it’s more affiliated with somebody who gets older.  As we mature in life, we get a little more set in our ways, we get a little more fixed in our way and we are less willing to adapt  to change as what a younger person is.

In the last 10 years, the number of people over the age 65 in real estate approximately doubled from around 180,000 to around 350,000 to 400,000, and the number of people under 40 has declined from 180,000 to around 130,000 to 140,000… There are twice as many people (in real estate) over the age of 65 as there are under the age of 40.

On Professionalism…

There are many individuals and a few companies out there providing a high level of professional service, it’s just unfortunately not the norm, and it is not the industry as a whole. As a whole, our industry is awful, it needs a long way to go, but there are some shining lights and some shining examples.

I’ve been delivering the same basic message for many years, and when you continue to come up against a slow paced, ignorant, sometimes non-caring mass, it becomes a little bit frustrating.

We should seek to find the opportunity within the shift. The future will belong to those who seize the opportunity to ride the wave of change.

On Social Media…

The response to the Social Media Report (Stefan’s “Social Media Report,” published earlier this year) was great for the 5% or the 10% that actually had exposure to it. The other remaining 90% of our industry is oblivious to the fact that there is even Social Media, or that there is a Report or that there is something that you can do to learn about it. The largest chunk of the industry continues on a day to day basis and they have no clue.

There is ROI in anything if you do it right. If you are a good agent and you know what you are doing, social media, technology, the Internet, mass communication and e-mails and tweeting will help facilitate and take you to a level where you can exponentially grow faster than what you could grow before.

The consumer has always been in control of the real estate transaction, but we’ve never noticed it before because the consumer has never been empowered to do a lot about it. The continued rise of technology/Social Media has given the consumer access to more information and also the ability to voice their opinions like never before.

On the Brokerage of the Future…

Stefan does not believe that a completely virtual brokerage concept “ is necessarily the right solution,”  nor does he believe that the “1960s/1970s model” is optimal either. While the trends “clearly mean less office space, less offices, more usage of technology, that does not necessarily imply an exclusive virtual office.”

The Biggest Game Changer…EVER

In response to the question, “Should Realtors be concerned with Social Media?,” Stefan said the following:

“Social Media is the single biggest impact I’ve seen in 25 years in tracking anything in real estate in the world.”

“Next” for Stefan

Stefan is about 100 days away (February 22, 2011) from the publication of his 20th book, which is his first non-real estate title, a business fable entitled “Surviving Your Serengeti.” This book highlights seven skills that many of us have or can build, and helps a person to identify and develop these skills.

I’ve read this book, and I can tell you from a first hand perspective that it is fantastic. I would highly encourage you to buy it, read it and benefit from the self-introspection and self-improvement that will result from the experience.

Parting Comments

I asked Stefan for any parting comments he might have for our listeners. Here’s what he shared:

Shift and change is creating opportunity for all of us. Don’t be fearful, don’t be scared, don’t run away from it. Gravitate toward it, adopt the new technologies, take them one at a time, don’t run behind shiny toys, take one tool or one piece of software at a time, take it step by step.

You can and will succeed if you are ethical, if you are hard-working and if you are committed and you were willing to change and if you listen to some of the initiative  and the knowledge which is shared online there’s no reason that you all can’t hit a home run.

I come away from every encounter with Stefan energized, educated and enlightened. I hope you got something out of the knowledge he shared with us…