I believe that there are many reasons for this.

But I believe that there is one OVERWHELMING reason, and here it is: it’s just too easy to get a real estate license.*

For me, this is – BY FAR – the biggest reason for the state of affairs in real estate today.

Example: in my state – Michigan – you can take a 40-hour pre-licensure course – which is now available ONLINE – and then go sit for the state-administered examination immediately thereafter. So, in theory, if you timed it correctly and if you could work around the clock, you could have a real estate license in less than a week. That’s right, I said LESS THAN A WEEK!

I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong. Imagine if you could become an attorney in a week. Or a CPA. Can you IMAGINE how poor the service in those industries would be if virtually ANYONE could become an active, practicing member of one of those lofty professions in just a week?

I KNOW what you may be thinking right now, which is some variation of this: “Why is this guy comparing being a Realtor with being a lawyer or a CPA? Those are COMPLETELY different things. It’s totally an apples-and-oranges comparison.”

To that, I would reply, “REALLY? Are you sure?” Think about it. Specifically, consider these points:

• Most people engage attorneys for matters that involve far smaller dollars than the value of the average American home, now pegged at approximately $220,000. If you had a legal matter with an absolute value of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, I am quite confident you would seek a QUALIFIED attorney to represent you. And yet people buy and sell $500K homes all day long with people with little experience, expertise or even knowledge about real estate.

• Most people engage CPAs to help with taxes, where – usually – the difference between a properly prepared tax return and an improperly prepared tax return can be measured in hundreds or a few thousand dollars. Again, we’re talking about far lesser financial magnitude than what many people deal with in a typical home purchase or sale.

• For most people, a home sale is the single largest FINANCIAL TRANSACTION they will ever be party to in their lives. I see Realtors make mistakes on a fairly frequent basis that cost their clients tens and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of dollars (I’ll be blogging about one such incident I just witnessed that cost that broker’s client as much as $200,000).

And if you REALLY want a wake up call…

Check this out: there is more – dramatically more – involved in becoming a LICENSED COSMETOLOGIST in Michigan than in becoming a licensed Realtor!

To become a cosmetologist, you have to do the following:

“Have completed either not less than 1,500-hour course study in a licensed school of cosmetology, or have served as an apprentice for not less than two years in a licensed cosmetology establishment.”

Now THAT is a legitimate threshold! And kudos to whoever decided that such experience was required.

Now, stop and ask yourself this question: does it make ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER that obtaining a real estate license should be DRAMATICALLY quicker, simpler and easier than getting a license to cut or color hair?

I guarantee you that someone has uttered this sentence at least once: “You know, I was going to go to cosmetology school, but that looks like WORK, man. I think I’ll just get a real estate license instead. I can knock that puppy out in a week or two and be wheeling and dealing before you know it!”

Having made those points, now consider just how much more difficult it is to become a lawyer or CPA than it is to become a Realtor. I don’t want to overwhelm you with minutia, but here’s a quick overview of what’s involved:

• To become a lawyer:
  • Graduate from a 4-year college or university
  • Take and pass the LSAT examination
  • Apply to and be accepted by a law school
  • Complete law school, which is typically another 3 year process
  • Sit for and pass the BAR examination
  • Pass a “Character & Fitness” evaluation
  • Total approximate time to become a lawyer: 7 years

• To become a CPA:
  • Graduate from a 4-year college or university (note that, in many state, including my home state, a Masters Degree in Accounting is now required to sit for the examination)
  • Take and pass the CPA examination (a 20 hour test spanning two full and one half days)
  • Apply for and obtain a job working at a CPA firm
  • Complete a minimum amount of practical work experience which varies by state (in Michigan, it is two years of such experience)
  • Total approximate time to become a CPA: 6 years

I know that many who read this will consider this entire commentary off-base and perhaps even marginally insulting. And if I have offended you – for whatever reason – please accept my apology.

But here is the hard, cold reality: on an OVERALL BASIS AS AN INDUSTRY, the public thinks we’re doing a poor job. And no matter how great of an agent you might be on an individual basis, this affects how we are all perceived.

The statistics don’t lie, as already noted above.

And simple, common sense would seem to indicate that the quickest and easiest way to increase performance, professionalism and, ultimately, the public’s view of us is to establish a legitimate barrier to entry, aka, a higher bar.

And I would argue a MUCH higher bar.

* – I DO realize that some states have higher barriers to entry than Michigan’s – Florida, for example. HOWEVER, I am not aware of ANY state that has a licensing threshold that comes close to what is required for becoming an attorney or CPA, and I think that’s the direction in which our industry should be moving…

All Seem to Agree: RTB!

We even went so far as to establish what we believe to be the highest and most stringent barrier to entry of ANY company in real estate.

I say those things not to relive or rehash any of that, but simply to provide a small measure of context and to state that we believe we’ve gained some measure of experience and perspective on the greater challenges facing the RTB movement.

The road IS uphill and against the wind. And there is a lot of inertia and momentum in the direction of the status quo.

But the process of change – of REALLY raising the bar – has to start somewhere.

Thank You!

Also, and before I get to the point, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the many  people who have taken on this same basic issue, many of them long before it found its way onto our agenda.

In no particular order, I tip my hat to Stefan Swanepoel (@Swanepoel), Marc Davison (@1000WattMarc), Chris Nichols (@UtahREPro), Jay Thompson (@PHXReGuy), Rob Hahn (@RobHahn), Brian Boero (@1000WattBrian), Krisstina Wise (@KrisstinaWise), Bill Lublin (@BillLublin), Bob Hale, Chris Smith (@Chris_Smth), Steve Pacinelli (@StevePacinelli), Lani Rosales (@LaniAR), Eric Bryn (@EricBryn), Joel Burslem (@JBurslem), Eric Qualman (@equalman), Maya Paveza (@MayaREGuru), Tom Ferry (@CoachTomFerry), Nicole Nicolay (@Nik_Nik), Reggie Nicolay (@ReggieRPR), Matthew Shadbolt (@Corcoran_Group), Jim Duncan (@JimDuncan), Daniel Rothamel (@DRothamel), Andrea Geller (@AndreaRealtor), Jimmy Mackin (@JimmyMackin), Josh Dorkin (@JRDorkin), Nikki Beauchamp (@NikkiBeauchamp), Brad Nix (@BNix), Ken Brand (@KenBrand), Benjamin Bach (@BenjaminBach), Mike Bowler (@MIRealEstate), Todd Carpenter (@TCar), Jay Papasan (@JayPapasan), Liz Landry (@LizLandry, Lisa Archer (@LisaArcherRE), Laurie Davis (@LaurieWDavis), Bob Watson (@TopBrokerOC), Matt Dollinger (@MattDollinger), Jeff Turner (ResPres), Debra Trappen (@Debra11), Linda Aaron (@Skynnard), Sheri Moritz (@RealLifeSheri), Katie Lance (@KatieLance), Greg Grospitch (@GregGrospitch), Dale Chumbley (@DaleChumbley), Darin Persinger (@DarinPersinger), Drew Burks (@DrewBurks), Kelly Mitchell (@HawaiiRealty), Matt Fagioli (@MattFagioli), Dan Keller (@DanKellerMtg), Teri Conrad (@TLCHome), Tom Everitt (@ThinkTomDotCom), Rob Reuter (@Rob_Reuter), Nobu Hata (@NobuHata), Matthew Ferrara (@MFCompany),  Scott Stratten (@unmarketing), Gahlord Dewald (@Gahlord), Agi Anderson (@eProAgi), Mark Jeffers (@MJeffers99), Loren Sanders (@LorenSan), Valasie August (@Valasie), Rivers Pearce (@RiversPearce), Stacey Harmon (@StaceyHarmon), and my partner Todd Waller (@ToddWaller).  And many others who I am sure that I am forgetting.

And sorry for all the name dropping, but I just want all those people to know how much we appreciate all that they’ve done to help push the conversation in what we think is the right direction.

And I would respectfully ask ALL of you to continue to do what you do. While change can be slow, and often times it looks like nothing is happening, I KNOW that the dial has been moved a few degrees in the two years that we’ve been monitoring this issue.

It’s Time for Consensus on “Professionalism”

All that being said, let’s get to the point of THIS post: to begin to formulate some kind of consensus on what it means to be a “professional” in the real estate industry.

Should it be based on experience? Number of transactions? Number of satisfied past clients? Perceptions of the agent’s peer group? Or some combination of these or other factors?

When the public – in the form of the Harris Polls – and Realtors themselves – in the form of the aforementioned Realtor Magazine survey – agree that there is such significant room for improvement, we think practical steps should be taken to begin to move the industry in a more professional, and more uniformly professional, direction.

And that leads to our survey…

Please Take Our Quick Survey!

Please watch this video which explains a little more of our thinking behind the creation of this survey:

As soon as you complete the survey, the results will automatically appear in the survey window.

THANK YOU for participating!

There’s just something about watching two teams – who have invested so much effort and yet have not separated themselves from one another after six games – lay it all on the line in that seventh, final and deciding game to see who wins this series and who goes home with nothing.

REAL Drama

Truly, it is human drama at its finest.

If you’ve ever watched a game seven of a Stanley Cup playoff finals – and, being a Detroit Red Wings fan, I’ve watched a few – it almost looks like a different sport from “regular hockey.”  The players skate faster, hit harder and battle like gladiators.

I just watched a game seven in which my Red Wings came back from a three-to-zero playoff series deficit against the San Jose Sharks to not only tie the series at three-to-three, but to actually be in that seventh game until the final horn, with a few legitimate last-second chances to score. It was positively ELECTRIC to observe.

When you see participants giving THAT MUCH effort, it actually transcends the context. I’ve watched non-sports fans get totally into a game seven because you can FEEL how much the players want it, and that collective effort reaches out and grabs you.

How About You?

To my point: What do you do with “game seven” intensity?

Particularly as it relates to career, I think it’s very easy to fall into a routine in which we lope along at a certain pace and never get too much above or below that pace.

And, it is clearly not reasonable or even possible to work with “game seven” intensity every day.

But stop and ask yourself:

• When was the last time you did ANYTHING with game seven intensity?
• What is on your future project/task/to-do list in which you plan to expend game seven intensity?
• What are you going to do TODAY with game seven intensity?

Just because we can’t do EVERYTHING with game seven intensity doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be doing SOME THINGS with game seven intensity.

Market Rewards

I’ve watched a few people I know work with game seven intensity over relatively long periods of time, and they were able to separate themselves from their competition and gain some payoff or reward that was clearly “above market.”

Yes, working “smarter not harder” is a perfectly valid adage that gets used a lot these days (and it is a given that we all have to be constantly re-evaluating our game plans, our strategies and our objectives just to remain “in the game” in today’s hyper-competitive world), but I don’t believe that these things are necessarily mutually exclusive.

So, why not work smarter AND harder?

At least SOME of the time…

So, when’s YOUR next game seven?

Image courtesy of HouseofCassette.com

NAR does a great job of compiling this kind of information, and it’s always good to digest the data and try to learn what we can from the numbers. And what jumped out at me this time is what I see as a potential disjunct between what people SAY they are going to do…and what they ACTUALLY end up doing…with regard to using Realtors.  I’m hoping you can either tell me where my analysis is off, or, if it isn’t off, perhaps you can help me to understand why this gap exists.

What People SAY…

Here’s a quick recap, using Exhibits copied-and-pasted directly from the aforementioned Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers:

• As per the first Exhibit below (7-11), we see that sellers seem to be happy with the level of service they receive from their Realtors, as 84% would “Definitely” or “Probably” use their Realtor again and or recommend their Realtor to others.
• As per the second Exhibit (below (4-20), we see that buyers seem to be happy with the level of service they receive from their Realtors, as 87% would “Definitely” or “Probably” use their Realtor again and or recommend their Realtor to others.
• Combining the prior points, we can surmise that people seem to be quite pleased with their Realtors, and, further, we see that – whether selling or buying – the level of satisfaction is very consistent (84% vs 87%, or an average of 85.5%; let’s call it 86%).
• So far, so good, right? At this point, I was feeling relatively warm and fuzzy, as it would appear that people are generally happy with our industry.  I even began to wonder about the veracity of those pesky Harris Polls that consistently seem to paint the real estate industry in a negative light, and those industry insiders who insist that “there is a looming crisis in our industry.” Could those polls and those people be wrong? Could everything be hunky dory after all?

What People DO…

And then I stumbled upon the the following two Exhibits, which brought me right back to reality, as follows:

• Exhibit 4-12, which states that only 17% of repeat buyers used their previous agent to buy their most recent home.
• Exhibit 7-1, which states that only 23% of sellers used their previous agent in their most recent home sale.
• Combining the prior points, we see a starkly different perspective with regard to the public’s satisfaction with Realtors. Analyzing these statistics on the “what people actually do” side of the equation, we again see  a relative level of consistency (17% vs 20%, or an average of 20%), albeit now in the opposite direction.

Allow me to summarize:

On average, about 86% of all buyers and sellers SAY they are satisfied with their Realtor…and yet, on average, only about 20% actually USED that Realtor in their next transaction!

Of course, there ARE valid reasons why there could be such a discrepancy – people relocating to new markets, for example – but I cannot think of any combination of logical factors that could account for this enormous disparity (66%!) between words and actions.

Hence, this blog post.

One Broker’s Opinion

I discussed this issue with a very smart broker that I know – Valasie August of Long & Foster, Realtors in Fairfax, VA – and she made the following comment:

I think the reason that number is so high (the average level of post-transaction client satisfaction) is that most of the general public is ill informed about what they are entitled to in the way of service. When the transaction is over, they are just happy the house is sold or the house is bought… Unless there is something egregious that occurs, they come away happy with their Realtor. It is like childbirth…easy to forget how hard it sometimes is and when enough time passes it is like a faint memory. The truth remains the truth even when it is our own industry.

Personally, I am hard pressed to disagree with Valasie.

A Blow to the Quo?

On a related point, as many readers of this blog already know, there is a running conversation within real estate regarding the overall state of the industry and what, if anything, needs to be done to ensure its long term viability and survival. This debate has been going on for a number of years at its current level and involves a lot of people, many of whom are nationally recognized and influential within the space.

To my point, a few voices within this conversation are fond of using these seemingly upbeat, positive “what people say they’ll do” statistics as support for their arguments that radical changes in real estate are probably not needed, and that we just need to maintain the status quo and or make a few relatively minor tweaks to respond to whatever small challenges we may face as an industry.

Gap 66

But what if these “feel good” statistics are not truly indicative of how the public REALLY feels about us?

What if, in the end, their true feelings are closer to the 20% than the 86%?

How can we simply ignore what appears to be a 66% gap between what people say they’ll do…and what they actually end up doing?

If this 66% gap is REAL – and even if it’s half that, it’s still significant – what does that say about how people perceive the real estate industry?

And probably the most important question of all is this: How do we fix…gap…66?

Actions Speak Louder, Don’t They?

And finally, this:

Actions speak louder than words.

I think I read that somewhere once before.

So, what do YOU think?

No matter how many times I read that, I still can’t quite believe it. Did you ever wish for something REALLY specific, and then actually have it come true? That’s what just happened for me – and for everyone else at Professional One – and it is truly surreal.

A Dream Realized

As those of you who read the annual Trends Reports know, no one has his finger on the pulse of the real estate industry quite like Swanepoel does. If you can catch Stefan’s eye, I think it means that, at a minimum, you’re doing something right.

Further, to be included with great brands like At Properties, Allison James and eXp Realty is an honor. I have tremendous respect for what these other companies are doing, and I love many of the concepts these upstart brands are creating and introducing into an industry in which new thinking is a breath of fresh air.

And when I think of all the great companies I know that haven’t been mentioned in such fashion, it is truly humbling and even more of an honor to have received such recognition.

Why?

Why did we make it? Here’s what Swanepoel said in the Trends Report:

Professional One was included for its bold dedication to professionalism in a time when many other brokers in the real estate industry are scaling back their training programs and activities. Their drive toward “Raising the Bar” (also the name of his weekly interview program “Blog Talk Radio“) is very admirable. On the one hand, McClure acknowledges that it will be difficult to carve out this niche and that it will take time to develop. On the other hand, his impressive efforts in utilizing Social Media may just prove to be the vehicle needed to provide lift off.

Thank You!

In conclusion, I thank you, Stefan, and your excellent research team for including Professional One in your Trends Report, and I thank the many great people who have helped and given so much of themselves to keep the Professional One dream alive through some trying times and against a myriad of obstacles that might have killed companies with a lesser “why.”

Last year, we were delighted to be named a “Beta Brokerage of the Future,” and this latest recognition just adds to our motivation and our determination to keep pushing our strategy forward.

I say it all the time, and I’ll say it again: what drives Professional One has nothing to do with “being Number 1” or “having the most agents;” for us, it’s about bringing real professionalism to real estate and providing a consistently exceptional service experience for every client that graces our door and entrusts us with their business…

In fact, it’s so important, that, in my 20 years of experience as an agent and broker, I’d say that at least 80% of the “problems” that happen in real estate transactions can all be traced back to the issue of communicating effectively.

I like the way Led Zeppelin said it:

Communication breakdown, it’s always the same,
I’m having a nervous breakdown, drive me insane!

Truly, communication breakdowns can and sometimes do “drive us insane.”

And these breakdowns can cause us – and our clients – a lot of potentially unnecessary stress and anxiety.

So, if that is true, what does it mean to “communicate effectively?” And how can we become better communicators?

Here are 11 steps toward more effective communications:

1.  Acknowledge everything – If I had a dollar for every time I wrote an email to someone that started with “I just wanted to make sure you received my… ,” I’d have a LOT of dollars. Don’t force people to do this. Acknowledge everything you receive, particularly those things that are clearly important (e.g., an offer from another agent, a request from a client, a question from your broker, etc.).

2.  Set clear timelines - Uncertainty and ambiguity are the enemies of confidence. Set clear timelines on everything you do – e.g., “no later than 5:00 pm on Wednesday” – and you will eliminate so much room for miscommunication.

3.  Under-promise and over-deliver – Continuing the prior point, I am a huge believer is giving people timelines and then ALWAYS doing better than what I promised. Further, I have learned from hard experience that not everyone thinks like I do. So, if, for example, another agent tells me they’ll have an answer on something by Monday, I would tell my clients to expect an answer by Friday. That way, when the other agent fails to perform, I don’t have an upset client on my hands. And if they do perform, then I have a very happy client who sees me as one who does better than they had expected. (This particular principle is SO important that it’s actually one of the points in Professional One’s “Mission Statements and Core Values.”)

4.  Update even when you have nothing to report – Nothing will endear you to your clients quite as much as this will. A simple call, text or email that says, “Still haven’t heard anything, will let you know as soon as I do,” will go so far toward making your clients love you.

6.  Speak and write clearly and plainly – Make every effort to avoid the use of any language which is colloquial, slang, industry-specific or somehow unique to you. Use words that anyone would reasonably understand. Avoid words that have ANY potential for being misconstrued or misunderstood.

7.  Proofread – If you don’t spell and grammar check everything you write to your clients or peers, you are not professional. I am sorry, but that’s the reality. Nothing says “amateur” to me like obvious grammatical and spelling mistakes. If you don’t care enough to take the time to make YOURSELF look good, that sends a clear and strong signal to your clients that you probably aren’t paying enough attention to detail.

8.  Avoid pronouns – Rather than write 1,000 words on just this one point, my advice is to simply stop using these words in all of your written and spoken communications immediately: “he,” “she,” “they,” “it,” “them,” “him” and “her.”

9.  Write small paragraphs – I learned this technique from Perry Marshall, the “King of Google AdWords.” I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Perry write a paragraph that included more than two sentences. This allows the reader’s brain to absorb information “a bite at a time.” Write shorter paragraphs and your writing will be that much easier for others to assimilate.

10.  Be concise – Once you’ve provided appropriate context, get to the point! Avoid extraneous detail and provide only the facts that are pertinent to the issue being discussed. Allow me to share two of my favorite quotes that will help reinforce this point:

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Mark Twain

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery

11.  NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING – If you ever find yourself saying, “Well, I assumed that…” it’s YOUR fault. Period. Always, always, ALWAYS confirm EVERY potentially important detail. If you take ANYTHING away from this post, please remember this…

I hope these 11 steps help you to become a more effective communicator!

If you enjoyed this post, please give us a “Like” and visit us on Facebook!

WANTED

Здравствуйте, Сергей!

My girlfriend graduated from the same college as your dad – Moscow State University.

I graduated from the school where your dad teaches Computer Science – Michigan State University.

Alright, I admit it, that’s not much of a connection. I’m just trying to break the ice. You can’t blame a guy for that, right?

What?

I know you’re busy, so let me get right to it: you need to take over the real estate industry.

The whole damn thing. Lock, stock and barrel. Today. Right now.

Why?

For the following reasons:

• Because the industry is the most vulnerable it’s been during modern times. Public opinion of the industry is arguably at an all-time low. Agents are looking for more. The industry seems incapable of effecting the real change necessary to survive and thrive over the long haul. Brands – even the top ranked brands – don’t seem to carry any real cachet or significance. The rules that govern the game are minimal – you can come in and create your own rules. Leading industry experts are calling for “game change.” The timing? Absolutely, positively OPTIMAL.
• Because, technologically speaking, to step in and dominate as you have in other industries would be relatively easy for you. Real estate is a simple business, and there is nothing even remotely as complex as what you had to figure out to dominate the search engine game. In real estate, NO PROBLEM looks as complicated as the image at right (yes, I read “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine“). Given what you’ve already done with Maps, Earth and Streetview – and a thousand other things – this would be a natural “next step” for you.
• Because it’s a trillion-dollar industry. Yes, I know you don’t need the money. Do it for altruistic, public trust reasons. Heck, make it a non-profit. Further, real estate is a massive part of the overall US economy. If you can help fix this broken industry, you can take your legend to an entirely different level. It would add yet another facet to the brilliant diamond that is Google. I see the two of you riding down Broadway on the back of a convertible, barely visible in a sea of confetti.

How?

• Take five minutes to analyze Realtor.com and the other big real estate portals. Create something faster, easier and smarter. And make it free. To everyone. Realtor.com is archaic, and you have no idea how much badwill it has created among the Realtor population (Realtor.com has overcharged agents forever). Agents will flock to this new portal. So will the public.
• Set up Google Real Estate, LLC. Use some standards like these. Don’t waste your time and money “buying market share” via the purchase of an existing industry “leader” because you’ll inherit too much deadwood and the collective ambivalence of the public. Start “clean sheet,” from zero. You can set the barrier to entry as high as you like. I promise you agents will knock down your door to be associated with the magic of the word “Google.” And you can cover massive territories with a shockingly small number of people, if you leverage technology and hire a handful of extremely talented people at each location (and I *think* you’ve shown an ability to do those things *rather well*).
• Run the whole thing without brick-and-mortar, or set up central “Google Real Estate Kiosks” in major city-centers where people can come in, grab a (free) Starbucks, search for homes with the assistance of a Google Real Estate Professional and buy or sell a home at a price dramatically below what it costs now.

Have I oversimplified all of this? Maybe.

But just a little. Quoting myself, right now, as I write this:

C’mon…you guys are GOOGLE. You can do ANYTHING.

And if you take a close look at what I am proposing, it’s realistic.

Again, forget the money. Think “public trust,” “big-picture impact on economy,” and “altruism.”

The real estate industry NEEDS a white knight.

Saddle up, cowboys…

Many of these conversations have been driven by Chris Nichols (@UtahREpro) and Benjamin Bach (@BenjaminBach), two people who happen to share my passion for blogs and blogging.

Blogversation

Chris, Ben and I have talked about a lot of things – frequency of posting, the wisdom of not being a “me me me” blogger, suitable blog topics, how many “bad” posts does it take to chase a reader away, etc – you know, the typical stuff.

I have learned much from these conversations, along with things I’ve picked up from my study and analysis of the blogs I subjectively consider to be the best in real estate (1000WattConsulting.com, PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com, TechSavvyAgent.com, MyTechOpinion.com, AgentGenius.com, 7DSAssociates.com, etc.).

But, not surprisingly, the best bit of advice happens to come from the person I consider to be the best blogger in real estate.

The Single Best Bit of Advice

That person? Marc Davison of 1000Watt Consulting (@1000WattMarc; that’s him, shredding at below).

Here was his response:

We just don’t publish the bad ones.

Wow.

“We just don’t publish the bad ones.”

Yes, this advice is glaringly obvious.

And yet how many of us actually use such a standard?

How many of us just go ahead and publish our “bad ones”?

Universal Application of the Advice

So far, you probably think this post is about blogging.

And, to a certain extent, it is, but it has much more universal application, and it’s all leading up to this question from me to you:

What’s on YOUR cutting room floor?

Yep, what’s on your cutting room floor.

See, here’s the thing: If the guys at 1000Watt have stuff on their cutting room floor, so should you.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is a LOT on our cutting room floor.

To be exact, as of this moment, we have 104 “draft” blog posts in this blog, as depicted in this screen cap I took a moment ago (which represent just under 50% of the total number of posts in the blog):

Many of those posts – most of which are 100% complete and some of which I spent DAYS writing – will never see the light of day.

Why? I can just feel it.

Something is missing.

Something isn’t right.

Something is off.

Just. Not. Good. Enough.

The bottom line: they’re just not good enough.

And that doesn’t mean that we still don’t put “junk” out into the public realm. Of course we do.

But we DO make a conscious effort not to, whether it appears that way or not.

We have a “critical review” process, and often times things we create end up on the cutting room floor.

And sometimes, that breaks my heart. But it’s the right thing to do…

The Contents of Your Cutting Room Floor

Whether it be a marginal blog post…

….or a listing presentation that you never quite perfected…

…or a photo you took of a house in bad lighting conditions or with the sun in the wrong orientation…

…or an overpriced listing that you knew would never sell…

….or an outrageously difficult client you knew you could never satisfy…

…or a marginal agent with a bad reputation who wants into your brokerage…

….or whatever it may be, my question remains:

What’s on your cutting room floor?

Better yet, what SHOULD be?

Photo courtesy of Flickr

Before I get to the point of this post, we just want to say “THANK YOU” for your readership and your support of this blog.

Much like the proverbial tree that falls in the forest, if a blog post is written and no one reads it, for all intents and purposes, it never existed. That you are here, now, reading this post, means the world to us.

We know you could be doing literally a thousand other things with your time. We are humbled, flattered and honored that you have chosen to invest your valuable time in reading this post, and any other post on this blog that you may have read in the past or that you will read in the future.

We know that we are nothing without your support. Once more, THANK YOU!

Top 10 for 2010

That being said, here are our Top 10 posts of 2010 (based on number of views), with a quick comment about each in case you missed it:

10. “Why” is Why Real Estate Brands Don’t Matter: Author Simon Sinek wrote a book called “Start with Why” that changed my life. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, here it is: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Now I understand fully why real estate brands don’t seem to matter…

9. Video Killed the Real Estate Star: Sellers want video, YouTube has become a monster, and yet something like 1% of Realtors use video. There is enormous potential for those who seize this opportunity to differentiate and provide a critical thing people want from us…

8. Raising the Bar: How High?!?: Professional One established – by far – the toughest and most stringent barrier to entry in real estate. Why? Because a true raising of the bar in our industry has to start somewhere…

7. Smells Like Tech Spirit: Most agents want a tech-savvy broker. Most agents feel their current brokers are not tech savvy. As evidenced by the fact that this post was our “fastest to 500 views” ever, we think there’s something brewing here…

6. Ultimate Real Estate Resources: Our view of the best people, places and resources from which to find wisdom, motivation and knowledge…

5. Meeting Old Friends…for the Very First Time: Social Media is the amazing “relationship creation machine.” I had to travel to San Francisco and meet a number of old friends for the first time to realize the reality of this powerful, game-changing truth…

4. #RTB Directory: Our passion – the very reason that we exist as a company – is first and foremost to raise the bar in the real estate industry. This is a collection of blog posts from some of real estate’s leading thinkers and visionaries on what we believe is the most important topic in real estate today…

3. If You’re Only Going to Do One Thing in Social Media: Everyone has an opinion on how to optimize the ROI of Social Media. Here is ours…

2. The Brand Illusion: For *most* people, brand doesn’t matter in real estate. This was the first and most popular of the many posts we’ve written about this controversial issue…

1. Interview with @TechSavvyAgent: TechSavvyAgent.com positively exploded onto the scene during 2010. As of today’s date, their Facebook page has 12,497 fans. Our interview with Chris Smith (@TechSavvyAgent), the driving force behind all things TechSavvyAgent, was our most-read post during 2010…

Those were our top posts for the year. We look forward to 2011 with great anticipation, as we believe that the pace of change will only continue to intensify. We see a lot of interesting things on the horizon, and we look forward to writing about them…

Finally, from everyone at Professional One, we wish you and yours the happiest of New Years! We hope 2011 is a great year for you in every respect…

PS: In case you are wondering, the “Facebook Share” and “Tweet” odometers that appear on the left side of each post are not necessarily indicative of the actual number of views of the posts, given the dates the posts were published versus when we added those counters onto the site.

In fact, two of our most widely read posts – The Brand Illusion and The Brand Illusion Part 2 – are about this very issue.

On July 29, 2010, we published a video about real estate branding. This is the video that appears in the latter blog blog post:

On November 4, 2010, Keller Williams published this video on the same topic:

As KW’s video states, “4 out of 5 consumers said the brand did NOT matter.” Our findings suggest that it is at least that bad…and quite possibly worse (especially when you consider that NAR’s own stats show that “agent’s association with a particular firm” is considered the most important factor when selecting a Realtor only 3% of the time).

And that, my friends, is where our similarity of opinion ends.

Is the Glass of Brand Irrelevancy Half Empty, or Half Full?

KW seems to have accepted that people don’t see relevance or value in real estate brands.

On the contrary, we think that real estate brand irrelevancy is an embarrassment, an indictment and a black eye on the industry in general.

KW seems to be throwing up its hands and saying, “It is what it is. What can you do but accept it and make the best of the situation?”

Gee, I dunno. Maybe DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

Brand SHOULD Matter

At Professional One, our entire focus is on creating a brand that DOES matter to the consumer.

Brands matter in other personal service industries. Like public accounting. And law. And medicine.

And in response to the those of you who read that last sentence and laughed – “Look at this fool, comparing REAL ESTATE to serious businesses like accounting, law and medicine” – consider these realities:

• For most people, the purchase or sale of a home IS very serious business. For most people, this transaction is the most monetarily significant decision they will ever make, and
• Often times, the dollars involved in a real estate transaction are FAR GREATER than the dollars involved in an accounting or a legal matter, and
• In most cases, we have a fiduciary responsibility to our clients (which in my opinion pushes us away from being “salespeople” and toward being “professionals,” like it or not).

Brands should be relevant in real estate.

Just because they aren’t is NOT “proof” that they should not be.

Filling the Empty Glass of Brand Irrelevancy

• By having a purpose bigger than making the most money or having the most agents or being “number 1“
• By engaging a higher caliber of professional via the implementation of the highest barrier to entry in real estate
• By focusing on the client as the primary party to be served
• By having clearly articulated Mission Statements and Core Values that line up with the prior points

These are the things WE are doing to make a difference in the mind of the consumer.

And we know of other companies doing things to create real brand relevancy, as we wrote about recently.

In fact, Rob Hahn (@RobHahn) wrote an earlier blog post in response to this same KW video. In the comments that follow that post, Jack Miller (@JackMiller) of The GoodLife Team (one of the companies we’ve written about) said this:

We believe that the brokerage must focus on producing the systems to enable agents to be highly productive and experts in their space – and be willing to fire agents that can’t provide highly competent help to the consumer.

The GoodLife Team is, among other things, creating sophisticated agent support systems to help agents do the things that must now be done to satisfy an increasingly sophisticated, informed and demanding clientele.

THAT is a step toward creating a “brand that matters.”

The Bottom Line

And Hahn wrote this in the comments to that same post:

In real estate, a brokerage/brand can say, our business model means we don’t care about our brand. That’s fine; it’s their company, they can do what they want. I just happen to think it’s a stupid strategy is all.

Whether Hahn was referring to the KW video specifically, or just making a generic comment about the behavior of the larger industry, it’s hard to argue with his perspective.

As a final comment, we totally get that the KW video is a nice attempt to turn “brand irrelevancy lemons” into “brand irrelevancy lemonade,” but highlighting the fact that real estate brands don’t matter and then not doing something about it seems dubious to us…