STUFF
I went trick or treating yesterday. “Wait trick-or-treating in August?”I hear you saying. Well it felt like trick-or-treating anyway, only instead of candy I got “stuff”. I was at a REALTOR® expo in Glendale, Arizona. It was a vendor fair, for industries that support real estate agents. Title companies, mortgage companies, pest control, banks, home inspectors, home warranty, post card companies, promotional companies [coffee mugs, t-shirts, pens, pads etc]
It was fun. I got a big orange bag and I filled it with goodies from the vendors. Every vendor that was at the REALTOR® Expo was there to present their value to the real estate community, kind of like, “Hey, look what we have, you should work with my title, mortgage, bank, home inspection, home warranty, promotional company”. I got a big bag of stuff and I don’t know what I am going to DO with any of it. For all the vendors that were there there was one thing missing from almost all of the vendors – VALUE.
My bag is filled with branded buyers books, sellers books, for sale by owner books, license plate frames, fly swatters, chocolate boots, peanuts, gum, magnets, chap stick, screw drivers, pens, pads, shot glasses and microwave popcorn. I got a lot of stuff but I really didn’t get a lot of value.
As the hundreds of real estate agents and I walked from booth to booth filling up our big orange bag with stuff I paid particular attention to the title company booths and wondered “Where’s the VALUE?”. Sure it’s great to have a bag of stuff for FREE, [at least I think it is] but I have no clue what I am going to do with it all or more importantly – the value proposition of the title companies that gave it all to me.
I watched real estate agent after real estate agent do their rounds picking up all the “stuff” and leaving. In one door and out the other. I don’t know how much it cost to be a vendor at one of the events but I am betting it was not free.
The real estate space is filled with “stuff”. Real estate agents have come to expect it and title companies happily give it away, but I don’t know why I should work with one title company over another. I overheard one real estate agent stop by a title company booth and say “no thanks, I still have the ruler you gave me last year”. HYSTERICAL!
I am willing to bet that any one title company booth could of had a line of real estate agents around the corner if they truly had something to offer of Value. Most didn’t. Take a look at all the stuff I got. I have to admit I was rather excited about one vendor that was giving away branded fly swatters, not because it presented any significant value [other than the obvious] but because I joke in my videos and blogs that most of the marketing title companies do for real estate agents amounts to a branded fly swatter. I finally found it! [swap!]
Title companies in Phoenix usually try and stand out on service “we have great escrow officers” but there is a problem, service is not only NOT tangible and EVERYONE SAYS THAT, it is an expectation. Real estate agents expect to get great service from a title company, they expect escrow officers to answer the phone or reply to emails in a timely fashion, so much so that they get upset when they – don’t.
I don’t know how most of this stuff could possibly help a real estate agent do more deals, save time and/or money, but I do know that the first title company that figures out how to provide real value beyond “we give great service!” will have a significant advantage over their competition. I think title companies should focus on helping real estate agents do more deals. To do this they have to FIRST understand that consumer behavior has changed. Postcards and fliers, staples of the title industry, while great and all, offer limited value. This is because how consumers search for homes has changed. Today 94% of consumers start their home search on the Internet and 80% of them will choose the 1st real estate agent they find. This is where agents need to be, this is where I can help. From WordPress to Video, Screen Capture to Indexable IDX solutions, I help real estate professionals get found on the Internet.
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