Is your mentor in this business serving you well, with respect to marketing advice in the current market?
Many mentors are well versed in the various business aspects of real estate, with one glaring exception. Many just wish that the WWW would just go away.
Here are some questions to ask about your own mentor:
1) Is their website dormant, ignored, and used for no real business purpose except as "brochure-ware"?
2) Where do they rank in free search for their primary search terms in their market?
3) Do they use email list management as an effective lead and sales tool?
4) Do they know how to access and review their web stats?
5) Do they make derogatory comments about the demands of dealing with the WWW?
6) Do they ask you about your own website situation, or just ignore it all?
7) Is a comprehensive web strategy an integral part of their training, and do they follow up?
8) Do they ignore the WWW in sales meetings.
9) Do they know what the terms PPC and SEO mean?
10) Do they ignore who is now closing deals in your market, and ask how those agents got to the closing table?
11) For marketing, do they ask you to work harder instead of smarter, while using outdated methods?
You can add your own questions. But if the answers to these are not a positive reflection of their use of the WWW, then how in the world is this person going to lead YOU when it comes to Web marketing? They can't. They may well be leading you AWAY from one of the few tools that is working for a lot of other agents in the current market.
There is a new leadership emerging in this industry. It will be based upon successful closings, and using the Internet/WWW to get clients to the closing table. They will soon become the team leaders and brokers to be reckoned with, because they are the ones CLOSING DEALS. They will insist that their own proteges use the Web effectively. If I were an agent, I'd look for someone like that to train me, at this moment in time.
I bring all of this up because my partner and I have come to realize that a large swath of the "old school" leadership in the real estate industry just does not want to deal with the new demands of the WWW. It's an annoyance and a distraction to them. We've encountered this, time and again. Yet, their attitudes have a direct influence on their proteges.
We still see a lot of foot dragging and reluctance on the part of agents, toward the WWW. For most cities outside of the top twenty in size, good search rankings are easily within reach for anyone who wants to prusue it. We see that daily.
Yet the local agents still sit back and allow the big lead generation sites to take the top spots, and then complain that they do. That is simply a fundamental lack of understanding of search marketing.
Tens of thousands of agents are simply not taking the proper steps to fix it. We think that the mentoring process is a very significant reason why, and it will continue to hold back agents who could otherwise make some real progress for themselves.
makingyoufindable.com - Belleville, ON
Making You Findable
Great post Dirk and really good points. With the degree of importance the Internet has for agents today, they need to pick good advisers to make an impact.
May 30, 2008 08:34 AM
DomainDrivers.com - Potomac Falls, VA
Thx...from what I see every day, it is easy to imagine a broker with ten agents, and each agent with their own domain, dominating the first/second page of search results for a single metro area. In a lot of areas, that would not even be all that hard to do, even today.
I have yet to see that. Instead, I see brokers completely ignoring that opportunity.
May 30, 2008 08:57 AM
Kate Writes Right - Houston Heights, TX
The Woodlands TX
Hi Dirk, A number of the points you made will be real eye-openers for some people. Unfortunately, the ones that are in a place of power to change the way the internet affects the individual agents are probably not listening.
The mentors in small cities and small brokerages feel that learning a new avenue of business - the internet - is too daunting a task...they are hiding their heads in the sand, hoping it will all go away.
The mentors and decision makers on the large franchise level are listening to the latest and greatest internet guru for the "answers". Then they dish up the new technology to the agents and become dissappointed when the agents don't jump on board with the program that the franchise spent thousands of dollars creating.
What is missing - except on ActiveRain - are people who are willing to be really good mentors that will take us into the next level of success.
I have had great success working with the internet buyer and am developing a series of classes for those that want to learn the language of this newly empowered client. I want to share what I have learned by trial and error. I want to make it easier for my fellow agents to "translate" the language, needs and expectations of these clients. Stay tuned.
Jun 24, 2008 03:53 AM
DomainDrivers.com - Potomac Falls, VA
Hi Kathi,
Most people in real estate are ignoring all of this. Those of us in here posting are preaching to the choir, it seems. I just need to put all of this out there, in the hope that a few other people will take notice, and DO SOMETHING to fix it.
The real point of my post is that INDIVIDUAL AGENTS need to pay attention to this, because they will likely NEVER get it forced on them by their old school mentors.
I suspect that the old schoolers will simply coast their way into retirement, relying on established personal networks to sell a house here and there. That is possible when you already have that network in place.
Meanwhile, they simply brow beat their trainees to work harder, not smarter, using worn out marketing methods that are familiar, but have lost their shine.
As mentors, that is THEIR decision, and few people will change thier minds. It's the trainee that needs to wake up and look toward more progressive approaches that reflect where the BUYERS are confronting real estate, TODAY.
And that is on the Web. There is no denying it.
Jun 24, 2008 10:19 AM
Kate Writes Right - Houston Heights, TX
The Woodlands TX
Hi Dirk,
I think we are on the same page. Actually, I have been in this business for a few decades and I can tell you that it has always been up to the individual agents to find a way to become profitable. One of the reasons why the old school mentors encourage the same old things is because they benefit more than the single agent. If you advertise in the local newspapers and magazines, mail small "gifts" to people in a community, or do cold calling - you may not reap the rewards of your effort. However, the cumulative result to the company and long-standing agents can be good.
It is up to the agents to run their business in a way that primarily benefits them - individually. That can be done in two major ways in today's market. The first is to find a lead generation system on the web. The second is to learn how to language a response to those leads that is powerful and engaging. I plan to offer that kind of training. Watch for it!
Jun 25, 2008 12:10 AM
DomainDrivers.com - Potomac Falls, VA
Hi Kathi,
Congratulations on moving forward with the times, after four decades in the business. You are an exception.
From your profile page, you said, "my buyers usually come from one of my websites". That is a powerful statement, and one that I have heard time and again from agents with well-ranking sites.
I think that eventually the leadership in this industry will shift toward people like yourself, who use the currently effective tools to get to the closing table.
However, I have had conversations with some agents who use the web effectively and they have become totally frustrated with the lack of action on the part of people that they have tried to enlighten. So they have decided to stop trying, and just quietly work their own leads.
They tell me that there is a lot of starry-eyed fascination with the subject. They can fill a seminar room with interested agents, but when those agents are presented with an action plan, very few of them follow through. We've seen the same thing here. I really do not understand that.
If you need any help with your education process or are looking for service prviders, please let us know.
Here are two resources that you can use in your education efforts:
Here's a multi-page document that was specifically written for real estate professionals, using real estate examples:
Search Engine Optimization Basics For Real Estate-Related Websites
http://www.domaindrivers.com/seobasics-realestate-main.htm
Also, you can create your own optimized pages easily with our new landing page tool, here:
http://www.domaindrivers.com/pagegumbo/pagegumbo-test.asp
http://www.domaindrivers.com/pagegumbo/pagegumbo.asp
The first link is an "example" page, and the second is a live tool that you can use at anytime. The tool forces agents to put more of the secondary real-estate related keywords on their pages.
dj
Jun 25, 2008 01:48 AM
Coldwell Banker Hubbell Briarwood - Lansing, MI
CRB, GRI, ePRO, RECS, SRES
Hi! Dirk, I think you are right on in this post. Especially in your last comment about the new agent taking on the responsibility to learn this new marketing. I am a great believer in organic search engine optimization by Blogging, fresh content websites and using the proper key words. We are changing at warp speed and I love the challenge. Hope all is well with you. Mike
Mike Bowler Sr. ePRO, CRB, GRI, SRES Website for Agents: MikeBowler.net
Coldwell Banker Hubbell Briarwood
1020 S. Creyts Road, Lansing, MI 48917
Phone: 517-492-3400 Fax: 888-832-6203
email: Mike@MikeBowler.com
Website for Clients: MikeBowler.com
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Jul 11, 2008 02:25 PM
DomainDrivers.com - Potomac Falls, VA
Hi Mike,
Thanks forthe feedback. Please also seemy post here:
Jul 14, 2008 03:14 AM
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