Why REALTORS Still Fail Consumers

I debated (for about 2 minutes) whether or not to post this message. Some of you may think it’s vindictive (or just mean) but I think it’s too typical of the kind of attitude I encounter in the industry that it warrants exposition here. Yes, I’m going to present to you an email I received from someone this morning. And yes, you’re going to gasp with horror when you read it (or at least, chuckle with incredulation). Unfortunately, too many of us may recognize someone “we know” in this message. And that, my friends, is why so many REALTORS fail.

The email I received was in response to my latest article that appeared in the Commercial Record in Connecticut. Here’s a piece from the article:

…. . For some, the pace of transformation far exceeds the incremental improvements their companies or MLS systems usually roll out. During the boom-cycle, most of their focus was on deals rather than building skills for the future. So it’s no surprise that the tech-gap between agents and their clients is wider than ever. And it’s equally common to see looks of bewilderment agents’ faces when a Gen X buyer asks them to SMS an MP4 of a listing to iPhone.

If that last sentence doesn’t make any sense to you, take heed. It’s not just the techno-speak of a select few geeks bent on changing the world. It’s the everyday talk of millions of Gen X and Gen Y consumers entering the first-time home-buyer cycle. To illustrate the gap between the “new normal” of the younger homebuyers and many agents today, NAR’s recent surveys of its members is telling: less than 25% of them use wireless email every day. Some 74% have never sent an instant message. Now ask yourself what percentage of 20-something-buyers is texting every hour? Therein lies the problem for the next few years. Even without other issues like poor home pricing or buyer qualification techniques amongst the current sales force, brokers are faced with deficient core technology skills that today’s buyers are requiring in their agents….

The point of the article is simple: buyers and sellers today communicate using advanced features of today’s cell phones. They make calls, but they also send and receive text messages. And photo messages. And video messages. And most of all: to them, it’s entirely normal to use their cell phone in these ways.

Now, consider that the average first time buyer is 31 years old. His cell phone is the only phone he owns. He uses it for text more than for talking. He surfs the web and he checks his email and he keeps up with friends and family in real-time by text. He’s not the one you’ll see blabbering on his cell phone in a restaurant or airport (unlike his mom or dad). Oh, and the first time home buyer purchased 41% of all homes last year in America; so there’s a very high liklihood that you’ll be encountering this strange creature in your normal course of business as a real estate sales person.

Now, let’s get to the reaction to the article – the message from today. Mind you, this came in at 7:10 in the morning today – and it came in by email, which is remarkable when you consider what you’re about to read (I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had come by carrier pigeon).

Dear Tech Guru
 
Get a grip on reality. I’m 55 years old and have been using computers at work and at home since the Tandy 1000. I have never sent a text message on my cell phone and never will. .Neither does anyone else I know of my age or older. Phones are for verbal communication, and text messages are for highway signs informing all drivers of traffic conditions.
 
Besides which, most cell phones that I see have keys so small that it would be torture to use them to type out a message. So perhaps kids can do it – tho god only know why… but no salesperson that I know of does so in Fairfield county Connecticut.
 
Sincerely
[NAME WITHHELD]

For the sake of decency, I have withheld the name of the author. Amazing, isn’t it? Here’s a “55 year old” professional REALTOR – someone who fully expects buyers and sellers to put their trust in him, and pay him, and he is proud of the fact that he “never will” send a text message on his cell phone.

Let’s abstract for a moment, shall we? Putting aside the sheer lunacy of these statements, let’s see if we can’t look at them in the big picture. Why is it that, year after year, we still seem to get this “allergic reaction” to technology and change in the real estate industry. Certainly, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard such comments. Agents tell me this all the time in class. “Their clients” don’t use email. “Their clients” don’t do instant messaging. “Their marketplace” is much more “touchy feely” than looking at virtual tours. And “nobody I know” does that in our marketplace.

All I have to say is: If there are any real estate professionals out there having trouble competing with these neanderthals, then pack it in. You should be able to run circles around these so-called professionals faster than, well, you can send a text message!

First, a little research:

We’ve already said the first time home buyer averages 31 years of age; so there’s no doubt that the twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings that make up this average are major text messagers. Toyota’s entire first year of Scion marketing was a “viral” text messaging campaign, where kids were forwarding text advertisements to each other by cell phone before the car even appeared on television. And Google’s SMS system gets millions of hits every hour from texters who send “weather” or “USAIR 1234″ requests to 46643 (GOOGL) for instant text-updates on the forecast or airline arrivals. In fact, some people in the real estate industry have – GASP! – started marketing property using text exclusively. For example, this local advertisement on some apartments in Andover (yes, quite as upscale as Fairfield, CT):

Ok, so you see: Many brokers get it; because many consumers do, too.

Now, some more research:

The average seller in America last year was 43 years old. What can we infer from that? Hmmm? Perhaps a) they own a modern cell phone that b) might even be a Blackberry which c) has big keys that are designed for grown-ups that d) send 300 million text messages wirelessly every day, including 4.7 million multimedia messages. And for those who didn’t get a Blackberry for Xmas, they still might have one of these common phones with big keys:

Oh, yeah, and it’s only $79 for such a gem of a phone; too bad it’s not too expensive for the average agent to purchase.

But put aside the research; or the reality of today’s cellular devices and consumer choices. Let’s get to the heart of the matter. The reason that too many REALTORS have such a rabid reaction to my articles; or sit frown-faced in my classes and think, “I’ve been selling real estate without a cell phone (or camera or website or blog or whatever) since the War of 1812!” Why does this continue to happen today?

Is it because it’s too hard to learn to text message? I doubt it. The “average 55 year old REALTOR” can put together complex transactions; they can send faxes; even emails – all of which they had to learn to do. So they weren’t any more or less special than the average seller or buyer today. So it can’t be that it’s too hard. And it’s not too expensive, either. So what is it? Why do so many REALTORS continue to reject technology so vehemently – and lay the foundations of their future failure?

Vision. Plain and simple. They can’t envision themselves using technology to be successful. Read between the lines in most “techno-objections” and you’ll see that the “gap” is filled with simple unwillingness. Ironically, that’s the largest contributor to all business failures. Unwillingness – based upon lack of vision – to change. Peter Drucker told us that decades ago, when he said:

“Why should people who, for ten or fifteen years, have been competent suddenly become incompetent? The reason in practically all cases I have seen is that people continue in their new assignment to do what made them successful in the old assignment… Then they turn incompetent, not because they have become incompetent, but because they are doing the wrong things.”          – Peter Drucker, Management Challenges for the 21st Century

And there you have it. Does being 55 years old justify not using text messaging? Does working in a specific marketplace provide protection against change? Will buyers and sellers give you a free pass just because you’ve never sent a text message before and never will? I doubt it. More likely, they’ll do what consumers always do: judge your service to be inferior – and for such poor reasons – and move on to someone who will. In your marketplace. Probably the same age as you. Who had the vision to imagine their success, instead of failure. To take a step forward with, rather than stamp their foot at, change.

Still won’t text message? Good luck with that.