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Where's mom when you need her?

The Davison Files

By Marc Davison, Wednesday, April 23, 2008.

Inman News

Marc DavisonMarc Davison

Once upon a time, you "walked in" for real estate services. A pleasant face greeted you. You had questions; helpful people had answers.

It was simple, friendly, and it worked.

You called, someone answered. You were handled, not routed through some invisible air traffic system waiting for a faceless controller to pick you up a day later with a response.

The Realtor was once a servant, performing the heavy lifting and attending to the smallest details. Making sense of things.

Clients were afforded the luxury of being serviced. They were unencumbered by the minutia of the process.

When I was young we spent time huddled around the kitchen table -- eating, talking, dreaming.

Back then, the only box we all stared into was the Ebinger's cake box, pale green with brown crosshatching. We craved its contents -- sweet and addictive.

In these happy golden days of yore, the customer was king -- even though they weren't "empowered."

If you think consumers are truly empowered today, you are clinging to fantasy

Enter the local yogurt shop. Pick your Styrofoam cup. Pour your own yogurt. Choose and apply your own toppings. The only visible and meaningful exchange between you and the service person is experienced at the cash register.

Fast food. Self service.

Today, you enter real estate the same way. Pick your Styrofoam Web site. Pour your own flavor of search. Apply your own data, sign up, log in, drag, drop, join, calculate and map out your real estate treat. The only visible and meaningful exchange between you and the service person is experienced at the real estate cash register.

Fast food real estate. Self service.

We have all this technology -- amazing feats of invention. But if you think leaving it in the hands of the consumer is empowering, you are clinging to fantasy.

The power I see

Technology can be empowering. But what happens when those who license and present it to the consumer are incapable of adding to it the nuance of expertise, the touch of service?

What happens when they have no aptitude for integrating it into a cohesive experience?

What happens when the professional skims the surface of technology, takes the cheap route and makes technology an Achilles heel when it should be a strength?

I'll tell you what happens. You lose control of your business. You end up with a wary consumer who doesn't know what to do or who to trust. You end up having your entire value proposition eviscerated by outsiders, your carcass picked apart by squawking crows on the trash-strewn shoulder of your industry.

How empowering is that?

Technology is amazing if used right. If misguided, though, you end up selling your brand down a dry river bed littered with crappy Web sites, crappy search functions and a workforce of spoiled agents who don't want to work -- or even know what work to do.

Empowerment is not conning yourself itself into believing consumers want to do everything themselves. Empowerment sunk when real estate began believing the consumer would have no issue paying top dollar for the privilege of serving themselves.

Where's mom when you need her?

Today, we all gather around the same dining table. We still dream, talk and wonder about our next homes. The box we all stare into is equally as alluring as the old Ebinger's. Its contents are just as sweet and addictive. It is filled with empowerment and promise.

What would be incredibly empowering is if real estate started to leverage its contents better. Serve it up like mom used to. She knew exactly when and how. And she was always there when you needed her.

That's what real estate needs now more than ever.

Marc Davison is a partner at 1000watt Consulting. He can be reached at marc@1000wattconsulting.com.

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Copyright 2008 Marc Davison

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Submitted by on April 23, 2008 - 6:39am.

Great artical

 
Submitted by Armani Arbizi on April 23, 2008 - 9:08am.

This article accurately presents the "fading away" of the old real customer service. Moreover, the same thing is unfortunately true of relationships in our present society and by natural extension, especially in the business area.

Inside many offices and commercial stores, we see nice looking welcome signs or slogans cheerfully announcing to clients, customers "you're number one", or "how can we help". Or phone greetings saying "your call is important to us". All that but no true efforts behind.

As the article points out, technology has "advanced" the field of real estate practice among professionals as well as consumers. But I believe that corporate is sorely lacking a determination to truly hone hardworking agents with broad skills, and equally important, a true mindset to render service. Its only individualism and the hard competition that drive the performance.

Even in a literal sense, the old "mom by the kitchen table" is no longer.

 
Submitted by on April 23, 2008 - 11:03am.

This article made me think of this great "Fake Steve Jobs" post:

"sometimes i feel like a great chef
who has devoted his entire life
to monastic study of the art of cooking
& gathered the finest ingredients
& built the most advanced kitchen
& prepared the most exquisite meal
so perfect so delicious so extraordinary
more astounding than any meal ever created
yet each day i stand in my window
& watch ninety-seven percent of the world
walk past my restaurant
into the mcdonald’s
across the street."

 
Submitted by Jesse Barron on April 29, 2008 - 9:38pm.

The advanced technology is available to the consumer because they have demanded it.

I for one like to do my homework before having to contact someone. I do not want to be "sold" until I am ready to pick up the phone and be sold. Real estate sales has always been "sales." Nothing about that has changed. Service has always been about the "sale" or nobody would be inclined to provide the service.

Perhaps it was because I was born in 1979 and practically grew up on a computer, but I'd much rather do my own research than leave it in the hands of someone else. I only feel empowered by seeking out my own information, not having someone do it for me.

As for "fast food" it is that because of the price. Walk into a grocery store today and you'll quickly notice that the cost of putting a meal together is usually more expensive than fast food. However, with fast food, you still have extra labor involved and it is still provided cheaper than what the grocery store charges. There is still procurement and refinement, shipping and logistics, unloading at the dock, storing, prepping, preparing, repackaging...and the list goes on.

Fast food is fast food and should no way to be compared to real estate. We do not provide "fast real estate." Transactions are still the same. The time invested in finding a house is still the same. The time invested in putting an offer together is still the same...and the list goes on once again.

When when a consumer who has done their homework contacts me, there is nothing less that I have to do. Yes, they may have found some prospective homes, but I still have to pull those MLS sheets and search again just in case they missed something by not searching correctly.

There may be agents who provide service at the "fast food" level, but in no way does that mean every agent does. The agents that do provide the sub par service typically don't find themselves in the industry too long.

While we all yearn for the "good old days" (no matter our age, we always think it was somehow better in the past, even if we advance), times have changed, tools have changed and access to information has changed.

If I were buying today, I would embrace the technology tools available to me. They would make me feel empowered. They would allow me to "check up" on how good of a job my agent was doing.

Searching the MLS on my site is free and I do not require visitors to divulge their personal information. Why? If they wanted me to have it, they'd click to "contact us" lick strewn throughout the site. Nothing irks me more than when I have to volunteer information just to access something. I always put bogus information in and sometimes even something like "Your Dumb" in the name field.

 
Submitted by on June 23, 2008 - 9:07am.

Technology is advancing minute by minute...while I agree with embracing tachnology and rolling with the changes, there are times I miss the good old days of a "hand shake." Being as I'm a little older, the younger crowd may not know the hand shake...:) Now I love technology and really truly embrace the changes otherwise I will be left behind.
Great artical....

Cheron Lange
www.letourfamilyhelpyours.com