Nothing Stays the Same: A Manifesto for 2012
In the last ten years, the meaning of running a company has changed, as has every job within Warburg Realty. At every level, the Internet, the faster pace of life, and the changeover in generations has radically altered how we manage our business and how we interface with those around us. Our agent/client interaction is different. Our marketing is radically different. Our brand extension strategies are different. And how we manage agents is different. I want to look at a few of these changes and assess what they add up to.
* Our agent/client interaction is different. I have written extensively about this before. Pretty much every real estate shopper now lets his or her fingers do the walking (or clicking.) Our job is to provide market knowledge and expertise to enhance and focus the search, create a successful negotiation, and consummate a deal. More often than not, the buyers find most of what they want to see themselves, online. And while our business was always SORT OF a 24/7 business, now it is TRULY a 24/7 business. Clients e-mail us at all hours, and we had better reply fast. Ever since the introduction of fax machines, everything is urgent.
* Marketing has been transformed not only by the change from print to online, but equally by the shift from Boomer to Gen X and Gen Y. Flashier content, greater ease of use, and speed of response time define success in today’s on line marketing environment. Building a core brand value proposition while constantly updating content is the key to capturing the fickle on-line public. While brand loyalty is still significant to boomers, younger consumers are more interested in a cool, constantly evolving presentation.
* Our branding strategies have changed to try to accommodate the need to be both established and up to the minute at the same time. We are working all the time to convey both the solidity of an established brand and the zip of a forward-thinking brand. Our strategy involves print for the former, while we use social media and our platform on the HGTV show “Selling New York’ for the latter. Our print ads are meant to create a feeling of history and reliability, while our website, social media and TV attempt to create intimacy (though not TOO much.) It is always a balancing act!
* Sales managers everywhere, in every industry, confront a brave new world. In addition to the old ways of obtaining and managing customers, there are a host of new ones, which come with new problems. How much on Facebook is too much? Social media is personal, but it can be a little too personal.( Co-op buyers need to make sure their social media, AND those of their kids, are scrubbed before they complete their application. ) How do you teach people not to forward chain e-mails, lest a disparaging comment be hidden seven messages down the e-mail chain? How can an agent tell if a client with whom she has dealt entirely on line is for real? What comes up when you do a Google search on yourself? On the company? On a client?
In every area, at every level of our company, every associate faces the question of how to be PROactive rather than REactive. In selling, in marketing, in managing, and in leading, each new internet or media advance creates more rather than fewer opportunities, more rather than fewer possible outcomes, more rather than fewer possible solutions. Needs and options swarm around us in greater numbers than ever before. So we all need to be better, more efficient decision makers. And to do that, we need to know what is important. Only by analyzing and understanding our priorities in the marketplace and mapping a path to achieve them can we succeed amidst the shifting demands of those we serve and the never ending buzz of the information superhighway.