I write a lot about disintermediation, but it’s not a front-burner issue in our business. Not yet, anyway. We know that much of what we sell, as a business, is the convenience of being able to dump the real estate problem on us. I’ll say to clients, in jest, “If you can make more money doing my job than you can doing your own job, you don’t make enough to work with me.” In fact, I’ll work with anyone — for no compensation in some cases. But I know that the future of our business is in working with people who would consider it an absurd waste of time and money to do anything more than supervise the sale or purchase of a home. Presumably you can save money doing your own dry-cleaning, too…
So if we don’t worry about the disintermediators, who do we worry about?
Other full-service Realtors, of course.
Cathy came up with the idea of encapsulating our Unique Selling Proposition in a list of ten benefits other Realtors cannot match. We started with a list of 21 things, which I mixed, merged and matched to get to ten. This is policy, summarized in an animated GIF that appears near the top of our home page. We do a lot more than ten things for our clients, of course, but these ten are selected because they will make our competitors sputter, stutter and choke. Better still, we’ll be still better at all of these things before the Realtors we compete against get even close to where we are now.
Today Seth Godin has a post on using ‘another brick in the wall’ to take business away from competitors. Something like this works only if people care about substantive quality differences — and if you can get their attention. But just think about the impact a custom yard sign will have on the neighbors of the seller.
Here’s the cute part: I know that the people we compete against are worried about disintermediation as a front-burner issue. The joke’s on them. Their clients won’t leave them for lower fees but, rather, for greater value…
Technorati Tags: arizona, arizona real estate, disintermediation, phoenix, phoenix real estate, real estate, real estate marketing
Stefan Engeseth says:
Interesting list. What if your costumers should write that list for you? What should be on the list then?
August 13, 2006 — 3:54 am
Anthony Floriani says:
I think this is a great idea! It’s obvious that you’re working hard to fully realize the potential of your webpage, and I hope your prospective clients take notice of your innovation. You’ve isolated the best qualities of your company in a single graphic that really catches the eye. This comprehensive hook also immediately answers the question, “Why Bloodhound?” before a potential client even has to pick up a phone. I think the new graphic will really pay off. Bravo!
August 14, 2006 — 7:50 am