There’s always something to howl about.
Remember, it ain’t news until it’s been processed by a professional.
For all us amateurs out there: If you missed out on something that happened a week ago, you can pretty much figure everyone who cares already knows.
And a note to the self-professed professionals: We already know you’re not paying attention. You don’t have to paint a target on your forehead.
Technorati Tags: blogging, disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing, technology
Teri Lussier loves Twitter so I’ll give it a shot
That was my “Hello World” last night on Twitter.
At the 2007 Star Power conference in Phoenix I learned about Jott, the safe and legal way to text message while you’re driving; so when I noticed Greg using it to send himself a reminder, I signed up, too. This is a tool that has really come in handy. When my dad was still alive he would tease my eighteen year old niece and me about text messaging. He couldn’t understand why anyone would prefer something so clumsy over simply using that cell phone to talk. But there are times when text messaging is more appropriate — for example, when the timing of your message might be an inconvenient interruption for the person who you telephone. You may want to connect with someone in a more passive way. You’re not disturbing them like you might be doing with a phone call, but your message is more intimate, direct, immediate than email. My dad was right… texting manually can be clumsy, tedious. And what do you do when you’re driving? Here’s where Jott is champ. I hold down the J key on my Treo, tell Jott I want to jott Cindy Client, say “please call Cathleen when you’re free to talk,” and hang up. My voice is transcribed to text and that’s sent to Cindy Client’s phone as a text message.
I know I’m behind the times… as long ago as last month blogs were abuzz with the cool ways the cool people at the NAR convention were mashing up Jott and Twitter and Utterz and WordPress. And here I was, like my dad when he was questioning texting: Why use Twitter? How will that help me, my family or my business? Since last night, when I signed up on Twitter, I’ve connected in a different way with people whom I’m already reading and feel kin to by blogging. And I’m not sure yet whether this Twitter-difference is better. It’s not as though I’m going to save any time by reading a 140-character version of Read more
Another way of understanding the unchained idea is to envision a world (I call it yesterday) where marketers avidly sought ways to tie down consumers — with tricks, with lies, with a lack of alternatives. Consumers have broken those chains. That world is gone.
Here is Seth Godin talking about what will replace it:
The defectors know something you don’t. The defectors know that if they hurry, they can build a new monopoly, a monopoly you don’t control. They know that they can build a direct and long-term relationship with the end user, one that will survive competitive incursions and will last a long time. If they hurry.
And so, learn from these folks. You should hurry. You must hurry. If you understand that the game is radically and permanently being changed, you can go out today and start building mutually beneficial relationships with your listeners/readers/watchers. You can offer these folks something of value in exchange for their attention. You can then build a new monopoly.
More:
You have a relationship. You understand that every interaction has to benefit BOTH of you or the relationship is over. If you’re going to build a monopoly on consumer attention, you’ll need to do the same thing.
Here’s how I boil it down to as few words as possible:
- 1. Make it easy for your happy users to tell as many of their friends as possible.
- 2. Give away free samples early and often.
- 3. Get permission from anyone who likes what you do to follow up with anticipated, personal and relevant messages that benefit both of you.
- 4. If this requires changing what you make and what you charge for, fine.
- 5. If steps 1,2, 3 and 4 mess up your current business model, fine.
The article is about the mainstream media monopolies, but it’s directly apposite to the real estate industry. Read the whole thing.
Technorati Tags: blogging, disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing, real estate training, technology
Do you have a “macro-niche within a niche“?
Do I need one?
It’s something to think about. No, not becoming a nudist Realtor® (thank goodness – that could get ugly), but finding your distinct value proposition. How about the music business? By combining your non-real estate expertise with your real estate knowledge, you can become the defacto specialist within a very small but lucrative sphere.
My non-real estate expertise… hum. Well, there is the really good Chicken Divan I made last night. “The Agent for People Who Like Do-Ahead Casseroles”. Nah, that doesn’t really speak to me. How about my prowess with a glue gun? “Your Crafty Realtor®!” On second thought, that probably wouldn’t work. Double-entandres can backfire.
Okay, then. I have given this proposition a lot of thought (a lot of thought = one cup of coffee) and have come up with an untapped yet potentially lucrative niche on which I will focus my efforts in 2008.
I am going to marry the concepts of making a living in representing people in the purchases and sales of homes and earning a living doing same. Earn a living? Crazy talk, you say. Isn’t it enough that I like floppy hats and the letter “E” (uppercase only), and you do too? This is a business of relationships!
Shticks are for those who seek unearned income. Gimmicks are for those don’t place much value in their actual services and are surprised when the consumers don’t value their services as a result. Stupid agent tricks are for stoopid agents who don’t respect their client base enough to know that the vast majority want the best person for the job at the best value. Attila the Hun would have market share today if he could demonstrate superior skills and a history of superior results. Although, I suppose the Huns could be considered a macro-niche within a pillaging, nomadic niche.
I think, I know, I am pretty good at what I do. I also know that after eleven years in the business, I don’t know everything, I haven’t seen everything, and I likely never will. I suspect even Russell Shaw would admit to Read more
I mentioned Dancing on bridges earlier tonight. This is one of my favorite posts, and, I think, my best explication of how weblogging works as art.
Richard Riccelli is never less than stunning at anything he does, so it’s no surprise that he should write so well at his new weblog. Go see the man at his best. And, to think, he’s just getting started…
Technorati Tags: blogging
This is a Teri and Greg mash-up, which is appropriate. It was Teri who first brought up the idea of musical themes for Unchained. At that time, I wrote this to her in email:
Here is why I like Unchained:
- The idea of free or even feral dogs
- Unleashed implies has-been-leashed or will-be-leashed-again, but unchained can suggest never-having-been-chained
- Again unlike unleashed, unchained has connotations of human slavery or imprisonment, and hence manumission or liberation
- The word looks and sounds hard and edgy, promoting a hard and edgy graphic representation
These metaphors are not new to me, nor is the metaphor of dancing. I don’t actually care about dancing, but I care a lot about metaphors.
Teri cares about dancing, though, so we start with this, Fred and Ginger, George and Ira and all that jazz:
I like that talented-nebbish-gets-the-girl thing, and I like the idea of people growing into their own moral authority, and who better to express those ideas in dance than… Jim Carrey…
Finally there’s this, from the King of Soul, James Brown:
Teri found a better version, but it can’t be embedded.
Are you dancing to a different beat? Tell us what we’re missing — but be patient. I have dozens of tunes on queue and it will take a while to get to them all.
Technorati Tags: blogging, disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing, technology
I have a tremendous admiration for George W. Bush, the President of the United States. My reasons are legion, and the rest of America will have to wait for historians to explain to them just what a great man they have so completely scorned in their well-scored chorus. But Phil Boas of the Arizona Republic gave us all sufficient reason to revere this president in just a few words:
American presidents for three decades have kicked the can of global terror down the road for some other poor sucker to deal with. George W. Bush did not. And that’s why, even when it’s utterly unfashionable to say so, I still greatly admire his leadership and courage. Thank you, President Bush.
Even so… The man is a politician, a currier of favor and a courier of tyranny. “No child left behind” will assure that no poor child will ever again get ahead. The Patriot Act should give nightmares to any patriot who can envision yet another President Clinton. Government never grows so large as it does under the cultivation of allegedly anti-government Republicans. And now… Full-blown Banana Republican bail-outs, as a reward for financial error.
From Cafe Hayek:
Today’s Washington Post brings a nice example:
“President Bush will announce this afternoon an agreement with major mortgage firms to freeze interest rates for five years for financially troubled homeowners — a plan advocates say will help forestall a major foreclosure crisis but some conservatives say amounts to a bailout of people who made bad financial decisions.”
Bush, the so-called conservative who supposedly believes in the "ownership" society where people take responsibility for their own actions and act responsibly because they bear the costs and reap the benefits, is going to bail out people who acted irresponsibly. I love the end of the WaPo quote—"some conservatives say." The implication is that other conservatives and liberals disagree. But isn’t it a bail out of people who made bad financial decisions? Would anyone disagree?
I like this part, too:
“But it appears no tax dollars will be used to subsidize the freeze on interest rates. That cost would be borne primarily by lenders and Read more
Someone suggested Positively 4th Street, but that’s much too cruel. These clips all come from the deluxe edition of D. A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back.
Johnny Cash’s cover of It ain’t me, babe is used to huge advantage in the Cash biopic, Walk the line.
It’s all over now, baby blue is another one that gets covered a lot.
Here’s a tune that no one covers: It’s alright, Ma (I’m only bleeding)
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you’d just be
One more person crying.So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing.As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred.Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.An’ though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it.Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know Read more
This has to be the most awesome way to search Amazon that I’ve ever seen. When you search AmazType, your search term is spelled out with book covers. So, if you search books about blogging, you’ll see this:
Each cover can be enlarged with one click which includes the link to Amazon and instantly shows you pricing and ratings for each title. Check it out!
“Agent review sites” have been out there for awhile. You know the type — a directory / database of real estate agents where in theory clients of these agents submit “reviews” of their agent and experiences.
Amazon does it with books. IMDB does it with movies. Sites like IncredibleAgents and HomeThinking attempt to do it with real estate agents. These types of sites aren’t exclusive to real estate agents — UReview.net is for attorneys, RateMDs.com does doctors, RateMyProfessors.com…. well, you get the idea.
I’m not here to argue the viability of the business model of these types of sites. Nor will I address whether they even serve a purpose. Some will say they do, others not. I haven’t really formed an opinion either way.
But this morning, a post popped up in my feed reader. It was from the Incredible Agent blog and the title, “How not to get a review deleted off IncredibleAgents.com“, piqued my curiosity.
Apparently a not-so-flattering agent review was entered into their system. The agent on the wrong end of said review would seem to be rather, shall we say “displeased” at his name being attached to a scathing review.
So Mr. Agent fired off an email to the CEO, complete with lines like:
Son, and I think I can call you that, since I am about twice your age, you are in trouble.
What you are about to get into is certainly not worth it.
And my favorite:
I know all about you and your family.
You are in the process of making a serious mistake.
Where I come from, that last little nugget would be nothing but a threat. And a serious one at that. I could probably find a line in the Realtor Code of Ethics that spells out in detail that firing off a threat like this is wrong.
But the unwritten Code of Common Sense, Decency, and Being a Good Human is clear enough for me.
All this agent had to do was provide the facts that would dispute the reviewers claim (assuming such facts exist). The review site provides exactly that capability.
There are several ethically centered questions Read more
I am way behind on getting out the videos I promised some months ago. I think most of the kinks are now out of how to do them, now it is just a matter of setting aside the time to do them. In the meantime, here is another installment booster – for agents who want to succeed – that I have intended all along.
Wayne Long writes:
I am a big fan of the Millionaire Real Estate book and all the products they have. All that said, as I watched the video I had some questions.
The book was written now several years ago based on people who became successful prior to the book being published.
My question is: Has the paradigm shifted? If we are interviewing agents 5 or 10 years from now who are mega successful agents – will they say that SOI and direct mail is how I got here or will they say a great website and blogging is how I got here?
There are obviously certain principles that never change and great service, systems, leverage, and lead generation will always be the way to success.
The question is: Has the most effective way to generate leads changed?
These questions were in response to the video you can see here. Short answer; no. Long answer; no, and I doubt it is ever going to change. There will of course
be
people who will rise up and disagree with that statement. They are simply wrong. But before anyone even bothers to disagree (watch the video first), let us be very very clear about what I am even talking about here. Is there something in the MREA book that is wrong? No. Is is “outdated”? No. Could it be more updated? Yes, and, in fact, a revision is in progress – but it still isn’t “outdated”. Our business hasn’t changed. The most important parts of long term stable success in residential sales is getting and getting rid of listings. That was true 40 – 50 years ago and I believe it will still be true 40 – 50 years from now. The things that make is seem Read more
It just seems to fit.
Other ideas? Assert yourself.
Technorati Tags: blogging, disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing, technology
Here are a couple of salient facts, evidently unknown behind the Rust Curtain of the Inman Empire:
So: Inman runs an event, Have a Cigar as far as I can tell, and delivers speakers who know nothing about the topic.
This makes sense to whom?
The logical choices for the keynote address were me, Dustin Luther, Brian Brady or Joel Burslem. Brad Inman seems to carefully identify and recruit coveted audiences so he can spit on them, but, in this case, I think the man simply doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.
Come to the Blogger’s Connect keynote address and learn how to… what?
Truly stoopid…
A big bonus for BloodhoundBlog Unchained, in any case. We were going to kick ass anyway, but the contrast will be that much more telling.
Technorati Tags: blogging, Inman, Inman Connect, real estate, real estate marketing, real estate training
Brian Brady’s pick, Fight the power by Public Enemy (NSFW):
Technorati Tags: blogging, disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing, technology
