Perhaps the Aflac spokesduck can teach real estate brokers how to avoid quacking-up by the time the housing market turns around.
Real estate is essentially a research industry: trouble is, most agents and brokers think the most important research is about houses, prices, square footage and such. Considering the data that sits in most MLS systems – unverified and incomplete – you’d think they would know better by now. In fact, the best research for any [...]
Why is it that some things just won’t go change? There, on my doorstep, was a reminder that some companies still don’t get it. Nearly two pounds of absurdity, neatly wrapped in a plastic bag, and personally delivered to to my front porch, was a reminder that the more things change, the more some things [...]
Yesterday found me on the 15th floor of the New York Times building in Manhattan, part of a trio of industry thinkers including Mike Staver and Steve Harney. Joining us for three hours of ”ask anything” discussion were some of the city’s finest brokers and managers. The host, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, [...]
Recently we pointed out that the next generation of REALTORS will come from non-traditional sources. As brokers focus more on productivity than body-count, and the recession will ultimately teach them this business lesson. A more rational, performance-based method of building real estate companies will emerge. Traditional “Ponzi” schemes of filling the bottom with as many [...]
A recent quote from Walter Percy Chrysler has been stuck in my head lately: Most people never get ahead in life because when opportunity knocks, they are out back looking for four leaf clovers. These days, it seems like Chrysler’s perspective is particularly appropriate to the real estate industry crisis. In addition to merely waiting [...]
When an industry suffers from a problem for decades and still hasn’t figured it out, it’s likely focusing on the wrong issue. Real estate’s “recruiting and retention” problem has consumed millions, perhaps billions of dollars in wasted time, energy and effort. It’s apparent that all of the “symptom” solutions and snake oil in the universe [...]
Imagine if real estate brokers and managers could stop endlessly recruiting. It’s not a dream; it’s a definitely reality for modern companies. Yet for too many brokers, it remains a far off possibility – unfortunately.
To stop recruiting, brokers would have to address a big question: Why do they recruit in the first place? Some would [...]
In our ongoing attempt to transform the real estate industry from a cottage guild angry at the internet to a technology-integrated modern production system focused on the needs of the consumer, we’re going to engage in a little myth-busting today. At one point, mankind believed the sun revolved around the earth. We soon learned that [...]
