“On the web, you are what you publish” is one of my favourite quotes from David Meerman Scott (or anyone else for that matter). He describes it as his “money quote” and I tend to agree. Because it perfectly describes the new approach to marketing in the digital era. The web has radically changed consumer behaviour over the past fifteen years. It has changed how people research products and information. It has changed the competitive environment. And it has dramatically changed the decision making process. Information is no longer scarce. Indeed, it is in abundance if not over-supply. And it is expected. Yet despite the changing landscape, many businesses continue to cling to outdated marketing techniques. Techniques that ignore consumers’ thirst for information. Some even deliberately withhold information from customers. Like the real estate industry…
I bought my first house a little under two years ago. So I’m a relatively recent customer considering the length of the customer life cycle. I also have considerable insight into the inner workings of the industry based on work I did with a property developer in the last 12 months. That project saw me work with them for 3 months to deliver an online strategy for their business. Naturally, I had lengthy and detailed discussions with the CEO, General Manager & Sales team as part of the project. As a result, I have real insight into the marketing techniques applied within the industry. And I think it’s fair to say it is an industry that just doesn’t understand how to market on the web.
Clinging to the past
The real estate industry is driven (perhaps even obsessed) with the face-to-face encounter. It’s in this environment that a sale is closed. A property will never be sold on the web. Subsequently, many real estate agents deliberately withhold information from the web in an attempt to facilitate some form of personal contact via the telephone or face-to-face. Fail. The most obvious example is price. A quick scan of properties in my area revealed that just 3 out of 10 listed a price range. A pretty important detail one would have thought when making a purchase (especially a big ticket one). And the justification…
“We don’t give them that information because we want them to call us. If they’re interested, they’ll pick up the phone”.
No. They won’t. While a sale won’t ever be made over the web, a lead can most certainly be lost on the web. And failing to publish critical information is perhaps the fastest way to burn a prospective customer. Because your competitor is just a mouse click away!
A personal tale in property acquisition
At this point I think it’s worth recounting my own experiences in buying a property. I’m generally a busy person. And buying a property is an all-consuming process. Weeknights are spent searching for appropriate properties to view. Most of the weekend is spent driving around town and looking at those properties. It’s draining. And quite simply, the last thing I want to do is f#ck around with real estate agents who aren’t respecting my needs. I never chased a price if it wasn’t listed on a property. No price = no visit. Simple. Lead lost.
Now… I’m not silly enough to believe my behaviours are truly representative of your average consumer. Until I spoke to the property developer’s rental property manager. She had devised a simple strategy that consistently delivered more people to her property viewings than any of her competitors. A real competitive advantage. She listed the price. Always. That’s it. She gave the customer’s the information they needed to make a decision. Radical…
You ARE what you publish
The real estate example perhaps trivialises the issue, because few other industries will have a fix as simple as listing prices online. But the lesson is clear. Understand what your customers want, and publish content that answers those needs.
Sales tactics that withhold information from customers are based on pre-Internet consumer behaviour. But we’re not living in the 1980′s any more… Anyone can be a publisher/competitor. So if you don’t give the customer the information they need, someone else will. And they’ll close the sale.
The onus is now on an organisation to prove their worth. A world (wide web) of competition has shifted the balance of power towards the consumer. Are you giving prospective customers the best quality information in the market? If not, you may be losing them.
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google real estate will destroy them all!
i agree with the price. i understand the motivation behind it, but i’d rather look at another property with the price displayed. I tend to find its with the more expensive properties – is it because if they list the price they might scare the customer away or may cheapen the value of it?
Its like how some shops like the LV stores in Sydney don’t display the price. Coz if you ask, you can’t afford it =)
@Matt – Yeah. Google real estate looks to be a killer app. Will be interesting to see if becomes mainstream. That would be awesome as it’d put the real estate sharks out of a job.
As for withholding the price, the agents are simply trying to get the highest price in order to maximise their commission. Hiding price entices more people in for a viewing. The agent then hopes to play on the emotive element and suck people into paying more than they can afford.
they need to reverse this process and do it ebay style.
owner lists property and sets a reserve price. people can visit the property offline. then they bid for it online. you have to user reviews to ensure it isn’t gamed,etc… maybe draw in data from ebay, amazon, etc…
now that would be cool!
Great post James. It seems to me that real estate agents are trying to “keep the power”. This is generally an acceptable tactic in the sales process, and often necessary, yet it shouldn’t be looked at in the same light as “devious” or “dirty”.
It might be as simple as the salesperson saying “I’ll call you on Tuesday” rather than “Give me a call next week”.
However, Real Estate Agents try and start the relationship by having the power and controlling people to make contact. It is not the right way to start the relationship.
Instead, if they flooded the market with great information then their phone would probably ring of the hook. Put a guided tour on YouTube is one tactic that would help an agent qualify leads.
Instead they withhold information in some sort of attempt to make the sale on the understanding that it is their skill as a salesperson that gets the deal rather than their ability to match the right house with the right people.
Thanks James
Damn, I love that quote. It is so true. If you publish brilliant stuff, you’re brilliant. If you publish nothing, you are nothing. And if you publish crap, well…
@Oyst – Your last paragraph hits the nail on the head in particular. My experience from working directly with the sales guys is that they truly do believe it’s their skill that closes the deal. Hence the obsession with face-to-face. I’m guessing they drink their own bath water as well…
When I was in the market, I dealt with 2 agents in particular. One was fantastic, honest & trustworthy. I spoke to him on a weekly basis because he’d earned my trust. The other was your stereotypical real estate agent. Sleazy, shady and completely untrustworthy. I dealt with him only when necessary, which was occasionally as he managed a number of properties in the area I wanted to purchase in.
Guess who I ended up buying off? The sleazy guy. Because he had the property that matched my needs. If it came down to sales skills, I’d have bought off the other guy every day of the week.
@David – Thanks for dropping by again. So if you withhold information, what does that make you…?
Hey James, great post as always
Having been looking for a new rental property over the last month and a bit, I can completely relate to this. It’s so frustrating when the listing has little to know information, particularly photos of the property.
I need to find a house that will fit mine and my girlfriend’s stuff, and if enough decent photos were shown, I’d be able to make a much better judgement as to whether the place is worth inspecting or not. Some listing are great with photos, but at least half just give you one crappy shot of the front of the house/unit/flat which, frankly, tells you s**t all.
Daniel’s suggestion of a YouTube virtual tour would be tops (although it wouldn’t have to be a YT video, a short Flash thingy of a bunch of photos would even be enough).
Bottom line – we live in the “Information Age”. People are looking for as much information as they can find – if you have good information, you’ll earn their attention, their respect, and more than likely, their business.
Hi James,
Really great post.Really inspiring.
Actually i also agree with you in “You ARE what you publish”.
Everybody in this online businesses can be a publisher and sell their e-book. So, we must treat our customer as good as we can, don’t let them bought an information for somebody else.
From my own sight, do a soft selling to them is more more more better than do the hard selling anyway.
Just like you James, you write an articles that gave us a lotssss lotsss information about online business, that’s really great.
I really appreciate it. (not like the other people who writing an article and at the end of his/her article he/she selling the product)
That’s why I can’t wait to read your next article.
Once again, Great post
JoeRevod
Very interesting example. My family owned real estate agencies in the past a I was brought up with it. No price marketing is aimed at letting market forces dictate the price. In areas where properties are difficult to value agents will with hold the price and try to cast the net as wide as possible. As well as annoying consumers, it is also aimed at “conditioning” the vendor. This means altering the vendors expectation on price. If they put a price on the property in the early stages of the camapign when the vendors expectations are too high, they are taking educated buyers who know the market to vendors who are still clinging onto an emotional price. Agents want to avoid this at all costs.
I have friends in the real estate industry. They say that 95% of email enquiries are requesting a EPR. In the early days, prior to the net, waiting for the buyer may have worked. The buyer had not choice to call, and no choice but to give details to the agent if they wanted to get any service at all. However, now consumers do have choice, and they vote with their mouse if they dont get what they want. I totally agree that these tactics need to be revisited. Smart companies will capture email addresses and use them to add value and build relationship by alerting buyers of properties that are listed that match thier criteria.
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