contrived?  somewhat.  only the names have been changed to protect the ignor… er, innocent.  this scenario is playing out across the country as consumers find voice in blog sites, youtube videos and rating sites.  they’re taking matters into their own hands when they can’t get resolution, becoming digital town criers – warning anyone who will listen to stay away.  this means there’s no longer any place to hide for those offering unscrupulous business practices or poor service.  they’ll be ratted out eventually.

but what of the excellent companies and agents that have bent over backwards to provide a resolution to a consumer that has unreasonable expectations or demands?  are they going to be held hostage for fear of an internet smear campaign?

or take the scenario of the consumer that doesn’t complain to the agent or management, instead deciding she’s going to tell the world of her dissatisfaction with both the agent and the company.  she secures the domain name thiscompanysux.com and proceeds to post a blistering diatribe of why anyone in their right mind should avoid doing business with this firm and the agent.

there’s a lot of talk goin’ on out there.  better listen.

as sites like yelp, digg, outrageous agents and others take off and gain visibility with consumers, rating sites will proliferate to meet the demand of consumers that want to be heard. and since consumers are more likely to tell others when their experience has been less than satisfactory, this means that dissatisfied consumers will have more places to talk. which is why we need to listen.

listening in on the conversations on the web sounds daunting and much harder than it actually is.  you can use such simple (and free) tools as google alerts (www.google.com/alerts) and addictomatic (http://addictomatic.com), set up keyword searches through tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) and twendz (www.twendz.com), or extensive search tools for a fee such as trackur (www.trackur.com), radian6 (www.radian6.com) and wool.labs’ webdig (http://woollabs.com).

regardless of what you use, you need to start listening to the conversations.

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1. ignore social media – there are still a large number of folks that don’t see the need to engage in social media in any form – facebook, linkedin, activerain, blogging, youtube or twitter.  they still don’t see the need, don’t understand it, or are afraid of it.  my advice?  get over your fear, learn about it, read the success stories.  but get on it.  not 6 months from now.  get on it now.
2. spend too much time on social media – i’ve seen a number of people get caught up in the new gadgetry, gizmos and whizbang tools that come along.  they spend so much time – figuring the new technology out, playing with it, tweaking it – that they forget what their core purpose is in business.  it’s something i succumbed to years ago when i was still selling.  i was working on creating the perfect contact management program for my business.  i spent so much time building the perfect mousetrap, i lost sight of the primary objective – catching mice.  don’t spend all day on facebook.  don’t tweet all night on twitter.  don’t spend 3 hours per day on your blog.  use these tools to engage consumers and prospects.  then go out and meet these people face to face.  do business.
3. use social media to sell – so many people see these tools as another method to advertise their wares.  they jump on facebook and start posting advertorials in their status updates about how great their service is or posting a new property listing.  and that’s all they post.  they spam their twitter followers with advertising messages.  you know what?  if you’re not going to provide me with some value or tell me something interesting that’s going on in your world, i don’t want to hear about your listing.  and if you continue to do so, i’m gonna kick you out of my network.  i love sioux falls, south dakota, but i’m not moving there.  so stop advertising your listings to me.

don’t let any of these mindsets kill your business.  you’d be crazy to.

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oh yeah?

it all started with a comment from one well intentioned realtor to an agent that had been posting listings on facebook without using the state required information for real estate advertising (brokerage name, etc.). the well intentioned realtor pointed out, nicely, that the posting agent should consider adding that information so as not to run afoul of the authorities. the response back from the posting agent was less than polite, spurring other agents to jump in and respond in agreement with said well intentioned realtor. after some discussion (public, no less, on each party’s wall), the final response from the posting agent to one of the commenters amounted to a very public insult, likely a violation of a standard of practice from the realtor’s code of ethics.

if you can’t say something nice about someone…

my mother always told me, “if you can’t say something nice about someone, at least wait until they leave the room.” well, social networking sites like facebook are big rooms, and even though we may think we’re talking directly to someone there, we need to remember that other ears may be listening. conversations or posts placed on walls and through status updates are very public, and can be used against us if we’re not careful about what we say. to air a personal beef in such a public forum not only tarnishes the image of the person hurling epithets, but brings the rest of us down to that level, lumping us all into the back-biting, opportunist, i’d-step-over-your-body-to-close-a-sale image that many in the public have for our profession.

leave me outta this

i’d just as soon not be categorized into that group, thank you very much, so for those of you engaged in this type of “smackdown engagement,” please stop showing your lunacy and childish behaviour in public.  take your disagreements and petty arguments offline.  pick up the phone and yell at someone in private if you must, just don’t malign the rest of us with your antics.  we’ve already got enough of an uphill battle to convince the consumer we’re not crazy.

and sometimes that’s not an easy task.

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Flickr image by Sparticus007

vacationing muse returns

after wading through 46 comments posted to the blog from escort companies in kiev, i’m ready to throw some blog spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.  and no, i didn’t abandon the blog – i was waiting for just the right moment for my muse to reappear and whisper in my ear.

that whispering became an ear-splitting shriek in recent weeks as i’ve talked with brokers from around the country and come to the realization that our industry could be headed for more trouble.  the reason?  the use of social media by agents and the complete disregard or lack of education in how to use these tools properly.

it’s all fun and games until somebody puts an eye out

i’m stoked more real estate professionals are jumping on board the social media bandwagon. they’re starting to recognize how blogs and social networks can impact their business positively by enlarging their marketing influence, reducing their advertising expenses and providing communication with their spheres.  but i’m also nervous that many of them are treating these new tools as if there were new (or no) rules, and not considering how some of the things they say and do in the social spaces can actually harm them.  and their companies.

which “o” are you?

what’s more surprising and more frightening is that brokers and managers have not stepped up to address the possible risks involved with their agents’ use of social media.  i’m seeing posts on facebook that clearly violate most states’ advertising requirements, and tweets that would cause ambulance chasing attorneys to salivate over the chance to sue an agent and company over their breach of fiduciary duty.  not to mention all the possible violations of article 12 of the realtor code of ethics. it’s crazy to say the least.

but what i can’t figure out is why we in management are not doing anything about it. is it because we’re overwhelmed?  the market is tough, deals are harder to come by and make stick, and we’ve got got to nurture and support our agents as they struggle through a difficult market.  surely we’ve got more important things to attend to than to worry about monitoring an agents blog?

or does the problem lie in the fact that we’re oblivious to what’s going on out there? not tuned in to the fact that thousands of agents are rushing to the social media party because it’s the happenin’ place?  sure, we’ve heard of facebook, myspace, twitter and the like – it’s all over the media.  but aren’t these sites for people who have too much time on their hands?  sharing inappropriate photos and talking about what they had for breakfast?  who’d use these networks for business?

the other, more dangerous possibility is that we’re aware of these risks, but we’re choosing to ignore them.  placing our head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich (yeah, i know – they don’t really do this, but it’s a metaphor).  hoping social media goes away, or that our agents will ignore these diversions.  unfortunately, neither is going to happen.  social networking and blogging are not fads, and are not going to go away.  and our sales associates are not going to ignore them, when millions of consumers are using these sites to connect and communicate.  not to mention that agents recognize these sites are a great way to market and prospect.  for free.  not bad in this market

time to face the music

regardless of the reasoning or cause (which “o” are you?), we in management are going to have to accept that these tools can be used effectively for our business, as long as we’ve set some ground rules.  so, if you’ve identified which “o” you are, here are some simple steps to get working on those ground rules:

• overwhelmed – get help.  pure and simple.  this business isn’t going to get any easier, and my experience has shown that it gets more challenging every year.  gear up.
• oblivious – get educated.  the world is changing ever so rapidly around us, and if we’re not in tune with those changes, we won’t be able to adapt.  and if evolution has taught us anything, it’s that those that can’t adapt become extinct.
• ostrich – pull your head out of…um…the sand. thinking social media will go away if we ignore it is on par with thinking computerized mls information was a fad.

call me crazy, but that’s the way i see it.

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given the fact that the upcoming stewart title success series class is on the topic of advanced blogging, and my man derec shuler (@derecshuler on twitter) has tasked me with the section on publicizing and registering a blog, i figured i’d make this an interactive example using technorati to claim your blog.

some that follow me on various sites (@bradhanks on twitter by the way) probably thought this blog was abandoned, since nothing’s been posted for awhile. but i assure you, i was mulling over lots of ideas to write on.  really.  it’s just that preparing taxes, authoring courses, parenting and traveling halfway around the globe kinda got in the way.  ok.  busted.  whiney, sniveling excuses for no blog posts. enough.

claim your blog. now.

surprise!

so imagine my surprise when i log onto technorati (i know, i know – some time has gone by…) only to find that i hadn’t registered my own blog, real estate dementia.  this, after another twitter friend of mine, @stevenstearns, repeatedly drilled into my head the importance of registering my blog with multiple directories.  did i heed the advice of my jedi master?  umm … no.  which is exactly why i’m featuring my own addled-headed behavior in this post.  it’s downright crazy.

register today. or get lost.

not that registering your blog is going to make it an overnight success, bringing traffic by the boatload.  in a sea of sameness in the blogosphere, it’s hard to be found among all the other fishing boats bobbing about in open water.  rough and expansive open water i might add.  some statistics place the number of blogs at over 120 million.  that’s a lot of damn boats. and most of them look the same.

good quality, high value, community driven blogs attract readers (you have been paying attention, right class?). these qualities are what help your boat stand out in that expansive sea. but tools like technorati also can put a light on your boat.  it ain’t magic, but it’s a good start.

the vast majority of blogs out there go unregistered with blog directories, and even more go abandoned after a short time. now that’s just crazy. and in the words of jack nicholson from the movie ‘as good as it gets‘ – “go sell crazy somewhere else; we’re all stocked up here.”

so here goes everyone: Technorati Profile

one last thing…

for those of you wondering about the whole “interactive” experience i referenced at the beginning of this post: this is where irl comes into play.  ask the students who were in the classroom.

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while i was sitting in class, mind wandering to all the emails, phone calls and work that i needed to attend to, it struck me that in order to grow i needed to push myself.  and i was pushing myself: little sleep, added stress and less time to do my normal workload.  all for the opportunity to learn. but the realization came that if i wanted to better myself – to become a better broker, instructor, coach and mentor – i’d need to devote time and stretch my abilities.  if i wanted to become better, there was no magic pill, no short cut, no silver bullet, to get me to that level.

i’ve found in these challenging markets most of us face that there are a lot of people looking for that magic formula – the one gizmo, gadget or whirlygig that will bring us success.  maybe the key phrase that’ll turn lookers to buyers, or the prop that will get us every listing we set out after.  we’re looking for the quick fix, the magic elixir that we can drink with the promise it will deliver a deal tomorrow or next week.  but it ain’t out there. there ain’t no magic potion, and there ain’t no silver bullet.

in times like these, there’s only the realization that we have to expand our thinking and try new things.  ‘cuz the old things ain’t working.  as soon as we recognize that and stop chasing the quick fix for our business, we’ll be ready to move forward.

and if we’re not going to move forward, we’re gonna take a bullet.

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