Jay Zenner

As usual, very insightful advice. The current state of the market...more sellers than qualified buyers...requires honing old skills and acquiring new ones. An agent representing a listing has a completely different job than one representing a buyer. On the listing side especially, marketing skills, not just selling skills, are necessary. An understanding of how to integrate the four P's of the marketing mix, product, price, place and promotion may take some brushing up on Marketing 101. For the listing agent it's not just about getting clients, it's about marketing homes. The advice about dealing with appraisers is part of pricing. Having a thorough analysis before setting the price, helps defend it in negotiations as well as dealing with the appraisers and the lenders. Jay Zenner www.4PsRE.com

A lot of this has to do with the switch from a sellers' market to a buyers' market. Prior to the bust the competition was for clients. Now there is competition among sellers for the few qualified buyers out there. The marketing emphasis must shift from self promotion to marketing homes. It is no longer enough to stick a sign in the yard, enter a listing in MLS and wait for the offers like it was for so long in hot markets. Most marketing training that agents still get emphasizes lead generation. The implicit assumption in this post is that we need to change our approach to lead generation, which is true enough. But we also must take a more sophisticated approach to managing the marketing mix to market homes. This means better positioning and preparation of the home for sale, better pricing, creative use of the evolving distribution system and better promotional materials. This paradigm shift may be difficult for successful "celebrities" in our business. Jay Zenner http://4PsRE.com

I'm no statistician and I suppose this is just a summary but my gut reaction is "so what?" If the scores are as tightly clustered as they appear does this indicate that consumers don't really perceive much difference among the large franchises? How do the scores correlate with market share in the markets the samples were drawn from? How do the numbers compare with smaller and less traditional franchises or independents? What exactly does "agent performance" or "office performance" mean? Were there any questions about pricing of services, i.e., commissions, fees, rebates, etc. Who commissioned the survey or is it just something J.D. Powers spontaneously created? Jay Zenner 4PsRE.com