Ad shift represents industry milestone
Letter to the Editor
By Inman News, Friday, January 16, 2009.Re: 'Century 21 bids adieu to TV ads' (Jan. 14)
Dear Editor:
This move by Century 21 signals the beginning of the most dynamic shift in real estate since the beginning of real estate brokerage.
As companies begin to actively put dollars into online marketing, they will expect return on investment. The company will now become the major generator of leads. Agents will morph into transaction specialists. They will handle lead flow and follow-up, and will be accountable for lead conversion. These specialists will be paid a base plus commission, handle assigned territories, and be held accountable for company sales activities.
Technology will play a big part of this change, and companies providing full customer relationship management systems will be poised to take advantage of this dynamic shift. No longer will real estate companies operate on the principle of what they believe the agents might generate in a year. Our industry will operate with one-third of the agents now in the business.
John Petsco
Associate broker
Prudential Douglas Elliman
Miller Place, N.Y.
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Submitted by Catherine Read on January 16, 2009 - 4:31am.
I would like to think Mr. Petsco is right about this. It will be interesting to look back at some of the predictions being made right now to see how close some of them are to what actually happens. I'm counting on Inman News to keep track of all this information and opinion in anticipation of reporting at some future point on who called it most accurately and when. In spite of the nature of the current challenges, it's an exciting time to be part of a radically changing real estate industry.
Catherine S. Read
Creative Read, Inc.
Submitted by Fred Doleac on January 16, 2009 - 5:21am.
John has identified what our company realized back in 2000. Since that time we developed a system which started with lead generation and evolved into a system. It is a process which includes lead distribution, notification, qualification and lead management. If any one of these processes is not in place, the conversion rate drops substantially.
We operate two RE/MAX franchises whereby we can implement, train and test results. The system we provide today is radically different than even two years ago.
A company has to make a substantial investment or subscribe to services that are available in the market place. The buying side is 50% of commissions and online is the source for buyers.
Fred Doleac
CEO
Virtual Homes Real Estate
"Experience the Future of Real Estate Today"
Submitted by Luis Cano on January 16, 2009 - 7:47am.
It seems like every company is in youtube, Facebook and blogging. It is not a good sign when everybody is doing something.
Submitted by Bill Fooks on January 16, 2009 - 7:33pm.
Bill Fooks
TFT realty Marketing Service
Warwick, RI http://www.fooksteam.com
Making the agent accountable for lead conversion is the first step in improving our immage as sales people. If you can't convert to and appointment and to a sales you should not be getting the lead. Just waiting for the low hanging fruit discourages the agent from becoming better.
Good for all teams and companies for doing this.