Marketing and branding expert and author of The Road to Recognition Seth Price will share his thoughts at Inman Connect New York (January 22-26, 2018, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, Times Square, New York) on how to create an unfair advantage utilizing content to nurture customers at all stages of the browsing, buying and selling process.
We’re really excited to have you joining us as a speaker for Inman Connect New York, but tell us a little more about yourself. How did you arrive in your current role?
I guess you could say I’m obsessed with brand building. What I’ve found over the years is that creating and growing businesses gives me a rush like nothing else. It’s always a race against time and resources filled with moving targets. I love problem solving, and what you find with a business is that the results are so visceral. Either you’re growing or you’re in a free-fall.
Most of my time is spent helping Placester solve business challenges for agents, teams and brokers in the real estate industry. I have the added-bonus of being able to share my discoveries by writing books or speaking at businesses conferences. It’s the best job I’ve ever had!
Tell us a little more about your session, what kinds of things will you be talking about in January?
Great brands have an unfair advantage that sets them apart from the competition; that is, they’ve found out how to stand out, get found and stay in touch with an audience that already wants what they have to sell.
Part of that process is creating opportunities to be in “relationship” with that audience even when they’re not ready to buy or sell. My session explores how to create an unfair advantage utilizing content to nurture customers at all stages of the browsing, buying and selling process.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Not a day goes by that I don’t question my focus: “What can I do better?” “How can I be more helpful to those around me?”
I try to make sure that I address the most challenging problems on my list first and have some fun in the process. My day is complete when I can create and facilitate forward movement aligned with our long-term goals.
I focus a lot on product development and carve out time almost every day to help other entrepreneurs think through their business challenges. That’s how I stay fresh. I write when I can, read voraciously, make time to work out so my body doesn’t become an obstacle.
To buy time, I don’t watch TV, I don’t go to sporting events, don’t play golf and rarely go to the movies. When I’m not traveling, I spend countless hours in the kitchen, cooking and breaking bread with family and friends.
What do you think the biggest challenges facing the real estate industry are at the moment?
The rapid evolution of software continues to impact the landscape of real estate. It’s altering the expectations of the consumer and forcing the hands of real estate professionals to provide more robust experiences for the buyers and sellers in a more responsive, data-driven manner.
That means entrepreneurs need to focus more on the right processes, tools and people. Punching above their weight and investing in the long-term while diligently monitoring short-term profit and loss performance. We see this playing out in the rapid growth of teams, the proliferation of instant offers and the explosion of tech startups hoping to address the challenge.
It’s feeling a lot like the startup up world to me: competition is fierce and the top producers have to operate on such a high level just to be in the game. What an exciting time to be in real estate if you’re in it for the long haul and ready to roll up your sleeves.
2018’s shaping up to be a really exciting year, and as we look ahead, what are your hopes for the next 12 months, and what will you be working on?
I think we’re going to see a rise in professionalism for those who want to be successful in this industry.
Between the increase in consumer expectations and the growing complexity of marketing to and serving today’s consumer, the casual professional will need sophisticated infrastructure to compete effectively. That includes seeing the promise of big data make its way into the front lines. Where agents and teams have access to best-in-class websites, automated lead-nurturing, personalized content and machine learning.
Being a local expert has to mean more than just what an agent knows from their experience. It has to include the insight the web can provide in real time.
My work this year will be focused on figuring out how to create the right infrastructure for skilled professionals in this industry so they can do what they do best: serve the consumer.
I’ve also started writing a follow-up to my “Road to Recognition: A to Z Guide to Personal Branding.” The title is still to be determined, but the topic is shaping up to cover how niche brands are leapfrogging their less innovative and slower counterparts. I’m having a great time researching this one.
Want to connect with Seth? You can always find him online, or on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
