| |
|
|
  |
Dear Mr.
Internet:
I’m
hearing about all kinds of new ways to market myself and my
listings online.
Is there some way to tell if a particular new method or
system is worth trying?
|
|
Barry
Shealy
CENTURY 21 Bob Capes Realtors
Columbia, SC 29210
|
| |
| Dear
Barry:
The beauty of the Internet is that
it breeds innovative ways to do business. The tough part is
figuring out which online business models offer effective ways to
keep you on the competitive cutting edge—without getting sliced.
Fortunately, it's fairly easy to test a new online marketing
method and quickly determine its viability.
First, consider how well the model meets the needs, wants,
and capabilities of the Internet Empowered Consumer, or IEC. (See
"21st
Century Practitioners Learn to Give Up Control to Consumers.")
Ideally, a viable business model will
Respect the IEC's privacy and desire to maintain control.
Provide a new and improved way to do something that not
everyone is offering.
Be easily understood and implemented. If you have to educate
consumers about the model's benefits or it requires a radical
change in their behavior, you're fighting an uphill battle.
Provide a payoff high enough to overcome users' inclination to
behave the way they usually do.
A fifth factor you should consider is risk. You may risk the
investment of your time or money or damage your goodwill because
of unmet consumer expectations.
Let's look at two new business models that are getting attention:
One is basically an online listing presentation service that helps
you pitch your services via an online presentation to sellers who
have registered at the site. The second is the online real estate
auctioneer that allows consumers to buy and sell property via a
real-time online auction process. (See "Sold
Online . . . Almost".)
Using a scoring
system of 1 – 5, the table below gives a quick overview of how
well these new business models meet the criteria of viability:
|
|
Online
Listing Presentation Services
|
Online
Auction Services
|
Builds Relationship
|
Score:
5
Such a service (HomeGain.com is the only one operating
today.) uses the Internet to give consumers more control and
privacy when evaluating salespeople. The service allows
consumers who are thinking of selling to evaluate
salespeople and their marketing plans anonymously and
objectively before meeting them. HomeGain's service is free
for consumers.
|
Score:
4
Although consumers have a great deal of control and privacy,
the services often require the use of an intermediary, or
salesperson.
|
|
Provides
Unique Value
|
Score:
5
Short of surfing the Web, there's no other way for consumers
to screen listing salespeople anonymously.
|
Score:
4
Traditional auctions have been around for a while, however
online auctions are new
|
|
Easily
Understood and Implemented
|
Score:
2
This is a new paradigm that requires a fair amount of
consumer education for “by-in”
|
Score:
3
While easily understood, consumers may be slow to shift to
non-traditional methods for purchasing a home
|
|
Perceived
Benefit
|
Score:3
Many potential sellers may see the process as a “hassle”
compared to just using a listing agent they already know
|
Score:
3
An easy decision for sellers, less so for buyers given the
size of the transaction and potential perceived
uncertainties
|
|
Agent
Risk
|
Score:
3
There's a cost to being part of such a system. You'll also
spend time creating marketing plans, with no promise of ever
being contacted.
|
Score:
4
The financial risk, if any, depends on the auction service's
fee structure. And if salespeople don't carefully explain
the process, they may encounter unmet consumer expectations.
|
This exercise
isn't meant to create a definitive means of measuring the success
factor for a new marketing model. But it does give you a way to
subjectively evaluate new business methods to decide whether
they're worth pursuing.
Not every new idea that comes down the digital pike will be a
winner. But whether you succeed in your marketing efforts depends
on your ability to identify, evaluate, and adapt to new online
business models that may just end up transforming your business.
|
|
"Shopping" on the Internet
becomes a strategic issue if you can quickly, easily,
and consistently find better prices for business-related
items than your competitor.
The advent of
"shopping-bots" like RUSure
make this a snap! RUSure is a "browser companion"
program, downloadable for free, that activates anytime it senses you
are on a shopping site. Once you click on a product (i.e.
digital camera, software, book, etc.), it will immediately search
other sites for a lower price. The animated interface is
extremely clever (and entertaining) as it goes through the
comparison process.
The long-term result of these kinds
of tools is that they make the online shopping comparison process so
easy, they keep steady downward pressure on prices --which is
great for all of us that know about it!
|
|
 Mr.
Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally
recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant
to the real estate industry. He's dedicated to helping real estate
professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the
Internet. You'll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine
quarterly. Send your Internet questions to
help@askmrinternet.com
or you can visit his Web site at http://www.russer.com |
|
| Reprinted from the April,
2000 issue of REALTOR® Magazine Online by permission of the
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2000. All
rights reserved. Mr. Internet™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are
trademarks of RUSSER Communications. |
|
|
