|
The pennywise seller described in Terry Light’s
recent article chose his real estate agent because that agent
recommended a high listing price. This reminded me of some "plain talk" I would offer
Realtors® in my Beginner's Internet Marketing course. It went something like this…
Internet or not, people choose a
real estate professional
for the same reasons they’ve used for decades.
How can this be? With hundreds of homebuyers and sellers
now using Internet resources to find homes, loans, and agents, how can they possibly be
basing their agent-selection decisions on the same criteria they have always used?
Here are some (actual) reasons behind
agent selections in the past:
She’s my dentist’s mother.
He’s my brother-in-law.
We met her at church and liked her a lot.
They live down the street.
He’s such a great guy.
The office is right by the dry cleaners.
She sold my cousin’s place.
He worked with the Parkers, and we all know they’re impossible!
All the yard signs in that neighborhood are from that office.
Sound familiar? Notice that most of these have something to
do with convenience, proximity, and/or personal relationships. Furthermore, many of them
are actually more related to whether the person likes the agent than to the
agent’s professional expertise, sales history, memberships in trade organizations, or
level of education. (If the agent turns out to be effective, the client has been lucky. If
not, the selection of the next agent may use very different criteria.)
Two years ago, being found on the Web might have been
sufficient for being chosen, but as agent sites have crowded Cyberspace, actively vying
for users’ attention, the formula has become more complicated. Getting found is just
the beginning.
What will inspire Web users to click on that "Contact
Joan" or "E-mail Joe" button? What will bring this prospective client to
decide to contact Celeste rather than Carl? What will put their e-mail into your
e-mail inbox?
Two Types of Clients - Analytical and
Intuitive
Informal data that I gathered over time while teaching
seminars and classes for hundreds of real estate agents—a "study" by no
means scientific—indicates that many Realtors®' clients can be classified into one
of two groups: analytical and intuitive. This has several implications for successfully
converting Web-using prospects into clients.
Analytical Decision-Makers Need Data
Analytical Internet users tend to
select an agent by comparing facts about several agents. These prospective clients
compare agents’ claimed years of experience, number of sales, number of clients,
sales awards, years of education, degrees or licenses, and other "objective"
information. They might also make a subjective judgment about how knowledgeable an agent
is, an opinion they form based on the amount, quality, and types of information presented
in the agent’s Web site. Analytical users are also more inclined to send a message to
five (or 50) agents asking why they should be the agent selected for listing a property or
representing a buyer.
To rank high with analytical users, you want to be sure to provide the information about yourself that allows for the comparisons.
Include it on a page reserved for that purpose, with a link that says "About
(Joe)." If you are new to real estate, you’ll need to find other ways to help
you compete for the attention and approval of analytical users. For example, create a page
on your Web site that you entitle "What I do for my clients."
As for the component related to how knowledgeable (and
helpful) an agent is, sites should address all of the following—for analytical
and intuitive visitors alike:
- Links to sites with searchable databases of homes for sale
or recently sold.
- Information for buyers related to financing, making an
offer, negotiating, title insurance, inspections, and other steps of the process.
- Information for sellers related to preparing their house for
sale, setting a good (marketable) price, their agent’s responsibilities, timing, and
other aspects of the selling process.
- Community information—links to sites with local
information related to news, weather, recreation, business, shopping, entertainment,
schools, and other material that will allow out-of-town buyers learn about and select a
community for relocation.
- Information related to target audiences, depending on the
agent’s current or target client base: Links to seniors’ sites for
retirement-age clients; museums, travel, fine automobiles, elite shopping for
upscale-homes clients; sites for kids and family, health, gardening, remodeling, and other
family oriented sites for young family clients.
All of this information provides service,
and that’s what you do, isn’t it? It also shows that you have an understanding
of your clients' interests, goals, and needs for information.
Connecting with Intuitive
Decision-Makers
What about the intuitive users? Much to the dismay of
analytical agents themselves, we expect to find that a much higher proportion of the
Internet users who actually contact an agent do so more on the basis of intuition than
objective analysis. And even the analytical users are influenced somewhat by an
"intuitive" component in the decision. (This is only partly due to the lack of
data for comparison on many agents’ sites.)
Intuitive users tend to make a
decision about which agent to contact based on which agent they like best.
They form this opinion based on intangible factors, such as some quality seen in the
agent’s photo. "She looks friendly." "He looks helpful." "I
like the eyes." "Nope. Too nerdy." "Not this one. Too young to know
anything." "Brrrrr. Hostile!"
What’s the solution?
Give your visitors reasons to like
you.
Ask yourself these questions:
Does your site adequately communicate who you are and what
you are like?
Does your site use your voice? that is, does the
writing sound like you?
Does your site include plenty of photos and text that help
visitors get to know you—both as a real estate professional and as a person?
Does a short biography tell people
- that you grew up in a small town (or big city), studied
music or physics in college, served in the armed forces?
- that you love gourmet cooking, fishing and camping, or
Labrador puppies?
- that you’ve been a Boy Scout leader, choir director, or
karate trainer?
- that you’ve raised champion goldfish, restored your
father’s 1965 Austin Healy, or have a brand new grandchild?
These types of information
help people connect. And connecting accounts for a good part of the decision about
selecting an agent.
Testimonials also help. They will help even more if a photo
of the clients with you—showing property, signing papers, moving in—accompanies
the text. Photos make those testimonials more "real."
When visitors begin to think they like you, the
chances that they will select you as their agent greatly increase.
Create a findable, service-oriented Web site that also
communicates who you are, what you are like, how you work, and what you do for clients
(and combine it with efficient, effective responses to inquiries). Let your next Web
visitors get to know you. They’ll be much more likely to click on that "Contact
Me" button.
Goldfish? What goldfish? What’s not to like about
goldfish?
Watch for forthcoming books by Barbara Cox, Ph.D.:
The Prentice Hall Dictionary
of Real Estate , with Jerry Cox, GRI, and David
Silver-Westrick, Prentice Hall January 2000;
Internet Marketing for Real
Estate Professionals, with William Koelzer, Prentice Hall, February 2000;
and
A Real Estate Primer,
Prentice Hall, April 2000.
Need help planning (or fixing) your Web site or Internet
marketing?
E-mail Barbara Cox at bgcox@home.com
|
|
