On Wednesday’s Help-U-Sell Broker Roundtable call, Walt Hippauf talked about doing listing presentations online using Go To Meeting. It’s something he’s done out of necessity: he’s had difficulties with his legs and is not as mobile as he once was. Online meetings have made it possible for him to get his business done while minimizing the amount of time he spends on his feet.
It’s more than that, though. When Walt meets his prospective sellers online, he makes a statement about his business. He says: ‘I am different. I am current. I represent the new way to sell real estate.’ All of this is true, of course, but the online meeting makes it apparent.
It’s also more efficient. Speaking as someone who’s lived and breathed PowerPoint for decades, I can tell you that the same presentation done online is always shorter than one done face to face. Online you are forced to be concise and to the point. Face-to-face, you spend time elaborating and being conversational. Walt’s proving that you can do an online listing presentation in 30 minutes or less — and that’s music to the ears of any seller who’s contemplating being trapped in the living room with a salesperson for the evening.
It gets back to that generation gap thing again. You know: where the average age of a home buyer today is 32 and the average age of a Realtor is 52. Speaking in gross generalities: we are in an industry where our customers are often more comfortable with technology than we are. Where we want to sit down around the kitchen table, make a little small talk so that when we get down to business it’s friendly, they want to get in, get the information, and get out. Anything that complicates or slows the process is a negative. Anything that makes it simple and quick is positive. And here’s the thing about the Thirty-Somethings: They’re impatient with anyone who doesn’t get it. ‘Oh, you can’t provide me listing information on my smart phone? Well, then, I’ve got to find someone who can . . . let me Google that.’
It occurs to me that we — meaning Help-U-Sell Corporate — ought to be doing a brief overview of the Help-U-Sell consumer offering online each week. It’s something that should be of interest to prospective sellers and buyers but also to outside agents and brokers who may not know what we do and how we work. It would be something to which you could invite FSBOs and Expireds. If we do it every week, it could become an early step in your listing process.
So help me put this together. Whatever we do will have to be brief — like 15 minutes. Our goal will be to get people comfortable with us and excited about working with us. In that short period of time, what are the 3 – 5 key things to tell consumers about Help-U-Sell? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.
Zowie! I’ve been thinking of doing this all week but am a nerd at Power Point. Weekly seller calls lasting 15-20 minutes at the same day and time. Maybe even recruiting calls. Can they be pre-recorded and “on demand” with GTM? Would it be possible for you to put together a generic presentation that offices could insert a few custom slides? A short while back you blogged about how the industry went form mom and pops to the franchises and became agent oriented. I loved that thought trend and would like to see it in Power Point. Hip Hip to Hippauf! Great idea Walt!!
Sometimes there is the misperception that we charge what we do to undercut everyone else & try win business by being the cheaper option. I think it’s important to convey that we charge a set fee because it is logical. Logical for H-U-S & logical for the consumer. Which, of course, you have said perfectly in past blogs.