The CAR Expo in San Jose has been a success for Help-U-Sell. Our booth was big and impressive – well located, too. We had substantial conversations with a number of people, and I believe everyone in attendance knows we are here and ready to roll.
Having said that, I am also coming away with an unanticipated impression.
We are here to grow the network. We know the future of real estate is young, aggressive tech savvy agents and brokers with vision and a hunger for entrepreneurial growth. My impression – and I know: I am committing REALTOR Blasphemy – is that they are not here. Most of the people I’ve seen and talked to in the exhibit hall are seriously older (not a bad thing; I’m 60), and far less in touch with technology than their much younger buyers.
We’ve had one person click on the QR code at our booth and had numerous others point and ask, ‘What’s that?’
Trying to explain the benefits of having a SmartPhone optimized website has met with blank stares.
It’s not so much that the people who are here don’t look and sound like our target. . . it’s that our target seems conspicuously absent. If I were a Martian REALTOR, just come down to earth to observe this convention, I would conclude that the California Association of REALTORS is a club for the semi-retired.
My guess is that the people we want to reach are somewhere else: Inman, Agent Re-Boot . . . something like that.
I have to say: I am so proud of Help-U-Sell. It is very clear to me that we are the class act at this show. We have the tools and systems, we are sharp and we are full of energy. So many others just seem . . .tired.
While most of our reception has been very positive, we have had a few comical encounters with traditional agents and brokers who see us as the enemy. Three behaviors I have observed:
1. Walking the aisle until the Help-U-Sell logo is spotted out of the right corner of the eye . . . then the head turns immediately to the left and the pace quickens.
2. Drifting along, all smiles and then, when the booth is recognized, appearing to have smelled something bad . . . and my favorite,
3. Walking a straight line and, upon arriving at our booth cutting a quick arc as far away from it as possible, as if getting too close might result in catching some form of plague.
Of course, most who have stopped by have wanted to know how we work and what our plans are. Many mentioned quality Help-U-Sell brokers in their marketplaces. The above are just the silliness that goes along with being different (and better).
Amazing: could we be becoming ‘elite?’