Category: Help-U-Sell

Differentiation and Passion

I am looking around the NAR Exhibit hall.  There are a dozen real estate companies with booths (maybe more).  I’m seeing them:  Keller-Williams, Re/Max, Exit, Prudential, the Realogy Brands (Coldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA, Better Homes and Gardens, Southebys), and more . . . and suddenly all of the color strips out of the picture.  I’m seeing them in black and white.  No; greyscale.  They all kind of smoosh together into a large amorphous glob of grey sludge.  I can’t tell them apart, can’t distinguish one from the other.

I start listening, and I’m hearing the same buzz-words from every corner:  great training! family atmosphere! recruiting tools! referrals! brand recognition!  I can’t tell who’s saying what because they are all saying the same thing.  And when I listen carefully, they’re not saying much of anything at all!

Really:  there is not one iota of differentiation among the big brands in real estate today.  That entire universe has become generic.  None are talking about selling real estate, all are talking about recruiting; none are talking about the consumer, all are talking about how many agents they have.  It’s as if the most recognized brands in the business are in flight from the consumer!  They are tossing them aside, telling their agents, ‘Here, you deal with these people; we’re in the franchising business.’

And then I turn around and see a gem.  It’s a ruby, an emerald, a diamond all beautifully wrapped in platinum . . . Help-U-Sell.  It looks different, it sounds different, it says different things, and it sticks out like a Gulliver among the Lilliputians.

Yes, we are different.  We talk constantly about the consumer, what he or she wants, what would delight them, how we can better reach and care for them.  Our bullseye is crystal clear:  sell more real estate.  Sure, we’d like to have more outlets, more agents, but that’s the means, not the end.  That’s how we sell more real estate.

There is great power in differentiation.  When you are different, it’s easier for the consumer to see you.  When you are different there is a natural curiosity that causes people to ask, ‘What do you do?’

When they started, Re/Max had great differentiation.  They were doing what nobody else was doing, and they took the industry by storm.  Then they became like everyone else – or everyone else became more like them – their picture turned to greyscale, and they went into decline.  The same story could be told (with different colors) about Century 21, Coldwell, Keller . . . eventually they all become part of the soup and the magic is gone.

Not so with Help-U-Sell.  We’ve stuck out like a wonderfully sore thumb since 1976.  We have a brilliant Red force-field around us that effectively repells shades of grey.  The industry has the same reaction to us today they did 35 years ago:  they scratch their heads and say, ‘Huh? Are you guys still HERE?’

Yes, we are still here.  You can’t kill us.  That’s because we’ve paired this wonderful differentiation with a super-human power:  passion.  Passion is our Kryptonite.

Help-U-Sell is not just a Brand; it’s a belief system.  We honestly believe that we have a better deal, one that works better, that’s better for consumers, for Brokers and for agents.  We are as much about changing the way real estate is sold as we are about simply selling real estate.  And our people go to the wall for their faith in Help-U-Sell every day of their lives.

Overheard at NAR yesterday, from a former Help-U-Sell Franchisee: ‘The happiest days of my real estate career were the ones I spent as a Help-U-Sell Broker.’

Becoming part of Help-U-Sell is like meeting the love of your life, your soulmate.  Even if things go south and you end up apart, you remember that time as the best.

Steve Jobs once said:

When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.

You could substitute the word ‘Help-U-Sell’ for ‘Apple’ in that phrase . . . it’s the same here.  Our people are in love with Help-U-Sell.  They love feeling good about what they do for consumers.  They love being different, being better.  They love saving people money.  They love being in control of their destiny. . .

And I love them.

 

2011 NAR Expo: Day 1

Good Morning!  The 2011 National Association of REALTORS Annual Convention and Expo kicked off yesterday afternoon and I am happy to report that the first day was a success for Help-U-Sell.  Our booth is HUGE and, thanks to Ron McCoy, very well located.  We have a big corner, just one set of exhibitors back from the main entrance, right next to the Wells Fargo booth (which always draws a big crowd with games and give-aways).

It was a success for several reasons:

  • First and foremost – the quantity and quality of people who stopped by to chat.  Really, we’ve done this show before and others, and this time people were bright, energized, and sincerely interested in who we are and what we’re doing.  It was a fairly constant stream of significant conversations.
  • We looked GOOOOOD!  Mary, Robbie, Kendra, Ron and I were joined in the booth by Dan Desmond, Kim Zelena, Leigh Ann Losh and Elias Klaeb, so we didn’t look lonely and forelorn! (nothing worse than a great big booth with one or two people in it).  Plus, Ron had gotten each of us a high quality white button down collar shirt with big embroidered logo over the pocket.  We looked sharp and cohesive.
  • A couple of former franchisees, people who dropped by the wayside in the turmoil of 2006, stopped by and were more than a little interested in . . . well, in doing what Help-U-Sell people who leave often do:  coming back.  One said something I’ve heard many times before: ‘The happiest days of my real estate career were the ones I spent as a Help-U-Sell Broker.’
  • We had conversations with people from Canada, the Philippines, and India (yes, India) about the possibility of our brand making it into their parts of the world.  That’s probably down the road a month or two (or ten), but it’s great to know there is interest and anticipation there.

We are building momentum to carry us into a growth phase.  Growing is not something we’ve put much energy into over the past few years.  Instead, our laser-focus has been on helping our people survive and thrive in the most difficult market any of us has ever seen.  So we’re starting from a full stop.  But the momentum is building.  Our Informational Webinars are pulling in a steady stream of interested attendees, our presence here and at the recent CAR Expo and upcoming Tripple-Play meeting are putting us on the mental map of REALTORS everywhere, and our full-page ad in the latest REALTOR Magazine is propelling us forward.  I expect 2012 to be a year a significant growth for Help-U-Sell.

We expect many more Help-U-Sell family members to be in attendance over the weekend, all wearing those cool white shirts and helping us spread the word about our excellent industry and consumer offerings.  If you are in Anaheim, please stop by and say ‘Hello.’

Kendra in the booth

 

‘Got It Goin’ On!’

The Set Fee Blog has been a little inactive lately. There are a couple of reasons: I disappeared for a couple of days and then our own Help-U-Sell Success Summit is less than a week away. There is so much to do to get ready for the meeting! I want it to be powerful, meaningful, energizing and absolutely worth the investment of days (and dollars) our guys will be making to attend.

The agenda has been driven by input we got through a couple of surveys, one formal one less formal. Brokers told us they wanted to know more about creative financing. With toughening of the credit markets — yes, I know: rates are wonderfully low, but underwriting standards are very high — we need to think about financing in less conventional ways. That might mean seller financing or private money financing or obscure, little known programs. To enlighten us, I’ve arranged for Patricia Boyd to spend the last part of the first day with us. She is an amazing resource and has been focused on educating REALTORS on matters of finance for 25+ years. A strong consumer advocate, Patricia is a perfect match for our group and I know her information will mean more closed transactions for everyone.

Tuesday’s guest is Nick Taylor from Zillow. While all of the aggregator real estate sites were jockying for position, Zillow quietly rose to the top of the pile and has become the home search platform of choice for consumers. Really: when America wants to look for a new home, she often starts at Zillow.com. I ask myself why? and how? Why did consumers come to choose Zillow and how did they go about engineering that amazing feat? Strangely, I think the answer is in that silly feature all of us REALTOR-types hate, the Z-estimate of value. All of the aggregators offer feature rich home search capabilities that are fairly similar. But early on, Zillow went out on a limb and started estimating the value of properties via algorithm, not pencil-and-paper market analysis. There were distinct limitations to the accuracy of those estimates, and we have had to do lots of clean-up with consumers who relied on that estimate to make decisions, but it did distinguish Zillow from the rest of the pack. Nick is going to talk with us about how we can use this third-party tool to generate leads and more. His career is based on online marketing and prior to Zillow he managed marketing for a large independent brokerage in the mid-west.

Wednesday morning, David Bartels of Home Loan Advocates will share ’12 Things Every Agent Should Know About Short Sales.’ David’s company has a remarkable track record in negotiating and closing short sale transactions and he attributes much of that success to their creative approach to deal structure. The session is designed to give anyone working short sales (ok: that means anyone seriously in real estate) new ideas about how to get these sometimes complicated transactions through.

And those are just the guests. We also have three Star Panels on the schedule. Jack Bailey will be facilitating a discussion with four of our top five Brokers. They’ll be talking about how they’ve managed to thrive in this tough market. There will be lots of good information about organization, focus and, of course, marketing. John Powell is leading a panel of Brokers each doing something incredibly right. We’ll hear from one who started from scratch and built a largely REO business, one who has short sales down so well that he’s processing them for other brokers, and two who started new businesses in the downturn and have quickly become successful. Finally, I’m leading a panel on Marketing for Visibility. I have a small group of brokers who have done an excellent job of keeping their name, logo, face, prominent in the marketplace.

Today I got a look at Robbie’s slides for his tech session and I’m wishing we’d allowed more time. He’s got so much good stuff to share and a couple of really nice ZINGER announcements! As I look back at the last few years, we seem to be trending six months to a year ahead of the rest of the industry when it comes to tech. We quietly get the cool stuff they start talking about months before they start talking. That’s our Robbie — and his session will be very cool.

Ron McCoy will share his vision and plans for Franchise Sales and will showcase lots of the cool stuff we’re doing in that arena. Hey, by the way: did you see our full-page ad in REALTOR Magazine? If not, here’s a copy:

My session will focus on the new reality (the one that most of the industry has yet to acknowledge) and how we can own it. Our theme is ‘Taking Charge of Change’ and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do as we move into 2012.

It’s that kind of VISIBILITY we’re going for now, and there is no better example of it than our presence at this week’s NAR Convention, where we will be in force with the biggest booth of any real estate company, with great new print and electronic marketing tools, a big logo-encrusted shuttle bus and a dozen or so enthusiastic Help-U-Sell Brokers running through the exhibit hall scaring the be-jabbers out of the competition! It’s going to be a great time!

New Age Real Estate

Boy, things sure are different from the last time I wrote up a purchase agreement!  That was almost 30 years ago.  Lenders were killing us with staggering interest rates (rather than foreclosures) but the business itself was fairly straightforward.  A buyer wanted to buy and a seller wanted to sell and most negotiations took place between those two parties via their agents.

Fall-out rates were in the 15% range.  Can you imagine that?  85% of your ratified contracts making it to closing?  Sounds heavenly.

Today, a single complete transaction package is about the size of the old MLS book I used to carry around and there are often lenders, investors, asset managers and more who have a stake in the deal.  In a word, real estate transactions have become very COMPLEX.  And from what I hear, for every six contracts written, just 3 – 4 will close.

I am generally in awe at the job most (good) Realtors do today.  As Donna Summer might chortle, ‘They work hard for the money.’  There are hundreds of details that need handling, dozens of potholes and roadblocks along the way and a multitude of deal killing explosions to navigate.  Picture:  O. J. Simpson running through an airport as he did in those old Hertz commercials, except now the concourse is a mine field!

Add to this the fact that prices and, therefore, percentage based real estate commission have fallen by nearly 50% in most markets and it’s suddenly common to hear brokers and agents say, ‘Well, I think I made about $10 an hour on that deal.’    It’s mathematical:  Falling prices + increased complexity = more hours + less money.

What’s wrong with this picture is that the business has moved on to a new age, but the way we do it is stuck in the last decade.  Today,  you probably can’t afford to do real estate in the intimate, hand-holding way we did it in the 80’s and 90’s.  Doing it all by yourself will wear you out and greatly limit the number of deals you can put together.

The solution seems to be to get help:  an assistant, an admin or someone to take some of the numbing complexity off your shoulders.    But how do you do that when you’re working harder than you’ve ever worked for much less money?

I know brokers who have assistants working on a per-closed-transaction basis, where the assistant receives $X or X% of every closed deal.  In theory, it’s a great way to work because the expectation is that the assistant will free the broker to do MORE, and as the broker does MORE, the assistant makes MORE.

I know brokers who have pressed their high school and college aged children, nieces and nephews into service, helping them evaluate and then install time saving, efficiency producing technology.

I know one broker who hired a new Mom and semi-retired real estate agent who wants the flexibility of working from home – in a way that allows her to keep her new daughter with her – to do all of his BPOs.  The broker can focus on taking listings and doing deals.

The important thing is this:  so many have gone back to being Phase I brokers, working alone, doing it all.  That has been an excellent response to the tightening of the market the last few years.  However, there is a downside:  as activity picks up, your ability to do more transactions is greatly diminished.  If you are maxed out today – and just getting by – how will you do more if you don’t find a way to transition to Phase II (which means getting help)?

This year, in late November – Early December we will begin our annual business planning process, but this year it will be a little different.  It’s going to all about getting to the next level, all about going from Phase I to Phase II, from Phase II to Phase III. To get your brain started around this challenge, check out John Powell’s presentation from last year’s rally swing:

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BPO to REO Advice

Stephen Taber was on the Help-U-Sell Broker Roundtable call yesterday.  His is a remarkable story.   Working in Phoenix – which is one of the epicenters of the housing crisis – Stephen starting doing BPOs about 3 years ago.  Because BPOs were just about the only thing happening in the market at the time, they basically became his cash flow.  He routinely did upwards of 40 BPOs a week.  Seriously.  This year he is heading towards 100 closed sides, all of it from his REO listings.  So there is truth in the notion that doing good solid BPOs and doing them quickly is one way to break into the REO market.

Stephen is really bright and seems to have boundless energy, which certainly contributes to his success.  But he also shared a couple of tips that bear repeating:

  • If you want to do BPOs, get a Blackberry.  Because Blackberry has its own proprietary email system, messages – like the request from an asset manager for a BPO – come through quicker.  Stephen tested this and found that he got a message on his Blackberry about one minute earlier than on any other device.  You know, if you’re trying to compete for BPOs, this is essential because the request goes out to lots of people and whoever responds first usually gets the deal.
  • When you do a BPO, really dig for the value.  Lenders and asset managers aren’t looking for a price you can turn in 3 days.  They’re looking for a 90 day price.  Stephen cited conversations with asset managers who told him he got the REO because his BPO was the only one that matched the value they saw in the marketplace – everyone else was much lower.  That doesn’t mean to inflate your BPO, it means work for the best value you can substantiate.  Lenders are wanting to get as close to fair market value as possible and expect to get it after a reasonable marketing period has occurred.

Great information!  AND I have to tell you that more than a couple of good Help-U-Sell brokers who also broke into the REO business have told me they intend to back away from it a bit.  REOs come with a whole set of challenges and often involve a substantial financial investment on the part of the broker.  Some in more diverse marketplaces are moving more toward short sales and equity sellers for a less complicated transaction.  BUT if yours is an REO market and you want to get that business, you can still break in.  Like so many other brokers doing REOs, Stephen is now too busy to do many BPOs so there’s a chance you can build the kind of reputation for speed and accuracy he used to get started.

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