Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Glamour Shot Stars Not Wanted: Buyers And Sellers Want Service, Not Agent Ego.

Even if you’re not already, imagine you want to look for and purchase a home in Jonesboro or the surrounding area.

How do you start the process?

Do you get online and think, “First, I must find the agent with the nicest pictures of him/herself, because I think that person will help me find my "perfect" home and at the right price.” No?

Do you think, “I'm not really interested in a home, I am looking for a real estate ‘Team.’ I want the biggest team, with the most impressive self promotion, or maybe the best looking team.  That’s who I want to work in finding my home.”

Of course not.  Most likely, you want to know how’s the market, what is for sale, current interest rates, school information, and what factors that are specific to Jonesboro that you should consider.

What about sellers of Jonesboro property?

Do sellers think, “I want the agent that will do the absolute minimum to promote my home, but the maximum to promote him/herself?” No?

Or what about, “I want to provide a team the perfect opportunity to put flyers all over my home and have ads all over the place that emphasizes the benefits of ‘the team,‘ and not my home.” Of course not.

We now live in the information age.  Today’s buyers and sellers of real estate in Jonesboro (and around the nation) are not interested in agents’ egos. They are interested in real estate and work with agents only to the extent that they help them meet their goals.

How can you tell the difference?  All agents will tell you how specialized their marketing is for each home. Really?

Study the agent’s current listings to see if there is any difference. How many photos do they take? Are they quality photos or poor quality photos (dark photos, grainy photos, etc) that actually turn away buyers?  Like people, every home is different.   Do they highlight each home’s selling points, whatever those may be?

What about online tours or a custom website of each listing? Is it truly a tour, or is it just a slide show, a repeat of their pictures, with no explanation, set to elevator music?

I'm big on marketing real estate.  I practice what I preach. Just one example of the many ways I customize is my creation of >a custom website, designed for each listed home, with descriptions, overviews, to highlight selling features.  I also take high quality photos and use an add on wide angle lens to capture the entire room.  Before placing them online, I spend an hour to two hours editing the photos in photoshop to ensure crisp, bright, and clear photos.  I do this for my listed properties and for buyers looking at them. 

I do understand the importance of why we Realtors need to brand ourselves and our business, but not at the expense of our buyers and sellers.  No, you won’t have to stare at my Glamour Shot during the tour or hear how wonderful I am.  Again, I keep the focus on the property, and away from ego.

This approach works for both buyers and sellers and creates an experience that gets me on my clients’ party and Christmas card lists, instead of the list of people they avoid when they spot them out in public.

Jonesboro buyers and sellers – let’s meet and talk about how I can serve you.

Sheila

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