If I Were an Australian Real Estate Agent in 2019

In December 2009, Marketing genius Chris Brogan authored an excellent piece titled ‘If I were a Realtor’.

I wrote about it and shared it here. In his short piece, Brogan dotpointed things he’d do if he were a Realtor in 2009 with the then emergence of video, Twitter, and a new fad thing called Facebook. He talked a bit about community and engagement. 

5 years on from Brogan’s ‘revolutionary’ 2009 piece, I authored my own Australian version, If I Were an Australian Real Estate Agent in 2014.  It was both supported as a brilliant blueprint for Agents seeking to establish a magnificent digital strategy, by visionaries, and slammed by nay-sayers as ‘far fetched mumbo-jumbo’

But as a result of that post, and my ongoing training on digital media in the USA, I was fortunate enough to be hired by the visionaries to present dozens of 2 hour practical ‘hands on’ workshops based on that article, right across Australia, and through New Zealand. Amazingly, I even ended up presenting sessions to hundreds of Agents from Ohio, to Washington, and down to Virginia. 

10 years on from Brogan’s original 2009 piece, and 5 years on from my own proactive plan of action for Australian Real Estate Agents from 2014, and coming off the back of the 2019 Inman Conference I’m attending in New York, I’ve again been tapping my thoughts for; “What I’d do if I were an Australian Real Estate Agent in 2019″ onto my desktop, this time for my valued clients and future clients. 

In my 2014 piece, I talked quite a bit about the importance of Agents having up to 5, information-rich, local area ‘Lead Gen’ websites targeted at positioning the Agent to Buyers, Sellers, and Investors as the local area expert.

To those who followed through on this strategy, I congratulate you. To those who ignored that advice and whose “Latest News” tab on their website features an article from 2011, I trust that your pen shakes a little each time you write a cheque to any number of the  ‘20% Lead Gen’ businesses who have cemented a permanent place in our industry.  The strategies we implemented for our Clients 5 years ago is still working fine, but we’ve recently made some really cool tweaks that are multiplying our Clients’ ROI significantly. 

In 2014, I also went into quite a bit of detail on the effective use of video and shared case studies of ‘early adopters’ and the brilliant content being curated using video back then.  Since 2014, we’ve banished the ‘cost’ argument by using amazing Apps, stats overwhelmingly debunk the myth that consumers don’t watch video, and, with simple education, we’ve taken dozens of winning Clients to now standing confidently in front of the camera sharing information on property, the process, the market, and their communities.

Those Agents/Agencies are taking market share and establishing themselves as ‘the trusted local advisers’ in communities where others had previously been dominant.  They are clearly heralding a ‘changing of the guard in their markets’. 

If you’re still contemplating whether video is right for you, we’ve created 2 options to make it super simple for you if you want to be in business in 3-5 years from today. 

Option 1 is to call us in to teach you, or

Option 2 is marginally cheaper, but requires more Agency input. You’ll find the details on that offering here. 

In 2014, I was critical of the motives of the portals, and threw the challenge to everyone in the real estate industry to support their industry and institute sites, if even as a move to keep Big Red and Big Green honest. Aside from WA, it’s probably reasonable to say that some industry and institute efforts could have been better managed. History has also proven that the bulk of industry practitioners paid little more than lip service to supporting a concerted, industry-led fight. I’ll let others with more time on their hands perform the autopsy on that period.  But we shouldn’t be proud of the industry dissent that left the doors wide open for others aside from Big Green and Big Red. 

What has happened in those 5 years since 2019 has been the emergence of a very smart, and I must say, much more industry-savvy, far friendlier, socially responsible, and way more engaged Big Red who are today, in my view, actually genuinely invested in providing a better transactional experience for our respective consumers.

Whilst I still continue to hear some negative feedback on the workings of Big Red, I’m hearing overwhelmingly way more positives about them from Agents who are just getting on with the job of professionally marketing property using the best available tools to achieve the best possible result for their sellers and the best possible experience for their buyers.

In 2014, I was emphatic that Agents needed to seriously bring into question the antiquated and financially draining practice of dropping thousands of absolute ‘BS’ bulk letter box drops into their areas under the guise of it being ‘prospecting’ or  ‘branding’.  Just stop it!  Stop kidding yourself and stop telling me that it works. Give me the money you’re wasting on that rubbish and I’ll bring you 5 times the response you’re currently getting or I’ll pay for the ads myself.  

I went on in 2014 to suggest that Agents/Agencies needed to become experts in the use of Facebook and Google Ads to cost effectively market their services, their properties, and themselves. I’m delighted that we’ve trained our Agent clients and teams how to sell those products to their clients, and with simple plug and play solutions to make placing those ads simpler than ordering a pizza from Uber Eats. 

5 years on from my last missive, and I’m still at a loss as to why a very large number of our industry still only use their CRMs as a bulk uploader for their listings to REA, or as a mail merge to annoy their clients with largely irrelevant newsletter spam.

In the absence of engaging me to help them get serious on the topic of using their ‘Customer Relationship Management’ system, many Agents/Agencies might be way better off financially to cancel the monthly CRM fee and just subscribe to a free version of MailChimp. If they’re not going to use the tools, I’d save the cash.

To those Agents and Agencies across Oz and NZ who were brave enough to take a leap of faith with me by largely implementing my 2014 blueprint, I congratulate you on the success and impressive digital footprint you have established today.

To those who either weren’t ready to embrace change, or who scoffed in 2014, I can only again urge you that consumers are looking for different ways to do business. My advice: 

“The best time to start on creating a serious e-business, was 10 years ago. The second best time is today.”

2019 and beyond brings more new challenges for our industry, including: rapidly changing technology, the uptake of 360 and VR Tours, voice activated search, offshoring PM services, emerging business models, pressure on fees, new lending guidelines, a retracting market that requires new vendor management skills, a new Award for salespeople and PMs, and a potential change of government in Canberra. Smart businesses are engaging industry professionals to guide their businesses through the enormous changes they’re facing. 

If you think we could work together to get through these changes, we should talk. As a trained industry professional, I can help ensure that you, your business and your team come out the other end, more profitable, more in control, and with a laser-focussed strategy on the future.

I’ll finish my 2019 post on ‘If I Were an Australian Real Estate Agent in 2019’ the same way I finished my 2014 commentary:

• If I was personally challenged and didn’t know how to effectively use the online world to professionally market property and myself then, just like a budding auctioneer gets an auction coach and just like a first grade football or cricket player gets a kicking, tackling or bowling coach, I’d get an online marketing coach, or I’d take myself up on my free offer to Pick Peter’s Brain.

If I were a real estate agent in Australia in 2014 2019, I’d certainly support a move for change, and I’d do it now…otherwise the industry you have today might not be yours in 2016 2020.

But that’s just what I’d do.  You? 

Peter Brewer is available for in-office coaching, mentoring, sales meetings, workshops, strategy sessions, to present and MC at industry conferences/events in Australia, New Zealand, and the USA. Peter can be contacted on 0417 630 962 or by making a general enquiry using the Book a Meeting tab in the top right hand corner of your screen.