Posted by David Bennett
Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:03:00 GMT
(This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Read Part 1 and Part 3.)
Will you successfully navigate the increasingly rapid rate of change in our industry or will your real estate career die a "slow death"?
Last week’s article looked at the signs that your real estate career may be suffering from what Robert Quinn calls "slow death." NAR numbers indicate that up to 80 percent of the people who enter the real estate business will exit the business within five years. As the real estate market slows across the country, the numbers of people exiting the business may be in the hundreds of thousands.
If you want to prosper while others struggle or exit the business, Robert Quinn’s model in his two books,"Deep Change" and "Building a Bridge as You Walk on It," provides a road map for coping with a rapidly changing environment. Quinn identifies four critical shifts to make to cope with deep change.
1. Comfort centered to results centered
2. Externally directed to internally directed
3. Self-focused to other focused
4. Internally closed to externally open
The first four positions represent where most people are in our industry – comfort centered, externally directed, self-focused and internally closed. The second grouping, results centered, internally directed, other focused and externally open, are the positions necessary to move into the deep changes necessary to survive our rapidly changing environment.
1. Comfort centered to results centered
When someone is comfort centered, the person clings to the status quo. Examples include the agent who refuses to learn how to operate a computer or a brokerage that continues to pour all of its advertising dollars into print advertising rather than online advertising. In other words, you’re so stuck in a rut that you have carpeted and furnished it. If you think of a rut as the letter "V," with the bottom of the "V" representing your rut, it’s clear that you lack behavioral flexibility. The further you are down in the rut, the less room you have to maneuver. Getting out of the rut requires a great deal of energy because it means getting outside of your comfort zone. For example, learning how to use a new cell phone, a new software package or a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program makes you long for the ease of your old system. Failure to make the shift, however, costs you increasingly more time and money as your competitors gain advantage by making the change. The comfort-centered agent or broker expects the world to adapt to their expectations rather than adapting to the shifting environment. The key question for those who are comfort centered is, "How do I get what I want?"
The shift to make is to become results centered. Becoming results centered requires you to shift from the known to the unknown. Needless to say, this shift can be both scary and painful. Anyone who has attempted to learn how to snowboard, for example, has experienced exactly how difficult this can be.
Being able to risk change requires that you have a certain degree of self-confidence and personal support. This makes it easier to make changes and to endure the failures you may encounter. Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he successfully created the first light bulb. He was committed to changing how we harness electricity and to using it to improve the quality of our lives.
As an industry, we our now being called upon to make a similar type of deep change. Our clients now demand how we provide services, which may require us to abandon outmoded strategies and to adapt to entirely new ways of doing business. For example, the under-30 crowd prefers text messaging to e-mail or telephone communication. This can be especially difficult for an older person who may have some arthritis in his/her fingers or who finds small cell-phone keys especially difficult to use. Nevertheless, reaching as many potential sellers and buyers as possible will require this skill. Another example is working with clients who are immigrants and minorities. By 2007, 60 percent of our transactions will be with this group. While it can be exceedingly challenging to learn a new language as an older adult, reaching this lucrative source of business may be required if you want your career to survive.
Deciding to do nothing means that you are constantly living in reaction rather than being in the position to choose how you will respond. The demographics tell us that we will have increasingly computer-savvy clients over time and that the majority of these clients may not speak English as their first language. You are in position now to address the change and be in front of it. If you wait, you will probably see gradual erosion in your business and may find yourself struggling to cope.
For people who are "results centered," the key question is, "What results do I want to create?" If you want a sustainable and profitable business, being focused on the results that you want to create requires you to constantly monitor and adapt to marketplace change.
What about the other elements in Quinn’s model? To learn more, see next week’s article.
Bernice Ross, co-owner of Realestatecoach.com, has written a new book, "Waging War on Real Estate’s Discounters," available online. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com.
Posted in Coping with a shifting real estate market
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Posted by David Bennett
Fri, 01 Sep 2006 14:58:00 GMT
Friday, August 04, 2006
By Bernice Ross
Inman News
(This is Part 3 of a three-part series. Read Part 1 and Part 2.)
Robert Quinn’s model provides a road map for surviving the deep changes taking place not only in our industry, but also in our entire society. The question is, will you become a "change agent" or experience a "slow death" due to your inability to cope with the rapid change.
Our last two articles looked at Robert Quinn’s model as a road map for coping with deep change. Today’s column looks at the other three aspects of his model and how these apply to surviving in the face of new business models, rapidly changing technology and shifting consumer demands.
#2: Externally Directed to Internally Directed
Externally directed individuals are unwilling to change. They fear failure and how others will judge them if they aren’t always successful. Externally directed individuals constantly ask others about what they should do. When the externally directed individual does not succeed, he or she blames others for the failure rather than taking personal responsibility. These people often claim to be victims who have no control over what happens to them. Furthermore, they may elect to engage in unethical behavior because someone else wants them to do so. The key question for those who are externally directed is "What do you think I should do?"
In contrast, the internally directed person has self-chosen principles and standards. These agents and brokers will walk away from a commission rather than do something unethical. They also actively pursue innovation because their businesses and clients benefit. When something fails, they own it and try again. In the end, for every failure they experience, there are numerous successes that give them a competitive advantage. The key question for those who are internally directed is "What actions can I take today to stay ahead tomorrow?"
#3: Self-focused to Other-focused
The self-focused individual engages in the "me-me-me show." Sadly, much of our industry is still focused on marketing its services with personal brochures and vanity Web sites. The self-focused agent or broker cares only about how much commission can be generated rather than focusing on how their actions have long-term effects on their clients. Because they only focus on what’s best for them, these individuals are the ones who give our profession a black eye. Their actions destroy the trust that many clients want to place in us. The self-focused individual only cares about "What’s best for me and for my business?"
Other-focused individuals approach the business from a service perspective. Their goal is to create win-wins for themselves, their clients, and for the others with whom they work. This collaborative approach generates future referrals as well as a long-term sustainable business. These are people who have integrity, i.e. they do the right thing, even when no one is looking. They willingly put their beliefs and desires aside to focus on how to be a trusted representative of the buyer or seller. Their key question is "how can I create a win-win situation for both me and the people with whom I work?’
#4: Internally Closed to Externally Open
Someone who is internally closed believes that everything is all right the way it is. These agents and brokers have a strong need to be right. A good description is "It’s my way or the highway!" They refuse to hear any feedback except that which validates their position. Symptoms include drops in production, increases in transaction problems, and conflicts with colleagues and clients. Their key question is "Who can I trust to always agree with me?"
On the other hand, agents or brokers who are externally open actively solicit feedback. They contact clients after the transaction closes to learn how to better service them in the future. Once they receive feedback, they carefully consider how to best take action to address any challenges they are facing. Rather than forcing clients to understand "This is how I work," they focus on providing personalized real estate experience based upon the feedback the client provides. This real estate professional actively questions each client to learn how to better match the client’s unique set of needs. They are able to hear what others have to say and can let go of their personal position when needed. Their key question is "What resources and support do I need to make the best possible decisions?"
There is no question that changes are coming at us more rapidly than ever before. Coping with change is an ongoing process. We can bury our heads in the sand and ignore the change that surrounds us or we can face it head on. The question is will you be one of the forward-thinking individuals who directly confront change or will you face the "slow death" of your real estate career?
Bernice Ross, co-owner of Realestatecoach.com, has written a new book, "Waging War on Real Estate’s Discounters," available online. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com.
Posted in Coping with a shifting real estate market
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Posted by David Bennett
Fri, 21 Jul 2006 11:56:00 GMT
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(This is Part 1 of a three-part series.) 
Are you struggling with the constant deluge of change? Do you feel like digging in your heels and saying, "Enough already"? Today’s rapidly changing environment can either give you a competitive edge or leave you struggling to stay in the business.
Today we are living in the most rapidly changing civilization in history. We are constantly bombarded with so much information that many of us suffer from information overload. Like the rest of society, the real estate industry has undergone an enormous amount of change. There has been a tremendous influx of new agents, huge changes in technology, as well as a plethora of new business models. The pressures on traditional brokers to change increase almost daily.
Undoubtedly, the way that we do business in 2006 will be substantially different from how we will do business in 2016. Many of today’s companies will disappear, including many of the alternative business models. In fact, much of tomorrow’s business may be conducted with companies that don’t even exist today.
The question for agents and brokerages alike is, "How can we navigate a rapidly changing real estate environment?" Robert Quinn, author of "Deep Change" and "Building a Bridge as You Walk on It," outlines the strategy for surviving in a rapidly changing environment. In "Deep Change," Quinn outlines how most people respond to change. The most common strategy is to keep doing what you have always done. There’s no real need to change because existing strategies allow you to get by. The challenge, however, is that these strategies continue to lose their effectiveness over time. A second strategy is to make what Quinn calls "incremental change." This refers to making minor changes. A good example is the agent who pays for a Web site but never does anything to market it or to respond to the Web inquiries it generates. Quinn describes these first two scenarios as being "slow death." Sadly, a large proportion of our industry is facing slow death. As the market slows in many places in the country, agents who have never had to market their listings are struggling with how to obtain price reductions and generate showings. In heated markets, agents could afford to ignore Web leads because the strong market generated more buyers than there was inventory. Today, that option has disappeared.
What are the signs that your business may be experiencing slow death? Determine whether each of the following statements is "true" or "false" for you.
1. I regularly attend conferences and training in search of innovations that will give me a competitive edge.
2. I have mastered the scripts and dialogues that allow me to obtain listings at the right price and to obtain price reductions where necessary.
3. I have an Internet marketing program that includes both organic and pay-per-click strategies.
4. My assistant and/or I respond to all Web and telephone inquiries as soon as possible, but always before the end of the business day.
5. I use an automated lead follow-up program that allows me to respond to Web inquiries instantaneously.
6. I either own or am considering purchasing a tablet computer so I can go paperless within the next 12 months.
7. My Web site consistently generates good leads that I convert into closed business.
8. I track market statistics and have mastered the scripts and dialogues that allow me to work effectively with both buyers and sellers.
9. I publish a regular e-mail newsletter that goes out to all of my clients as well as to my sphere of influence.
10. I use blogging to build my Web site traffic.
11. I have a business strategy for generating and converting leads for clients who do not speak English as their first language.
SCORING: The more "false" answers you have, the more likely your business will suffer from the deep changes taking place in our industry. While it’s not necessary to do all of the items outlined above, failing to do them places you at a competitive disadvantage. Using Quinn’s model, you may be experiencing the "slow death" of your business. If you want to keep this from happening to you, see next week’s article to learn more.
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