How Three Tech Guys look at the Industry
Posted by Pat Kitano at 9/25/2006 6:36 PM 
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Realty Realities, Blogging
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Realty Realities, Blogging
(no, this is not a picture of Kevin, Mike and Pat)Today I had an enjoyable conversation with Mike Simonsen at Altos Research (via a kind, smart referral from Kevin Boer). All three of us crossed over from technology and we see the real estate industry from a solutions-oriented angle, as in "why don't they just do it this way, it would be simpler, faster and cheaper".
Earlier, Kevin showed me a great Powerpoint about an e-signature technology platform that simplifies the signature process, reduces errors, looks cool... many have probably conceptually heard the spiel. It's a strong presentation, if you'd like a copy, please contact Kevin at his blog. I've seen enough technology go-to-market plans in my day, but this time I thought if e-signatures is going to have its day, this presentation would tip it. So I ask Kevin, are you promoting this in-house or what? His reply - "I'm not marketing it to realtors because they have no interest in it, whatsoever. Trust me, I've tried!" (pardons, Kevin... we also discussed how we should be careful in what we write about so we don't look like we're forever trying to reform/revolutionize/sh*tdisturb the industry and annoy our colleagues... but in this case, Kevin's answer mirrors a consistent refrain about how hard it is to change Realtor mindsets).
So Mike and I are sharing the same "jeez, this one chief operating broker has the job of cutting and pasting all the agents' market analysis collateral... and he runs a 200-agent shop!" kind of moment, and we start talking about the commercial aspirations of blogging. Mike hilariously admits it's downright shameful how he positions his blog towards business development, and provided me an offhanded compliment about how my marketing company Save on Closing Costs' link is kind of stuck in a virtuous anonymous 40 pixel parcel of space on the home page of the blog. Well, I do make up for it in a blatant email marketing campaign (sign up here,
say you want email)...But more to the point, I have developed two web-based properties within a relatively short time span - a consumer trafficked website that guides home buyers and sellers to make sure they aren't getting scammed or overcharged with their closing costs (plus showing them unique, even unheard of ways to save on these costs) and a blog (52 days old) that shows consumers I truly honorably mean business about making their transaction transparent. I realize I need to tie the two messages together for Business Development....
Our principal revenue generating Clients (with a capital C) are Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Lenders, Real Estate Investors and FSBOs who use our affiliated state-of-the-art escrow management services. So I'm making sure going forward that our blog focuses on providing the same good advice that our Clients can use as well as the consumer. Lead generation, web tools, new business models, sales tactics... all topics very useful for our Clients.
Finally, we have gained nice momentum over the past month combining our message of VALUE (Save on Closing Costs) and INTEGRITY (Transparent Real Estate) to team up with our Clients, like Realtor Kevin Boer, to provide a VALUE-BASED, COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT experience for Kevin's home buying and selling clients. And we work hand-in-hand to close on clients for Kevin based on these values.
This is the marketing strategy we've been striving for over the past two months, really over the past year... the blog facilitates the strategy by demonstrating daily we really mean it. This is one more reason why Blogging Works.
Technorati tags blogging altos research in the trenches real estate technology blog marketing
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