Embrace the Ugly

SO I got into a little funk lately... driving around Clovis and I see all of those pretty Keller Williams signs, pretty deep maroon with gorgeous pictures of the agents... flowing script lettering....and I got envious.

I mean, I can't join KW. I am an owner in a competing brokerage (Weichert Realtors- The 505 Group) even though I appreciate KW's values and customer-centric attitude towards house sales which is on the same plane with Weichert's God-Family-Work beliefs - we are good there. They have great advice, planning, transaction management, support, education, incentives.... I love my company I just hate their signs..

After hearing 10x ... your husband saying, "Boy, your signs are ugly, boy those other signs look good" you start to wonder... Maybe I can change my company's signs and I started doing research.

Weichert has had the same signs for a long time. We have approved signs and we cannot deviate from the plan. They are a proven marketing tool and, I think, can even be seen from space.  Our signs are bright yellow, not mustard, not buttercup, but a bright Lemon/school bus-ish Yellow. They say Weichert - Really Big and they are clear and very businesslike. No pretty here.

And I started to think... What is the point of the sign? Why is it there, anyway?
TO GET NOTICED! Not to blend harmoniously into it's surroundings, not to enhance the looks of a  neighborhood, but to say, "Hey! I'm for sale!  Buy Me!  LOOK! and after thinking about it... they do that. You cant drive down the street and ignore them, you don't drive down the street and say, ahhh.. you say Oh! Look at that! They are selling their house. You might even say wow, what an ugly sign but you noticed it.... and I guess that's the point.

So for the time being I guess I'll embrace the ugly and place my yellow signs around Clovis proudly. They announce to the world that this house is for sale by a professional and I guess I'm good with that. #Weichert #embracetheugly

Playing with the big frogs

Clovis, New Mexico is a little pond.

I know we are short of water out here on the high plains but as far as ponds go I call Clovis a little one.

We have 42,000 people in our town and we have 125 real estate agents. We actually have 19 brokerages in our MLS that serves Clovis and Portales, NM but only 9 of those companies have more than 3 people in them. So anyway, a little pond.

After living here for 14 years and being a REALTOR here for 6 years the first thing you realize is that there are a few big frogs in our pond. It is easy to be intimidated and figure that the foothold those big time realtors have is something that can never be overcome.

They have a broad customer base in the pond and have many loyal customers on that lilypad that use them time and again.

It seems that business comes to them. Their office is the coffee shop and they seem to succeed by just being. But on our journey to becoming a big frog there are lessons to be learned. I think the big frogs in our pond are going to be suprised at how quickly we grow.

As agents we have to change with our buyers. There are always going to be buyers in our pond that use the same agents their friends and family have used for twenty years but those hometown buyers are not in the majority any longer.

Many of our buyers today are linked to Cannon AFB and are being transferred here from some major-big ponds. You might even call them lakes. Not all of them are happy about the move but they are making the best of it and settling into pond life nicely.

These families are doing research on the town before they move here. They are looking up housing, shopping, things to do in New Mexico, and restaurants before they even get here. All agents are the same size to them. They don't know reputation or quality. They only know what they see or hear from friends and the agent that wins over these customers in the agent who always answers their email, calls people back, and goes out of their way to be helpful and answer the questions that buyers have -even before they ask.

Its not enough to be a big frog anymore. The little frogs that can text, twitter, and get their listings out on the web through office websites, trulia, front door, zillow, yahoo, google earth, msn... and all of those other online resources for real estate information...are going to be the frogs that get new loyal customers that make our pond grow.

New businesses and industries coming to our town are not going to have patience to deal with big frogs with big attitudes. Committees and name dropping have no meaning to them. They are going to expect more because they come from bigger ponds and what we think are big frogs are really, pretty small in their eyes.

The moral of the story?Im going to not be intimidated by the big frogs surrounding me in my own little pond. I am going to go ahead and make a statement that can be seen around the world and bring the world to my pond. Raise the bar of expectations for your associates, dont let being new (or old) be an excuse.... Raise the bar and remember little frogs can jump high too.