What NAR is or isn’t doing
A lot of blog posts have been written about what the National Association of Realtors is doing wrong or what they “ought to be doing” with regard to this or that. I have written some of those posts myself. I think it is important if one is going to find and point out things that are wrong that they also see and point out things that are right.
I believe that all members of the NAR have a debt of gratitude to the NAR. Not just for the MLS either! This includes all the various people who do nothing but find fault with whatever the NAR is doing – they do too. I don’t know if what we have was by design or if there was a really really bright man or woman on some committee back in the day who realized the future impact of what they were doing or it was just a series of lucky breaks. Either way, they did good.
Anyone who understands marketing (and there are NO exceptions to this rule) understands that you can be thought of by a public (whichever particular public you are marketing to – as there isn’t “a public” or “the public”) just one way. The result or “product” of marketing is owning shelf space in the mind of that person. And you get to occupy precisely ONE slot. They will think of you one way. How they think of you may have nothing to do with how you would like them to think of you or it may be exactly how you want them to think of you – that all depends on the effectiveness of your marketing – which depended totally on who you were marketing to and how carefully you crafted the single way that public should think of you.
The word “REALTOR”
If not for the word “REALTOR” – which became our NAME, thanks to the individuals on some NAR committee a long time back, we would most likely be referred to by the home buying pubic as “Used House Salesman”. I like the title, Realtor a lot better. I’m thinking you do too. I’ve mentioned this to a few Realtor friends in person and thought it was about time I mentioned it to my friends here.
Thank you, NAR!! Nice job.
Jim Gatos
April 22, 2010 at 7:25 am
The “Realtor’s” themselves, I like.. Heck, I’m one of them myself! What I don’t like is “move.com”, and some other “vendors” that aggressively act like they “own” us.. Recently, I have been looking into “Crm” database management systems for “realtors”.. Aside from their ridiculous pricing line, their overly aggressive nature is what cinched it for me NOT to renew my top producer account I “killed” off years ago..
By the way, thanks for the tip, Russell..on CRM’s.. We;re down to REST and Wise Agent…
Benn Rosales
April 22, 2010 at 11:33 am
Okay Russell, thanks for that clever and cool word Realtor that is somehow better than used house salesman. It obviously took guts and a rooted education in branding to invent that time tested and sturdy word REALTOR with a TM in all caps- ultra sexy, and obviously a household word.
Truth be told, no one knows what in the hell a realtor is, nor the difference between a real estate agent and a so-called Realtor. The branding, the messaging, and the influence behind it are null in the eyes of consumer- but I suppose it is better than used house salesman, but in that vein you could be called home pimp and it wouldn’t matter in the eyes of the consumer. Irrelevant.
Fred Romano
April 22, 2010 at 4:32 pm
We be pimpin some home(s) NICE! I like that one Benn 🙂
Jonathan Benya
April 26, 2010 at 6:35 pm
I never thought of it this way, but I gotta admit, that IS some pretty good spin!