RISMedia Leadership Conference: Day 1 Notes & Quotes

I attended the 19th Annual RISMedia Leadership Conference, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, September 3-4, 2008.

The opening session, How to Succeed in Real Estate Today, was moderated by John Featherston, Pres. & CEO, RISMedia, Ed Krafchow, Pres. Prudential CA/NV/TX Realty, and Jim Sherry, Pres., Innovative Solutions.

Here are my speakers’ Notes & Quotes:

Alex Perriello, Pres. & CEO, Realogy:

“Hope is a really bad business policy”
Home inventory running 10 months, for third straight month. Last time that happened was 1985 and it took 8 years to get back to a stable 6 month supply. Oh my.
To get inventory down, you must stimulate sales. Some suggestions:

Know you local market stats, by neighborhood and property type, eg DOM, list-to-sale ratios; share them with your client. The data does the talking (convincing?), not you, to suggest the seller adjust the price.
Prepare monthly CMAs and deliver them to sellers
Just say no to overpriced listings
Reach out to renters
Devote 20% of your marketing to promote “sold” properties to change perception that no homes are selling.

Allan Dalton, Senior Analyst, RISMedia:

“Real estate is more than shelter”
We need a real estate “New Deal”
“Getting back to basics” philosophy doesn’t work because it existed in an age of uninformed consumers
Realtors must change the way they market because others have more trust. 37% trusted financial planners over real estate agents; the next level of confidence came from family, friends and neighbors– evidence the industry created an anti-realtor sentiment.
Allan stood out from the crowd and competed against the big broker dogs in his market by publishing a Buyer’s Guide in 5 languages. Find a way to stand out.

Llyod Frink, President of Zillow:

consumer wants more information, transparency and control over the information. duh.
remainder was a commercial for Zillow. Zzzzz.

Dottie Herman, Pres. & CEO Prudential Douglas Elliman

“Own your own information, own your brand.” She hired MillerSamuel, a well respected and independent appraisal firm, to prepare quarterly market reports for the company. It built trust in the brand and portrayed the brokerage as local experts.
People want experts. Be the expert and prove it to the consumer. Show your agents how to be the local expert by teaching them how to interpret the data.

Craig Proctor, Sales Associate, RE/MAX Omega Realty

His secret: “The most effective way to get leads is to offer prospects what they want and make it easy and non-threatening for them to get it.”
“Prospects pursued run away.” “Chasing equals starving.” He talked about reverse prospecting and appealing to sellers who must sell and buyers who have to buy.
Life event prospects are folks who are:

getting married
having kids
getting divorced
relocating
dying

you must differentiate yourself in order to answer the question, “Why should I do business with you?”
there is downward pressure on commissions BUT people will pay for value.
Prospecting ideas:

Builders need agents. Cultivate them.
Cultivate first time home buyers by appealing to renters. Renters have no property to sell in order to buy.
FSBOs
Expired listings

You can increase market share during bad markets because the dropout rate leaves less agents to compete with
Use direct response marketing through targeted emails
Get a team

Peter Hunt, Chairman & CEO, Hunt Real Estate Corp.:

“Follow the money.”
Consumers resist transaction costs

Stand-in Speaker for Oscar Gonzales, Gonzales Group: Robb Heering (?) Casa Latino Real Estate

“Learn to dance in the rain.”
Future real estate market uses English as a second language
The Hispanic market is the largest and fastest growing. 6 of 10 children under 5 are Hispanic.
To reach this market, you need to explain how the system works. Educate yourself about the culture even if you can’t speak the language
He had the best quote, from Wayne Gretsky: “I never skate to where the puck is; I always skate to where the puck is going.”

Monty Smith, SVP of Strategic Initiatives, NRT:

“Engage clients instead of trying to acquire them.”
“It’s not about information, it’s about knowledge.”
The transaction is the point of contact and it should be available and transparent to all parties online 24/7. You log in to the account and can see the history & check the current status.
Your value equals your ability to lead consumers through the real estate transaction process.

Some photos:

First stop, breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien: