Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, real estate brokers literally had the only keys to the houses for sale in their market. There was no internet back then. There were literal printed ‘books’ of listings that brokers had exclusive access to – the Multiple Listing Service was a book! Information about listings was strategically disseminated in the local newspaper or real estate marketing magazine.

When you were part of an exclusive club – the local board of Realtors – that controlled all the information about the listings in your market, you could afford to run a transaction based business. Many veterans might argue this point, but let’s be real, the business was vastly simpler than it is today, if not easier. Buyers had to go through a broker who was a Realtor to get information about houses for sale. There was no other way.

Fast forward to today, and the world of real estate has changed dramatically. Brokers no longer hold the keys to the kingdom. Zillow, Realtor.com, HGTV and the rest have made very public what was once privileged information. This information revolution resulted in a lot of dead dinosaurs. 

While many of the industry’s former leaders were left behind by technology, a few insightful veterans and new licensees realized they had to approach the business from a new perspective. That perspective had to include building productive relationships with clients and continuously adding more and more value to the client experience. In short, the successful among us became passionate advocates for, and partners with, our clients.  

And that’s it for this week! Join me next week for “The Client Experience: Working by Referral”