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Simon Parker
Agents must stop burdening real estate advertisements with copy and images of themselves, and instead focus their message on customer needs, a prominent industry trainer has said.
“We’re either bragging or begging,” Peter Gilchrist, of Real Training International, told attendees at the REAL 2012 conference late last week in Brisbane.
“All you do is write about yourselves,” he said. “It’s bizarre behavior and it has got to stop.”
Mr Gilchrist, who delivered a key note presentation aimed at improving sales agent performance, also said agents shouldn’t rely on letterbox drops and door knocking to build their listing base.
“Who wants an agent knocking on their door,” he asked. “I’d rather have Mormons knock on my door.”
“You’re an agent, no one wants to be your friend.”
In a blog posted earlier this year, Mr Gilchrist took aim at agents who filled advertisements with copy about themselves.
“I am so sick of reading profiles, adds, billboards, pre listing kits where all we do is go on and on about ourselves,” he said in February.
“Try reading your own staff profiles. Flick though their pre-listing kits. Every single agency has lost the plot in this regard.
“We need to look at things from the customer’s side and point of view.”
Mr Gilchrist, who works with industry professionals across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Asia and South Africa, said calling prospects remains an important component of a sale agent’s role. So, he added, it’s important for agents not to think new communication tools such as Facebook, nor older mediums such as letter box drops, will be enough to build a viable listing database.
“Conversations are important,” he said.
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