|
In 2004, the co-founder of Platinum Sales Systems, Karen Warner, had just spent a long day viewing a half dozen or more high-end homes. That evening, as she tried to remember the features of each home she obviously referred to the brochures and flyers she gathered from each listing. Something didn't make sense. The lackluster brochures were a poor representation of the otherwise luxurious homes she had seen. Several were poorly printed. Several had very few photos and even fewer details. One had a price reduction scribbled with a Sharpie. One was even in black and white. Overall, the brochures were not near the quality you would expect as representation of multi million dollar homes.
There were at least two of the homes she wanted to explore further. She was eager to share her findings with her husband. Baffled by the flyers but not ready to give up, she did what most people would do... she went straight to the Internet. Since each of the flyers listed a website, she thought it would be quick and easy to locate the listings. After all, you can find anything on the Internet, right?
As a business owner with a marketing background, she was convinced there had to be a better way to serve the needs of affluent Buyers and Sellers while also meeting the needs of real estate professionals. She was determined to develop a system that would do just that. At that point, the Platinum Sales System was born. Developed and perfected over the years the Platinum Sales System is designed for real estate professionals who expect a higher level of service. Email Karen |
What has it been like for you to start a new company when the real estate market was at its height, to suddenly find yourself with a fledgling brand a few years later. How has this impacted the advice that you give clients when it comes to marketing a luxury home?
Obviously we all were much happier when the real estate market was in better shape. But now, more than ever before, is the time to take control of your business. Now is the time to grab market share when others are unwilling to invest in their business. Now is the time to differentiate yourself from the pack and elevate your business to the next level. This is as true for our company as it is for real estate agents.
Many agents have surely noticed that Sellers are more demanding. Before they decide to list with an agent they want to be sure that agent has a plan and a marketing strategy to sell their home fast and for the highest possible price. You can’t just make the blanket statement that every other agent does and tell the Seller you’re going to put their home on the Internet because that’s where the Buyers are. It’s imperative you can show the Seller specifics on how you plan to market their home. It’s important to have an integrated marketing system that ties your online presence with your offline materials.
Two factors are affecting Buyers in this market. First, as it has been for some time, Buyers are pressed for time. They don’t have the time or inclination to physically view dozens of homes. They want to do their initial research online. Once they narrow their search, then and only then, will they physically visit the short list of homes. In addition, especially in this market, Buyers are researching their purchases more closely. They don’t want to make a bad decision. It’s extremely important to give them all the information they need to make a decision and to make it easy for them to retrieve it. It’s really very simple, well informed Buyers make faster decisions and pay more money, regardless of what they are purchasing. Make it easy for Buyers to buy, and guess what? They buy… in any market.
That brings us full circle to the agent. As always, the agent is the conduit between the Seller and Buyer. The agent should be as much a marketing professional as a real estate professional. Due to changes in technology, namely computers, the Internet, IDX and mobile devices, the role of the agent has changed. Consumers don’t rely on agents to help them search and find a home as much as they did 10 or 20 years ago. The mentality of today’s buyer is to do their search on their own first, using the Internet or other sources, then contact an agent to help facilitate seeing the homes, making an offer, negotiating the price and completing the transaction. Agents should embrace, not fight, this fact. Now, the home search is just one less thing to take up their time. I also think it’s important for the agent to understand that they are not and probably will never be replaced by technology. The average consumer will never be able to navigate the near insanely complicated process of a real estate transaction. They’ll need an experienced, professional, credible agent to help them… always!
The bottom line is this… take a page from other industries. See how other luxury brands market their products and services. Observe how they package, position and present their products to draw attention to and to increase the perceived value of their product. Real estate is really no different.
As a successful women, in a business climate that is still largely dominated by men, did mentoring ever come into play? If so, what were some of the most important lessons that you came away with?
I never really thought about the business climate being dominated by men. We simply saw a big void in the industry and knew we could do a better job. In fact, we’re determined to continue to improve every aspect of our business which in turn improves the business of our clients. So, I think more than anything, it’s persistence and a solid determination to succeed.
How does technology come into play when marketing a luxury home? What can we expect to see coming out of Platinum Sales Systems to address the evolution of technology?
4 Technology is extremely important but only if used correctly and only if there is a real and measureable Return on Investment. Unfortunately real estate agents are continually pitched what I consider to be snake oil. There are too many offerings for the latest technology that don’t have a real impact on an agent’s business. There are too many offerings that don’t combine technology with proven marketing strategies. Agents really don’t have the time to adequately evaluate each and every new product or service. They certainly don’t have the finances to do so. In many instances they can’t even afford to pull their staff away from other activities to implement new services, even if they want to.
For those reasons, we created our system to be as simple as possible to implement. It doesn’t require a massive shift in the way an agent conducts their business. In fact, if something is working, we don’t recommend they change it. Our service simply enhances what they are already doing. However, I like to say our service is Easy but not Effortless. If you want Effortless, then don’t expect any real differentiation and don’t expect any real improvement in the perceived value in the eyes of your prospective Sellers and Buyers.
Because we are a technology based marketing company, we actually use technology to make our system easier for agents to implement. For instance, once a Platinum Homesite is created and a domain registered, we automatically create dozens of mobile formatted homesites, we automatically assign a text messaging code, we automatically post the luxury listings to our national search site,
www.PlatinumLuxuryListings.com, we automatically syndicate the listing to dozens of real estate websites and we automatically post the listing on the appropriate Community Site. This saves the agent or their staff countless hours trying to coordinate these services with multiple vendors.
In the future, we plan to implement new technology as it becomes available and viable. For instance, we just recently added our mobile websites with text messaging lead capture. The next step in this arena is to add QR codes (Quick Response Codes) which allow mobile users to scan a code and instantly receive a link to the mobile website. Without a doubt, the future of real estate is online. According to NAR, over 90% of Buyers use the Internet in their home search. I believe the number is accurate for Sellers as well. Even if a Seller is referred by a friend, relative or co-worker, most Sellers will do at least some research on the Internet about that agent before they make a decision or set an appointment. Therefore it is vital to have a stellar web presence if you want to succeed in the future.
How does Platinum differ from other luxury home marketing systems?
I think we can all agree. It’s an indisputable fact that the future of real estate is online and that technology will continue to play a huge factor in the industry. As I’ve said previously, the disconnect is between technology and true marketing strategies. Marketing is all about Reach, Relevancy and Credibility. Our service, unlike others, leverages technology to increase Reach, improve Relevancy and enhance the Credibility of the agent or broker. This can only be achieved with a comprehensive, integrated and balanced marketing platform. The difference is that we’ve created a package program whereby all elements work together to make it easy, affordable and effective for agents to implement. Every component of our service works together under an overall strategy to achieve exponentially better results than any of the elements or tactics would individually. We combine physical marketing products with specific, targeted and focused online services to achieve Internet Saturation. Because Internet Saturation equals Market Domination. Our goal is for each of our clients to absolutely “own” their market.
For more Information on the Real Estate Industry’s Voices of Women Series, published byFrogPond.com, contact Susie Hale at susie@frogpond.com.
