social media
My Concierge is at Walmart. Where’s your’s?
August 8, 2012
A new brokerage came into the Valley is launching a new and interesting campaign.
Opening an in-store location in the Walmart on State Street in Boise, West USA Realty is going where no one has gone before…(Sear’s experiment with in-store real estate offices in the 90’s doesn’t count).
West USA Realty with broker Tim Bassett is located just to the left of the main Walmart entrance, by the Bronco’s Store in arguably the highest retail foot traffic zone in the Valley. Standing in line it is impossible to miss the huge blue “Walk-In Location” sign above their space.
The Idaho Business Review did a story on this on August 3rd: “Big Ticket Item: Shoppers can pick up a home in this Walmart.” Not exactly.
Its clear from the story that the reporter hand a preconceived notion of the “typical” Walmart shopper not being a candidate for home ownership. Having spoken with Daniel Frydrych, Vice President of Franchise Development for West USA Realty, I can tell you that they know that lots and lots of home buyers and sellers shop at Walmart. They currently have successful franchise locations in Walmarts in several western states.
So there is no argument that they’ve got a huge number of “eyes on product”.
Let’s look at what they’re offering. Many studies suggest they are offering exactly what consumers want….a high touch concierge that is there when they want them.
We know today that practically everyone starts they’re real estate deal on line. Then what? If they’re like you and me, they have to stop looking to do something else; feed the dog, take their kids to soccer, buy groceries…stop at Walmart for 100 rolls of paper towels.
Standing in line and fretting about how many more things they have to get done before they can go back on line and look at houses, they look up and see a big HD screen showing beautiful listing photos and a friendly professional looking agent smiling back and a sign that says “Walk In”. I’m going in.
One our industry’s biggest problems is dropped leads. For whatever reason a call does not get returned or an email gets deleted and the consumer is left out in the cold. Once we can begin engagement with a consumer they usually stick with us.
Think about the last time you were in a hotel in another city and wanted to know where to go to dinner or how to go to a show. Sure you probably looked at Yelp or Urban Spoon or Fandango before you got there, but as you walk through that hotel lobby there’s the Concierge desk with someone to offer to personally help you…and they know the answer.
That’s what I think this can become.
The first challenge for Tim and his crew will be to make good on their offer to provide outstanding professional service from the first moment to EVERY person who asks for it. No prejudging based on what the person is wearing or if he shaved that day or any of the other characteristics of the popular YouTube “People of Walmart”. This will take a lot of discipline.
The second challenge will be to employ creative social technology to engage the consumer to reinforce the concierge mindset. Once I get home from my shopping I’m going to want the same level of service on the website as in the store.
According to Tim they’ve already taken a few listings; one for $350,000.
Don’t forget…this model is already working in several other states…and Walmart is a smart company. The continue profitable ventures and eliminate those that aren’t.
I talked to the Walmart Manager (he’s been on the job for 3 weeks). Walmart believes this is going to be a great thing for West USA Realty and Walmart.
Best of luck to our new neighbor.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )
REBar Refresher 2012
Hold onto your hats because REBar is back and if you joined us last year you know it’s one of the hottest FREE real estate education world today. If you missed out last year don’t make the same mistake twice.
If you are new or you blacked out last year, you are probably asking what is a RE BarCamp, well the event is not structured like a typical planned conference. Sessions are not planned out in advance and nobody is paid to deliver a session. Anybody can deliver a session and attendees are strongly encouraged to participate. The whole point of being there is to get information you find useful and meet new people, expanding your personal community and network.
So Why Should You Show UP? To Share, to Learn, to talk about what makes us better real estate agents, brokers and business people. To connect with like-minded social media marketers. Because there is something for everyone here, beginner to pro!
Did we mention it’s FREE! Make sure to register now because seats are limited.
Do you have a topic you really want to know more about ? Please take 30 seconds to go vote on the topics that will be discussed and learn more about REBar Camp.
IF you have a topic that you want to share more about and would like to become involved with REBar as one of the “Thought Leaders” please email Sarah Kestler to find out more.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Social Media Rules of Engagement
Respect Be respectful of the community, the members, the group’s overall goals, etc. Social Media is a participatory sport and that means that you are one of many. People can chose to communicate with you or they can chose to ignore you. Treat others as you want to be treated.
Listen Listening and receiving comments and feedback are two of the greatest strengths of Social Media. They represent first-hand interaction with your customer. By listening to them you gain unfiltered feedback about your products and market.
Respond When people comment or leave messages for you it’s only polite to respond in a timely fashion. By responding you are validating to the online community that you are an individual that values and acknowledges others. This adds to your credibility as an individual.
Build Relationships It’s called social networking for a reason. Make sure you build relationships with everyone that communicates with you; establish conversations, ask questions, respond to questions, etc. Discussions and relationships encourage people to return to your page, thereby building a meaningful community.
Be Authentic and Transparent Be sincere and honest; be yourself. With Social Media displaying your profile, message and comments it is critical to your success that you are genuine and dependable.
Do Not Become a Nuisance It’s generally agreed that spamming is bad, but it’s also important to avoid becoming a Keyboard Gangster, Envelope Pusher or a Social Saboteur. More about these different type in my new Social Media Report.
Collaborate Social Media is a collective medium. This means that it uses the knowledge or wisdom of the whole group; not just a single individual. For that reason, information obtained in Social Media on Wikis or reviews is seldom entirely wrong. On the other hand, it’s often not 100% right. As a result, there is a strong need to work together, updating and constantly adding value to improve the quality of the content.
Add Value Every member of a community must contribute his or her fair share. What is your contribution? Remember that contributions come in many different shapes and actions: providing information, being a resource, answering questions and redistributing information.
Consider Opportunities in the Long Tail In Social Media, every service offering has some degree of value. It’s not always wise to just focus on the few services that command a high frequency of interest among a few niche groups and the requisite competition that introduces other service providers. As technology continues to erode communication barriers, value will also come from the many niche groups in “the tail” that demonstrate interest in services that conventional (competing) service providers would otherwise consider having little value.
acarblogs
judycanblog
laurie barrera
marclebowitz
Miguel Legarreta
Susan Hansen
