For a variety of reasons, mostly having to do with speaking in front of large and small audiences, I’m researching the whole notion of “agent value” as technology turns our world upside down every other day. I’ve written about how technology is just a tool back in 2009 and maybe I’m just conceited but everything I’ve … Read more
Welcome to another edition of an annual tradition, in which I go back and grade myself on my predictions made at the start of this year. My track record so far: 2010 Predictions: 6 of 10 (.600) 2011 Predictions: 4.5 of 7 (.642) As was the case last year, I’m hoping to be wrong more … Read more
I think most people who know me realize I’m a firearms enthusiast. Or, as might be said in some parts of the country, with the appropriate sneer, a gun nut. But I’m also a business strategist. So when Forbes runs a story like this one about Sturm Ruger & Co., I went thither as … Read more
I saw the following cross my Twitter feed earlier today: Great piece by @hardaway in @fastcompany “Big Brands’ Journey Toward Social Business” fastcompany.com/node/3002175 via — Brian Solis (@briansolis) October 18, 2012 Brian Solis, of course, is the widely respected “social business” author and consultant, and I’m sure the FastCompany article is full of goodness … Read more
It’s been a busy week or two. The highlight was the HearItDirect Southern California event held on Monday, October 1 at the UC Irvine campus. There have been some reactions already out there on the Interwebz from Realtor.com (the Presenting Sponsor), Linsey Planeta, and Lori Ballen. I wanted to post my thoughts from the event, … Read more
Facebook can sometimes be a gold mine for content. Consider these two seemingly unrelated events: Marie is a friend who used to work in the real estate industry, as the Director of Marketing for MRIS. She relocated to Florida, and asked me months ago for some agents I knew in the area. I didn’t, … Read more
In part 1, we just looked at one person’s view of what Big Data means for corporations, then tried to apply it to real estate. I’ve had a couple of conversations about it with some very smart industry people since posting that, and am trying to wrap my head around the whole concept. The … Read more
I’m pretty certain this is going to be an obsession for me for the next few weeks. So as I’m wont to do, I’ll think out loud on these pages what these incredible insights might mean for real estate. The “this” is both the video above and this blogpost on The Economist’s Schumpeter blog. The … Read more
Over on the Raise the Bar Facebook Group, I posted a question to the thousand-plus members: Question for this group, because it has so many ultra-engaged and informed people in it. If your MLS proposed to change fees from a flat-fee subscription to a percentage of closed transaction (NB: FMLS in Atlanta area does this), … Read more