I was reading a post on FaceBook the other day… a rant about real estate coaches and “former agents” hawking their success formulas.  The gist of it was that there were so many coaches and people selling plans to help real estate agents be better, more successful and make more money… and most of the people selling them were former real estate agents.  And a lot of those former real estate agents just weren’t that good when they were active.

Gymnastics (Photo credit: courosa)

The point is pretty logical… How can a good, but not great former real estate agent coach or otherwise lead another agent to the success that they themselves apparently couldn’t find?

My father always used to say that one really had to question the motives of those that profited from the suffering of another.  His point was that doctors were, by and large, wonderful people with the best intentions, but there could always be one that was thinking more about his kid’s tuition bill than he was about your actual health while telling you that you needed a specific procedure.  And that is a therapist was totally successful, they might run out of clients…

As a result, I DO wonder if it is really something needed or just a profit center when the dentist tells me that I need a “deep cleaning”.

On the flip side, if the coach has to be better than the coached, why would Tiger Woods hire one?  In fact, seldom is the coach better at the sport than the top-flight athlete that hires him.  Bela Karolyi  has coached nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and six U.S. national champions.  But he was a boxer and member of the Romanian Hammer Throwing Team.  Notice, he was never a World-class gymnast… and certainly didn’t compete in Women’s Gymnastics.

But it would be hard to argue that he hasn’t been one of the best coaches in the world.

So, the questions remain, WHY should I spend my money to buy “the system” created by some real estate agent that might have only been marginally more productive than me?  WHY should I spend MY money to hire a coach that hasn’t actually dealt with the realities of today’s market?

I can’t answer that for you.  Some are good, some are just looking for a different revenue stream.  Some may just be tired of the day-to-day grind of real estate.

I know that I’m assaulted by offers for “unbelievable deals” on “the ultimate systems/coach/package” to allow me to be the “most successful agent EVER”.  For the low price of $____, I can have it all…

The same goes for all of the new technology…

Brought to you by Marketing Automation Software from Marketo

There is buzz about “marketing automation”.  Some of it is good, some of it is bad.  automating social media marketing, if done right, is great.  If done poorly, it can take a toll on your brand.

On the plus side, getting the message out on a regular basis and measuring the impact in a consistent and repeatable manner, and then tuning the message, is a GREAT way to build a brand.

But, the dark side is that automated marketing, without monitoring and measuring, too easily becomes noise.  And because there is so much noise, it gets tuned out, and your brand gets turned off.

Real estate agents are some of the best… and worst.  I see agents posting up everything, everywhere, all of the time.  I see others, filtering their message based on the audience…

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If you like it, you can find it here…

Some of you might know that my “day job” is as a real estate agent with Century 21 Results Realty.  My office is in Cumming, GA, but I generally work in Gwinnett County, in the suburbs of Atlanta.  If you watch my real estate blog, LaneBailey.com, and read the market reports I post up, you would see that here in the Atlanta market, we have definitely moved from a Buyer’s Market to a Seller’s Market.  I can’t say that the real estate recovery is built from bricks, but it is certainly not just sand.

Data provided by ActiveRain, the #1 social community for real estate professionals.

Related articles

• Suwanee, GA, Market Report, January, 2013

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Here’s wishing you a great 4th of July.  As you celebrate, don’t forget the reason for the celebration.  Brave men and women gave us a gift by demanding and then fighting for OUR liberty.

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For all of the marketing I see aimed AT real estate professionals, I’m amazed to see how little we (individually) actually spend ON supporting those vendors making their livings from us.

Of course, there is the fact that nationally there are millions of real estate agents, and even in a market like Atlanta (where I am), there are tens of thousands of licensed agents.  With those kinds of numbers, it doesn’t take much from each to support a vendor…

The other thing that I see is that successful agents spend a LOT more on technology and marketing that agents that aren’t successful.  The question is, though, did the spending or the success come first.

Regardless, it is VERY important to know what tools are being leveraged by those that are more successful in our business.  Whether we need to emulate them or see more efficient ways to do business, we need the baseline understanding of what is driving their success.

Keep in mind that this data is coming from ActiveRain.com… which wants you to be a member there.  And it is also coming from some of their sponsors… and they want you to join them as well.  Also, I AM an Active Rain Ambassador and have been a member since 2007.   While I am not being compensated for this post in any way (unless you join through my link below… then I’ll get points which won’t buy me a darn thing…) I do feel it is a worthwhile community and that it fosters increased professionalism in the real estate industry.

Data provided by ActiveRain.com. Join 220,000+ Real Estate Agents on the world’s largest Real Estate Social Network. To read more about the things that differentiate real estate agents that are thriving from those that aren’t, click here.