Is That a Foot in Your Ass or is That the RE.NET

This quote…

Regardless of what I say here or elsewhere, the incestuously cliquish part of the RE.net will insist that it is talking only to itself. Okayfine. [sic] I am talking only to the ninety-and-nine. If your objective in reading BloodhoundBlog is to build and improve your business, do not do as they do. Don’t treat people as leads, and, whatever you do, don’t treat them like idiots. Don’t insult them to score points with your buddies. If you find you’ve stepped in shit, admit it at once, clean up what you can and move on. Greg Swann

… is proof that the ego of Greg Swann has been allowed to swell over.  You’re absolutely right that we are often to polite in how we encourage others.  In Lani’s post regarding the Black & White video you’ll note Lani’s point was not so much about the message of the message, but the delivery.  I’m not sure how anyone can mistake an observation like that for bragging that it is the way forward or call it pandering.  Many do not like being on camera- so here’s an alternative versus steal this idea for your own.

Ego is ego.

When I created agentgenius.com it was based on the idea that large group blogs were blogging to the consumer was actually false.  Consumers do read the blogs agents create, but rarely opine.  So my idea was, if agents would just be themselves and speak as they would normally speak, they might grab a real consumer market share.  I also wanted a blog that removed the self-serving condescending ego from the mix- just straight up conversation related to real estate.  which led to the creation of the ag badge (shown below and seen on sites all over the Internet).  It’s pretty clear on agentgenius.com that we speak to each other, but from a consumers perspective, you rarely see a conversation about how much wealth the writer made today off of the backs of consumers.  We’re (the professionals) are not as obsessed with the commission as others portray, and we’re regular professionals like everyone else. We’re honest and to the consumers who read us, that’s priceless.

The idea that Greg believes we do not know our audience is actually absurd, and further proof of arrogance.  We write in the proper perspective, and in that spirit we leave room for our consumer to discern their own impression of the profession.  We believe that this honest approach in the long run will turn more readers in, than out as we are not blasting our opinions at them as many blogs do.  In fact, I place reader comments in the most expensive real estate on the page- for the world to see.  Not many blogs even bother to give the slightest bit of attention to the passing consumer or the agent commenter as “an actual contributor” of agentgenius.com, but we place it front and center.  We also participate in the we follow rule to reward those that contribute by comment.  I do not know of any other blog that is more comment contributor focused than we, even if that contributor is an actual consumer. Further, we make it quite evident that the photo of the AG contributor comes dead last as the point of agentgenius.com- whoever contributes is genius and ultimately the point.  In other words, we might know a thing or three about a thing or two.  The fact that we’ve elivated to the point we are in less than 100 days aughta give anyone pause.

We do not care about the opinions of other blogs, and our stats prove that we’re doing many things right- is there room to grow?  Absolutely, but we do not need to backtrack (as many group blogs will) to try new directions (to be honest about who we’re writing to or who we are), we simply move forward from an honest foundation (we’re just talking, you’re welcome to chime in)- and many large blogs have begun to get that what agentgenius.com is doing must work,  and the talent here isn’t ramming their beliefs down peoples throats or using a bully pulpit to spew radical hatred of all things real estate.  It’s an honest discussion of an agent failing in their market, observations by a mom about her son, a showing gone crazy and how the agent and client had a laugh together.  The material of agentgenius.com absolutely relates in many ways to everyday people- consumers like us.  And I give a hearty “go f’yourself” to anyone who says otherwise and doesn’t understand that our mission is to relate to our consumers.  We represent the industry from coast to coast, and honestly, I’m proud of the contribution here, and this contribution is just that, a contribution rather than an oppressive “you can’t argue with me”- you’re right, but it isn’t that we can’t, it’s that no one cares enough to bother.

Greg is right that folks should speak up when something is bad, but in this instance, it wasn’t bad.  We’re not wrong, and we’re surely not going to admit shit when the smell is obviously on your carpet.  If you think we’re endorsing a clever approach to a video message, you’re f’n right on that fact- and in a nice way, many are begging for alternatives to some of the previous video attempts made by even our own, Daniel Rothamel, among others. 

Criticism is welcome, but that’s about all that is tolerated.  Honesty with the consumer will always be celebrated, no matter how harsh or sweet the delivery.  Greg Swanns contribution to real estate, the consumer, and the profession is invaluable, and my remarks here should not be misunderstood.  I’ll stand behind genius when I see it, but we’re not about to sit by and be talked down to like some child flying by the seat of their pants. 

You mind yours, and we’ll mind ours.  If you think you’ve ruffled the feathers of AG, you’d be dead wrong, you’ve only solidified what agentgenius.com is all about.