Statistics- Are we Using Them Correctly to Impact Our Business?

I Love Statistics

When I began in real estate I quickly became involved in all aspects of marketing and advertising: from our company brand to all our new construction sites. I even received a signed copy of “On Advertising” by David Ogilvy because I answered a question at an seminar he gave.

Being able to take numbers and distill them into useful information is a passion. If this information can be used in everyday business, it is even more vital.

In many of my classes I use statistics from various sources to make my point. Why? Because most of us don’t know who controls our business. Marketing 101 – know your client is so you can market effectively. It all boils down to this. Know what the consumers wants, give it to them, be successful.

Who’s Your Boss?

In one class I teach I always start by asking who their boss is. Normally someone will give me the answer I want – the client. Then I ask someone to have a dialogue with me. I ask them about their market. When asked about market share, average sales prices, absorption rate, list to sale price, the volunteers gives me the answers – rapid fire. Then I ask like: the average age of the first time buyer in their market, % of homes bought by first time buyers. % of first time buyers who were single women, and so on.

Now the answers stall. Why? We focus on being smart, but on the wrong things. The key to closing the performance gap between the consumer wants and what we give them is knowing what the consumer wants and giving it to them.

Let me give you an example. The average age of first time buyers in 2007 was 31 years old and they purchased 39% of the real estate sold. That is a group to be reckoned with. Well educated, well off. Who is that person? What do they want from their sales person?

This group is the largest generation in history – 79 million and the first to grow up with interactive media. They are multitaskers and devour huge amounts of media. They find information everywhere. As a result they don’t pay attention to anything quite well. So how do you get them the information they need?

The Info They Need

• The web has to be a visual medium. Less text and more photos and graphics.
• Tell it with picture and short text . 50% of your audience is lost with every click. The drop off rate is very low with pictures and short text.
• And dare I say it? Use Interactive video!

Most real estate sales people focus on sending this group – listings – I am sorry, but this buyer can find listings faster and better than most of us. So what do they need from us? Information on financing, the nuances of each home they are looking at, the process of buying real estate. Could this be done with short bytes of information? With links to more? How about video?

Statistics work when you can distill the information into something useful. Then test it, test it, test it.