I was reminded again today that technology is having a positive social effect for consumers by breaking down pointless barriers. Take for example, the simple act of finding out more information about a house listed for sale.
Do I really have to call a ‘specialist’ who refuses to interact with me unless I’m a fellow agent? Or will jump directly to: ‘Do you have a realtor’? Funny, you’d think someone trying to sell something might actually speak with someone interested in buying it – radical, huh? And does the average real estate agent really know more about complex Boolean searches in arcane databases like MLS than someone who’s worked in technology for a couple decades? The answer is clearly no on both counts, but why is it still commonplace — and more importantly, how can we change it?
Part of the solution is we must be more informed consumers, and take a more proactive role in these areas. If you’re like me, you’ve probably offended your share of realtors and car salespeople when you show up knowing more than they do about a neighborhood or an option package. If not, I challenge you to apply it once in the next 30-60 days and see how it affects the outcome. It’s a bit old school, but remember the heat apparel retail Sym’s took 8-10 years ago for their tag line, ‘Our best customer is an educated customer’? Bravo to an early proponent of the mindset even if the outside analysis completely missed the point of using the word ‘educated’.
So back to today’s positive interaction — and specifically how really smart people are helping us help ourselves. For the first time ever, I saw a Remax sign with an SMS short code and a reference number for a specific property. And guess what? I had the information I wanted in less than 10 seconds. And the realtor now has my cell phone number. A completely fair exchange of information that allowed him to meet my needs (without committing his actual time) and gave me a direct line to him to accelerate the conversation to the next level if I’m interested. So I get the info, he fields the request and we both have a much more serious second conversation if that’s in the cards. Quite an achievement for something that lasted about 8 seconds!
So ask yourself at some point today: Am I responding to customers as intelligently as possible? Do I have a solid, two-way dialogue that meets both our needs quickly? If not, look to technology to help. You might be surprised who is willing to drop an SMS message (think 100 million votes for the American Idol finale!).
Tags: SMS, social effect
