Here’s the paraphrase. “Tony, there are two kinds of real estate agents. Those who do a lot of deals, and those who only do a few every year. We can’t get those upper tier real estate agents to work with us. We’ve tried it, and it doesn’t work.”
First of all, let’s admit there IS a challenge, more than one, to getting real estate agents to work with MH. Successfully addressing those hurdles in a “mutual victories” fashion could benefit untold numbers of MH homeowners, lenders, producers, other businesses…indeed all involved. Healthy resales – more akin to how conventional real estate works – would significantly increase the understanding and appeal of manufactured homes, likewise boosting lending and investments.
Those in turn would lead to more new homes sold. The rewards are many. No less a figure than Warren Buffett said to Clayton’s president, “Kevin, it seems to me that the problem with your industry is resale.”
Photo credit: WikiCommons.
Two RE-MH Projects
I’ve been professionally involved in two projects that utilized real estate agencies as part of the marketing and sales mix. One did okay, the other worked amazingly well.
We already know real estate agents selling MH works in higher-end markets, such as CA.
So long as we have examples of how it can work, there ought to be confidence in establishing a similarly successful dynamic in other markets.
Associations or Corporate Campaigns
Certainly associations could play a role in this effort. So too should forward thinking corporations. But an educated, motivated independent could make it happen too. I know, because that was the case with one project your Masthead scribe did. It was an independent with a game plan committed to success who made it happen.
RV MH Hall of Fame 2014 Inductees. Read more:
RV/MH Class of 2014 Inducted at Record-breaking Ceremony
Education!
The secrets are motivation – incentives to earn and serve more – and the right education.
We can’t expect anyone, including real estate agents, to know our MH business like we do without some education. Real estate agents must clearly benefit, or they won’t come.
Doubling your sales force?
Some site builders use real estate agents to sell their new homes. It can double or more their sales force. Imagine having informed, motivated professionals who are already marketing to attract buyers, working for you on a commission basis.
Education takes time and money. In the more successful of the two cases, we spent 2 months laying the ground work, and that effort cost thousands of dollars. But here was the payoff. In the 8 days after Christmas, when we ‘threw the switch on’ for using those agents, 16 deals were closed at a location, which previously averaged some 2.5 sales monthly for the three years. In the next 30 days, 40 total closings took place. That MHC went from dozen of homes in excess inventory, to “sold out.”
Was it worth it? Yes. FYI, the other company’s location that didn’t have the same degree of success, didn’t invest a similar time/money commitment to the education and ramp up process. Less invested up front, no surprise there was a more modest result.
Other Options too, but…
Certainly there are other options – including existing ones online – to using real estate agents, but those too requires a commitment of time, money and education for them to reach their potential.
Imagine if only 1% of the 1 million real estate agents in the U.S. become involved in selling MH. Let’s further say they would each average 4 deals a year, or only 1 per quarter. That’s still 40,000 sales a year the MH Industry may not otherwise get.
Investing in Education Pays
We often hear that “our people are our most important asset.” If that’s true, more companies should invest more in their people!
Investing in an outreach to other housing professionals – including realtors – could yield long term, transformational results for MH.
Respectfully, when one person doesn’t get the result they wanted the first or second time, that isn’t the signal that it “doesn’t work.” Michael Jordan was a “failure” at first in basketball. Years of practice changed that perception. He later said,
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
― Michael Jordan
Photo credit, WikiCommons.
One failure, or even many, doesn’t have to mean permanent failure. That’s the lesson of trailblazing legends like Thomas Edison, who failed 10,000 times before succeeding with the incandescent light.
The value of creating a robust resale market in MH – the value of synergizing with real estate agents – is too great an opportunity to miss.
The recent GAO, IBHS hurricane wind study and CBS news reports should all be parts of the arsenal of insights leading more housing professionals to embrace modern manufactured homes.
So long as we communicate that well and often, it will inexorability lead to the mutual victories home owners and all housing pros seek. ##
L. A. ‘Tony’ Kovach ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com | MHProNews.com | Business and Public Marketing & Ads: B2B | B2C Websites, Contract Marketing & Sales Training, Consulting, Speaking: MHC-MD.com | LATonyKovach.com | Office 863-213-4090 Connect on LinkedIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
