Most importantly, no insult was ever taken nor did I take anything as critical. You and every agent out there have a right to protect your turf and be guarded against the Morton Downy’s of the industry. God knows I’ve been inside this business long enough to have learned these following things:

1) There are far too many people telling agents what to do
2) There are far too many people gaining street cred then using that cred to influence the sale of their products or product they receive commissions to represent
3) There are way too many people who fantastically underestimate the challenges that face the real estate profession.

So I had no problem being questioned and frankly, I appreciated the opportunity to enter into the conversation.

I think, as Jim pointed out, reading me for a few months will definitely make some uneasy and make others attack me with insults as has occurred recently on my blog. Others will be drawn to it. That’s how it goes when you are public.

What I am about is uplifting the industry. I am trying to shake it and bake it. Invigorate it out of its doldrums. I’m trying to do my part to preserve the Realtor/consumer relationship. Buying and selling a home is too important of a transaction to one day be performed without a Realtor. It just is.

By my measure, there are way too many unskilled agents in the business who parade around at 6% agents touting full service and not delivering. They serve to underscore all the great that does exist here.

Let me give you an example. This blog that Kris runs. It is one of the best out there. It’s smart. Funny. Class act all the way. How many others are this good? For every Sandiegohomeblog there are 5,000 really moronic ones that flood the web with real estate nonsense. Multiply that by the amount of really bad agent websites and really bad customer service habits and what you have is a platform for the Glen Kelmans’ of the world and the DOJ to convince the public that all of real estate is corrupt.

We here know that’s not true. I know it’s not true. This is a fine profession. My son is in Portland studying real estate at Pro Schools right now. I believe in this business.

So I write things aimed at firing the imagination of the best in the business to never rest on their laurels and continuing striving to be the best. To continue to preserve the full service commission. Once that disappears, what are we going to be left with? Part timers and prospectors.

So if I seem a bit harsh at times, it’s only because I am trying to be heard over the Hobbs Herders of the world and over many “influencers” who used their position to hawk products and ideas that don’t work. I have nothing to sell and I am not owned by anyone. I don’t spin agendas so I can use that influence to convince you to buy my blog software. Or whatever.

So keep giving me that chance. I built the careers of many celebrities and I have build several very successful businesses. I’m just trying to share what I know.

In that regard, I challenge you to challenge me. If we continue to push each other… well how cool would that be.

If you are daring, join the conversation at 1000Wattblog.com. All free, 24 hours a day. I won’t let you down!

I’ve been reading Marc’s articles on Inman News over the last couple of months, and the more I read, the more I want to give him a chance. He challenges the status quo while taking the high road.

I think we could combine forces and and between us find a way to clearly articulate the benefits that great realtors bring to the table. Not the tired old NAR schtick, but the real-time value in today’s market.

If we could, it would help all.

BTW, this is the best article I’ve seen on your blog, and that is saying something – because they are all good!

Marc, your credentials are obviously impressive and I am certain your writing brings forth substantial insight from your perspective. Indeed, the quality, extent and effectiveness of marketing and branding is a critical aspect of our profession as agents and for the benefit of our clients.

What is most difficult to convey is how challenging, complex, stressful, defeating, uplifting, emotional and overall crazy the life of an agent can be. Unless one has literally lived it, it is very difficult to understand, much less convey the reality. No offense was intended.

You referenced your experience of owning many homes. These experiences must give you a feel for how agents, at least your agents work, as well as an understanding of the process and how many things can go wrong. Now think about buying or selling a home about once every week or two, not for yourself, but for 30 to 50 other people a year, every year, many of whom where strangers before you were engaged by them. People who are placing their trust in you even though, at the same time, may not fully trust you. Getting the picture? It’s one thing if we make poor investment decisions for ourselves, It’s a whole other issue to screw it up for someone else and at 30-60 transactions per year, there’s a whole lot of opportunity to mess it up if you don’t have your act totally together.

In summary, since this comment got way to long, I did not mean to offend anyone, just clarify the fact that what we do is not as easy as it looks. Making it look easy is our job, however. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Alas, another night sleeping on the couch.

My background is published on my site but the thumbnail is – went to Princeton. Joined Y&R (Young and Rubicam) a Madison Ave ad agency in 83. In 85 I started my own firm DGE and worked mostly in the entertainment field (labels, individual celebrities…building brand, doing PR, etc. I sold my firm in 97, moved from NYC to California and was hired by Inman News in 97 to build their brand. In 2002, I founded VREO, the software firm that built The Real Estate Dashboard.

I share your distrust of real estate marketing guru’s as I have found most have little schooling (not so important) and very little field experience ( very important). Hence all the tacky, copycat concepts and weak self promotional branding efforts in real estate.

My mother sold real estate in the 70’s and that is all the experience I have as agent. I own many homes so I have come as close to the profession as possible. My position on real estate agents, for the record is – the public would be categorically lost if there were no agents to assist in the transaction of buying a home. The service provided by agents is dramatically important. This is mostly lost on the public as witnessed by surveys and polls including polls on trusted professions where agents end up dead last world wide.

I believe the reason is this simple: It’s too easy to get in and once in, it is very hard to tell the great ones from the not so great ones due to the of poor branding, weak advertising and customer service challenges.

I am now on day 3 waiting for an agent I was referred to in Seattle to respond to an email I sent requesting pictures for this house – http://nwidx.com/ListingDetails.aspx?site_id=9013&id=27166483

As a student of Berndt Schmidt, CEM (I’ve been to many of his lectures)
and with a long history of building brand, I feel qualified to comment on these topics.

Thanks for giving me the chance to express this here.

To Steve Berg,

My background is published on my site but the thumbnail is – went to Princeton. Joined Y&R (Young and Rubicam) a Madison Ave ad agency in 83. In 85 I started my own firm DGE and worked mostly in the entertainment field (labels, individual celebrities…building brand, doing PR, etc. I sold my firm in 97, moved from NYC to California and was hired by Inman News in 97 to build their brand. In 2002, I founded VREO, the software firm that built The Real Estate Dashboard.

I share your distrust of real estate marketing guru’s as I have found most have little schooling (not so important) and very little field experience ( very important). Hence all the tacky, copycat concepts and weak self promotional branding efforts in real estate.

My mother sold real estate in the 70’s and that is all the experience I have as agent. I own many homes so I have come as close to the profession as possible. My position on real estate agents, for the record is – the public would be categorically lost if there were no agents to assist in the transaction of buying a home. The service provided by agents is dramatically important. This is mostly lost on the public as witnessed by surveys and polls including polls on trusted professions where agents end up dead last world wide.

I believe the reason is this simple: It’s too easy to get in and once in, it is very hard to tell the great ones from the not so great ones due to the of poor branding, weak advertising and customer service challenges.

I am now on day 3 waiting for an agent I was referred to in Seattle to respond to an email I sent requesting pictures for this house – http://nwidx.com/ListingDetails.aspx?site_id=9013&id=27166483

As a student of Berndt Schmidt, CEM (I’ve been to many of his lectures)
and with a long history of building brand, I feel qualified to comment on these topics.

Thanks for giving me the chance to express this here.

If a home is “priced to sell” (sorry, “PRICED TO SELL!!!!!”) then it would have already sold. Why take offense about being asked if the sellers will drop their price by someone who has not yet seen the home? Your time is obviously valuable; you should be happy they asked before they wasted any more of it.

ps, belated happy birthday. I had to look up “score” to remember it was 20 years.

It gets better.
It gets better.
It gets better.

Especially with Realtors like you around. Thanks for looking for the brighter side.