HomeGain is continually reviewing and working to improve our policies, products, and procedures with our current, past, and potential clients.  In doing this, one wise member of our team, Jim Ridley, uncovered a common trait of the agents and brokers who are successfully growing their business. 

This identified success trait comes down to the basic question:  Are You a Real Estate Professional or Online Business Consumer?

HomeGain has found that the Real Estate Professionals are more likely to be successful.  The Online Business Consumer clients have shown to have a higher dissatisfaction and failure rate. This distinction will affect HomeGain’s way of doing business.  I would highly recommend that you should review your business to see where you fall.

This brings up a few questions:

¨       What is the difference Real Estate Professional and an Online Business Consumer?

¨       Can Online Business Consumer agents and brokers become Real Estate Professionals? 

¨       How can this affect your success and allocation of your marketing budget?

What is the difference Real Estate Professional and an Online Business Consumer?

A Real Estate Professional is someone who understands that there is still work that needs to be done after signing up for an online marketing service. They are proactive in learning about the products and services.  They complete the required and recommended parts of the product to ensure that they have maximized its functionality and likelihood for success.

An Online Business Consumer is someone who is attracted by the results of a service, but doesn’t put forth the time and effort to ensure that they attain that success.  They buy something and wait for the results to come in.  We are all consumer-minded when it comes to personal use of online products (We don’t want to go through much effort when we do a Google search.) This mindset is okay when we should be consumers, but is not effective when we are in the business world.

This is often more work following the sign up that needs to be done to achieve successful business results. Often there is a bit of education that is also needed to understand what features are available and how to use it.  The most challenging, and usually the most rewarding, tools and services require ongoing time and effort even after the initial processes and education are completed.  The Real Estate Professional completes these while the Online Business Consumer gets frustrated waiting for their results to come in.

Can Online Business Consumer agents and brokers become Real Estate Professionals? 

Absolutely!  It is easy and natural for all of us to have that consumer mindset based on the increasing efforts of technology companies to create “plug & chug” products and services.  The service provider should be willing to actively assist, educate, and inform you on what is recommended and required for success.

HomeGain provides ongoing client support with: Product Blog Categories on the HomeGain Blog, HomeGain Blogging Professor, Live Product Consultations: 866-512-7918 (M-F 8AM – 5PM PT), Upcoming HomeGain Agent Success Sessions, Previous HomeGain Agent Success Sessions, Monthly Agent Success Newsletters, and HomeGainRadio.com.

The transition from Online Business Consumer to a Real Estate Professional can be summarized in three steps:

1. Honestly evaluate if you are a Real Estate Professional or Online Business Consumer.
2. Put fourth the extra efforts to proactively learn about and complete the required actions to gain success.
3. Review your new results to see the difference in the product’s success.

How can this affect your success and allocation of your marketing budget?

Quite simply, if you are not ready to be a Real Estate Professional then don’t bother spending the money on services which offer great results at the cost of some basic and ongoing effort.  If you are an Online Business Consumer, that realize the situation and put fourth the effort with the assistance of the service provider to become a Real Estate Professional.  If you are a Real Estate Professional, continue (and possibly expand) your efforts and you will achieve the expected results provide that you are working with a willing business provider/partner and a product with a track record of success.

You can arrange a Business Planning Meeting with a HomeGain professional to see how you can grow your real estate business (866-512-7918: M-F 8AM – 5PM PT, SalesManager@HomeGain.com or at HomeGain).

*Please remember that HomeGain is looking for two types of agents and brokers:

1. Real Estate Professionals or
2. Online Business Consumers who are ready, willing, and able to change.