Alan Webber by Gary Kelly / @issue Interview / vol. 6 no. 2
Thanks to travel, blogging is a bit light, but I did want to get this post out because more and more, I feel it’s a painful message that must be heard.
There are quite a few things that a real estate company can do to improve operations, but many of them will take immense amount of work, cultural changes, and rethinking the practice of real estate brokerage itself. There is, however, one thing that any company can do that will immediately pay dividends: design. All it takes is spending some money.
Start by reading this post by @Issue web magazine. It is an excerpt of a book “Rules of Thumb” by Alan Webber, the cofounder of Fast Company magazine. The excerpt speaks to Rule 28: Good design is table stakes. Great design wins:
Not long after that trip I went to Denmark for a conference that brought together architects, industrial designers, and graphic artists. I walked around Copenhagen, admiring the shops and stores, the comfortable restaurants, the overall ambiance of the place. Then I had a cup of coffee with a friend who had organized the gathering.
“Denmark has high wages, high taxes, and an expensive social safety net,” I said. “But your manufacturing is moving to cheaper countries. What’s the strategy for the future?”
“We’re not worried,” she said. “We intend to compete on the quality of our design. Denmark is famous for our design.”
Read the whole thing; it’ll be worth your time. Then think through the implications for real estate with me.
Vive La Resistance! (Members of French Underground, WWII)
In my past writings, I’ve written about the seismic shift going on in the real estate brokerage industry from the perspective of Big Brokers and Big Brands. You can find those writings here (and the parts linked there), here, here, and here. At the same time, I’ve always wanted to write the other side of the debate, because the victory of Big Brands is so reliant on a major assumption: that they embrace major change, including putting new blood into the top executive positions, and changing the culture of the organization. This is never easy, but nearly impossible while senior management is preaching the message of, “Batten down the hatches and get back to basics!” whatever that means.
While the Big Brands are struggling to figure out a strategy for moving forward, however, the Kristian Soldiers are hard at work trying all manner of new things, new strategies, new thinking, and changing the face of the industry. They are winning far too many battles today, and may ultimately win the war.
This, then, is a series of thoughts on how the Real Estate Insurgency can out-maneuver, out-innovate, and ultimately defeat Big Brands.
Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: I have been asked to take this post down by my colleagues at OnBoard, as they feel there is a conflict of interest inherent in a senior member of the executive team writing critically about a current client. While I have my thoughts on that, in this case, I will defer to their judgment. The original post has been removed, for now. I apologize to anyone who has linked over to it.
And yes, I know this is my personal blog. I am choosing to do this at this time, out of respect for my friends and colleagues at OnBoard whose opinions I respect enormously. Not out of agreement, necessarily, but out of understanding their point of view.
I further stress that I have not, nor has anyone at OnBoard to the best of my knowledge, heard anything about this from Coldwell Banker. This is merely something that needs to be resolved between myself and my colleagues. I may repost it at a later date, if that is the decision I come to after discussion with them, and others.
Thanks,
-rsh
