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Douglas Trudeau , Assoc. Broker
Prudential Foothills Real Estate
64 N. Harrison Road, Suite 160
Tucson , AZ 85748
Mobile: 520-954-2209
Contact Me



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What Every Realtor Should Know About Old School New School

Camaro Then 1967 Now 2009What every Realtor should know about Old School and New School.  

In a time when many Realtors are scrambling to make sales in an over supplied Buyers Market there is a need to mix old school with new school. A significant number of Realtors today have lived off the fat of the lamb during a booming growth. Some areas of the United States are still growing. What has developed are so to speak fat lazy agents who are finding it hard to survive. 

Hogan1Ben Hogan once said, “I feel sorry for rich kids now. I really do. Because they are never going to have the opportunity I had. Because I knew tough things. And I had a tough day all my life and I can handle tough things. They can’t. And every day I progressed was a joy to me and I recognized it every day. I don’t think I could have done what I’ve done if I hadn’t had tough days to begin with.” Those of us who haven’t been through the tough times are going to find it tough now. The strong will survive, and the weak will be eaten alive. 

Bob Mohab from Edge Learning comments in his CD’s words to the effect of, “You can’t leave foot prints in the sand sitting on your toosh. And who wants to leave toosh prints in the Sand?” He also talks about humans becoming vs humans being. When you’re ripe you rot, when you’re green you grow. 

Stephen R. Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about sharpening the saw in his 7th Habit. He relates to a story of a lumberjack tirelessly sawing a tree who is too busy to sharpen the saw. 

Howard Johnson personally responded to every customer complaint at his hotels. How hard do you think his managers worked to make sure there were no complaints? 

The old and young can learn from each other. Not all of real estate can be done as it was in the 80’s and before. There were some valuable lessons learned during that time. In many cultures the elders are the teachers. There is a lot to be learned from experienced Realtors. The young have great ideas too. Technology isn’t what it was twenty to thirty years ago. Mixing both will be the key to today’s successful Realtor. 

  • Old School - Door to door introduction. Like a politician shaking hands and kissing babies.
  • New School - Email, electronic flyers.
  • Old School - Calling on past clients and sphere of influence. Some may say circle of influence. I prefer sphere. Circles are flat and one dimensional. A sphere is round and three dimensional. This is the most important and neglected tool many New Schoolers forget.
  • New School - Buy hits on the Internet.
  • Old School - If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
  • New School - There’s gotta be a better way.
  • Old School - That’s the way we’ve always done it.
  • New School - We’re not riding in horse and buggies anymore.

There is a good mix between old fashioned service and new methods of implementing that services with less effort and better return on time spent. Making sure that there is time for that personal service.  

Example: One client commented that she never met the (prior) Realtor who she thought she hired. She got a team member whose lack of quality she disliked. Monitoring teams, checking personally with clients insures satisfaction. Now that client is satisfied, because she gets weekly updates, her agent is readily available by phone, and she gets the attention she deserves.  

There is a lot to say about the lessons of history. When we think we know enough, we rot. When we remain willing to learn we grow. So as those who choose to remain the same whither away on the vine, there will be more for the rest of us who are willing to grow and flourish.

Thanks to some favorable comments I would like to make a comparison. At the top of the page you will see a 1967 Camaro and a prototype of the 2009 Camaro coming out next year. The 1967 is Old School the 2009 is Revised School. Both have combustion engines. Same fuel to air requirements with different technology.

  • Old – Carburetor
  • Revised – Fuel Injection
  • Old – Temperamental in various weather, altitude differences, and overtime.
  • Revised – More reliable, less temperamental, more efficient.
  • Old – Consumed a lot of gas.
  • Revised – More fuel efficient (at today’s expense thank you).
  • Old – Tendency to run too rich (too much fuel) or too lean (not enough fuel).
  • Revised – More consistent
  • Old – Easier to work on because the technology was simple. I could tune that engine by listening to it, checking a few gauges, and checking the exhaust. 
  • Revised – Harder to work on requiring more expertise and sophistication in equipment and tools. Need expert advise.

The moral of the story is it’s the same basic technology, or in real estate the same basic business. There are more tools today to apply yesterday’s techniques. It still takes good old fashioned elbow grease to get the job done. A healthy combination of old and new means only one thing…Success. Enjoy the 2009 Camaro, mine will be a Z28.

So, why are you still sitting there? Get out there, make those calls, stay in contact, knock on doors, let your presence be felt, get off your bottom side and start leaving footprints in the sand. The ones you see ahead of you are mine.

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2007 at 10:42 am and is filed under Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. As usual I enjoy reading the comments all my friends on Active Rain have left. You have inspired me to improve this blog.

    June 2nd, 2007 // Doug

  2. Doug, this is among your best articles! The sad part of all of this is that the “old school” dying breed doesn’t know they are dying yet (nor could they- they don’t know what a blog is). Too many Realtors follow the 1985 “Be a Millionaire Realtor” book which outdated itself in… well, 1985. It’s not about getting rich quickly, it’s about service- consistent, superior expertise and service.

    Great work!!!

    June 4th, 2007 // Austin Realtor's Wife

  3. ARW - Thank you for your kind works. Maureen Francis inspired me to write this. With a significant number of geographical areas in or falling into a Buyers Market, mixing old and new is crucial to survival. Thanks again.

    June 4th, 2007 // Doug

  4. Doug, my previous comment failed to note that I LOVE that you have the intellect to realize that you can’t join the “new” club and abandon the “old”- your suggestion to take the best of both worlds is key. NO ONE should simply go exclusively “old school” (which can be inefficient) or “new school” (which can be impersonal).

    Keep the good work comin’! :)

    June 4th, 2007 // Austin Realtor's Wife

  5. […] Douglas Trudeau presents What Every Realtor Should Know About Old School New School posted at Tucson Real Estate Blogs, saying, “The Buyers Market has forced old habits with a new twist. No longer can Realtors wait for business to come to them. They have to go out and get business with old fashion elobow grease and modern technology.” […]

    June 8th, 2007 // CoRE Link Post #45 | Carnival of Real Estate

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