What consumers want, this report provides

In October of ’07, I attended 2-day think tank sponsored by Keller Williams held at Baylor Institute. I documented it here.

This morning I received this report from KW on what consumers expect from agents.

In a nutshell, the report derives conclusions that offer little in the way of surprises. The key takeaways include:

• Buyers and sellers begin the process of choosing an agent by accessing social sources through word of mouth referrals from people they know.
• Agents are chosen based upon name and brand recognition from within the neighborhood.
• Key factors in choosing an agent are reputation, trust, honesty and knowledge.

Trust, expertise and honesty. I’ve seen these three words branded across real estate websites for the past decade. It’s one thing to have your copy editor write them or a designer to create the graphic. But today, you need to back it up. When you do, you gain the edge. You build your reputation and word of mouth spreads.

Fortunately, there are a myriad of ways today given access to online tools and Web 2.0 platforms to expose your honesty, your expertise and your trustworthiness. If you have delayed in utilizing what the Web has to offer, what are you waiting for?

– Davison