The real estate industry has been criticized recently for its outdated marketing approaches, for falling behind in technology, and failing to update business models and services to accommodate today's consumer. Just as it is difficult to look in a mirror to see how the dress/suit looks from the back, the real estate industry needs an objective outside opinion to gain a better perspective -someone who will honestly tell us how and why the outfit doesn't fit and what would work better.

Alf Nucifora is a marketing expert, newspaper columnist, and nationally known public speaker. A native of Brisbane, Australia, Alf holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Rising quickly through the ranks of industry and agency marketing, Alf is today the principal of a marketing consulting firm and an avid spokesperson for the marketing communications industry. He gives over 85 speeches a year on the subject of marketing , sales, and communication for small and medium businesses, Fortune 500 companies and clubs and organizations across the nation. He writes a bi-monthly column for the Atlanta Business Chronicle called Shoestring Advertising and is currently authoring an advertising and marketing guide for small to medium-sized businesses to be published this year.

If you suspect that your marketing approach has a sagging hemline, Alf's insights may help you make a seamless transition to a better look. He is interviewed below by Agent News editor, Blanche Evans.

B.E.: What is your impression of the real estate industry?
A.N.: There are certain businesses that have done business for the same way for a long time. Their paradigm has been maintained for several decades, and that is my impression of the real estate industry. The car industry is the same. What they have in common is that they are both very controlled and closed, which is good for the sellers, but not very good for the consumer.

B.E.: What do you mean?
A.N.: That the power in the transaction is with the seller, putting the buyer at a disadvantage. Let's look at cars. The way people buy cars is defined by the dealership. You walk the lot, the dealer pounces on you and asks you a lot of intimidating questions. Then the sales manager is brought in to intimidate you some more. Not only that, but service isn't very good. If you work, chances are good that the only time you have to shop for a car is at night or on the weekends. So why then are most dealerships closed on Sunday?
Buying a car is geared toward the seller and not the seller. It strikes me that the methodology has not changed that much in the last 30 years. The same thing is true of real estate. You have to have an agent, and there isn't much flexibility in the commission regardless of how much work the Realtor does. Now, I am going by what goes on in Atlanta since that is where I live. I have bought a total of 10 houses here including second homes, and my impression is that the business is all geared toward the seller. The closing is frought with difficulty. The buyer is at a real disadvantage in terms of customer service.
This has led me to wonder several things about the real estate industry, particularly when will the paradigm change? When will the power shift to the buyer? The consumer is taking command in every other industry. The growth of the Internet is making data available to the consumer that is causing paradigm shifts in all industries. With cars, a buyer can go on the Internet and find out how much a car is selling to the dealer. Then, armed with that knowledge, they can negotiate a better price when they buy.

B.E.: Do the same marketing principles apply regardless of the type of industry you are in? In other words, can real estate really take a lesson from the car industry?
A.N.: Yes, it can. The basic principles of customer service and satisfaction apply across the board. A lot of industries survive on a "Field of Dreams" mentality, that if we build it - they will come. The arrogance of the car industry is that if we build it, you are going to buy it. I just wrote a column on the car industry, complaining how hard it was to buy a car on the weekends. I got a lot of angry emails, and one rep wrote, " Why should we work on Sundays to keep you happy?" Fundamentally, this guy was missing the point. Customer service and satisfaction is about keeping the customer happy, even when he is being unreasonable.
Today's consumer has less time, kids, more pressure, less leisure time, and dual incomes to maintain the lifestyle one income did a generation ago. Customer service rankings are declining, because industries are slow to meet these changing needs. Research is showing that more and more people dislike shopping, and the paradigm shift that is coming is that people want a changed shopping environment. That is why the Internet is exploding. I can go there at 11:00 at night, browse as long as I please, put in my order, no waiting, no pressure. All I ask is please put in some color and good, descriptive copy. The Internet will change everything because it answers the needs of the consumer.
So the question we should be asking ourselves instead is "how can I make the customer happy and see the transaction from the customer's point of view." That is the key. You have to put the customer's eyeballs in your own sockets. I decided to call the salesman that had emailed me, in the interest of customer service. His office phone rang 16 times, and then he didn't have voice mail, so that I could leave a message. Not very impressive.

B.E.: What about Realtors?
A.N.: Right now, my impression is that real estate is comprised mostly of housewives, divorcees and retired females, and that the industry overall is middle-aged. They drive Cadillacs and work in brokerage firms that are very conservative and decorated in a traditional fashion filled with mahogany and teak. They don't have an up-to-date professional image. So my next question is when will the sales paradigm shift in terms of who the industry is? On the positive side, these predominantly female agents are hard-working, nurturing and typically make excellent salespeople. And I personally have never had a problem with a real estate agent. In fact, they will meet with you Sunday night, return your calls when you need them, and generally put themselves at your disposal. I think agents individually are very willing to embrace customer service and satisfaction issues. It is how the industry works that is the problem.

B.E.: You mean the closed, protected nature of the industry?
A.N.: Yes. The key issue is consumer power. In all other sectors, you are seeing power shift from the marketer to the consumer. The closed environments are being blown apart. But some industries like real estate are slow to change, and in the meanwhile, you have very frustrated, unhappy customers that resent the industry as a whole. But what will happen is that the consumer will find ways to circumvent the industry.

B.E.: Technology?
A.N.: Exactly. That is my third question -at what point does technology take over in your business? As a consumer, I can look at MLS listings with a Realtor, check out yard signs, read the papers, or go to the Internet. But the real estate industry isn't making much of an impact on the Internet and if they are they certainly aren't advertising it.

B.E.: A lot of sites have listings.
A.N.: Yes, that's true, but do you think the average consumer knows that? There are tremendous marketing opportunities for the industry, but let's carry it a step further to customer service. From a consumer point of view, can I buy real estate a new, easier, simplified way? No. At what point will I be able to buy from a universally available communications system? That isn't happening yet. Real estate is again one of the protected industries. And whenever you have protected industries, the consumer suffers, in service and in price. Whether there are listings on the Net or not, you still have to do things the same old way. The industry is just marketing the same old closed atmosphere, taking the stuffy real estate office and putting it on the Web. The Internet isn't changing the paradigm yet, until someone breaks the mold and offers a new way to buy homes. Look at the financing. Unless you are a high net worth individual, you try to shop price in an industry you don't understand very well, and there still isn't much information out there. The only thing is that you can become pre-qualified faster on the Net, but you still don't know any more about how the loan process really works, are where the best rates are. And the closing process is still so intimidating. I recently sat down with an attorney to close on a house, and signed and signed and signed. I felt like I was signing my life away.

B.E.: What about marketing in general?
A.N.: As an industry, real estate does a very poor job of marketing. In Australia, classified ads in the newspapers include photographs of the property, but they don't here. I don't believe the general media has been exploited by the industry, and that includes radio and TV. If you find any shows about real estate, they are buried on cable, and there is a lot of media that has never been used by the industry. The only four-color print used is by upscale brokers marketing multi-million dollar properties. The industry is not very good at merchandising itself. I get the impression it goes back to that closed enrivonment. The old firms that own the marketplace still operate under the old scenario, that the consumer will come to them.

B.E.: What are the most important marketing principles for Realtors to know?
A.N.: The importance of customer service, database management and lifetime communications. And it is as simple as calling customers on the phone. Ask how they are doing. Think about what the customer wants. If you are in the real estate business, how do you market it? If Disney or Proctor and Gamble bought the whole real estate industry, what would they do to make the industry more consumer friendly? What would they do? They would rip it out by the roots and start again. Look at Autonation. That company will create a seismic shift in how cars are sold in this country. Look at Saturn, and it's one-price, no hassle consumer approach to buying cars.

B.E.: Do you personally feel you must have training in a particular industry to understand it?
A.N.: No, great sales ability is innate and it can also be taught. But even great salespeople can learn a lesson about customer service. Right now, there is no long-term commitment to the consumer. It's all about how much money can we make today. In most categories, you can hold a customer for life. First, you establish a relationship and then keep the information about your customer managed in a database. Realtors have the most detailed, personal and financial information on their customers, but they don't use it. I can't recall when an agent has called me to ask how I was doing, if I am happy with my current home, if I've had any kids, and am I ready to trade up? If you believed in the lifetime of the customer, you should stay in touch. Let's say you are 35 years old. You will keep buying houses. Chances are good you will buy two or three more houses over the next 25 years. Why shouldn't the same agent help with each of those transactions? The issue is lifetime value. If I were operating in a suburban area and had a call group, I would treasure the lifetime value of that client base. But instead, we have an order-taking mentality. We think only about the commission we are going to earn today, pay our bills, and move on. And then we complain that there is no customer loyalty.

B.E.: How important is it to understand the generation/age mindset of the customer, especially if their age is different from your own?
A.N.: The point is not so much that they are a different generation than you are, it is understanding that there are differences in the way they sees things. That Cadillac you drive may ingratiate you with your baby boomer clients, but the Gen X client looks at it and wants to puke. They immediately conclude that you are out of touch with them. The best thing you can do is know who they are and try to understand them. I would start putting some on the payroll. Most people are over 40 in the real estate industry, so supplement the office with younger people who can relate to younger buyers and sellers. Let them drive the Accords and BMWs.