Dear Mr. Internet: It seems every day agents receive offers from firms purporting to have the "secret" weapon to increase their online business. Is there any way to tell if any of these will really work? Terry Penza, President & COO North Shore - Barrington Association of REALTORS Northbrook, IL

Dear Terry:

It’s a confusing world out there –and becoming more so every day! Just the sheer number of “great” ideas/tools that are continually being introduced can be overwhelming. And to make things worse, many of those that appear most appealing to our traditional sense of marketing and sales, are actually recipes for disaster --online!

There is a very simple, quick, and easy way around this mess however, and it involves asking your question in a different way.

It’s All In How You Ask

Any product, service, strategy, or tactic designed to enhance your online business is essentially some form of interaction with the Internet Empowered Consumer™ (IEC). Armed with this knowledge, we can restate your question from “Will this interaction help me do more business online?” to “Is this interaction compatible with the IEC and will they perceive it as valuable?”. In essence, this question asks how receptive your online market will be toward any interaction (i.e. product, service, strategy, or tactic) that you consider using to boost your Internet-based business.

Our restated question considers two issues: a) IEC compatibility; b) IEC perceived value. In my recent article "How To Create Profitable Relationships With Online Consumers", I show how an interaction is compatible with the IEC only if it does not threaten their privacy or sense of being in control. This article also shows how the IEC will perceive value in anything that saves them time, money, and/or gives them options.

This approach creates the foundation of a very quick and objective “test” you can apply to evaluate how well any online interaction may work.

Powerful Insight In Under 2 Minutes

Using these ideas, I’ve created a simple yet powerful one-page form that will help you determine how effective any online product, service, strategy, or tactic will be with respect to the IEC. It’s called the “IEC Interaction Litmus Test™” and you can download a copy either in PDF or HotSend format here (by clicking the respective links —see "Article Resources" below if you need to download and install either of the free viewers).

There are three parts to this form:

1. Interaction Description – this is where you identify and describe the online product, service, strategy, or tactic you are evaluating;
2. Compatibility Evaluation – where you answer “Yes”, “No”, or “Neutral” to whether the interaction protects the IEC’s privacy and sense of control. Any “No” answer here will immediately reject the proposed interaction as a potential tool for doing more business (because, by definition it will cause the IEC to avoid working with you). A “Neutral” response means there is no impact either way.
3. Perceived Value Evaluation – where you score from a –5 to a +5 the issues of saving time, money, having options (i.e. a negative score for saving time means that the IEC will perceive the interaction taking more of their time, not less). If the total of the three scores is positive, the IEC will likely perceive the interaction to be of value to them, and of course the reverse holds true as well.

Without the use of an objective means to evaluate any kind of online interaction, it is very easy to find yourself off track when choosing the latest and greatest Internet marketing tools. For example, I recently introduced three online services to an audience of brokers and asked them to vote (via secret ballet –to avoid “group sync”) on how effectively they felt each of the three would be in generating more business online. After tallying the results, we used the “IEC Interaction Litmus Test” to then evaluate each of the three. It turns out that well over 80% in the audience chose those services that were most likely to drive the IEC away! In other words, they would hurt their online business, not help it.

You can see an example of how this tool was used to evaluate an online marketing / sales product called Webcaller ID. Just click on the respective links to download and view the filled-out example in either in PDF or HotSend format here.

This is not too surprising when you consider that most online products / services geared to “enhancing” the real estate professional’s online bottom line appeal to the agent’s need for “control”. And, as we’ve seen in previous “Ask Mr. Internet!” articles, agents need to give up their need for control if they want to work successfully with the IEC. (i.e. “ To Win You Have To Know The Rules!” – June 2000 edition of “Ask Mr. Internet!”)

You can see an example of how this tool was used to evaluate an online marketing / sales product called Webcaller ID. Just click on the respective links to download and view the filled-out example in either in PDF or HotSend format here.

Use It Or Lose It…

Your world as an online real estate professional is complicated enough without having to guess whether you should invest you valuable time and money in every new idea that comes down the digital pike. Use the “IEC Interaction Litmus Test” to help you evaluate the stream of online marketing ideas that will continue to come your way in the foreseeable future. You’ve got nothing to lose by doing so, and only time, money, and perhaps even a few clients if you don’t!

Published: September 20, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Michael J. Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®) is an internationally acclaimed speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry and small business. He is also the exclusive Internet columnist for REALTOR® Magazine, the architect of the revolutionary e-ProductivityTM system and leading voice for the use of Virtual Assistants in small business. You can subscribe to his free monthly leading-edge newsletter ePOWER NEWS by going to ePowerNews.com.