Real estate and mortgage, especially in niches or in smaller towns can get really entangled — almost incestuous at times. We all know each other, we refer back and forth, and sometimes it seems like there are too many professionals at too small a trough. Most real estate agents know that LOs need to work with several agents if they want to stay alive but sometimes this causes conflict.
So what do you do when two good sources of business fight and want you to take sides? Has anyone co-marketed with one Realtor and had another one object? In this case we have two neighborhood web sites — one put up by me and one put up afterwards by an agent (I’ll call him Rick) who works with my LO husband Jeff. Jeff advertises on Rick’s site and pays for that. Another agent who also lives in the neighborhood and refers to Jeff (I’ll call her Beth) advertises on my site and pays for it. My site has a page with pictures and brief descriptions of every listing in the area and links to the agents’ pages. Everyone gets equal exposure for free. Ricks site only has his own listings. My page has a heading stating that it is sponsored by Jeff and Beth. Rick is throwing a fit and demanding that I take the whole page down. Jeff is trying to stay out of it and I’m trying to resolve it amicably. Beth thinks it’s funny….HELP!
Thats hard. Rick sounds a little controlling. But I guess if he is sending you business its hard to tell him to shove it. What is Rick’s basis for asking you to take it down.
Just like what Austin said that is hard or I would say uncomfortabale. In one respect I would say that you are both working in a free market and everyone has an equal opportunity to work. howver when everyone is working for or with each other and you all know each other it makes it hard. I really dont think that you should have to give in you are only advertising or hosting a website that advertises everyone I think that is great exposure for everyone.
Thanks. Rick’s basis for his demand is that because Beth is sponsoring the entire page he thinks it looks like all the listings are hers. Of course anyone who clicks on a property gets linked right to the Realtor who has the listing. And the heading reads “Real Estate Section” and in small print “Sponsored by…”. Actually, I decided to bail on the site altogether. Beth is going to take it over, then she and Rick can have their dueling sites. We’ll continue to advertise on both and stay neutral that way. Thanks for the input!
Gina,
My advice would be to “fire the client”. Clients who bring drama to the table usually fall into the wrong side of the effort/reward scale.
20% of your clients/vendors/neighbors/associates cause 80% of the drama.
Boy that’s making my brain hurt. If listings other than Beth’s are on the site, I’d choose to NOT accept Beth as a sponsor but would rather she had an ad that is more like a banner ad or button. I agree with Rick that it’s confusing. Her ad needs to be something that consumers relate to easily and Rick should be offered the same privilege.
Diane. I understand your point that all the listings go to Beth. But it seems that at this point most realtor sites have a search with all the mls listings available. So if Rick has a problem with Beth’s site he also has a problem with millions of other Realtor websites.
All the listings don’t go to Beth. Clicking on a listing goes to the listing agent’s site. So if someone is interested in Rick\’s listing and clicks on it they get HIS site. I thought that was more than fair — free exposure for anyone listing a property. Beth got to be the sponsor because she paid. Rick had the same chance to do that but chose not to — and now he wants no one else to either.
Yeah I would be worried about doing business with Rick.
I agree with Lee, Find new associates with less drama.
Perhaps the solution is not marketing in such a way that everyone knows your business. When you advertise on someone else’s site people will limit your availability to that alliance. There are ways to obtain a continuous flow of referrals from Realtors without traditional marketing and advertising. The best process is RealtorConnect which drives qualified leads from your target Realtors to you on a consistent, continuous basis. Once the process is in place there is no cost for ongoing business. Banks have been using this process for years with great results now it is available to Mortgage Brokers.