I Got to Meet Lola Audu !!

I just returned from a 2 day mini conference in Grand Rapids, MI sponsored by RE/MAX of Michigan Sales and Marketing Council, where John Tuccillo spoke. John is one of the foremost real estate economists in the United States. Between 1987 and 1997, he was the Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors. John now runs his own consulting firm, TJR & Associates  and is a National Speaker all over the United States and Author.

John is the author of numerous real estate books, his latest being How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment. His biggest seller is The Eight New Rules of Real Estate. All of Johns Tuccillos books can be reviewed by clicking on the underlined text.

I always enjoy these mini conferences and pick up great information. John spoke a lot about relating to the Generation X and Generation Y buyers and how we as baby boomers think differently. The average age of Realtor in the United States is 54, but the average age of new buyers entering the market is 34.

Baby Boomers, my generation, are known by the slogan, "You Can Make a Difference".  We like to drive around and "bond" with our customers. To us work is our life.

Gen X and Gen Y buyers are known by the slogan, "I work to live". Their real life is after their jobs. They like to look at a house and think, "Ok, I can live here, what's the bottom line?" They could care less about bonding.

Interesting, even though Gen X and Y consider their life after work the "real life", they do expect to have all the information available to them 24/7. I personally am not available 24/7 to my clients. So this was interesting. John, later clarified that didn't mean WE personally had to be available, but the information had to be available 24/7.

Generation X & Y like convenience and one stop shopping. So show them the lender, the title company, the inspectors, the appraisers. They don't have the time to go hunting for these professionals to make the transaction happen. Give them World Class Service, and make it convenient for them, we need to take away their stress. Generation X and Y like "regular office hours", as their weekends are for "their real life".

One thing the consumer wants regardless of when they were born is for us to show them that it is about THEM.

The most exciting time for me at the Conference was to meet Lola Audu and one of her team members, Theresa. I couldn't go to Grand Rapids without meeting another Activerain blogger and someone I so admire. So I scheduled a lunch with Lola and then snuck her into the afternoon session on The State of the Michigan Economy. (To be blogged on later)

I have met several Activerain bloggers and honestly it is and instant connection. You feel as though you have known them forever.

At the end of John speech, he spoke about the fact that not many Realtors were blogging so I sent him an invitation to join Activerain. Tee hee

There are 52,301 of us blogging here.