Now, before we get started, let's all at least agree on one thing. Leslie Stahl does have a cool haircut. Come on, I know you're ticked at her and everything, but, you have to admit, that's a pretty hip doo.

Good Doo's notwithstanding, I'm betting when Leslie decides to sell her house in Connecticut, she'll call a big name local agent and pay them a fat commission.

It's fair to say her report on real estate commissions was, let's say, viewer friendly. Surprise. And it's fair to say it pretty much sucked. Whether by error of omission or commission, Leslie slapped 1.3 million real estate agents around pretty good. And hell hath no fury like a REALTOR® scorned.

A swift and impotent reaction
Following the broadcast, a tsunami of cyberspace angst ignited in a flurry of cyber-ink, it buzzed at lightening speed actually stressing the internet. Livid real estate agents furiously fingered keyboards. Consumers blasted Stahl's email box at CBS, praising her for defending them.

"CEO Statement" emails were issued from the great real estate Ivory Towers in Colorado and New Jersey, preaching, of course, to the choir. My recommendation would have been to instead maybe send them to the top 300 newspaper editors in the country-hell, maybe it would spread some good cheer [at some level], you know, public relations, damage control, etc.

Real estate pundits launched emergency retaliatory articles, one even suggesting all of us who earn our living in real estate should boycott 60-Minutes.

I'm only guessing here, but, I have to believe CBS evaluated that damage possibility weeks ago and decided we wouldn't be that missed that much. Boycott 60-Minutes indeed.

Heck yes, let's spread the word; damn it, we were treated unfairly by 60-Minutes! We've been wronged! Whine, whine, whine. Maybe we can whine so much we can get 60-Minutes off the air. Yes, that would "show" them. And 300 CBS employees would lose their jobs. And their families would suffer badly. More Imus justice. After all, we are offended!

You could say, real estate people are mad as hell, but not quite sure what to do about it-so bitching seems like the best place to start. Unfortunately, sympathetic supporters seem in short supply.

The story wasn't about statistics and numbers anyway
Of course, it would have been nice, albeit unrealistic, had Leslie gotten the facts right. But statistics and numbers never make much of a story. The story was about an industry at war with its customers. Now that makes a story.

Let's just say it: Leslie Stahl isn't the problem. What reporter has ever done a positive story defending real estate agents and promoting high commissions? Doesn't happen. And if you were a 60 Minutes Correspondent, you would know that.

See, there are a lot more people watching 60 Minutes who don't want to pay $16,000.00 to sell their home, than people who do. And that was what the story was all about. Statistical data be damned.

We whine incessantly about negative press. But we don't strategically provide interesting, newsworthy and publishable press releases about ourselves, our companies, or our contributions to the media. We just continue to react. We don't act.

We whine about the discount demons, Help-U-Sell and Assist2Sell, as if they don't have a right as Americans, in a free market democracy, to pursue their dreams and ambitions through any legal business model they so choose.

No, Leslie Stahl is not the problem. And more importantly, whining is not a strategy.

Ahhh, differentiation. Finally.
The differentiation that real estate companies have sought for years has finally come to fruition. And, interestingly enough, it arrived in the form of money, or, "commission differentiation".

Consumers have more options (confusion) than ever before when it's time to sell. Is that a good thing? Each of us has to decide that for ourselves, but clearly this is no longer a "trend" - it is now an everyday fact of life in the real estate business.

And what commission strategy you, or your company, takes is going to affect not only how many listing
appointments you convert to salable listings, it will to a large degree, determine how often your telephone rings.

You may not be done with 6%, but I assure you, your clients are
Eventually you'll find out, what most sellers really want is just a "compromise". Like 5.95% instead of 6%. They just want to know you feel some empathy for them. To, me, that's not only reasonable, it's a new marketing view. A better way to do business.

Then came the segment of the program when Leslie interviewed the RE/MAX agent. I cringed. I was praying she wasn't going to say, "well, if an agent can't negotiate a full commission for themselves, do you really expect them to negotiate a higher price for you?" A classic old school objection handling dialogue and arguably the second stupidest sentence ever uttered. ("Bring em' on," if you were wondering.)

But no, she went a different direction, opting instead to use the often reliable justification, "hey, my overhead is really high," reasoning.

Sadly, this gal came off, as I am certain the CBS producers had scripted, like a stereo-typical, over motivated, over caffeinated, hard charge, fire breathing, obnoxious, greedy, self-consumed, narcissistic real estate agent. (No offense you understand.) She was kind of cute though.

Incidentally, customers don't give a fat rat's patoot what your overhead is; and why should they? Back to 60-Minutes.

The story moved to Seattle. Redfin Real Estate. An interesting start-up who has plodded dutifully along in relative obscurity until teaming up with Leslie for the show, undoubtedly changing the lives and finances of Redfin folks forever; and good for them!

A humble, disarming and obviously intelligent young guy, Glenn Kelman, explains how his internet real estate company has given millions back to sellers. He has something of a Bill Gates type of demeanor. He's a geek, a computer nerd with a real estate license. And he could be dangerous in the years ahead.

And he has something different. And different is ALL that gets noticed in the flurry of advertising and marketing you and I encounter every day.

His company doesn't take itself too seriously. They don't brag, they can actually laugh at themselves. And people like that quality. And they respond to it. In fact, as they interviewed Redfin agents, you get the idea that working with them would be kind of fun. And people like fun. You remember fun, right?

Now let me give you a profound piece of Alpha Dog Advertising Executive Wisdom:

In any marketing war, the #1 priority is staying focused on who your fight is with.

And its not with each other. Right now, and until this industry re-thinks things, the fight we're having is with our clients and customers. Leslie's screw-ups notwithstanding, she did a pretty nifty job of getting the point across to Americans, "you have to be some kind of lettuce head to pay a 6% commission!"

Leslie was the hero[ette] and we were the goat. How else could it work? It's her show.

When agents from one company battle with agents from another company, I AM TELLING YOU, "somebody" will come along and snatch the business away from both of them."

Oh no? In the 1980's Sears decided it had to battle with Montgomery Ward. They had a 3-year price war. And while they were busy beating each other up, Wally Mart snuck in the backdoor and kicked both their asses. And did a pretty darn good job of it.

Coke and Pepsi quit trying to "knock each other off" in the 1990's. Instead, they realigned their strategy to suppress the smaller drink brands. The real threat, they fought the right fight.

Man, in advertising and marketing, you have to fight the right fight. And right now, this industry is at war with its customers, and in a free market economy, the consumer will eventually win 100% of the time.

People think speakers are phony, especially those who look like a speaker. Red tie, gold watch, you know. They look like I do! (Though I am "reinventing myself" right now, you know, like Madonna does, I think I'm going to become Elvis next.)

People suspect speakers are only really there to get them to buy something. (Imagine that.) The word "speaker" itself conjures up a little suspicion in most people's minds. And I hate that because I really am "different." (Sound familiar?)

If you're going to speak you have to buy into the fact that all those perceptions deeply exist in people's minds, it comes with the territory, and the only way to overcome that is through your own dealings with them.

By actually being something different, you can change people's minds about YOU, but you will never change people's minds about real estate agents in general. THAT is THEIR choice.

If you were a doctor, you would make a lot of money and be respected by every one and have a membership at a great country club, but, you would still have to look at stool samples. It goes with the territory.

Every job has a downside, and in real estate, the universal perception is what it is; most people SEE a real estate agent as being just like the RE/MAX lady Leslie Stahl so masterfully chewed to pieces on national television.

It all comes down to you; you can confirm their
beliefs, or you can be a unique and refreshingly
positive surprise.

Well, at any rate, it was an interesting interview and now I'll tell you my favorite part:

For me, it was when Redfin CEO Kelman, looked straight into the camera and announced, "real estate is the most screwed up industry in America." A profound thought if you think about it. And I did.

Like it or not, he pretty much hit the nail right on the head. THIS IS ONE SCREWED-UP industry.

And for those of you who have been around a while, that's one of the reasons we love this business so much.

Real estate can be a whacky business. It's Bi-polar! You come into the office in the morning and find out a deal fell through. You go south. That afternoon, a guy walks in and buys an $834,000.00 house. You go north! The real estate rollercoaster.

It's a tough business. It can be a VERY tough business. Few winners, lots and lots of losers. It takes a very unique individual to succeed in real estate.

Real estate people are interesting [mostly]. Good real estate people are characters, each with their own style, ideas, ways and strategies. Interesting people, and the great ones I find are highly intelligent people. Mostly, real estate agents are "different".

Corporate America has tried many times to turn real estate companies into their own cash cows. And they have failed in every instance. Corporate executives from both Merrill Lynch and Sears beat their heads against the wall trying to "corporatize" real estate people in the 80's-and they failed.

It's a competitive, yet interdependent business
The guy who owns Ace Hardware in your town doesn't have a clue how well his competition is doing, he can't run over to his competitor's store and borrow his inventory, he doesn't even know the size of the hardware market in his community.

In real estate, you know EXACTLY how well your competition is doing, every day if you like. You share inventory with everyone. You can find out exactly how many homes are being bought and sold-you know the exact size of the market. I like that about real estate.

Good real estate people are respected by others
True enough, there are a lot of sleaze bags in real estate. Frankly, it would be mathematically impossible to put 1.3 million people in a line and not have some serious sleaze bags; in fact, statistically, 1.8 of them would be serial killers! But the most successful agents in this business are, with very few exceptions, the good guys. Honest-to-a-fault, completely transparent, disclosure insistent professionals.

Good real estate agents (and companies) are well respected leaders in their community: Top agents don't have to deal with the stereotyping very often. The higher you go, the more respect you get.

• Shorter listing presentation appointments
• They are not bad-mouthing anyone!
• Offering several commission options
• Listing what services they'll provide
• Staying on-code with their listing message
• Better advertising that produces calls

Yes, making changes is hard. I know, we've had to completely change our company's products and
services to meet the new needs of real estate
companies, and it was no small task. But, it can be done. And we can help you make those changes smoothly and effectively. (Sorry, it seemed like the perfect place for a plug, I couldn't resist)

In summary
Well, to put it bluntly-America isn't impressed with us at the moment, they think we charge too much to do to little. Whose fault it is doesn't even matter. What can we do to patch things up? That's where your marketing (at any level) has to stay focused.

6% is dead
(I had a lady arrogantly tell me the other day that she always gets 6% - so I looked up her listings on the internet. One. Proof that artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.)

Whining is not a strategy
Good God! Can we please stop with the whining and start refabricating the way we do business? Can we create a new Starbucks, only one that sells houses instead of really good, really expensive coffee? Can we change our thinking? Can we focus on consumers, not each other?

Can we quit worrying about what everybody else is doing and focus on doing what we do better?
This is no small thing. For 25 years, real estate companies have been busy making sure their advertising and marketing was just about the same as their competitors. I guess on the assumption that their competitors advertising and marketing was working. An illogical assumption.

The winners tomorrow will be FREE thinkers. People who can take their minds Out of the Box! Like Redfin is doing. But in a stable way.

Can we get consumers to feel differently about us?
A large question, isn't it? Do we have the creativity, guts and know-how to give consumers what they want so their hostilities dwindle and eventually die?

Well, we'll see, time is telling. As for me, I've got to call CBS to get the name of Leslie's hairdresser.

10 things to think about from this issue

1.) You may not be done with 6%, but your
clients are-FIND A SMALL COMPROMISE!

2.) No visible price tag always results in haggling

3.) Consumers don't want to haggle either

4.) If they don't see what they get, they won't
be comfortable paying for it

5.) People like choices and participation

6.) The secret to getting more salable listings is
to miss fewer salable listings

7.) Unless it's different, it won't be noticed

8.) It's all in the packaging, get retail minded

9.) Stories sell. Statistics are not influential,
(and boy, this is a hard one for a lot of folks).

10.) You don't have to out-work anyone, but you
have to out-advertise, everyone