Back in January, I had the opportunity to ask a few questions of Dennis Crowley – CEO of the current belle of the social media start up ball. Particularly this year, Foursquare’s location based service has been attracting mounting attention and has exploded from a few hundred thousand to more than 1 million users in the past few months, with a “check-in” happening every second.  Wow!

The possibilities now for combining the real estate buying experience with augmented reality and other location based content is immense. We are currently looking at strategies for incorporating this sort of technology enabler into our lifestyle brand value proposition.

Ideas for the “next generation brokerage” come from everywhere – view the video below to see my interview where I captured a few more.

[Photo courtesy of DennisCrowley.com & FourSquare.com]

When we launched the brand in July of 2008 at Real Estate Connect, our conference sponsorship included the conference bags which were green, branded and made out of recycled material.  They were a huge hit. We were very proud to see 1,000 people walking around the conference with our special bags in tow. That prompted us to sponsor a number of conferences and launch a series of bags, all complimentary but different, a collectors series… and our obsession with bags had begun.

We carried that obsession further and decided that with every growth announcement, each agent would receive a bag filled with branded goodies, our very own version of a swag bag. After much deliberation, we decided these bags would be heavy canvas, expensive and monogrammed with the BHGRE logo in green.  The bags were a huge hit. The brand had begun to grow, and we realized that people loved to carry our bags; there were lots of positive comments and many requests for bags.

As we prepared our budget for 2010 and projected our growth, it became apparent that we had to scale back on the bags. Given the pace we expected to grow, the bags for every new agent would cost close to a million dollars! We began to look for alternatives. We found bags that looked really good and were less expensive, and surprise… everyone loved them. In fact, agents that had received more expensive bags started asking for the less expensive ones. Go figure.

You might be wondering why a brand CEO is so concerned about bags. Well, there is a lesson I want to share, and no, the lesson isn’t about cost versus value. The lesson is about taking time to pay attention the details. People notice the smallest of details. It is often the smallest detail that impresses the most.

It’s that attention to detail in the early days of a relationship that instinctively prompts your customer to feel they have made the right decision. And that is a great foundation for a successful long term partnership.

In other news, online video advertising has shown tremendous growth lately, as 94 percent of ad agencies plan to increase spending in the medium this year. This is perhaps a smart move, as another survey showed online video ads have a 65 percent general recall, as compared to 46 percent for TV ads. Considering online is often less expensive and can allow for specific audience targeting, it could be a good opportunity for some of you.

As with all things, the key to social networking is consistency. Even CEO’s will need to know how to use this growing form of communication effectively by 2025. According to Forrester Research, no excuses CEOs. For those of you who consider yourself social media savvy, how do you keep up with it?

In the past, I have talked a lot about the baby boomer and echo boomer demographics. But what about the middle boomer? The demographic, aged 52-58 years, has not yet felt “old” age set in and still has enormous spending power: one-third of the group has achieved or is on track to achieve their retirement goals and another one-third is only somewhat behind on their retirement goals, given the recession. For those of you in retirement states, what are you doing to attract and cater to this important, yet often neglected, group?

In Leading Change, by John P. Kotter, the author says “By any objective measure, the amount of significant, often traumatic, change in organizations has grown tremendously over the past two decades.” Further, Kotter’s opinion is that change will continue and in fact grow even stronger despite predictions to the contrary by others. I must admit I agree with Kotter and with the old adage, “The only thing constant in life is change.”  Our personal lives change constantly, not to mention the nation and the world at large.

I spent last week with the agents at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers in Atlanta, Georgia, a group who clearly embrace change.  A few observations about the agents led me to this conclusion:

• Anticipation – Their open demeanor demonstrated they were prepared and positioned for change.
• Excitement – Even before the announcement, the crowd of more than 2,000 agents were literally dancing in celebration of change.
• Vibe – The level of enthusiasm remained constant through the week.
• Responsiveness – They were clearly open to new ideas and anxious to incorporate them into their daily activities.

What is it that separates the resistors from the embracers when change comes along? I believe, in an organization, it is a combination of good leadership and attracting the right people – people who believe and share in your philosophies and vision.  My congratulations to Kevin Levent, President and CEO at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metrobrokers and to his amazing, adaptable team!

I take the criticism to heart. But given my tenure in this industry, given the many positions I’ve held, the roles I’ve played and the two countries in which I have served the real estate industry, based on what I have witnessed, I have to admit I understand it. In fact, on many levels, I agree with it.

I know many of you do as well.

Lately, members of the real estate industry have begun to speak up on issues. We are the new composers of criticism, insiders frustrated by the past and inspired by the future. We have swept our baggage under the rug for too long. It haunts us. And prevents our companies from progressing forward.

The issues are many. But what stands out clearly for me is the reason why this particular industry has been the subject of so much controversy. It’s simple really. At the core, what we do is important. Real estate is vital to our global economy.  And it affects lives profoundly.

We have portrayed ourselves as experts. Caretakers of the most important financial decision ever. And then what? We’ve run our brokerages poorly. We’ve diluted our brands. We stood by while others outside our industry ran circles around us technologically.

Today, because of the many factors surrounding us, we recognize that change needs to happen.  And it needs to happen now.

There’s been so much talk about the brokerage of the future and its various incarnations. As a member of the “traditional industry” I wanted to do something about it. I accepted a position with the largest real estate franchisor in the world, was offered the opportunity to launch a new brand from the ground up assembled a completely different type of executive team and took steps to create a version of what a future brokerage would look like.

For us it was a mixture of convention and tradition mixed with transparency – and a healthy dose of risk.

Think about it: A real estate brand CEO blogging, Facebooking, attending Barcamps and Twittering with agents, sharing ideas, doing everything to learn about things I did not grow up with. Who would have imagined it five years ago? To be honest, not even I. And that’s the point. It’s doable. It’s real. And it’s working.

We are thinking here, out loud and publicly, about what the next steps may be. We’ve learned there are many paths, many possibilities. It is not going to be a one size fits all future. So we decided to create a place where others can join us in this thinking. It seems right. It tends to the collaborative spirit we feel the future brokerage will be about.

In the ensuing weeks and months we will be blogging about the brokerage of the future and I invite you to share, comment, borrow, question and use this information as you will.

We’re in this together.

View Sherry Chris’ Inman Presentation: Next Generation Brokerage

So what has happened within the real estate industry?

Frankly, from a broker owner and brand perspective, not much. Agents jumped on the bandwagon early on creating Facebook and Twitter accounts, joining blogging platforms and organizing Barcamps to informally train each other and spread the word. I wrote about this in an earlier post  “Who Is Shaping  Our Future” – hats off to the group of agents, and a few broker owners who are spearheading this effort.

But what about the brokerage companies, the regional and national brands? Leadership is noticeably absent in this arena. I’m not talking about developing a Facebook  training program, or allowing a staff person to set up a company Twitter page. I’m talking about becoming visible, taking risks, engaging the public in an open and honest way, inviting commentary,listening to what your customers are saying and making decisions as a result.

Don’t think the agent population isn’t noticing this absence of leadership. Don’t think it isn’t being talked about online and offline. The way business is being conducted has changed right before our eyes, and while the real estate industry has always been a slow technology adopter, this is not the time to have your head in the sand. Here are some tips and how leaders in other industries are taking control:

• Create and post a viral video – Think Evian Babies
• Engage personally in social networks – Think AT&T
• Join the blogosphere – Think  Jonathan Schwartz, CEO Sun Microsystems blogs.sun.com/jonathan
• Create a community – Think www.minicooper.com

These companies are all taking risks… as consumers are going back to drinking tap water, Evian stands out. In a space where the competition is fierce, and you are not perceived as the best, AT&T invites commentary to help them improve in a world where CEOs have spokespeople, a few such as Jonathan choose to face the world of blogging head on. And in an industry most deeply wounded by this recession, Mini Cooper takes a chance that an online community of hopefully satisfied customers  will help sell more cars. This type of stuff takes guts.

In our industry there is a lot of chatter about “The Brokerage of the Future”. What does this industry need to look like to capture the interest of  the customers of today and tomorrow?  We decided to be proactive and engage the “groundswell “to assist us in doing some modeling. Are you curious? Join us in the conversation as we unveil our work at  Real Estate Connect San Francisco and on this blog in the weeks that follow. Leadership in the real estate industry has never been more important than right now.

To get the the idea, check out the Wikipedia description http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcamp

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate has been a sponsor of almost every event. We feel it is a way to give back, to collaborate, to learn what is really inside the heads of those who may very well be leaders in the future of the industry.  We feel these are incubators for the next generation of agent who need to learn and share information that is not taught in real estate school. These are agents who come from all walks of life and many different companies, drawn by a common passion to learn, share and grow.

The very first BarCamp was held last July in San Francisco. According to Andy Kaufman, founder and catalyst of the RE BarCamp movement, “the original vision was to organize a free event where people could meet up in real life and openly share ideas with one another”.  How unselfish is that? What he didn’t expect was the explosive growth and amazing community that resulted from the first event.

The BarCamp movement is special. It is run and attended by what I would call some of the true entrepreneurs of the industry.  They understand that in the transparent world we live in, to thrive in the future means to openly share today.  Putting the ideas of many together will allow us to be in control of truly shaping our future.  Many of the participants are what I would call trailblazers,  pioneers of the new way of doing business who will take not just the baton from the old guard, but will take their market share as well. It is only a matter of time.

As a student of the industry, and one who is building a brand that embraces the future, I like to interact with these people who are so passionate about what our industry needs to look like now.  BarCamp devotee Ginger Wilcox told me “most conferences are all about people talking at you, BarCamps are all about learning while participating and engaging.  The first one scared me because it was so unplanned, but now I realize the best learning opportunities come from collaborative brainstorming, this is where innovation is born”.  I couldn’t agree more!

Krystal Kraft who arranged the recent event in Denver says “there is a universal appeal because they speak to people with a wide range of skill sets. There is excitement that turns into synergy when groups of people get together with the purpose of sharing”.

And so from a humble beginning, and a group of about 50 people who shaped the first event, the movement has grown to multiple events in venues  across the country with hundreds of attendees at each.  Personally, I couldn’t be more impressed with the people who organize these grassroots learning days, and the people who fly and drive in to each city to participate. Notice I use the word “participate” rather than “attend”. You see, there is a big difference.

While some brokers are back at the office trying to decide how their companies need to change to meet the next generation of agents and consumers on their own, others are participating in events such as these to ensure they are involved in shaping our future now.  You can count me as part of the second group.