Re-inventing yourself and your business

An extract from the new audio series Real eConnections
by Stefan Swanepoel

New generation consumers are not trying to dis-intermediate Realtors®, but they do want a faster, smarter, more convenient and less paper-intensive way to buy a home. Your task is to provide it, or someone else will.

Business today is not really something new, but rather a shift in the way we do traditional business. In making that shift the number one high touch element is communication. With all of today’s communication tools there is no longer an excuse to be out of touch or to take a long time to respond.

Real estate professionals should aim to offer a single point of contact that is simple, easy and unobtrusive and provides a consistent quality experience that enhances an elongated customer relationship.

However, it is important to understand that the Internet is very powerful, and being the dynamic medium it is, continues to evolve. As we understand the Internet today we can broadly speaking divide the stages of the evolution of the Web into the following stages:

The Traditional Web

The phase was the first exposure we had to the Web. It was a new advertising and publishing medium. Websites and brochureware were the order of the day. Indeed the Web created an infinite amount of small customized niche markets, each requiring to be treated differently, even so far as in their respective own languages.

The Entertainment Web

The second phase was the Entertainment Web, and we were marveled at the new promotional, visually stimulating interactive medium. We began to understand that the Web was powerful, maybe more than many had anticipated and start looking for ways how this new universal network could help us provide instant global communications.

The Computing Web

People increasingly started to realize that it was critical to have a total online strategy to effectively play in this “New Economy” and in the third phase we started exploring how we could use this new tool and we endeavored to webize and commodotize everything. This stage although already fairly developed, will take many, many years as we refine CRM, AI and other elements of the Web.

The e-Commerce Web

Although we still have a long way to go to perfect online business, it has become a reality, and a great deal of emphasis has been placed on the value of the Internet as an ideal medium for e-Commerce. This stems in part from the Internet’s unique cognitive capabilities and its ability to reduce transaction costs with the ease of searching at an almost zero cost structure.

The Pocket Web

Meanwhile the fifth phase is rapidly approaching as we try to make the Internet as mobile as possible by creating wireless access and networks.

The Voice Activated Web

The next phase is also not that far away. Today command software can already free you from your keyboard and this growing need for “real-world-type-language” technology has spawned the development of speech recognition programs such as dictation software and voice-activated Web browsing programs. In the new tech high touch world of online commerce, having a live, Web-based voice between customers and company is rapidly becoming a necessity and this relatively new technology to humanize the Web can already be seen. By then the Web will have become so deeply ingrained into our society that it will be hard to envisaged having lived without it.

Summary

Regardless of what level of development your business is, there is and will always remain room for growth and improvement. Remember that e-Business is nothing more than t-business (traditional business) being done online. M-Business is nothing more than wireless e-business, v-business (voice enable business) nothing more than voice enabled m-business (mobile business). Easy, like growing up. In the end, re-inventing yourself will remain nothing more than personal growth - an ongoing process as the elements of business itself continues to evolve.

Regarding your company, an effective e-business solution will therefore require to harness both the power of the Web and the experience of an existing offline back-office operation. We will have to balance transformation into online transactional experts, offering high-touch data-driven consultative advice while continuing to resolve the personal and emotional complexities involved in buying a home.