I’ve
just read possibly my 893rd
news article about the millennials
and how we all need to change the way we market so we can reach them. Of course, in every single article I read
touching on this subject, they never give me a single suggestion on what I
should change or do differently to reach this bloc of buyers. Ugh!!!!!!
I’ll come back to that in just a moment.
Research
indicates that millennials
have grown up with a strong distrust for big institutions. That same research tells us that millennials
have trust issues – they lived on the sidelines during the subprime meltdown
and foreclosure fiasco – and they have a hard time trusting the “older”
generation. The typical real estate
agent is 57 years old, and the average age of a loan officer is 54. The median age of first-time homebuyers is
31. Here’s the reason these things
matter: Millennials
account for 32% of all home sales and 68% of first-time homebuyers – and those
numbers will continue to grow.
As
I said, the pundits (that’s a fancy word for “experts”) keep telling me I need
to change and adapt to reach out to and connect with the millennials,
but they never tell me how. Why? Because they don’t have the foggiest
idea. Don’t
despair,
though: I have three pieces of advice that will help you connect with the
younger buyers – and these things will help you connect better with ALL of your
buyers. None of these suggestions
requires you to create an app for a smartphone or invent a new technology that
predicts who is going to enter the market before they even know it themselves:
1. Be
reachable AND responsive by email and text – yes, I said “text”. If you are immediately responsive (meaning:
in an hour or two, not in a day or two), the millennials
(and everyone else) will be impressed.
Honestly, that’s as tech savvy as you need to be.
2. Use
plain English. Gone are the days when
people are impressed with our ability to trot out terms like BINSR and
amortization. This does not mean I think the millennials
aren’t smart enough to handle the home buying process and that it needs to be
“dumbed down” – quite the opposite, really: they’re demanding that we know our
stuff well enough to translate it into plain English so we’re not trying to
hide behind big fancy terms. The way we
assure we’re not doing the job for a lesser agent (read: not as smart) is
making the process so easily understood that clients see us as the reason for
that clarity – we “outsimple”
the competition. That’s how we gain
their trust.
3. This
is where and how you gain their loyalty – yes, their loyalty – in two words:
constant contact. I don’t mean sending
them a post card every six months. You
need to call, email, and text them (pick one method at a time) on a fairly
regular basis with a recommendation of a landscaping service, a pool cleaner, a
good restaurant, a financial planner, etc.
If they see you as a constant source of knowledge (that pays off), they
WILL come to you first to buy that next house, that vacation home, and
eventually that retirement home. With
the younger generations, gaining and keeping loyalty is like maintaining a
healthy lifestyle: no slacking.
You
can Facebook, Tweet, and Instagram
all day long – no harm in that – but the way to reach out to and connect with
the millennials
still revolves around being available and knowledgeable. You don’t need a pundit to tell you that!
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