In his very popular book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Steven Covey tells a story about a man who comes to him at a seminar and confesses that he does not love his wife anymore and wants Covey’s advice. Covey tells him to love her. It takes a little more conversation for Covey to make the point that love is a decision. Now, I most emphatically do NOT endorse this as a way to pick a mate, but I do think it makes sense to embrace the community that you live in, or for Durham listing agents, the community that you are trying to make a living in.
I’m not sure why it would seem a radical idea for a listing agent to promote the community where the listing is, but you don’t see much of it. I think there are several reasons. All are related to one of the primary themes of this blog, that is that the shift from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market requires more sophisticated marketing on the part of listing agents (that’s why I often refer to listing agents as marketing directors.) The first is simply herd mentality. There hasn’t been much good marketing to emulate. Second, we are used to focusing on the property and not the experience. The same exact artful arrangement of bricks, mortar and appliances in Hope Valley provides a different experience than it would in Forest Hills…or Cary or Chapel Hill, for that matter. Finally, there are a lot of people that are just a little bit embarrassed by Durham, or think they should be.
Even when the embarrassment is justified, the last thing you want your Listing Agent/Marketing Director to do as a Seller/CEO is show that embarrassment. It doesn’t really take that much effort to emphasize the positive. On Saturday, Kevin Davis in his excellent blog, BullCityRising.com, has a post about how little coverage the local media and even the boosters like the Chamber and the DCVB have given the fact that the Durham MSA was ranked 12th among over 200 other MSAs as the best places for business and careers. It will also surprise many that Forbes also ranked Durham 20th in the country for its schools. Kevin’s blog regularily reports on the positive things in Durham and I’ll reference them at every opportunity here.
What explains the gap between so many people’s perception of Durham and what Forbes sees? The difference is that Forbes is looking at measurable indicators like cost-of-living, job creation and net migration, while most locals’ opinions are created by news coverage.
Exactly how should the Listing Agent/Marketing Director communicate more about the “experience” of living in one of Durham’s upscale communities. A number of techniques are outlined in the Durham Luxury Home Report which is available through the link on the left sidebar. Surprisingly, the most important audience for this information is also the easiest to reach, buyers agents that operate in Wake and Orange Counties. For several reasons but primarily because there are so many of them, they are most likely to end up representing the qualified luxury buyers coming to the Triangle.
