Posted by Christopher Stevenson
My wife and I just put our house on the market. It's been a pain getting the house ready and finding a Realtor®, but the biggest disappointment in the process was the realization that open houses are now passe. I've always found open houses kind of exciting, whether I'm shopping for a house or selling one, but of the four real estate professionals we interviewed, only one still believed open houses are an effective selling tool. Why? Online real estate sites, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and so on.
People in the market for a new home don't venture out on Sunday afternoons, hunting down the requisite aluminum sign with the pointing arrow. Instead, they go on line any time of day or night that they get the urge, take virtual tours, and use interactive online calculators to figure out their mortgage payment. Now, I'm not stupid; I use those online tools myself and know everyone else does too. That said, it never occurred to me that the online tools are so effective that they would replace old-school open houses. If I'd put my home on FSBO, I'd be spending my weekends prepping for open houses. Thank goodness for my Realtor's perspective.
So what? What does this have to do with CUs or marketing?
Group think and faulty assumptions prevent us from doing what's best for our credit unions and members. If we don't break out of our day-to-day routines, network with CU peers and contacts from other industries, read stimulating material, and so on, we tend to stick to what we've always done, even if it's not what's best for accomplishing our goals. Sometimes you just need to have someone tell you your ideas are passe and it's time to move on.
How do you do it? Start with reading blogs and participating in Twitter. (Trust me when I say that there are all kinds of folks on Twitter who aren't afraid to tell you you need to do things differently.) Attend conferences, seminars, and networking events, both in the CU community and outside of it; consider joining a service organization.
Here's the scoop. We all, no matter what our background or intelligence, fall into a rhythm in our day-to-day lives. That rhythm helps us cope with challenges and change, but it also hobbles us as we try to do our jobs better. As far as I'm concerned, the best antidote is to spend time with people who aren't afraid to tell us we need to do better or to pitch us ideas that can promote excellence.
Do you have people?
