BY GARY HOCKEY

Most of us who make our daily living in the real estate industry would agree that the industry has undergone some significant changes in recent years. However, if you’re one of the many people who still think that our industry is just beginning to change, you may be in for a rude awakening. Whether you’re ready for it or not, the reality is that some of the most critical changes to ever affect our industry have already happened.
The most obvious of these is the advent of technology, in particular the use of the Internet in the buying and selling process. This has taken us from the being the “keepers of information” to the challenge of finding different ways to “control” today’s information-loaded, market-savvy consumer. But this is only a part of an even greater change that many professionals in our industry have completely overlooked. The changing demographics of Canada’s population have resulted in new trends from a new type of customer. Do you know what those trends are, or how to adapt your business to meet them?
It’s my contention that many of us simply don’t know who our customer is, or what they want. Admittedly, they still have the same ultimate objectives in terms of wanting to buy or sell a home at an advantageous price, as our customers did in the past. However, the way they go about doing it, and what they want from us – their real estate professional – has changed to reflect a new way of thinking.
One of the reasons why many real estate salespeople are having “disconnects” with their customers is because of the age gap between salespeople and their changing customer base. In an industry where the average age of a real estate salesperson is typically in the mid-40s to the mid-50s, many more of our customers’ age range is in their late 20s to 30s – especially with today’s low interest rates fuelling more first-time buyers entering the market. Increasingly, we don’t think, or even speak the same language as our customers.
Beloit College in Wisconsin handles this potential disconnect with an annual briefing to the faculty about the incoming class of first-year students (For them, gas has always been unleaded, there have always been store checkout scanners, and so on.). If we follow their example, here are a few interesting facts to help you relate to an average first-time buyer of 28 years of age.

— Your customer was born in 1975, six years after the Beatles broke up. In all likelihood they cannot name all four members of the group.
— There have always been video games. The first video game, Pong, was invented before they were born.
— The last manned mission to the moon was completed before your customer started kindergarten.
— They’ve never heard of Sputnik or the space race.
— Top-rated TV shows on the air when your customer was born were MASH and All in the Family. The Mary Tyler Moore Show had already been on the air for five years.
— There have always been Walkmans.
— They started grade one in the 1980s. Ronald Reagan was president, and they probably have no memory of any other prime minister than Jean Chrétien.
— The top-rated show on television when your customer entered elementary school was the Who Shot JR? episode of Dallas.
— It’s likely that they have never owned a record, or operated a turntable.
— DVDs were introduced when they were still in school. They have no memory of video stores that offered both Beta and VHS format tapes.
— There’s a strong probability they have never watched a black and white TV.

Interesting, isn’t it? While knowing the names of the Beatles may not come up very often when servicing your customers, these examples do help to illustrate that many of us are servicing across a generation gap. We are dealing with customers who were raised with a computer in the classroom, and in the home, and probably in their backpack. In fact, Canadians own more personal computers per capita than any other nation on the planet.
We also lead the world in Internet access per capita -– not surprising when you consider our affluent, well-educated population is scattered across great distances. Our customers today see things differently. They have been raised with easy access to an unlimited amount of rapid-fire information. The Internet is not becoming, but has in fact already become the primary research vehicle of today’s customer. More than 80 per cent of consumers now start their information search on the Internet. Why then, do so many Realtors resist the change and remain almost computer illiterate? Why do so many individual salespeople still focus their marketing efforts on print advertising? Again, I believe it’s because we don’t understand who our customer is, and we’re looking for them in the wrong places.
Knowing our customer also demands that we are prepared to do things in new ways. A broker’s or even a salesperson’s personal technology strategy can no longer consist of simply posting listings on a website and waiting for hits. To compete successfully for today’s real estate consumer, any Internet marketing plan must have the capability to pro-actively build relationships with existing clients, as well as proactively go after new ones. If you’re not capturing hits to your listings in a database for continued follow-up, then you’re throwing away a valuable and extremely well-qualified source of leads. And in this era of SPAM and computer viruses, a broad-brush generic message sent to all prospects is simply not enough. Today’s customer wants -– and expects — specific, customized and relevant information if you are going to load up their Inbox.
An examination of some other Canadian demographics points to some interesting emerging consumer trends. Today’s consumers are generally better educated than the customers of earlier decades. This translates into the consumer also being more sophisticated and more demanding. They are more likely to “shop around” for Realtor services, and there is a growing emphasis on providing full service and demonstrating value for the commission paid. Our industry has started to address this need by offering “concierge” style services, but it can’t stop there. Consider this:

— Canadian homeowners are also becoming less mobile, staying in their homes longer. They’re spending a significant amount of money on repairs and renovations. This is a key opportunity for our industry to continue to add value and maintain on-going customer relationships.
— The Canadian population is becoming wealthier. Nine million “baby boomers” have either inherited, or are poised to inherit, their parents’ wealth. This will result in an even greater need for specialization in such niche markets as prestige, upscale homes and vacation/resort properties.
— Canada’s population is aging and there will be an increased emphasis on providing housing types and features that will accommodate a simplified, less active lifestyle. Full service, and more importantly, personalized service will become a focal point for winning this customer group.
— The baby boom is over, and it looks like we’re heading for a baby bust. More Canadians are delaying their decision to start a family and are having fewer children than in past generations. A larger than ever percentage of Canada’s future population growth will be accomplished through immigration, rather than simple birth rate. Since more future buyers will be coming into Canada from outside markets, there is a greater need to reach them early and in new ways.

As you can see, Canada’s population represents a constantly moving and evolving customer base. If you take this information as a “wake up call” of what’s ahead, you can effect changes now in how you do business. By understanding who your customer really is, perhaps you can better anticipate their needs and be ready for the inevitable ongoing change before it comes.

Gary Hockey is president of Coldwell Banker Canada.