ERA Real Estate: Taking a Customer-Centric Approach to Business By Stephanie Andre
Those in the know will tell you that in order to be successful, you must know your audience. Whether you’re selling milkshakes or mansions, the key is to know who you are serving, what they want and what they need.
Enter ERA Real Estate, a company that has taken a similar approach, pushing all of its efforts toward understanding its customers.
“My feeling—which I often repeat—is that when I arrived at ERA, I felt like I’d come home,” says Brenda W. Casserly, president and COO of ERA Real Estate. “The culture here is directed toward our customers’ needs. At the end of the day, our brokers and sales associates understand that the transfer of property is a relationship business.”
This is the ERA® Always There for You® philosophy. “This company is driven by this customer-centric system,” Casserly says. “Everything we do is directly correlated to this idea.”
The culture, according to Casserly, is broken up into three specific areas: a passionate commitment to supply the wants and needs of buyers and sellers; state-of-the-art support systems to help sales associates and brokers provide better service to their customers; and continued growth in international and cultural diversity.
“ERA Real Estate has always been very innovative—even in the beginning, we were founded on cutting-edge technology—at the time it was a fax machine,” Casserly says. “Today, we have many ‘firsts’ in the industry, which continue to respond to the unique wants and needs of consumers.”
Marketing to the Individual Consumer
Among the most robust innovations ERA Real Estate has brought to its brokers and sales associates is its new Direct Marketing Resource Center (DMRC). Launched in February, the DMRC serves as a “one-stop” online destination for ERA affiliates’ prospecting and direct marketing needs. Through the resource center, brokers and sales associates can manage their own comprehensive consumer databases, as well as a wide selection of print and Internet-based materials, to create targeted prospecting, customer loyalty and direct marketing programs.
“Our Direct Marketing Resource Center packages everything our sales associates and brokers need to keep in touch with their consumers—from print and e-mail marketing resources to an up-to-date customer database,” says P.J. Martin Smith, senior vice president of marketing for ERA Real Estate. “Everything in this system is centered around the customer.”
From this information, brokers and sales associates are able to individualize their marketing efforts, whether the customer is a first-time home buyer, Echo Boomer, Baby Boomer or someone in need of Spanish-language materials, Smith says.
“All the sales associate has to do is click on the message track they want to send to the customer,” she says. “Each and every client can have their own personalized direct marketing campaign—a campaign that will continue automatically for four years without any further work on the part of the sales associate.”
“We believe in being able to provide very customized service to consumers,” she continues. “We’ve learned that in order to get the most success with platforms such as this, our sales associates need these packaged programs or the marketing will get away from them because they are so busy.”
Reaching Out to Baby Boomers
At the top of the customized marketing groups is the 50-plus set. Realizing there was an opportunity to learn more about this important and influential group, ERA Real Estate commissioned an annual survey of 50-plus consumers several years ago.
“We tried to create a benchmark to get a feel for this group’s needs,” says Smith. “We asked everything from ‘what are you looking for in a real estate agent?’ to some fun questions as well.
“Clearly, this is a huge marketplace,” she continues. “They’re not really senior citizens—they are still actively employed, creating the wealth they have been striving for, and very curious about resort properties and vacation homes. They are also actively involved in their children’s real estate ventures.”
In turn, ERA Real Estate developed its New Thresholds marketing program.
“Everything in this program is customized toward those 50 and older—the graphics, the copy,” Smith says. “Lots of sales associates have started working with this group. The industry has changed substantially over the last few years and everyone is looking for more customized service. And seniors are no different. They are more likely to work with someone if they feel they understand who they are and what they want and need. We make sure our marketing addresses that.”
What’s more, according to Smith, ERA Real Estate also offers training for sales associates to help them understand how this group is different from others. “Each group of people is different,” she says. “Therefore, we feel the need to make sure that ERA sales associates understand each group’s dynamics.”
Helping Spanish-Speaking Customers
With more than 13% (40 million+) of the U.S. population and some $581 billion in purchasing power, the Hispanic market is booming. To help target this emerging market, ERA Real Estate has developed numerous resources—including Espanol.ERA.com and its DMRC components—to help sales associates provide the best service to Hispanic home buyers and sellers.
“Espanol.ERA.com is such an important component of our marketing program,” Smith says. “The ability to search for sales associates, look up regional and marketplace information, and have access to Spanish-speaking sales associates is so important for these customers.”
Indeed, Arthur Estavillo, broker/ owner of ERA The Realty Group in Mesa, Arizona, says ERA Real Estate’s resources and initiatives have helped his company develop its own Hispanic marketing team.
“We have six people on the team,” explains Estavillo. “They conduct business as our Spanish-speaking team. They do quite a bit of business and are also heavily involved with the Chamber of Commerce.”
In the team’s downtown office, Estavillo says the group has made the office very comfortable for its customers, complete with Spanish-language signs. The group has also cultivated relationships with Spanish-speaking sales associates, loan officers and title companies.
“We take a team approach to everything down there,” he says. “We make sure our customers really feel at home in all areas. Hispanic clients are very loyal—once they start working with you, they will continue working with you.”
Estavillo says the Spanish-language Web site is very helpful for his clients as well.
“Being able to offer these clients complete access to ERA features is so important,” he says. “ERA Real Estate has put everything on the English-language Web site (ERA.com) on Espanol.ERA.com. This really helps when Spanish-speaking clients come into the office—we are able to pull up the search engine for them in Spanish.
“It has made it easier to actually expand the way we are marketing,” he adds. “These resources have helped us bring a huge segment of the marketplace to the forefront. We now have the tools and have gained awareness.”
More Customized Marketing Ahead?
But even with all the progress ERA Real Estate has made, both Casserly and Smith agree that more work is ahead.
“We’ve only just begun to crack the surface with the Direct Marketing Resource Center,” says Casserly. “It will continue to develop. The DMRC is still in its infancy. We’ll keep going down the road to more customization for more groups. We still have tremendous opportunity in this area.”
In fact, Smith says ERA Real Estate is already starting marketing plans for a new group; the company is in the beginning stages of work with the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
“Like with the 50-plus set and our Hispanic clients, we’ll need training for brokers and sales associates so that they understand the needs and wants of this group of people,” she says. “This is a tremendously important group when it comes to purchasing power and real estate.” RE
Achieving Greatness in Relocation
What would it be like to win an Academy Award? What about winning Olympic Gold? Ask Jim Grandon, president of Jack Gaughen Realtor ERA in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His company, which has been in business for over 40 years, recently won the 2006 Cendant Mobility Broker Network Cup, given to the top relocation company in the Cendant family by Cartus, formerly Cendant Mobility.
“Winning the cup is the ultimate reward for the work we do,” says Grandon.
Adds John Carraher, director of relocation and business development for ERA Real Estate: “Winning the highest award Cartus gives, shows the quality and expertise of a company. This was the best representation on the awards stage I’ve seen since coming aboard the ERA network.”
Even after receiving the honor, Grandon is reflective.
“The really great thing about winning the cup,” Grandon says, “is that it shows that amongst all of our peers, a small company in South Central Pennsylvania could achieve the highest standards of service excellence for our customers.”
Even with the success, Grandon understands that relocation isn’t an easy business.
“People know they can trust us with their relocation needs,” he says. “People moving into or out of our area need to know that Jack Gaughen Realtor ERA has been recognized by the world’s largest relocation provider, Cartus, as a world-class provider. We are dealing with military personnel, businesses and individuals, and our goal is to provide truly remarkable service to all our relocation customers.
“The biggest piece is customer satisfaction,” he adds. “We don’t want people to remember their move in or out of South Central Pennsylvania as a bad experience.”
Moving forward, Grandon says that for his team, the work continues. “We have to continue to show our clients that we care about them,” he says. “When thinking about relocating, companies can trust Jack Gaughen Realtor ERA to provide great service.”
Grandon says he owes much of the company’s relocation success to his director of relocation, Dick Tucker. “He really set up that department from the start,” says Grandon. “It all started with him.”
A Masters Cup Champ
Winning the Cendant Mobility Broker Network Masters Cup is no small feat either. Just ask Peter Hunt, president of Hunt Real Estate ERA in Buffalo, New York. This award recognizes outstanding performance in the same categories as the Cendant Mobility Broker Network Cup, and is presented to a previous cup winner. His company has won this award for an unprecedented third year.
“This means a great deal to us in upstate New York,” Hunt says. “It really says a great deal about the quality of work in relocation by our people. In the upstate area, we have not benefited as much from the housing boom over the last five years, so to achieve this level of success is—in my mind—a sign of the recognition of work being done.”
Relocation is a unique niche, according to Hunt. “It requires concentration that many companies aren’t willing to apply,” he says. “Our longstanding relationship with Cartus, as well as our relationship with ERA Real Estate, has brought us two great partners that help us provide better services and products for our sales associates and clients.” Hunt says his ERA relationship has also allowed his company to serve a broader area and its relocation services cover a bigger geography than ever before.
“It’s through this relationship that we’ve been able to take the company to the next level,” Hunt says.
What’s more, Hunt says the ERA Sellers Security Plan has been a big selling point for his company in terms of relocation clients.
“The SSP is one of the greatest things a real estate company can offer as you go out and talk to the community,” he says. “By offering SSP to companies that may not qualify with larger corporate relocation companies, there is a relatively low cost benefit for employees to go through us—it’s really unbelievable. That program helped us build relationships with builders and corporations like none I have ever seen. We have achieved great success with that program—more than I ever dreamed.”
Streamlining the Sellers Security Plan
In line with its philosophy, Always There for You, ERA Real Estate in 2005 made substantial changes to its Sellers Security® Plan (SSP), which promises clients that the ERA broker will sell their home or ERA Real Estate will buy it.
The changes include moving from two appraisals and an inspection, as well as additional fees, to one appraisal and inspection, and no extra costs.
“Our applications are up 145 percent in the last year,” says John Carraher, director of relocation and business development for ERA Real Estate.
What’s more, the changes have brought about more discussions with builders.
“Because of the new changes to the program, our brokers are developing relationships with builders more than ever,” Carraher says. “Some of the largest builders, who even have their own sales forces, are taking some of their own potential buyers and referring them to ERA Real Estate.”
Also, sellers are seeing value in the program more than every before, he says.
In fact, 34% of all applications received are selling in 30 days or so, according to Carraher.
“The SSP changes have brought in more sellers,” he says. “For the cost of an appraisal and inspection, they can now get everything started. Prior to changes in the program, the SSP process was more time consuming and included more fees. People didn’t see the quality of the program.”
Peter Hunt, president of Hunt Real Estate ERA in Buffalo, New York, agrees.
“We always liked the SSP program, but it was limiting,” he says. “Now, with the changes, the beneficial impact to the customer is almost too good to be true. They say, ‘there’s got to be a hitch.’ When you explain that there isn’t, it’s so powerful. I frankly don’t understand why sales associates don’t use it with every transaction. In every case, the SSP can apply, if not to the seller, it still may apply to the buyer.”
In the robust market of the past few years, people didn’t need the SSP as much because houses were selling so quickly, Hunt explains. However, it will now be more valuable because things are slowing down.
“The SSP is a way to meet the needs of the market,” he says. “It puts customers’ minds at ease. At the end of the day, sellers want to know that their house is sold, that you have a buyer.” |
