Jul. 10, 2008 - Don't get too casual on Friday--or any day....

One of the tech guys that I've always thought was one of the smartest guys around is Matt Cohen,Chief Technologist at Clareity Consulting. Matt's always had wise, very practical advice for me and he's a pretty interesting thinker when it comes to new ideas. I remember one very provocative conversation we had in the back of the room right after a vendor's ill-conceived 'product release'...but that's another story for another time.

Matt has an interesting blog article on telecommuting and security which every AE, MLS Director, and probably most brokers should study. As I was reading it, I was totally amazed at how far-reaching this issue could be for anyone  employing people who access work computers from a remote location.

Of course Realtors have been telecommuters for a long time, and more and more brokers are cutting back on the bricks and mortar overhead expenses and encouraging people to work outside the office. Over recent years, there have been lots of business models for this kind of brokerage structure, and some have been quite successful. Now, as Matt points out, with rising gas prices, work-at-home is even more desirable.

In CDW Corporation's 2008 Telework Security Report, the trends are clear: over 76% of private sector employers provide support for remote workers, up more than 25% over the previous year. And over 40% of workers said that the ability to telecommute would significantly impact their decisions about taking a new job or staying in their old one.

There are additional advantages—my daughter, who works for a non-profit organization in Washington, DC, is a case in point. Her employer encourages work-at-home days. Work interruptions in DC are frequent—a guy driving a tractor onto the White House lawn can shut down the total Metro system for hours. A good thunderstorm can close the Beltway for an entire afternoon. As a result, companies build telework into their employee schedules—they know that matter what the disaster, work can be maintained with continuity if telework is an option for employees. And for three-quarters of the private sector workforce in America, it is.

The problem with this is, of course, security—just ask any IT geek. And the first item of security is verifying a remote users identity regardless of what computer she is using to access the remote database. MLSs should be worrying about this, and some of them are and finding that there several emerging solutions to that problem.

However, as Matt Cohen points out, every AE and every broker should be asking themselves the question: "Does my organization have appropriate information security policies and practices to address the risks of telecommuting?"

Matt offers some specific questions, the answers to which should be in your  organization's policy. And we as management need to go one step further: the CDW report indicates 21% of governmental employees and 31% of private sector employees don't know if their employer has a security policy, let alone what's in it.

Policies about which no one knows are useless, about as useless as no policy at all. Guess we could get started on this issue at all levels of organized real estate.  Begin with Matt's blog.

Jul. 4, 2008 - Association Survival Guide

I was talking to a local Realtor association President yesterday, discussing the economic impact on organized real estate—specifically, real estate boards in economically hard-hit communities. This President was running scared. “We've been spending reserves,” she said. “The cash flow statement looks ok, but our overall balance sheet shows we're really spending down our cash reserves.”

“Well, that's what cash reserves are for,” I said. “We used to call them 'rainy day funds', and we are currently in the middle of a thunderstorm. It's fine to spend some to be there when the members need you. That's why, when you had all that spare change in your treasury you decided not to offer a dues rebate.”

Sally hesitated a bit, and then said, “Well, that's not all of it. We're not spending money to keep afloat and continue providing services—we seem to be doing some therapeutic spending. You know, like when I get depressed I go out and buy a new pair of shoes? Well, we're talking about new landscaping and new signs for the association building. And we are spending a lot of money on public advertising and community service projects, something we've never done before.”

In and of itself, of course, these are not bad ideas—but Sally's association has just lost 25% of its full members, and quite a few affiliates. That means a significant loss of income and—equally as importantly—a significant loss of the target market for the products and services an association sells to members. So, not only has Sally's group lost 25% of its dues income, its non-dues income like forms sales and the association store are also significantly decreased. What to do?

In my discussion with Sally, I suggested that now is NOT the time to cut visible, tangible member services. Some services which a Realtor association offers will never pay for themselves—ethics enforcement is one. That's an expensive program, if you figure in training costs, staff time, and member contributions of time and expertise. And while it can be streamlined and made more efficient, members tell us it's important to them, and should never be cut back. The same is true for education programs—at a time when members need skills the most, associations have to offer them more value, not less. If anything, now's the time to beef up Realtor membership programs, and make sure our members know we are really there for them.

Realtor associations have long depended on the MLS to attract and retain members. Oh, I know, there are really successful associations which do not have their own MLS, but most of us have never really developed the skills of membership development. One exercise every Board of Directors should engage in now is to ask themselves, “If I were a prospective member, would I become a Realtor? If there were no MLS, would that still be true?” And if the answer is 'no' from even one Board member, the leadership group needs to do a little self examination. Joining and maintaining membership in the local association is an economic investment for members. As one association exec said, “Anyone can join an association when the money's coming in, but the current environment is one in which we need to expand our membership programs and make the investment worthwhile."

(Of course, we should also debate the efficacy of the MLS in today's market and how long it will last—but that's the subject for another blog, and about 10 years of meetings.)

So, maintaining or enhancing member services is a necessity. By the same token, association managers should know every single nook and cranny of association finances. How much does each and every program cost? Include the overhead, staff time, member contributions, offsetting income—develop a complete picture for every function or service! In an association, some things are not going to pay for themselves, but are a part of the members expectations—ethics enforcement and lobbying are two important one, and should be funded by dues dollars. But many other programs are just there because they've always been there, not because they are valuable in and of themselves. Be prepared to make some hard decisions in those cases. And again,make sure you have a written business analysis for each product or service and some measurable results which you can analyze.

One association I know decided to have a First Time Homebuyer Expo this year. It was lots of work, renting a facility, writing press releases, placing advertising, securing speakers and exhibitors and so on. The association declared it a success based on the feedback from the exhibitors: “It was fun,” they said. “We loved the lunch afterwards, too.”

“Yes, I imagine it was,” I said. But ever the consultant, I asked: “Was it successful? Is that the same as 'fun'? How did you measure success?”

“Well,” a staff person said, “We had a lotta people come.”

“How many?” I asked. “And how many were members and their friends and relatives, as opposed to the buying public? What exactly did it cost in staff time, advertising, publications, and so on? Did anybody make any sales from this event?” Now is not the time to be casual about the answers to these questions: we are talking about return on investment here and as in any product release, success must be measurable and demonstrable.

To summarize, maintain service and products meaningful to members. Ruthlessly evaluate existing and proposed programs and services with a written business plan for each. And there's another caveat here: consider your service delivery.

In one Realtor association I'm familiar with, over half the members work over 30 minutes away from the association office. Now imagine this: how good is your association program—educational or otherwise—which entice members to take time and gas (at $5 a gallon, almost) to drive to an event? Better yet, how good is your convention, if you're a state association or a regional cooperative? How well have you marketed your product? Are there more effective ways to deliver services—online courses, YouTube media displays, staff and leadership visits, or web casting? If your association didn't invest in delivery technology when times were good, it will be more difficult to do so now—but there are an abundance of services from which you can subcontract these things. And most of all, don't go backwards! It's not the time to drag out (or continue) your 70's technology (like, say, printed MLS books or flossy magazines or conventions) when the world would rather read online and order using PayPal.

Instead of bemoaning the fact that this is a tough time for real estate associations, restructure your thinking to embrace this as the golden age of real estate associations.

Many brokers are cutting back on services like training and advertising, and physical overhead. For associations this means more opportunities to offer services to the collective member market which is no longer funding them. If your association brokers hated the idea of a fast-start sales training program, they may really like it now. Or perhaps it's 'Rent a Personal Assistant', community open houses, a call center, or a basic computer service department. But the secret is, find out what the members need—not what you think they need, or would like for them to need, or what NAR tells you they SHOULD need. And will they shell out a few dollars to subscribe to an online video magazine called “Toolbox”? If the content is really meaningful, of course they will.

This is a time when we all truly must think like the trade association that we are, a cooperative of professional people trying to benefit from shared products and services.

Jul. 2, 2008 - Water Boy

I wrote those two previous blog articles on the AE and the Board of Directors, thinking to stimulate a little discussion. Actually, I did stimulate some discussion, but it was off line, from one of my coaching clients. He asked, “So what's my role as an AE? I just came back from the NAR Washington meetings, and I had lots of great ideas—my head was just spinning! But my Directors who were there weren't really interested in what I was thinking. They had some nice dinners out, met with their elected officials, and did a little shopping. They're not really interested in what I learned, though—so what do I do now?”

Obviously, Mike is new at this AE-ing stuff. I remember my first NAR meeting (it was in New Orleans) at an annual convention. There were zillions of people, way too many things to see and do, my feet hurt, and the fire alarms kept going off in our hotel all night long. What information could I retain? What could I bring back to make the association better? All I remember is huddling in the lobby in my raincoat at 3 AM waiting for the firemen to finish their inspections and let me go back to my room.

But over the years I came to the understanding that traveling to state and national meetings is a wonderful way to gain new ideas and refresh your perspective on your employing association. It's just that the members who are there with you most likely will not share your outlook or your enthusiasm about association management topics. Elected leaders are more likely to get excited about some products they see at the trade show, or perhaps a controversial legislative initiative, or a new sales idea they heard about in the lounge—they don't care about the latest NRDS search parameters or how NAR is going to handle the issue of not enough rooms for the Leadership Conference, or whether AE's can sit with their association leadership at a NAR Directors' meeting.

“Yes,” you say on the plane ride home, “I found some great new ideas for our association website. You went to the Board Forum and heard the guy from Huston. What did you think?”

“Um,” says the President. What he really means is, “So? What will it do for me? For the membership? And how much will it cost? And does that mean we have to have yet another committee? And can we do it during my presidential watch or is this something we can do next year when Joann is President?”

Well, AE, what did you expect? Your President sells real estate. YOU run the association. He's good at what he does, and you were hired to be an expert at what you do. The President's priorities aren't yours.

So what happens when you get off the plane? My advice is to first of all, plant the seed. Put your new ideas in a report to the Directors as things which could possibly strengthen the association. But don't ask them for anything. Just mention that you are going to continue to research the idea of a revitalized association website, and that you'll construct a full-fledged proposal and business plan for their review and possible adoption.

Then do just that. Develop the parameters for the new website. Get quotes from programmers, website hosts, and overhead (your time and staff's). Forecast income—advertising sales, featured listings, links.

Project a time line. Check with the Huston folks and find out how successful their new site really is. Is volunteer help needed? If so, how--specifically.

Then, write it up. Get it to the Board in the form of a careful business plan, well in advance of the meeting where a decision is made. Show the Directors how this project fits in with their strategic plan and overall stated goals. Solicit buy-in from key leaders and staff, and go for it. In other words, take ownership of not only the idea, but the implementation plan, and make a responsible presentation to the decision makers.

The most your Directors can do is turn your plan down. And they'll be less likely to do that if they can see how it would work, and have confidence that you have done your homework and are prepared to be the plan manager. It is, after all, why they pay you.

And yes, coming back from a NAR meeting or an AE Institute or an ASAE symposium means you are usually raring to go with some ideas that will save your association world. But often you don't have the personal resources to do it all, or the association just may not be ready for the idea. I was always impressed by a good friend of mine, now the CEO of a large and active state association, who made a habit of coming to NAR meetings with a file folder of background information for the meeting and schedules for himself and the leadership from his association. I was impressed by the background work that he put into maximizing his attendance at the meeting, but even more I was impressed by the “to do” list he always maintained on the inside of that file folder. Each time he discovered a new idea, or heard about something he needed to follow through on when he got back to his office, he wrote it down. At the end of the event, John had a numbered list of steps in his action plan and a clear idea of what to do next.

The point of all of this is, understand as an AE that you are the expert at project management. That means defining, implementing, and funding. But does that mean that your association is (to use an often meaningless phrase) is “staff driven”??? Heaven forfend! If your leaders have done their jobs and constructed their association vision and values in the the strategic plan, then you are just the water boy (in this example, bearing a new website). It's the vision, direction, and funding of the leaders that make the project possible. And while they were out being good Realtors, you made it happen.