Marketing guru tells real estate agents to quit now. Here's how to fight back.

If anything is apparent today, it is that nothing stays the same. Look at search engines. Remember Alta Vista? Lycos? Yahoo as the place to start searching on the web.

Not any more. While technology is providing us with incredible devices, it also has a nasty edge to it. It disrupts the status quo.

This is very evident with the real estate profession. The experts are already warning about a changing tide.

Internet marketing guru Seth Godin put it very bluntly in an infamous, oft-quoted blog that made many brokers and agents cringe: “Advice for real estate agents (quit now).”

(For all your real estate bloggers, note his shocker of a headline.)

What he really is saying is that the old days of driving people around and “taking orders” are over. Agents have to be more savvy in today’s marketplace.

One way is to “micro-specialize.”

He writes: “The first (step) is to become the expert in what you do. Which means micro-specialization. Who is the the single-best agent for condos in your zip code? Or for single family homes for large families? Who is the one and the only best person to turn to if you’re looking for investment property in this part of town?”

Ok, thanks Seth.

Now the problem I have with advice from experts is that it is easy for them to sit in their Herman-Miller chair with a Starbucks chocolate latte and tell the rest of the world all the things they should be doing.

Sure, call every client who bought from you every six months (few do this). Or blog three times a day. Or Twitter five times every hour.

While many real estate mega-sites have lots of resources, there is a way technology can help you as an individual agent. Take SpatialMatch’s neighborhood and lifestyle search engine.

“When we created SpatialMatch, we thought to ourselves, ‘how can an agent demonstrate an expertise in a particular lifestyle niche?’ We wanted to create an intuitive and dynamic platform that provided all the information they needed right at their fingertips,” said John Perkins, CEO of Home Junction Inc., creators of SpatialMatch.  “And with our customization, they can interact with any relevant lifestyle locations that they want to highlight.”

Say for example you want to be the expert, or micro-specialist as Godin suggests, in a particular niche.

That’s a lot of work. But when you embed the SpatialMatch search platform into your site, you are immediately loading a map with all the local schools, businesses, community amenities and tons of other data right on to your site.

From there, you can use that data to pick the niche you want to specialize in. Tell prospects you are the “lifestyle expert.” Pick a few lifestyle needs that seem to be prevalent with your buyers – golfers, yoga enthusiasts, runners, middle school parents, etc.

Add an IDX feed with current homes listings so for whatever niche you plan to dominate, you can show the relevant homes listings that go with that niche right on the same page.

Now rather than going out and digging up all that local data, piece by piece. You have it. You are the hyper-local expert and your website is the proxy demonstrating your knowledge. Sure, Seth Godin can tell you all the things you need to do. But SpatialMatch gives you the tools to do it! Fast.

To learn more about SpatialMatch, click here.