Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

“Somebody else can do it for less” is the statement that can kill any business if not properly addressed and anticipated. When the confrontation gets down to price only, then you know you are definitely on the wrong track. You must be realistic with what you charge, but at the same time this type of comment clearly indicates that you haven’t defined your true value in the mind of your customer. She doesn’t know what she is really getting from you. You haven’t assigned a proper value to yourself, your knowledge and your work ethics.
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It is the clear signal that you need to do immediately something otherwise other people will give you the value they think you have without actually knowing what you can do. You will get into more and more explanations and you will eventually lose money by providing services or products maybe priced lower than you can afford.
I know this because it has happened to me a few times and in the last ten days I had to prevent it twice, that is why I am bringing it up to you. My business model is based on something unique: I have created a safe conduit, a bridge, for European investors that want to come to the US and invest in real estate or in any other future business that would make sense.
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It is a bridge that can also be crossed in the other direction, bringing remarkable people and products from America to Europe, with the assurance that they would land in the right places and with only the right people.

I have built a very strong partnership with my “twin alter-ego”, Daniele Bogiatto, who works on the European side of the bridge. We are so closely in agreement as to the standards and the means of doing our project that even before talking about an issue we take independent actions that go exactly in the same direction. That is why I refer to us as “virtual twins”.

We take care of all aspects that could be required: legal, taxes, operational, marketing, public relations, networking, whatever. We want to anticipate any kind of issue by first testing the waters ourselves and then involving others. Therefore we are not eager to jump just on any deal that could be attractive, but we take the time to be familiar with the market, with the deal, with the person that is bringing it to us with all the rest.

We have proved over and over again that we don’t care how much money we could make, we rather not do anything if we feel it is not safe enough and it doesn’t meet our basic standards. This is invaluable in my opinion and once I explain it to people, and give them evidence of it, then any argument about pricing and value ceases right there.

People want to work with other people they trust, that make them feel cared for and important, that bring value to them: not only in terms on money but also of emotions, ideas, new perspectives for the future. The “commodities” market is losing importance with the arrival of the Web and social networking and we see that we are the most successful when we focus in describing the value we put around the product and not only the product itself.

Roberto Mazzoni