Erica Ramus

Monday – back home in Pennsylvania. I arrived at the Harrisburg airport to find my Rubicon sandwiched between two other Jeep Wranglers. It’s definitely “a Jeep thing.” I’m home!

I’ve had Jeep Cherokees before, but this is my first Wrangler. The salesman questioned why I didn’t want a more comfortable Grand Cherokee (I guess “at my age” he thought I would want comfort over cool, but I’m tired of the Mom Jeep). I love bouncing around in this Rubicon – and I use the excuse that we do sell farmland and have to drive through the fields sometimes. Very rarely. But that’s my line.

One thing I was’t expecting was having to get used to the Jeep Wave. I had heard about it but until you are driving one – and every Wrangler that goes by gives you this cool finger wave you may not get the concept. Now I find myself tempted to do the Jeep Wave even when I’m not driving the Wrangler. It’s sort of like the low down wave that Harley riders give each other as they pass. Yeah, it’s a Jeep thing.

I’m happy to be home, and ready to plow through all the messages and the stack of files on my desk. I always come back from these trips energized and full of ideas. I learned how to do some things on one of our software platforms that I can’t wait to show the agents at Tuesday’s office meeting. Back to work!

 

 

 

Sunday was my last day in Orlando at the conference and NAR gave attendees tickets to Universal Studios “After Dark.” The park was overrun with thousands of Realtors that night. Highlight of that visit was Harry Potter’s world – Diagon Alley was fantastic. I read the Harry Potter series years ago when my boys were growing up. My youngest loved the books and for Christmas one year requested a wand like Harry had. He then collected sticks and carved them into wands, going door to door in our neighborhood trying to sell them. I’m not sure if he sold any, but it was fun. 

We didn’t have time to do too many rides, but we also did the Rockin’ Roller Coaster. That definitely put me outside my comfort zone as it went straight up 90* at the start, then tossed us side to side and upside down to the rock music all around us. I’m sure my boys will be surprised that I went on that ride, as I normally sit the roller coasters out. It was a great end to the Orlando trip. Now it’s back north to Pennsylvania and cooler temps. Next year the Conference will be in Chicago, so we won’t be sitting by the pool and doing roller coasters next November.

Saturday at the NAR Conference kicked off with more committee meetings (I’m on the NAR Professional Development Committee this year) and educational sessions. I attended a Celebrity Luncheon featuring Ty Burrell (the actor who plays the Realtor dad on Modern Family). While others waited in line for two to three hours in the Expo to get a photo op with Ty, two of my broker friends and I were at a luncheon which gave us an early pass, and were even at lucky Table 1 to step in line. We also got our photos taken at the Realtor Magazine cover prop. I posted the photo at left on my Facebook page and now I’ve got friends commenting that they cannot wait to read the magazine when it comes out. It’s a staged photo, guys!

Afterward I walked the Expo floor. Normally I am tempted to buy new tools or products for the office, but this year I didn’t find too much to entice me to pull out my credit card. Our office has great systems and tools in place already and top notch marketing platforms. Ziplogix, Realvolve, Adwerx, Docusign, Zillow – all were there and we already use their technology to make us the “geeks” in our area. We were the first to offer online transactions across the board to all our agents years ago, and we continually strive to be on the cutting edge to better serve our clients.

Having some vendors try to hard sell me was a turn off. Being told that a show special was only good for today and today only made me NOT sign up – even if I could walk away with a free Kindle Fire. Another vendor followed me down the aisle to argue with me why I must give him my business card. Nope.

Agents need to remember this when we’re showing houses to buyers or interviewing for a listing. Do not push too hard or the potential client may run in the other direction. If a consumer smells fear or desperation, you may lose the sale simply because you sound like you care more for you and your paycheck than for the consumer’s needs.

Spending 45 seconds on the photo op line with Ty was one of the highlights of the conference for me. He was gracious and patient – even when I saw him three hours later at the Expo when the line zigzagged back and forth with hundreds of agents who waited for their turn with him. It was a paid appearance – he was just doing his job – but it still was cool to meet “Phil Dunphy” for a moment.