Brokerblogger

Setting Realistic, Deliverable, and Measurable Expectations - Brokerblogger

Before you read this post, please keep in mind that one of the main reasons for this is that our reasonable expectations for our first year of Ryland Home ownership were not set or met properly by Ryland, our "seller".  See "My Last Ryland Homes Blog Post & My Attempt To Help Ryland Homes!" to get a better overview of our Ryland Home complaint to the BBB, and links to the over 100 Ryland Home problems that were all eventually fixed after 13 months of having much of our time wasted, and much unexpected stress.

If there is one thing that a "broker" or "intermediary" has to do well, it is making sure that buyer and seller expectations are set properly.

If you are on the buying end of a transaction, "Customer Satisfaction equals the Perceived Value the customer receives from the product or service minus the Cost to the customer for that product or service." according to D. Brown Management.  "Perceived" is the keyword, and "Setting Proper Expectations" is key to the evaluation of "Value Received".  The definition of the word "Perceived" says:  "to attain awareness or understanding of". 

So how do you attain "awareness & understanding"? It is done through Open, Honest, Upfront, and Good (O'HUG) Communication combined with empathy for the other party which is imperative in having all go smoothly.  Good communication, by the way, should be clear, conspicuous, comprehensive, and most importantly, completely comprehended!

If you are on the selling end of a transaction, you should get the same kind of good communication from the buyer on payment terms, as well as feedback on perceived value delivered and measured from buyer expectations.  Here is why:

ad:tech San Francisco 4/26/06 - Brokerblogger

My 4/23/06 post  transitioned from trying to help Search Marketing's reputation to exposing Deceptive Websites.  I went to ad:tech S.F. to compare the one day, 3/9/06, ad:tech IMPACT Dallas Conference to it.  The San Francisco conference was 2 1/2 days, so it was bigger and better (so was the colorful entrance shown in the photo =click all photos to enlarge).

I will not be going to ad:tech Chicago even though I do recommend it to those that want to network, learn, meet and collaborate with speakers and firms that you've read about on the web, along with peers.  However, I must point out some conspicuous observations I made.  First, most attendees need to research the speakers and sessions better, and ask "prepared in advance", tough questions vs. just listening or taking notes. 

Second, AdRANTs mentions ad:tech chair Susan Bratton saying there would be 9,000 attendees.  I'm optimistically skeptical about that number as I counted (approx.) the number of seats in the keynote session room #134.  There were only about 1,400 seats (tops) plus standing room.  I contacted Moscone, and they confirmed a capacity of 1,340 for a theater style configuration in that room. So, when I heard Susan say there were about 9,000 attendees, I was wondering how many of them registered for one day passes or just Exhibit Hall passes? 

I've contacted ad:tech for a breakdown, and here it is from Warren Pickett:  "..we had over 9,000 pre-registered attendees (actually our final numbers were 10,000 pre-registered and 7,000 attendees that came through the doors).  The keynote room was actually set for 900.  Most of the 7,000 walk-in attendees were exhibit hall only attendees and we had more than 1000 full-conference attendees."  Since the Exhibit Hall was free up to 3/24/06 pre-registration ($75 thereafter), that explains the large numbers of total pre-registered attendees (10,000) missing from the keynote session room (it was still packed with SRO only, though).

DFW SEM Assoc. 1/16/06 Meeting

There was a big "WELCOME SIGN" (click to see it move) last night at the Grand Hotel in Dallas, Tx.  The DFW SEM Association had their monthly meeting for January.

I've always stressed that in order for the Search Marketing Industry to grow, it must deal with the challenging issues of "education" and "credibility".  So, the reason I've tagged this post under "General Broker Philosophy" is because of the  "'critiques' to Webmasters and site owners" that were graciously done for some of the guests. Another reason is that one guest there admitted to having contracted out to a SEO Consultant (not one that belongs to the DFW SEM Assoc.), and said he got no results for about a couple of thousand dollars he invested.  This "client word of mouth bad experience" reinforces the need to address possibly both the "credibility" and "educational" challenges (without knowing all the details it is hard to know exactly what did happen).

"Anti-Virus" Measures

I have caught a virus, and I am taking "anti-virus" measures.  Is this another way bloggers relate to their computers?

My currents series of blog posts on SEO "Pay For Some Kind of Performance" remuneration is too important to try to do when you can't think straight!  STAY WELL!

I like these two quotes: 

1. Robert Orben - "Quit worrying about your health. It'll go away."                

2. Johnny Carson - "Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined."

Quotes coutesy of The Quotations Page at www.quotationspage.com.

Animated image courtesy of www.artie.com.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I'm taking some time off for the Christmas Holidays to go see friends and family.  I hope you do the same.

But, don't lose your head like the SNOWMAN does when you CLICK ON HIM.

Also, don't light a fire in the fireplace at Christmas, as it could be hazardous to Santa's health.  CLICK ON THE CHIMNEY TO SEE.

WebmasterWorld PubCon Las Vegas 2005 Review

It was a good conference, held at a great place for conferences.  What surprised me the most in comparing it to Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2005, is that this conference seemed to have more "outsider-buyers" along with the usual many "insider-seller webmasters & SEO's-SEM's".  At least that is what it appeared like to me at the specific sessions that I attended.

I mainly feel this way, because a session on the use of credit cards with E-Commerce sites had many people asking questions about how best to maximize sales with their sites (probably for the upcoming Christmas season - see "Search Referrals Skyrocketing For Shopping-Comparison Sites").  So, the entire conference was, in my opinion, about helping online buyers get together with online sellers.  This is right up my "General Broker Philosophy" alley.

Rather than try to do as good a job of "live coverage" as Rusty Brick of SEO Roundtable fame, here is a link to his conference "Session Wrap Up".  I not only met him for the first time, but I sat next to Lee Odden who did his own "PubCon X Wrap Up".  They are both better than I at taking down the details of conferences.

WebmasterWorld PubCon Las Vegas 2005

In order for anyone to get better at what they do, they have to continue their ongoing education.  So, I will be taking a week off from posting here to go "BACK TO SCHOOL" (click to see those words DANCE!).

I'm enthusiastically "dancing" about it, since the "SCHOOL" is in Las Vegas.  This WebmasterWorld PubCon Session Planner is another reason to "DANCE".  There will be a "Super Session" on "Blogging for Fun and Profit, and "Coffee Talk with Senior Google Engineer: Matt Cutts".  I expect to see and meet many webmasters, sellers of search marketing, and even some buyers of search marketing.

Also, since I was in Las Vegas last December, the new Wynn Las Vegas Hotel & Casino has opened for business.  I'm curious to see how it compares to Steve Wynn's Bellagio Hotel & Casino that is now owned by MGM MIRAGE.

Animated words courtesy of www.artie.com.

My Blog Post "Day Off"

Today is my birthday.  I'm taking a "day off" from posting on my blog.

However, I am not dancing like the letters do in the animated image when you CLICK ON IT.

I got a fever and sore throat from a recent flu shot reaction, I guess?  Oh well, life is good, and my overall health has been great. I hope yours is too.

Animated image courtesy of www.artie.com.

General Broker Philosophy

Since this is my first post, I thought I'd start off by giving some general principles: 

#1:  In order to get a long term "win-win-win" scenario, the end user-consumer has to come first, and be happy with the overall value.  Then the client-buyer will be happy.  Last, but not least, the ethical seller has won, since he has a happy, long term customer.

#2:  Open, Honest, Upfront, and Good (O'HUG) Communication combined with empathy for the other party is imperative in having all go smoothly.  Good communication, by the way, should be clear, conspicuous, comprehensive, and most importantly, completely comprehended.