Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology expert? Email Craig Rowe
From iBuyers and Alexa to yard signs that interact with apps, the technology era in real estate is growing as fast as venture capitalists can fund it.
Naturally, there are plenty of apps, customer relationship managers (CRMs), platforms and solutions vying for the attention of Inman readers. And the truth is, some emails are responded to quicker than others. In our defense, though, not every product passes the smell test.
If you’re a technology company stakeholder trying to catch the eyes of Inman’s tech-forward, deal-savvy audience, steer clear of these six things when creating your pitch:
1. Using the word ‘disrupt’
Enough. It’s OK to simply offer a good product. Promising to disrupt the way real estate agents do deals or work with customers is a very, very tall order.
Here’s who you compete with when you call yourself a “disruptor”: Uber (taxi industry); Airbnb (hotel industry); Amazon (book stores); and Netflix. (There’s one Blockbuster store left in America, by the way.)
Oh, and you can’t forget Zillow.
2. Forgetting to send screenshots
When pitching a new product, you will be automatically upgraded a few rungs up the attention ladder when we know your product at least looks viable. Software evolves and features change, but if we know there’s a real interface behind a press release, a formal demo is all but certain.
3. Delaying
We’re always psyched you thought of Inman as the best platform to launch your product’s outreach campaign, and of course, we love exclusives, but pitching us three months before anything can be seen doesn’t help anyone. A couple weeks out is fine, but help us help you by being as close to ready for prime time as possible.
But feel free to say, “We have something coming, and I’ll keep you in the loop as it develops.”
4. Ignoring your competition
It’s important to realize that, at the pace new tech is coming to the aid of real estate agents, there’s a very good chance someone else is doing what you’re doing. And that’s perfectly OK to acknowledge and address.
Saying you’re the only technology company applying predictive analytics to lead generation, or what have you, suggests you’re not fully aware of what else is out there, and therefore, may not have a totally unique value proposition for the industry.
5. Asking us to use your marketing language in our articles
Our goal is to represent a product’s features as accurately as possible, but also in an objective fashion. If your product, “proactively and dynamically alerts agents to online interaction with a listing, ensuring their status as a ready lead,” we’ll probably write: “The software alerts users when a visitor to their website clicks on a property.”
If we get it totally wrong, we’ll correct it.
6. Requesting feedback
While we’ve seen many, many technology products and can often share how products in similar categories relate to one another, our first responsibility is to our readers, who trust us to give them accurate assessments of what can best help them serve customers.
By offering direct insight on a demo or via email, we can be doing a disservice to the people who make Inman the trusted industry voice it has become.
One last don’t — a “bonus” don’t, if you will: Don’t get too upset if a review isn’t what you expected. Please know we’re not the final word on the success of your business. Much larger hurdles have been overcome by countless technology firms. We are merely one voice; and, we’re always happy to chat about why we think what we do about a product.
Keep those pitches coming, and keep making real estate technology an exciting, unpredictable industry topic.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
