What the Industry Can Learn From Steve Jobs

What the Real Estate Industry Can Learn from Steve Jobs

By Carol Ruiz

The news seemed to come out of nowhere: Steve Jobs, stepping down as CEO of Apple, due to increased concerns about his own health.

Followers of the company were perhaps less surprised, since he had taken a medical leave earlier this year, but the finality of the news left a bittersweet feeling. Bitter, because a deadly disease continued to ravage his body; sweet, because Jobs left Apple absolutely on top, capping the most successful second act in the history of American business.

At face value, this has little to do with selling and marketing new homes. However, the philosophies that Steve Jobs brought to Apple resonate across industries and products. Here are a few lessons you can take from the example of a true innovator and agent of change.

Corporate culture matters.

Outside of perhaps Disney, there is no corporate culture that is better defined or maintained than that of Apple. When you walk into an Apple Store, you immediately know the kind of experience you will have–an exceptional one defined by great customer service and efficiency.

Your buyers know your corporate culture as well, even if they do not consciously realize it. Every contact with your company influences their perception of the overall experience, and thus, their image of your company and brand. From the top down, and from the initial sales center visit on through contracts, construction, and closing, it’s important to encourage employees to deliver quality service and products to help define that corporate culture and the public perception of your brand.

Handle crisis with class.

Apple’s had its share of PR crises, most recently “Antennagate,” in which the iPhone 4’s antenna allegedly interfered with call reception when the phone was held a certain way. Jobs and his team acted decisively, holding a special press meeting to explain the problem and announce their response.

Apple’s handling of Antennagate serves as a textbook example of how to handle a bad situation in the public eye. The message Apple sent to customers and the media was clear and put buyers first. It was immediately framed not from a corporate perspective, but from a customer service one–here’s how the customer was impacted (possible dropped calls), and here’s what we will do to eliminate that impact (free cases).

Marketing is about selling an experience.

Apple’s marketing is amazing; it’s almost unnecessary because their products receive so much coverage and hype from the media. It’s also focused almost entirely on a single medium—television commercials.

But in those commercials, Apple focuses on selling the experience of using their devices in the most tactile, personal, relatable way possible. There’s no detailed rundown of technology specs, or clips of celebrities playing with devices. Instead, the messaging is far more simple and direct—families using the iPad to communicate via Facetime camera, or a reader flipping through a volume in iBooks while rain pounds against the window.

Although feature lists are important for buyers, real estate marketers should never forget that what they are ultimately selling is an experience—the idea of what a buyer would see when they imagined their own family in the home. Effective real estate marketing is about creating and selling those experiences, and not just coming out with the cheapest granite countertops.

The impact of Steve Jobs and his work at Apple will continue to be felt for decades, not just in the consumer electronics industry but in the culture at large. As a business leader, his work provides a great template for anyone who wants to reach consumers with a powerful message and a quality product, including real estate sales agents and marketers.

Carol Ruiz is the Principal of NewGround PR & Marketing.