A conversation about defamation vs. organic elevation

As we expected, we’re getting some pretty strong resistance from realtors who don’t want to be put on the line personally…. (Check out the comments on this Edmonton real estate blog, where I [Joanna] am discussing our site with a few other interested parties.)

To be clear: What-Customers-Say.com is not a site for rating whether you “like” a realtor or not. It’s not about preference. It’s not about personal stuff like “John smelled nice” or “What a beautiful Lexus she drives!” or “Stacey couldn’t have been a bigger bi-otch and I hate her!” That’s NOT what the site is for.

Here’s the thing: We started the site with the idea of helping realtors put that word of mouth, which works so well for most realtors, online. Because I loved working with Bev, but I can’t just tell that to potential home buyer Jim Jones who’s relocating from Vancouver because, well, I don’t know him. So now Jim Jones goes online to find a realtor, but there are no actual resources to help him do that.

So Jim chooses a realtor on MLS.ca based on a nice house he likes… the realtor he chooses is selling that house.

Is that the best way to spend $15,000 in commission fees? As one commentor on that blog said, we spend more time researching a $1000 computer than we do our listing or buying agents.

What-Customers-Say.com is NOT:

• Trying to endorse defamation
• Out for drama
• Trying to get sued (or not sued —- we’re also not going to run from challenges when we actually believe in this project)
• Evil/The Devil
• Angry at all realtors and trying to ruin their professions

So, realtors, if you want to get mad, get made at FSBO systems like ComFree, who actually want to put you out of business.

And thanks to everyone who’s rated their realtors so far. (Yay!) Also, thanks to the two realtors who’ve signed up for their profiles: Bev O’Shea and Kevin Grenier.

Joanna of www.what-customers-say.com