Shopping trip or Ego trip

 

Recently, I did some shopping at the Safeway store at McClintock & Elliot in South Tempe. The grocery cart had a Realtor’s picture on the plastic seat flap where a small child usually sits. Personally, I feel this image advertising is a good boost for an agent’s ego, but a bad idea for the agent’s budget.

 

Prior to pushing the cart, I took a hand wipe that the store offers near the front. My wife asked me if I knew the dirtiest spot in a grocery store. My restroom reply was wrong. She informed me the correct spot is the cart handle. Ever since, I have been

using the sanitary wipes prior to shopping.

 

As I headed for the produce department, I noticed another ad on the front of the cart. This was another plastic insert that the shopper could see. Imagine my surprise when I noticed this was a different Realtor’s photo. Did the agents who paid for these ads ever view the finished product? Did they know they were sharing the shopper’s attention with a fellow Realtor?

 

My favorite Realtor ad has to be at the Chandler Fashion Mall. As you approach the

movie ticket window, there is a pay phone on the west wall. If you look closely, the side panel has an agent’s photo and image ad. Each time I visit the mall, the teenagers have blackened another tooth for this agent. It would make a great dental ad.

 

Over a decade ago, I succumbed to the siren song of ego advertising. At that time there was a Christian Business Directory. My Catholic grammar school education

still haunts me to this day. A nun seemed to whisper in my ear, “You were a bad boy in school, buy this ad”. For the next ten years I faithfully renewed this ad. It made me feel, to be honest, holier than my fellow agents. Every year I ran that ad I never

received any real estate leads. But, I got dozens of calls from people who needed donations for worthy causes, and ‘temporary loans’.

 

In my opinion, advertising should provide a return on the money you invest. You should measure that return. It’s called return on investment (R.O.I.). But, ads can be addictive as any drug. E-flyers are a great idea, unless agents don’t open them.

Stop doing what doesn’t work. Take a vacation with the money you save when you eliminate the ego trips.