Customer Rating: 
Summary: Textbook of mindless gobbeldygook
Comment: John Tuccillo makes it painfully clear that he has a Ph.D. in economics through this book. It reads like a textbook, and contains about as many relevent facts. He endlessy cites economic figures and studies, then continuously asserts that realtors need to change their business model, rarely giving specific advice - except for the moronic suggestion to sell your clients' financial information as a way to produce income (never mind your fiduciary resposibility, I guess). Don't waste your time with this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: NOT for the young & lively!
Comment: After reading [a very different] lively book with real-life stories, I found this book to be dry & slow-reading. It would appear that Mr. Tuccillo has written this book to try and impress his aging peers--those 49 years+ whom says mostly comprise this industry, those who may be intimidated by our technological age. He throws around brand names, terms & cliches: Netscape, Microsoft, Ecommerce and "content providers"--to lead the non-tech savvy to believe that he may know something about technology (yet, he states that "no company can establish a brand through the Internet." p138). He then goes on to bore you with how technology should be applied to a people-oriented business.
I ran [and sold] a successful Internet technology business, and it expanded not just from our technological savvy, but from our people-centric approach--we grew largely by referral of satisfied clients. They were not just satisfied with our product, but with our PERSONAL service. (We answered our phone on weekends.)
Mr. Tuccillo DISCOURAGES ENTREPRENEURS with his graphs of corporate mergers and acquisitions of Real Estate agencies by the major multinationals: "The real estate industry is aging. Entrepreneur founders of many firms are often looking for an exit strategy..."
I ask the enthusiastic new agent: Is there any hope for YOUR future in this career--especially if you are just starting out now? This book won't have you feeling that way. I recommend Bob Boog's book (Selling Homes 1-2-3) for the livelier optimistic types--the new talent that Mr. Tuccillo says is not coming in anymore. ...Well, certainly not if they read his book first!!
I think that this author is ready for an exit strategy--leaving this "face-to-face people-intensive" business (which he no longer believes it is) to us newcomers & "middlemen"...those whom he says the Internet is causing to "disappear."
P.S. After impressing upon you that you must play by his "Eight New Rules," he ends the entire book with: "Playing by the new rules may well shorten your odds."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must read for surviving/thriving in real estate
Comment: Simply, "on target", unbiased, straight forward, clear and absolutely compelling. The real estate industry has been experiencing massive change over the past couple of years. And yet, most real estate professionals (60%+) have remained on the sidelines - waiting to see how these changes will impact there small business. "We do business differently here", "this market is different", "I don't need that stuff", "I'll wait to see what my compeition does first", etc, etc; If you have heard yourself saying these or similar things and you are not heeding the messages Tuccillo sets forth in this book, then you either don't have a business plan or your business plan is about to expire. Some will remain in denial and some will recognize the opportunity and take action. The question every agent and broker needs to ask themselves is whether they are willing to let their competition "get there first". Unless you are considering an exit strategy in the very near term, read John Tuccillo's book, then answer that question.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Insightful, instructional, a great primer for todays market.
Comment: Tuccillo accomplishes two things: defines the changing real estate market and exposes the strategies being adopted by the most successful enterprises. The strategies are simple to understand and are applicable to real estate enterprises both large and small. The character of tomorrow's successful real estate entrepreneur will be more the combination of a people person and an operations manager, than the simple broker that puts the deals together. An operations manager? You might ask. Yes, tomorrow's entrepreneur, in real estate or otherwise, will be treading through a fast moving stream of changes that constantly threaten the status quo. To be successful, and to remain successful, the entrepreneur will have to implement a system that monitors that stream, differentiates his service and locks in his clientele. That system will be multi-layered with clearly and distinctively separate tasks, the results of which will be put together towards a common goal: to add value to your service in a unique way that the most powerful consumer in history will want it because he either can't get it anywhere else, or it satisfies a need that is greater than the cost to have you satisfy it. The explanation of that is what this book is all about.
What Tucillo writes about is clearly visible in today's market. His message is clear and concise, but with enough depth that you can envision his message. If you are in the real estate business, it's a must read. If you are in any other business, you will find that much of it applies to you also.
Get it, read it, and get moving, or we will wave at you as we pass you by.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must read if real estate is your profession beyond 2000
Comment: Awesome book. John has the ability to deliver a strong and substantiated message to the Realtor community on survival and success in the new real estate world. Humanistic as well as hard hitting, Realtors, brokers and affiliates will prosper from absorbing the content. Worth reading at least twice!
