Leveraging Technology to Sell Real Estate by MyAgentPhone

Mortgage and Real Estate Opportunity - Invest in Foreclosures and Preforeclosures

2008-11-17T22:39:00.001-08:00

If you made a decent living in the mortgage or Real Estate industry and aren't holding on to your money or taking advantage of the incredible foreclosure and pre foreclosure markets, please tell us what you're doing?

A good friend of mine did quite well in the mortgage industry, mostly brokering A-paper and then writing his own mortgages. He retired before the mortgage bust (he's in his late 20's) and almost immediately found a killer buy on a commercial property that was going through foreclosure or pre-foreclosure. The only reason he got the deal was because he knew someone who was helping the owner get through the foreclosure process. He bought the property for pennies on the dollar and now makes enough money off of the commercial property to ensure his retirement indefinitely. Just look at today's LA Times Business section, the headline Santa Ana foreclosures spur a bittersweet boom: "Angelica Maciel, who was priced out of the market during the real estate bubble, closed on this Santa Ana bungalow last month. She paid less than $270,000 for the two-bedroom, 910-square-foot house, which previously sold for $504,000 in 2006." People are buying properties for almost half their original price...it's time, or close to the time to buy, especially in the foreclosure market!

Right now there are so many pre-foreclosures and foreclosures that it's tough to weed out the good deals from the deals you hear about through the grapevine. How do you know that the 'good deal' you heard about today isn't the 'unbelievable deal' you may find out about tomorrow?

I've been getting glimpses of Prop Stream's preforeclosure, bank foreclosure and foreclosure software and so far have been completely impressed by it's features. It give investors the opportunity to work a deal with the owners and bank before they go into foreclosure or wait until they have been foreclosed on and be the first to the auction.

The software gives you the ability to forecast foreclosures based on their preforeclosure status and for mortgage brokers, get people out of foreclosure while they are in the pre-foreclosure process. That's right, if you are in the mortgage industry, this is an opportunity to generate leads and help people work through their high-risk situations or get them into a more manageable loan. You can also become the short-sale expert in your area with the tools to run comps based on any area in the country and with more information than the MLS.

Powerful tools to help people keep making a strong and stable income are what will keep the mortgage and real estate experts in the cash while the markets change. And if you're like my friend, you may just make enough to retire sooner than later.

As always, best wishes and best of luck.

Mortgage Broker and Realtor Investing

2008-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here in southern California there are several Mortgage Brokers and Realtors out looking for the next big thing to move to. Some of them, I've noticed, are jumping on the debt consolidation industry because it's a quick transition that seems to be doing well. I'm not sure how they are able to make the kind of money they were bringing in during the mortgage boom because the commissions and dollars just aren't the same.

I know several successful Mortgage Brokers and Realtors that have also seen a down turn and have opted to maintain their businesses while also leveraging their knowledge and glory-days income (savings) to pull in big money again. All of them have found a tremendous income opportunity in the Pre Foreclosure and Foreclosure market. They are buying up commercial and residential properties and either flipping them or keeping them for a perpetual revenue stream, to ensure some long-term revenue stability.

One of the programs I keep hearing people talk about is the search and forecasting tool by Prop Stream. I've seen the presentation and plan to have a closer look when I get the time.

In short, the software gives investors or potential investors the ability to search, filter and research pre-foreclosure, bank foreclosure and foreclosure properties. Instead of trying to do this yourself through your local government, bank or mortgage bank, you can do all of your investigation and research right from one real-time application.

As an investor this is key because you want the ability to jump on a potential deal before anyone else. It is also important if you are a Realtor because these are potential steals that you can offer to your investor-clients. Think about the additional, low cost, opportunities you can add to your product selection. In a time when some of the mid-range deals are going away and even some larger ticket properties are being foreclosed on, it's a wonderful opportunity to continue closing deals.

I'm going to take a closer look at the software and then I'll post again about some of it's features and see what it can really do under the hood.

Maintaining a qualified lead pipeline

2007-02-28T23:28:00.001-08:00

Are your sales off to a great start so far this year?
It is my hope that all of my readers are finding success in their respective markets . Using the information in this post is a sure shot way of increasing your business. So listen up, take some notes and get ready to implement!

Business is all about relationships, primarily your relationship with potential home buyers and sellers but also your relationship with other real estate agents, mortgage brokers and any other professionals that service your industry and may be able to feed you new potential prospects.

I travel all over the U.S. these days and the more people I talk to, the more I find that relationship building is the key to most businesses, but is essential in the real estate and mortgage business.

Here are a couple of things I've found, talking to a number of real estate agents and mortgage brokers, which are keeping them on the top performer's list month-after-month. They simply offer other real estate agents, mortgage brokers or "for sale by owner" consumers the free 24-hour recorded info service.

First, "FREE" sells. Putting "FREE information available 24-hours a day" on a yard sign, ad or other marketing material will get you results. If you are using the myAgentPHONE™ system and Talking Property™ feature which will get the caller-id info from every call, you're getting a new lead every time someone calls in to your 800 number. FREE always attracts more traffic and gives you an opportunity to present your services, on a recorded call, to those that are on the fence or those that would have never called otherwise. With myAgentPHONE™ you will also have the opportunity to present to them later as well, if you decide to call all of your in-coming callers.

Second, 24-hour recorded info will increase your response rates. I can't tell you how many people I hear this from. National Association of Realtors® (N.A.R) released the statistic that an increase of up to 500% can be achieved by simply offering a 24-hour recorded message service. You will see a tremendous amount of traffic and activity on every campaign that is delivered this way. Why, because a large number of potential customers are shopping before 8am and after 5pm. Now potential customers will have every reason to find out more about a
property or listing through a non-invasive, recorded message.

This brings me to the last point, removing the invasive hurdle that keeps most potential customers from contacting or interacting with a potential offer. A recorded message is a huge stepping stone for anyone that is afraid or not interested enough to make the extra effort of talking to an agent, broker, FSBO or any other person live. Now you can interact with everyone, without scaring people away.

Now that you have all this extra traffic contacting you, or interacting with you, what should you do with it? You obviously must provide what the people are looking for, give them the recorded call that they expect. Make sure you are providing the service they want and information that they will need to know.

Then you have the opportunity to educate these callers about your company, experience and you can even leave your expert opinion about which products may be best for the potential customers. You may choose to offer information such as, “The Best Ways to Sell Your Home,” “How to get the most money for your home," ”Top 10 Home Improvements,” a brief summary of the hottest mortgage products, hot properties or areas to buy & sell, etc. Give them the opportunity to spend several minutes in your phone system (which you can see in your reporting) listening to local information about the schools, industry, growth-rates, census info and
any other helpful information. The longer you keep them interested and feed them with pertinent information the more they are going to trust you, look to you for information and the more you are going to be known as the source for information, home buying and selling opportunities and or mortgages.

Giving away something for nothing has proven to be a tremendous lead source and lead generating tool for a lot of real estate agents and mortgage brokers. Give it a shot.

Oh, before I forget…this isn't just for real estate agents and mortgage brokers, I have heard of developers doing the exact same thing to pre-sell out developments as well as property managers or owners to rent property. Also, insurance agents and other service providers use these marketing tactics to help generate leads and sales that they otherwise may not have attracted.

Why not offer these other types of companies and industries access to
your Toll Free 800 number so that they can offer the same informative
and valuable information to their potential customers. The whole
time, you will be collecting caller information, usage statistics
(what they're listening to) and new potential customers or leads for
your own business. You can then cater your offering to these newly
acquired leads based on their interest in calling.

There are very few marketing and advertising tools that I have heard
of that can increase your response rates and traffic up to 300 - 500% almost overnight. If you are not using myAgentPHONE or another similar product now, you need to because your competition is probably already looking in to it.

If the information in my posts help you yo do things a bit differently and prove to be helpful and better yet profitable, please let me know. I would love to hear of your successes.

Until next time,
Damien Zamora
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Why you should LOVE those FSBOs

2007-01-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

For Sale By Owner (FSBO), Real Estate Agent Lead Generation

Normally Realtors® hate to see the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) signs up and try to bombard the home owner with fliers, information and compelling arguments as to why they should change their mind and use a broker. It is important to know that there is usually a reason the owner has decided to list their property as FSBO, whether it be financial, personal confidence in the market or simply a dislike for the brokering industry.

Whatever their reason may be, chances are the direct marketing, telephone calls and other attempts to convince them that your real estate services are more effective than theirs will always be up for argument but chances are, it’s just more literature for their recycle bin and added frustration at unwanted calls.

You should consider looking at these FSBOs as future opportunities and try to establish a new contact with them, even if it’s not for the immediate sale. The key here is showing your business acumen and befriending them as a colleague, not as someone taking away your potential commission. Look for referrals and opportunities for their future properties.

Here are some ways the myAgentPHONE™ customers have used their 800# service and Talking Property™ feature to help with their real estate lead generation efforts:

Provide them with an informational packet on selling their home (keep it to $5 or so)
• Go to www.zillow.com and print out their estimated property value (if available).
• Give them a list of suggestions or tips on what home improvement are most cost-effective. You can print this out…or find a better article online.
• Provide them with safety and other FSBO information, so they know what to look out for and what to be aware of.
• Include your standard media kit/presentation (along with several business cards) and be sure you have an area highlighting the advantages and successes of your Talking Property™ service.
• Anything else you feel may help them sell their home…and help them remember you in case they decide to get a Real Estate agent later.
• Also, be sure to include sample reports from a myAgent PHONE™ Talking Property™ sample customer. Let them see the types of information you provide to all of your customers.
They should see that you provide the names of their prospects, unblock all calls and provide phone numbers and also the source of the advertisement being used.

Now that you’re in their good graces and have assured them that there is no catch…

Offer them the ability to use your Talking Property™ feature and offer them a FSBO/24 hour recorded info sign to post on their front lawn to get reports on interested callers. Let them know this isn’t something you normally do but will do this for them if they will use you if (and only if) they decide to use a real estate agent in the future. Do the following to show them the benefits of Talking Property™:

• Make sure to let them know of the powerful stat from the National Association of REALTORS® (N.A.R.) that states that they will have a 500% increase in calls from interested parties when they offer 24-hour pre recorded into.
• Make them aware of the rule that callers who block their caller ID give up that right when calling a toll free number because someone else is paying for the call.
• Show them the text messages on your phone that include; name, phone number and ad source that you receive instantly from interested parties on your other listings if applicable. Let them know that you will set it up so that they get a text of interested parties directly.
• Also, be sure to let them know that they will receive calls directly from interested parties who want to talk to the seller right away.
• Remind them how important a QUICK response is in real estate.

You see by taking this approach you’re not hard selling. They haven’t signed anything and you’ve provided them with valuable information. If nothing else, you build a rapport with them and a relationship that may generate you business in the future.

Our customers have found that this strategy has been an effective way of generating qualified real estate leads at little cost and also has helped generate referrals and future business because a potential client will never forget the Realtor® that didn’t try to talk them out of FSBO marketing and actually helped them sell and market their property.

What is in it for me? You ask..

Remember, with the 500% increase in calls along with the fact that the seller really only needs one of them to sell their house, you will bring in an abundance of other qualified potential buyers. 80% of these callers are not represented by an agent and normally have a property to sell so go after the DOUBLE-ENDED DEAL$!

Wow! Who would have ever thought that a Realtor® could potentially receive an abundance of qualified leads and possible double-ended deals by working with a FSBO???

Give it a shot, it’s a great method of real estate lead generation, building new relationships and at a much lower cost than some of your equally qualified (or not qualified) real estate leads that you’re paying for now.

Now if you are not already a myAgentPHONE™ customer and want to learn more about Talking Property™ and other powerful marketing methods click here and put this powerful tool to work today!

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
myAgentPHONE™

dzamora@myagentphone.com

Cash Creating Technology

2007-01-10T16:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Damien Zamora:

I wanted to send you a short note of thanks for you’re My Agent Phone

System. I started using the system over a year ago and I LOVE IT! As

a real estate investor there are certain needs my business has. My Agent Phone has allowed me to have a pre-recorded message (you call them Talking Properties) for each of my properties at a good savings and much more functional over other message systems.

I have also been able to assign each of my power team members their own extension which makes calling them from anywhere in the country and at an instant easier than ever. I love your recent addition with the unlimited inbound and out bound long distance calling. I never new having an inbound toll free number would help my business so much. The frugal side of me has also been rewarded by being able to cut my monthly phone cost in half using your system.

Thanks for this great piece of cash creating technology.

Yours in prosperity and friendship,

G William Barnett II

Best Selling Author of "Are You DUMB Enough To Be RICH? The Amazingly Simple Way To Make Millions In Real Estate!"

A great tool for all the agents and Realtors

2007-01-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Hello to all agents ,

I wanted to share with you a service I recently started using and that is a great tool for all agents. It is from a company called MyAgentPhone. In a nutshell, it is a complete telephone solution for all of your incoming and outgoing calls, tied to a toll free number, with all the bells and whistles there are on the market, including online faxing, calls logs, fax on demand, voicemail, etc, etc.

Check it out on http://www.myagentphone.com - it has tons of features! ONLY $49.95/month

Get rid of that efax account. This is also an online fax machine. Talking Property, Call Me Now, VoiceMails, Call Logs, Conference Calls, Caller ID that is NEVER blocked and even sends me the name of the caller, Text messages right to my phone, and all is on an unlimited minutes fare. What does it mean? You only pay the $49.95 a month and that's it. Check it out online!!

I would not recommend it if I did not believe in it. It is the best tool for communications I've seen so far - and for that price... incredible!

Did I mention you get a TOLL FREE NUMBER? You will look MUCH MUCH MORE professional with this. AND for a small fee of $19.95 (one time only), you can search for a vanity number. What is a vanity number? Example: One just like mine (800)EXAMPLE - which spells out something you want to spell with the number keypad.

They even call you to set your account up with your listings and menu preferences. Their service is the best I’ve experienced from a phone service provider!

You really should do your research and sign up for a MyAgentPhone account. No better way to get this new year started right!

Bests, JAVIER

Call & Fax me TollFree at 866-SOTOMAYOR

JAVIER SOTOMAYOR | Realtor Consultant
Serving all Miami-Dade | Specialized in City of Doral FL
email@javiersotomayor.com Website: JavierSotomayor.com
More Realty LLC / Cell 305-975-6225 (try toll free first)
5833 Coral Way , Miami FL 33155

Holiday Bargains

2006-12-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

I've been reading in the paper and online about all of the creative deals being done by home buyers, especially those of existing homes. While in Phoenix recently I saw several $15-$25K new home purchase cash back offers. You buy the home and get a nice bonus toward closing costs or putting a pool in so that you can handle the 300 degree summers (OK, only 120+/ :-).

I've also been reading about several existing home buyers making offers that include everything from kitchenware, the Plasma TV, all the way up to complete home furnishing included in the already discounted (or not) offer.

With the Holidays here, the market over saturated and a lot of people selling who have wanted to get out of their homes before the New Year...it doesn't hurt to recommend to your client to consider a creative incentive to include with your listing. I would ask your seller directly, "how seriously do you want to sell and are you willing to accept offers?" Then have a creative session together to come up with a few incentive options to consider.

If the seller is an investor, unmotivated or simply just has the house on the market to see what they can get, chances are you're not going to get much play. On the other hand those that are in dire straights, one step from foreclosure or just want to get out of their current situation will usually work with you to meet half way or make some financial concessions that make the deal more attractive to the market.

A lot of people are hanging tough on their price right now, which is probably one of the biggest reasons the market is dropping somewhat slowly. Chances are most of the people in the market are going to stand firm so don't expect that everyone will be willing to get creative. What you can do is work with your clients that are looking to buy, determine if they're looking for a home or a deal of the century then find out the sellers situation and work accordingly. You may consider approaching FSBOs on behalf of your client that is looking for the “great” deal. Just remember it’s not always a good idea to get into the habit of making unrealistic lowball offers. Fill the seller in on your clients perfect scenario and see if there will be a fit. Don’t forget, price doesn’t have to be the only terms to be negotiated.

Serious sellers will hate the lowball offers, but you could make someone's day just by finding a buyer for their house and get your client a great deal at the same time. I’m sure your client would enjoy their new home with a new Plasma TV, furniture set or some other furnishings all wrapped up into the deal. If you find the right seller, your client could have a better Holiday or New Year present than they expected.

Happy Holidays,
Damien Zamora
myAgentPHONE™

Expand your knowledge at Industry Trade Shows

2006-11-27T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hello Readers –

I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful holiday.

I want to share some tid bits on the California REALTOR® EXPO 2006 in Long beach, Ca. that was put on by the California Association of Realtors® C.A.R. October 17^th – 19^th.

myAgentPHONE™ was a major sponsor this year for the EXPO and I am happy to report that it was an amazing success. Not just for myAgentPHONE™ but also for the EXPO, the vendors and all of the attendees.

The EXPO had over 12,000 REALTORS®, as well as thousands of California's key franchise execs, top producers, and movers and shakers. According to Joel Singer, Executive Vice President of C.A.R., this EXPO had a record breaking turn out. If you haven’t been to one of these events across the country, you MUST look to attend an upcoming event in your area. It is the perfect environment for educational, networking and professional development opportunities. Also a great way to learn about the latest and greatest technologies available to use in your business..

This year they had a special pre-EXPO event, Tech Tuesday, which featured a full day of comprehensive training geared toward assisting today's REALTOR® to stay on the cutting edge of real estate technology.

I was one of the invited speakers for this event and my topic was “Turning Your Phone into a Lead Generation Machine.” I must say, we filled the seats and rocked the house! I was thankful for the opportunity to speak on this topic. It was very evident that I was able to open many of my attendees’ eyes to how easy it really can be to sell real estate in today’s market by leveraging technology. Although not as powerful as in person, this is what I attempt to do for you with our blog. Send me an email and let me know if you would like a copy of the Power Point presentation that I used.

According to many at the EXPO we had one of the most modern, hip and busy booths this year. With hip house music playing from the “Chill” station on XM radio, many people came by to just relax on our couches or dance in our booth. myAgentPHONE™ staff and visiting attendees had a great time! Oh and of course we signed up many new myAgentPHONE™ subscribers throughout the event. In fact, we were still taking orders as they were pulling up the carpets at the end of the event.

Thank you C.A.R. You did a fantastic job and we can’t wait until next year!

I encourage each and every one of you to find an upcoming Industry State Association Trade Show in your area and GO and expand your knowledge!

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
CEO/President
myAgentPHONE™
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Good Karma

2006-10-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

I just read another good article on Realtor.org, the site for the National Association of Realtors, check it out: Existing-Home Sales Holding At A Sustainable Pace. As I mentioned in my last posting, you want to consider your source. Well in my opinion the National Association of Realtors is a very credible industry source.

Here’s my take,
Yea, the market is stabilizing. Let’s look for the positives! I think there's enough negative energy out there about the housing market. Make it your mantra to pass on the good news about the market. Use your market to quote real articles and reference them so people can read them in context. Right now there are a lot of people dissing the market and using bad information or partial information to exacerbate the market stabilization. It's stabilizing but not necessarily to the dramatic extent that some are making it out to be.

It's important for you to be positive, aggressive and excited about the market stabilization and the fact that business will normalize. Sure, the frenzy is over which should help excite your investors and buyers it's also a time to educate and encourage your sellers. Keeping prices stable is important to a smooth stabilization and you can help your sellers understand that loosing all their equity to get out isn't a smart business decision and should not be done unless absolutely necessary.

It's time to pull out the pom-poms and start cheering folks. Keep it real and keep it positive!

Now for your dose of Tech stuff I would like to point you to an excellent section of NAR's site: Center for Realtor Technology. This new section is an outstanding resource for information on Real Estate technology, tools and trends. One of my favorite things about the site is its information about the trends that have helped shape the Real Estate industry into what it is today.

The site also has PowerPoint Presentations that you can take a look at information on how to make sure your business is safe and secure (including helping you with a security policy). Tools are provided to help analyze your site to make sure it's compliant. Of course you can check out the Newsletters, contact Realtor.org consultants (I'm sure at a fee), help fight listing theft and contact the NAR's Center for Realtor Technology.

There's already a TON of stuff on the National Association of Realtors site and the technology section just adds another feather into their cap. It's worth taking some time to check out everything available. Even if you're not a Realtor...there's a lot of great information for buyers, sellers, investors and the general population.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
CEO/President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Don't Believe the Hype

2006-09-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

I know I've mentioned in past blogs some things you can do to help protect against the market correction like the short about Maintaining your Online Presence. One thing I forgot to bring up was to forget about believing all the "HYPE" about how badly the market is doing. Especially don't let the "hype" knock you off your focus and start to negatively affect your sales ability and work ethic!

I was surfing around and found a real good blog on this topic by a great writer, Tim O'Keefe titled Guard your mind 1 and 2. It's about the "hype" of the current market and how the press is so good at finding superfluous statistics that sell papers/headlines but really aren't that bad when you dig into them. I really like Tim's approach on this and do intend to keep up with his blog and recommend you do the same.

One thing I've learned is that you always need to back up your sources. While you and your clients/friends see headlines and stats about how the market has burst just keep in mind...where did these numbers come from and what are they compared to.

When you hear, the number of new home sales have plummeted x% from the same period 2 or 3 years ago, remember 2-3 years ago the market was booming and probably near its peak. When you think about it, the actual growth would still be above average and in any normal market still be considered strong. When you see the headlines ask yourself...are they comparing apples to apples?

Don't believe the hype, stay focused and keep up the work ethic.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
CEO.President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Realtor and Agent Efficiency

2006-08-26T23:38:00.001-07:00

Just like any business, managing your real estate or mortgage company is a matter of understanding objectives, defining a plan, setting priorities and then executing on your plan.

Here are some suggestions for using technology to follow through on your business opportunities.

1) Learn to use the technology you have and determine what works for you and what does not. Just because you have or buy all of the tech "toys" doesn't mean they are helping you improve your effectiveness. If you get a new PDA or phone with all kinds of management features use it for a month and see if it is helping your income or wasting a lot of your time mastering Tetris.

2) Learn Outlook - even if you're not a huge email user, Microsoft Outlook has a LOT of business management features that can really help you run your business, you should take the time to utilize the features;
a) email - if you're not a heavy email user, learn to be...if you are, use Outlook to build up your contact database and then use the mail merge feature to send custom e-mail notices to your contacts.
b) calendar - time management is extremely important, especially if business is going well. You can loose far more money when things are going well and you miss an apt. than when things are average and you miss something. Use the calendar feature to stay on top of things and now you can usually synchronize it up with most PDA's, some phones and even run it web-based through some hosting companies.
c) contacts - your contacts are dollars, save every single one of them. You're contacts database is probably your most important asset. Use Outlook to build up your contact database and segment it out by right clicking on your "Contacts" icon in the left navigation area...create a sub-category and save your friends, your farm contacts, potential clients, past clients, sold, in-process and other categories as refined as you please. Remember each sub-category can easily become a mail merge and you can send out e-mail, mail or use myAgentPHONE’s VoiceCast system to send a pre recorded message to a group or several groups. Need to make a conference call? myAgentPHONE also makes it very easy for you to set one up. You can patch in your clients with your lenders, escrow and title officers or any other associate that you may need to connect on a single call with just a few clicks of your mouse.

3) Put EVERYTHING in your "system." Whether you use a planner, PDA or your computer (Outlook) just get in the habit of entering everything. If you speak to someone, drive somewhere, set an appointment or learn about a new opportunity...make a note of it in your "system." You never know when you're going to have to reference the information.

4) Take 30-60 min. EVERY DAY to organize your time, thoughts, notes, plans and objectives.

Chances are you probably already do most, if not all of these. If you do, fantastic, you're probably a top producer in your region or company. If you don't, or do most of these...take the time to hit each one and don't forget #4, organization is the easiest to neglect but the most important to your success.

Keep up the good work,

Damien Zamora
CEO/President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Data is King (continued)

2006-08-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

I have to apologize for taking so long to get part 2 of this blog to you. I've been on some RR for the summer with my kids and refused to use my computer for work. So here it is and I hope you find this information useful.

Last blog I talked about the importance of data and backing up your data, as well as knowing how to format and get access to your data.

So, what do you do with it now that you have it in a format you can use?

Use some standard marketing and advertising tools...

1) Learn to Mail Merge - MS Outlook, Eudora and most other email programs, along with almost all sales contact managers have a feature called "Mail Merge." This tool lets you use your existing contacts in the program, or import new contacts and then create a mailing list, print it out onto letter head, envelops and whatever else you need. Learning to mail merge is extremely important because you get to know how good or bad your data really is and what formatting your data guys (or marketing team) need to do for each major mailing. If you haven't done this before...create a CSV file from your data and then go to your contact management program and use the HELP feature (or hit F1, usually that will work) and search for "mail merge"

2) Email - You can do emails almost daily with your new mail merge tool, I wouldn't recommend it but if you have customers/clients that want to hear about the latest and greatest properties/offers then mail merge and email are a Godsend. You can use your mail merge feature and actually set up your contacts into groups i.e. your farm and send out specific weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual emails to the groups. Holiday greetings are also a great way to keep yourself in front of the contacts in your farm. Make sure your clients/customers are OK with you sending them email; if they asked to be removed from your list, be sure to do it...getting "black listed" can hinder you from contacting hundreds if not thousands of your clients/customers...all because of one email.

3) Direct Mail - Now that you know how to mail merge...start doing it. Using good-old-fashion direct mail (post cards, media kits, newsletters, Birthday/Thank You cards, etc.) is a great way to brand yourself as a Realtor and build your client relationships. You can use inexpensive online sites to get full 4-color mail pieces, or go with a traditional printer which will charge you several hundred dollars more. I'd look into these two sites, they have the best rep for online printing: http://www.vistaprint.com or http://www.overnightprints.com . Now if you’re budget would allow, you should look into a company called Hobbs Herder Advertising. They are one of the top advertising agencies for Realtors. Run by founders Don Hobbs and Greg Herder, this organization really knows customer service and goes far beyond excellent personal advertising and will also teach you how to master marketing overall.

4) Voicecast - use our myAgentPHONE system to send your new mail merge an automated, recorded voice message about your latest properties or about an upcoming event by calling every phone number at once. Imagine how much effort it would take to call 200 people to tell them the same thing. With myAgentPHONE’s Voicecast You can also use the system to call purchased voice-casting lists to introduce yourself to potential clients. The great thing about voice casting is that it's "instant," and can produce tremendous results. Stay tuned for more great ways to use Voicecast.

5) Targeted product offerings - once you master the mail merge you'll realize how easy it is to reach out to your customers/clients or potential customers/clients. You can start to focus on your customers/clients needs and find products/offerings that match your clients specifically and if you have enough contact you can start to create all of the above marketing/advertising material around specific customers. Give them exactly what they want and design products/offerings that fit the exact needs of specific groups you have created. Knowing your customer and then specifically targeting your advertising can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars every month.

6) List sales - I wouldn't recommend this, unless you have a relationship with your clients that permits you to do this but some people go after new customers/clients in order to build a database of contacts and then they turn around and sell those "contact"/leads to associated vendors (movers, storage companies, etc.). If you have a close relationship with your customers, I wouldn't suggest selling their data. For the most part I believe this is a bad idea but it’s common so I figured I would list it.

I'm sure you have your own ways of marketing, networking and branding but some of these can help supplement some of your existing efforts. Especially the voice casting services, if you haven't tried it before, you really need to. We (myAgentPHONE) have seen companies generate thousands of dollars of revenue in a matter of minutes by using the system. It's fast, easy and can easily be done in a professionally and tasteful fashion.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
CEO/President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Data Is King Part 1

2006-08-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

This is a two part blog since there's a lot to managing your data and then using it to make a successful business.

If you've been in business for more than about 5 years, I'm sure you've had your share of experience in losing data. Whether it was something small like a customer's contact information or a whole database containing customer, financial or sales information...it's almost a given for anyone who's been around for a while. Having been through several instances of data-loss the one thing I've learned is that there is nothing that can replace a good data management process.

Real Estate, Mortgage and sales businesses especially need to have a way of managing their data BEFORE they start doing business otherwise one day they will end up having a business-ending event that they may or may not be able to recover from. I can almost describe to a T the sinking feeling you get when your IT guy comes in your office first thing in the morning and says "the database crashed" or getting paged at 2am "your site is down." To this day, it's still a dreaded feeling, even though I've done a lot to ensure I don't have the problems of the past. So if you're just getting your business started or have been in business for a while and haven't had any data loss experience (yet) then here are some things to consider now before you do experience the dreaded data loss.

1st - What data are you going to store? It's always smart to save more data than less, try to find a database or software program that lets you manage your whole business in one place. This will centralize all of your data and let you manage everything from one program instead of having to open a program for sales, marketing, advertising or property management. If you don't have the luxury of one central program make sure that ALL of the programs you use are storing as much data as you can input.

2nd - How is the data stored? Make sure that you can ALWAYS export or backup your data. If a program doesn't have an export or backup feature...then move on, it's not worth investing in. Look for things like CSV or Tab Delimited File export. These are data standards and if you decide to move to another program later or if you loose all of your data for some reason, you always have a lowest common denominator to go back to (like the CSV/Tab Delimited File).

3rd - How to save the data? Hopefully the system(s) you are using saves all of your information and does a good job at it. If you find that information isn't there the next day or "disappears" often, then it's time to look for a better program. Besides the program doing it's job, you REALLY need to get in the habit (or have a daily process setup or programmed to do it for you) of a daily backup. Make sure that every day an ADDITIONAL copy of your data is being backed up, preferably NOT in the same place as your live data. Try to save on a separate hard drive, DVD, CD-ROM, remote drive, USB drive or whatever you have access to, just DON'T save to the same hard drive as your primary data. Do it daily and check it weekly to make sure it's usable and save yourself the dread of the IT guy.

4th - Be ridiculous about your data. This is your business, don't just save your data before you close the program and don't just save a backup...be ridiculous about it and take a backup home with you on CD or in a USB Hard Drive at least once a week. Yea, it's not necessary but you'll find it lets you sleep easy at night.

Finally, know what kind of data you have at any moment and know how it can be used. I'm not an IT guy, and don't want to be but I know what data I have and how I can get it and use it at any moment because you NEVER know when or how you will need your information. We sign up new customers for myAgentPHONE every day and some of these people don't realize that their WHOLE customer or FARM list can be called with a professional and classy dialer product called Voicecast in just a matter of minutes but if and only if they have data in a usable format.
You'll find that your business is more nimble and your ability to make money is far greater when you know your data. Your data may be contact info for potential clients in your FARM or vendors such as lenders. Or may just be notes on past and future clients. Whatever your data is for you remember, DATA IS KING! Don’t put yourself or keep yourself in a position to lose it!

Next week I'm going to continue the data blog and discuss how you can use your data to make money without selling your customer data. Because data is all about being more efficient in your sales, marketing, advertising, promotions and customer retention.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
CEO/President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Real Estate Pod Casting Technology

2006-07-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Everyone is Pod casting these days, uploading audio/video to websites that can be downloaded and replayed on your iPod.

I found an article yesterday touting to be one of the first Pod Casting sites specifically designed for the real estate industry. For those of you that are iPod users, you'll know what all of this means. For non-iPod users, well in short...you can now buy an iPod and go to some of these sites to download tips, tricks, training and general chatter about how to better manage your Real Estate business.

http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2006/07/new_real_estate.html

Here are some things to remember when Pod Casting, or downloading Pod Casting files:
1) Most of these are amateur recordings and may or may not have accurate data
2) Because most of this is amateur, just remember opinion is NOT fact. A lot of people will share their success tips which may or may not work for your area.
3) Only download from reputable sites, remember there are still a lot of virus and spyware sites out there. Never download stuff from sites that look less than professional or give you errors when you start downloading.
4) If you are recording a pod cast, be clear, concise and site your statistics. Making up data or sharing your internal data doesn't support your idea unless it can be proven in general or over a larger test group.
5) Be careful of liability - don't say things that may put you in the sights of lawyers; avoid using competitor names, brands or other products, especially if you are not providing favorable information. Even favorable reports may require approval from the companies, it never hurts to ask before you publish your pod cast. If you can, issue a release of liability for the pod cast (especially if it's on your site, let people know that this is Opinion or Recommendation and that some markets may require different strategies/methods). Just be careful.

Finally - before you publish online, load the files to a test site and have a few of your internal employees test them to make sure they sound OK, download correctly and are a reasonable length.

If you are managing a larger group of agents or brokers, you should really consider pod casting or media file downloads within your internal corporate network to provide your employees with valuable training and educational material. I've known a couple of CEO's that have developed weekly messages that they record for their staff (and an additional message for their customers/potential customers) to help motivate and educate their staff from an executive level. In fact this can be very effective for marketing. I’ll use an example; my company, myAgentPHONE has a relationship with Hobbs Herder Advertising. We supply them with a telephony product known as VoiceCast, (which I’ll write about in a future post,) to communicate their message to their clients. For instance, Don Hobbs uses VoiceCast to record holiday greetings or reminders of upcoming seminars that he sends out to his clients routinely. . He recommends Realtors to use it to stay in contact with their farms. The main difference here is that VoiceCast sends the messages to phone lines whereas pod casts can be sent and or downloaded. So all though it’s not the same technology as pod casting, it allows for the same ease of delivery of a consistent message. Subscribe to my RSS feed to stay tuned for more info on VoiceCast.

Okay so for those of you not really interested in the iPod generation or Pod Casting...remember myAgentPHONE gives you the ability to play a pod cast
message directly through an 800 number that people can call at any time for free. The quality can usually be better and give people the ability to connect with someone by phone or cell right after the broadcast...a much more effective way of converting this type of marketing tool directly into a lead.

Yep, if you're in the Real Estate & Mortgage business, myAgentPHONE really is that important...it can take the place of several "hot technologies" or just be a more powerful full-service offering for you to leverage to sell more real estate.

SSend me an email about your thoughts on this subject. And if you have the time, let me know if you've heard of other similar technologies being used to pod cast.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Top 10 list for mobile real estate professionals

2006-07-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone,

I was looking up Realtor Technology the other day to just see what was being promoted out there and see if there are any new and cool applications or devices that I could play with and found a good article by HP (obviously bias toward their technology but if you take out the branding, it's still a good article). Check it out.

I did want to comment on a few of the things in the article because I have had some experience using most of the stuff in here, I'll just go point by point.

1) PDA Phones - Got to have one! If you actually use the technology you own...then this is a HUGE benefit to your day-to-day operations and successful flow of business. If you love technology but don't actually use it to its full potential...don't waste the money and just get a small laptop.

2) Mobile PC - I've never liked the tablet PC and haven't met anyone who has used them so I don't have much advice there but having a laptop is a big benefit. Before you go buy one consider this...is your primary objective to show pictures on it or to do business on it? If you're using the laptop to show pictures or presentations then go with the bigger, more powerful laptops that have the nice screens and act as a mobile PC. They're heavy but you can't go wrong with a great display and tons of power. On the other hand, if the laptop is for doing business then go for the "mini" laptops they have that have anywhere from a 7 1/2" screen all the way up to about 12" screen. These babies are small, weigh under 2lbs and pack enough power to do everything you need (except heavy graphics or image management). If you're a road warrior like I am, these little laptops are great because they're light, do the job and some are smaller than a note pad...and just slightly thicker.

PC Card - If you can afford one, and the monthly service (usually $50-$100/mo) then you'll never want to leave home without one. Almost every major metro has high-speed bandwidth for them and they are a tremendous help in keeping you "always online." If you live in a rural or semi-rural area that has spotty connectivity then forget it, it will only frustrate you and make you wonder why you're wasting so much money. If you travel a lot like I do you may want to consider an Air Card from Verizon.. It’s only $59.00 per month and the $249.00 air card is free with a 2 year agreement. Don’t quote me on this; they change from time to time. One of the main reasons why I use and also recommend their service is....You've heard it before...."It's the Network." It's actually true. I find their service available in some of the most unlikely places.. So a carrier's network coverage is very important to consider.

4) Mobile Printers - I've never been a fan of them. I know a few people that live and die by them but I have yet to find a truly mobile printer that actually is reliable and prints quality docs. I usually just carry around a thumb drive and hit Kinko's or any print house if I need something on the road. If you have studied what myAgentPHONE can do for you in this regard, keep in mind that you can store all of your important documents in your myAgentPHONE fax inbox and retrieve them from anywhere online. This could be your clients home, Kinko’s as mentioned above or anywhere that you can access the net with a printer. Or you can even call into your myAgentphone account and have your docs faxed to you on demand right to any fax machine..For more information go to myAgentphone and check out E Fax services. Just a couple of alternative options for you to consider before you invest in a Mobile Printer.

5) Digital Camera - Required, Period. Try and get at or around 5 megapixels, anything over 6 is overkill but may produce better images. The big brands are so good now, you can't really go wrong with a Nikon, Canon, Kodak, Fugi, Sony and any brand that's been doing digital cameras since about 1998. Some of the newer brands still need to get the experience under their belt. But as a Realtor you have to know how important this piece of simple yet very effective technology can be for you and your business. And it’s also great to keep track of the fun family times.. Bigger bang for your buck when you can use a piece of business technology for personal use too.. :)

6) Wireless keyboard for PDA - If you're using a PDA or PDA Phone...don't leave home without one of these.

7) Digital Recorder - I hate my voice so I can't get use to these things but if you don't mind hearing yourself...I imagine they can be a huge help in personal memory management.  If you are like me...just carry around a note pad or something to scribble down ideas, appointments, etc. or just actually use your laptop.

8) Portable Backup Drive - Technology is NOT reliable, just remember that mantra. If you always back your work up and be a fanatic about it, you'll never have to worry about losing information, schedules, contacts, deals, etc. Find what works best for you and just be a Backup Junkie.

9) PowerPoint - Learn it, Live it, Love it. Makes your sales process REALLY easy. And if you throw in Adobe Acrobat, you can print all of them to PDF files so that you can send to people who may not have PowerPoint. I give presentations all over the country and using my power point presentations in most cases, make me a hit! No really, I give a great presentation using this invaluable piece of software..
Email me a request and I will send you one of my powerpoints that I use to present my technology, PBNext which if the parent brand of myAgentPHONE

10) Mobile Mindset - Success is a decision. So is being a mobile professional. If you truly want to do it right....force yourself for one month to use all of the new Tech-Toys you buy and by the end of the month you will know if it works or not and will also find ways to make your life and business even more streamlined than you ever thought possible.

And that's my $0.02 on the subject.

Hope you all had a fantastic 4th of July!

Please post additional helpful comments on this topic or email me of some other technologies you use or your feedback on the ones listed in this post.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Mobile Technology Helping Realtors

2006-06-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

Everyone has a phone, PDA, laptop or mobile device these days. I'm starting to see a lot of people really using them effectively in the Realty business and the current applications on the market are extremely effective in helping small and large businesses manage their day-to-day operations.

If you're in the Realty business and are looking for a new cell phone, or are about to have your contract expire, you should really look into the new technologies on the market.

Sprint and Verizon both have very strong Palm and Window's offerings that connect to the internet with high-speed and give you full access to your current online applications from just about anywhere you can get a cell phone connection. Imagine being able to look up your contacts, maps, comps, or searching Google from anywhere?

I've gone through several permutations of "smart phones" and PDAs over the last 5-6 years and now they're really starting to get cool. The new Q phone is incredibly small and still gives you all of the features of the fat PDA phones that are out there.

The technology has advanced far enough that your PDA can almost be an extension to your desktop computer, especially if you use the Internet for most of your applications. There are also technologies similar to "PC Anywhere" which let you use your PDA to connect directly to your home computer and have full access to your home PC from anywhere (as long as you have a cell phone connection).

Talk about power...imagine being able to route calls, voicemails, text messages and faxes with our MyAgentPhone solution to be heard or read on your PDA.

Some of the big things to consider when looking at a new cell phone or smart phone...

1. Does it do High Speed internet? Anything over about 128kbs is pretty good for wireless, there are several that do 500+ (a huge plus)
2. Screen size. I've done several things on a small cell phone screen and it's great for a lot of people but if your going to use the net a lot, show images or have bad eyes...then the big screen helps.
3. Palm or Windows. They both have plenty of applications for everyone but you should see what programs you might want to use BEFORE you decide on the Palm or Windows solution because they are quite different.
4. Price of internet access. Some of the high speed providers (especially Verizon) may charge you a lot for net access; you can pay more for net access than for every other feature on your phone in some cases.

So, once you've decided on a phone...here are a couple of sites that may help you with online applications and also:

Palm Source - an article written by a Realtor

PDABLAST

With some mobile devises Realtors can show Virtual Tours and even open up Lock Boxes! This stuff just never stops impressing me.

Palm™ mobile devices make client and listing information accessible to the real estate professional at all times. Clients and associates see the difference when you arrive prepared for instant access to telephone and email, as well as industry essentials such as a digital version of your local MLS® book or specialized loan calculators. Check out these great compatible tools for Realtors for Palm handhelds and smartphones. All of these are great solutions for professionals in all aspects of the real estate value chain.

I've seen a lot of people get in to technology for a day or two and then stop using it but to be really effective (and take advantage of the money you're spending on the technology) you need to make it part of your daily ritual. Not only will you see HUGE benefits but being able to stay connected with your clients and colleagues so efficiently will impress them because you're so "cutting edge."

One tip of advice..."cutting edge" also means...backup often. Make sure you back up your work daily or twice daily...especially if you're a very active user. It's still technology and it's better to save/backup frequently than lose your work.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
CEO/President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Maintaining your Online Presence

2006-06-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, there are all kinds of rumors about market down-turn or "the bubble bursting." In one of my previous posts, I called it the “Normal Times.” I'm not sure if any of you have actually felt it yet but the one thing that becomes more and more important as the market does its natural ebb & flow is to maintain a steady stream of marketing and online presence.

You undoubtedly need to make sure you continue your traditional marketing efforts; direct mail, phone, TV, radio or other media but you also need to make sure that you are consistently updating and changing your web site as well.

In the mortgage/real estate market, stagnation is a sign of weakness or a negative shift in the market, which can cause concern for your clients, employees and potential clients.

Be sure to update your listings if prices change, update them if you sell or close a deal...make sure you reflect it on your site as quickly as possible. Your site will remain popular and positive if you maintain it and keep people coming back for the latest updates.

Marketing is the ability to create an emotional or visceral reaction to something you write, say, send or post on your web site. You need to make sure that reaction is positive, uplifting or a call to action.

So what do you do if you don't have any updates and it's been a few days? Well, you post some comments, or change the design, update your statement/quote or listings to reflect some change. It's not imperative that your web site change all the time but think of your site as a living, breathing, being. When people come to your site, do they have to check for a pulse? Or, can they tell right away that you are alive and kicking!

Overcome those negative concerns by demonstrating that you and your organization are not stagnant. Rather, you are on the ball, a real mover and a shaker.

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
dzamora@myagentphone.com

I love myAgentPHONE

2006-06-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

Damien Zamora,

I do not often find that the services advertised by most service providers actually meet or exceed the expectations of a business professional in the "real world" of day to day activity; trying to make the services work for you cost effectively and efficiently. So, it is with a large smile that I congratulate you on MyAgentPhone. It not only makes me more efficient...it makes me look more professional...and that is an image a Realtor needs to build a business. I'm relatively new in Real Estate and going up against some very strong Realtors in the niche I've chosen to pursue. That means I need every tool available to improve the quality and professionalism of my service and image. MyAgentPhone is one of my best tools for that purpose.

It has allowed me to seamlessly integrate all my phone and fax functions down to a single number that follows me everywhere and is itself now part of my brand: 888-4-BillyD. When clients or prospective clients contact me, they are offered the same PBX routing and messaging services offered by the biggest corporations. I have less hangups without messages because of this image. No one can guess that I'm a one-man-band...because it sounds like I'm at least a quartet.

I'm starting to effectively use the talking properties feature to save my time on tire-kickers and it allows the real potential buyer a chance to get much better quality scripted information than I would be able to provide from my cell phone if I got the same call while on the run.

I'm also using very effectively the ability to have signed documents fax to my computer directly, cutting down on paper costs and over-stuffed file drawers. For clients without faxes, this means an email gets the documents there instantly and saves them an extra trip to Kinko's to pick up faxed docs or me the cost and hassle of overnight document packages. That savings alone justified my signing up for the service.

While I am not ubiquitous, I can give that impression to my clients. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being best, MyAgentPhone gets an 11.

Again, congratulations of providing a reliable and valuable service.

Billy D

Work smarter during the NORMAL times....

2006-05-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

I've heard for the last 5 years that the real estate and mortgage
bubble is going to burst any time. As we all know the market has slowed but by no means has it burst, the growth rates have leveled off to what is probably normal and sustainable. The idea of everything going upside down is far-fetched, although still possible but just not something we're seeing and from all indications isn't something that will ever happen.

Every business has a cyclical life-cycle; a period of progressive
highs, to an extreme point and then declining lows to a leveling point and then the roller-coaster heads upward again. This isn't something to fear, speculate or be prepared for; the market fluctuations are expectations that every business and every sector should plan on.

It's not about preparing for the best/worst, it's about preparing for
the norm.

Many businesses live and die on the high and low end of the ebb & flow of commerce but that doesn't mean you have to be one of them. Just try and keep your business as simple as possible and sock away some cash for those days when the market turns or does what you don't expect because you can expect that to happen. Don't live too high or too low on the hog, just manage your business as if you never have enough and as if there will never be a new client. It's pretty basic logic. Plan for the worst but expect the best is what I've always heard but the truth is you just plan for change above or below and figure out where your middle ground is and then build up your bank
account to stay stable right in that middle ground.

Yea, I know...pretty basic stuff but I think a lot of people have lost the sight of it in the housing/mortgage boom. It's all about
stability if you want to survive because then the ups and downs of business have little or no effect on your forward progress.

Don't panic and start planning because you need to hang in there and focus on stability, the bubble hasn't burst, it's just normalized.

Heaven forbid we have to live in normality for once.

You may have to work smarter these days and that’s exactly why we have this BLOG. To introduce you to technologies to be used as tools that will help you work smarter all of the time but especially during the normal times. 

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
dzamora@myagentphone.com
www.myagentphone.com

MyAgentPHONE.com SEO Advise

2006-05-12T01:06:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last 6 months reading just about everything I can on search engine optimization, web marketing and online advertising and I've come to some pretty simple conclusions...

One: The future of search engine optimization is content, content, content, NOT titles, meta keywords or meta descriptions. Links will always be a big factor but the more I read, the more it makes sense...real content is how a site should be ranked. Google's already doing it, trying to perfect it and all of the other engines are trying to catch up. The engine that figures out how to get people what they're specifically looking for about 60-80% of the time will be the hands-down winner. If you want to succeed, you better start building content, lots of it and start partnering (or paying) with sites that have massive amounts of relevant content, and will also link to you. Almost every Real Estate professional I know has a web site these days. The Real Estate blogs and Broker/Agent sites need to promote each others relevant content.

Two: You have to spend money to make money. The Internet has made a LOT of people a lot of money with little or no advertising budget. In today's Mortgage and Real Estate markets everybody and their brother are trying to get to the top of the search engines so it's almost impossible to get any type of organic ground. Unless you have been online forever, have thousands of sites linking to you and oh by the way...have an encyclopedia worth of content...you're NOT going to make the top 5-10 in the search engines. Yea, it does happen but not very much. If you really want to succeed, set aside a budget and work on optimization in the mean time. You don't need a lot...start off with $300-$500/mo. and just see how it goes, change your keywords every month and see what works best for you. Don't change keywords too often, you need good data to see if the words are successful or not and anything under 30 days may not be enough to really tell. Once you are making a profit or getting the marketing benefit you expected from the paid AdWords (or the like) then start upping the ante. The whole time, keep working diligently at building content and optimizing your site for the engines...that's what will give you longevity once you are in the top 10.

Three: Until the Internet (mainly search engines) are completely commercialized, and let's pray that never happens, your success on the search engines will be gauged by your diligence at optimizing and advertising to keep up with everyone else. You can't just throw money at it and hope it sticks, or max out keywords and hope they work...it's a continual process that keeps changing and you have to learn it, study it and constantly look at the data to determine what works, what doesn't and how to make money at it.

I don't have all of the keys to success and by no means claim to be an expert on this stuff. But over the last 6 months I've read hundreds, if not thousands, of pages and articles on SEA,SEO and internet marketing overall and they're all saying the same things...dig in and start working on content if you want to succeed. A great source for feeds or newsletters SEO is Clickz. I'm digging in to help my company, myAgentPHONE be successful and the fact that you're reading this means it's working...you're reading my content :)

As always, I invite your comments and views. Email me any realizations you may tap into on this subject.. I will say, for something that sounds like it should be real difficult, it's actually pretty fun and entertaining.

Till next time..
Damien Zamora
CEO.President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com

Using Blogs to sell Real Estate

2006-04-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Using blogs is an excellent way to enhance your Real Estate business.

What is a blog, blogger and blogging? They are not just very funny words but they also represent a very powerful communication tool. The WordPress site has a great introduction to blogging.

I’ve done a lot of research in cyberspace myself on this topic and have found 2 excellent sources for information on Real Estate blogging. John Helmering and Kristen Veraldi operate Real Estate Blogsites. Here you will find very informative content pertaining to blogging in the Real Estate industry. They also have a great blogging platform that you can use complete with search engine marketing. They teach you the importance as well as the difference between Long Tail and Short Tail SEO. They are the WHOLE package .. see for your self.. and get your Real Estate blogsite up, running and generating business today.

My next Recommendation on this topic is the Rain City Guide. Operated by Dustin and Anna Luther in Seatle Washington, this blog demonstrates a great example of how a Real Estate Blog should look and act. Rain City Guide's mission is to be the best resource for real estate information in the Seattle area. They also give you very specific information on what to do and what not to do when Real Estate blogging. For example, I took special interest in Dustin’s article, 8 Common Mistakes Made By Real Estate Bloggers. What an eye opener this article was for me and can be for you. Another great example happens to be a very critical component to operating a successful blog. We all know and have heard (over and over again) that in Real Estate, Location -Location- Location is the most critical factor in a property’s value but what’s most important when you're online? LINKS... and lots of them. Check out, Linkation-Linkation-Linkation. In Cyberspace, he with the most links coming in, wins.

Read up and learn how fun and easy this can be.. The benefits to your business will amaze you.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this topic as well as my 2 recommendations. Also, If you have a recommendation or two, please do tell.. Information is KING..

Until next time,

Damien Zamora
dzamora@myagentphone.com

How To - "Measure It"

2006-04-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

Measuring the performance of your advertising

One of the most effective ways to measure the performance of your advertising is to advertise a toll free 8xx number that is set up with multiple extensions.

You may ask, "How does that solve my tracking problem?”

Simple answer: Assign a different extension number to each individual advertising/marketing campaign and property listing. No matter how many different places you run an ad, the toll free 8xx number tells you exactly which ad prompted each and every call by identifying which extension your caller is calling from.

For example:

Print
Homes and Land Magazine - ext. # 101
Local Newspaper ad - ext. # 102
MLS Listing – ext. #103

Yard Signs
Sign Rider on Hope Street - ext. # 200
Sign Rider on Church Street - ext. # 201

The trick is how you collect and store this info.

One excellent way is by using a web based call management tool like myAgentPHONE.

When shopping for a call management system make sure to look for a web based product. They normally cost very little to set up and don't require you to buy expensive equipment like most hardware based phone systems that have similar capabilities. Also make sure to avoid signing a long term contract.

Don't forget the other huge benefit you get when you advertise a toll free 8xx number. Because you’re paying for the call, your callers give up the right to have their call blocked. So you will know who is calling and where they are calling from every time.

As a Real Estate professional, you know that advertising rates are not cheap. Consider how capturing this key information, will help you measure which ads are your strongest performers. But also consider how much of your advertising budget could be wasted if you didn't have the benefit of this information.

“Measuring your marketing effort is easy when it’s only coming from one source, but when you have multiple ads running on many different radio and TV channels, not to mention ongoing print and direct mail campaigns, and several Web sites, things can get interesting.” Said Russell Shaw from iSucceed in a previous post.

Advertising a toll free 8xx number and using a web based call tracking/management system will get you well on your way to Measuring your Marketing efforts.

I hope this has proven to be insightful as well as thought provoking.

If you’re interested in discussing further how you as a real estate professional can take full advantage of this technology, please feel free to ask questions below in the comments or give me a call at 800-827-0607 #147 or e-mail me at dzamora@myagentphone.com

Now go out and sell another home! Oh wait, after you have a wonderful Easter holiday.

Regards,

Damien Zamora

“Measure it!”

2006-04-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

RISMEDIA, April 12, 2006—By the time they reach the age of three, most children can count to 10. As they grow and learn, some focus on math and science, but by the time we reach adulthood, no matter what path we’ve taken, the vast majority of us find ourselves in the world of business – and the goal of business is to turn a profit.

All of a sudden, numbers become important again – although now they are prefaced by dollar signs and followed by zeroes and commas; usually the more, the better. To earn money, we must sell our goods or services, and to sell these things, we must find people willing to buy them. We must find our “market”, and thus, engage in an activity commonly referred to as marketing. But how does one determine whether a certain strategy is a cash pipeline or a financial wind tunnel, sucking out all your hard-earned dollars? “Measure it!” says new iSucceed Mentor Russell Shaw.

When it comes to creating and maintaining a successful real estate practice, all activities – especially marketing efforts – must be measured. Shaw explains, “Measuring your marketing efforts is not hard. It just means answering a few important questions, like how many people responded to your marketing? How many listing appointments did you set? How many listings did you get? How many homes did you sell? Then you can determine whether or not it was worth your money.” Why must an agent engage in this kind of scrutiny?

For agents who are essentially self-employed and therefore funding all their own marketing efforts, money is a valuable commodity. To use it wisely, Shaw believes you must fully understand the meaning of ‘measurable marketing‘. “Effective marketing is obtaining shelf space in the mind of the prospect, to the point where, no matter what they do, you own a tiny little piece of real estate in their head,” he says. “It offers you the freedom of not having to compete on price. It gets strangers who’ve never called you before to call you and want to do business with you. Anything short of that is a waste of your money.”

Over the years, marketing efforts have grown vastly more complex. Shaw quips, “I can remember a time when putting your photo on your business card was considered an ‘innovative, powerhouse, ground-breaking’ marketing technique.” Today’s marketing efforts are indeed a science: from media type to delivery method, from volume to demographics, from frequency to ROI, marketing will have the passionate agent crunching the numbers to make sure his or her campaigns are worthwhile investments.

“Measuring your marketing effort is easy when it’s only coming from one source,” Shaw explains, “but when you have multiple ads running on many different radio and TV channels, not to mention ongoing print and direct mail campaigns, and several Web sites, things can get interesting.” And yet, when the mental real estate you own in your market begins to fade, you’ll need more than the ability to count to ten to keep the doors to your office open. Measure your marketing, and make more money than you ever have before.

The 411 On Lead Generation

2006-04-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

When Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Connie Alexander walks into a listing appointment, she has a secret weapon. Beyond her high-quality personal marketing materials and her impressive track record, Connie possesses a weapon that leaves clients in awe — and it’s as simple as making a phone call.

After the initial small talk and a conversation exploring the seller’s motivation for their home sale, Connie begins to discuss how she’s going to market this prospective client’s home. And a few minutes later, that “prospective” modifier has usually been removed from that description.

During that marketing portion of her presentation, Connie asks the seller to get their phone and call a number she gives them. Then she sits back and enjoys the show. The seller’s eyes react in amazement as they listen to detailed recorded information about their home. Minutes later, Connie’s pager sounds, and she hands it to the seller. On it is the seller’s phone number from which they made the call. Once she explains that every ad for the client’s house will direct people to this toll-free number, they’re as good as sold.

“Lately there’s a trend of sellers interviewing a lot of agents before hiring one,” Connie says. “With the this technology, I don’t have to worry about who I’m competing with.” For Connie, this confidence isn’t arrogance, it’s the simple fact that this technological advance sets her apart from the competition with a system that requires very little time to operate.

Prospective clients can call 24 hours a day to hear recording property information, request special reports and much more with the assurance that they will not have to talk directly with a salesperson. The beauty of this is its “call-capture” technology, which not only provides Connie with the phone number of each caller, but also their street address, if listed. It also tracks the advertising source that generated the call, letting her know which ads are working best.

The Perfect Personal Assistant

In addition to its powerful effect in listing presentations, Connie appreciates the ability to free her from answering countless questions about homes. While she continues with her day, callers can listen to up to five minutes of recorded information on each property. The automatic page feature alerts Connie to anyone calling repeatedly, immediately identifying “hot” prospects that Connie can call back promptly. Here’s how it works:

Everywhere that Connie advertises homes, she includes her toll-free number with an extension unique to that house and ad. That means the same recording might have many different extensions to reach it — one from the yard sign, others from newspaper or magazine ads, another from the “Just Listed” message Connie sends on her PowerKard, another from the E-mail farming she does, and so on. With unique four-digit extensions for each ad, Connie can easily decipher which tactics are generating the best response.

Less Resistance = More Leads

One of the keys to success is the fact that consumers do not have to talk with a salesperson directly. The 800 number breaks down that resistance by indicating that the number is a 24-hour automated service that the prospective client can call at their own convenience. Without the threat of having to talk with a salesperson, prospective clients are much more willing to call. Less resistance means more calls, and more calls mean more hot leads.

In fact, more often than not, reports show that the bulk of calls made to an 800 number come after hours, for two reasons: One, it is simply more convenient for people to call at night after work; and Two, because they feel there’s less chance of having to talk with a salesperson after hours. That means many of the calls received are consumers who Connie wouldn’t have otherwise heard from.

Any of those callers who contact Connie’s number are effectively raising their hand and saying, “Look at us, we’re interested in buying a house.” Then, with their phone number and address in her possession, Connie can immediately call or mail her marketing materials at just the time that they have indicated they are interested in buying, selling or both.

Increasing the Call Volume

House ads aren’t the only way to drive calls. One of the most effective ways to identify prospects on the open market is to offer a free special report such as the reports in our Gateway materials. All you have to do is place an ad stating, “Free Special Report for Home Sellers! ‘29 Essential Tips That Get Homes Sold Fast (And For Top Dollar).’” Include your name, 800 number and extension and always make sure to indicate that there is no one to talk to and no further obligation.

That’s exactly how Marv Kombrink of Geneva, Illinois’ Kombrink Team uses his 800 number. Veterans of more than five years, the Kombrink Team even sets up unique mailboxes for accessing the latest mortgage rate information and unique special promotions and offers. Saying they’ve “almost perfected” the system from using it so long, Matt Kombrink says that once they print out the “call capture” information, they automatically mail a letter discussing the current market and add that address to their database.

Stretching Your Marketing Dollars

One major hurdle in real estate marketing has traditionally been agents’ ability to determine where they are generating business from. This solves that problem. No matter how many different places you run an ad, the 800 number tells you exactly which ad prompted each and every call. Advertising rates are not cheap. Consider how, armed with this statistical information, you can reallocate your advertising budget to capitalize on the strongest lead generators and eliminate those failing to produce desired results.

Dan Olague of Puyallup, Washington is another agent who has done just that. For years, Dan advertised in the same magazines without knowing which ads were generating the bulk of his business. After implementing the 800 number, however, he began to analyze the data and found that one of the magazines with whom he had been advertising for a long time actually was not producing desired results. Using the call reports as an ally, Dan switched his marketing mix until he found the perfect combination that has not required changing for some time.

“It really helps,” Dan says. “It determines where I’m going to put more of my money. I’m not the kind of guy to jump to conclusions after just one or two months, so I’ll give it some time. But if something isn’t working for you, why continue doing it?”

Taking Phone Technology to the Next Level

Now that you’ve seen the capabilities of call capture technology, how else can you utilize the phone to your benefit? Well, the next step for Connie, the Kombrinks, Dan, or you, for that matter, is to incorporate Voice Broadcast technology into the mix.

Voice Broadcast is a messaging system that enables you to make multiple personal phone calls in an efficient, automated way. Let’s face it: Following up with prospects can be difficult and very time consuming. But with Voice Broadcast, you can follow up quickly and easily and make a personal impact. Imagine being able to call and touch base with existing clients and prospective clients — all at once, all in the time it takes to record one voicemail message! With the Voice Broadcast message system, you can leave voicemails at 10, 50, 100 or even 1,000 answering machines all at once and all in a matter of minutes.

The power of Voice Broadcast is only limited to your imagination. Here’s a quick overview of just how easy it is:

You record a message and send it to your designated groups of recipients. The system is designed to seek out recipients’ voicemails and answering machines. When an answering machine is reached, your message is delivered. If a live person answers, a polite “sorry, wrong number” is spoken and no message is left. Then, you’ll receive a report, by fax or e-mail, on how many numbers were reached and how many messages were successfully delivered.

You may not be addressing the person by name, but the impact of your call is still personal. Now those calls you didn’t have time to make can be made with one simple message. Some of the uses for this innovative technology include “touch base” servicing, follow-up, thank yous, and farming expireds and FSBOs.

Many people are skeptical when they first hear of Voice Broadcast. They question whether or not their message will sound authentic, how to record a generic message that sounds personalized, or what happens when a live voice answers the call. Our advice is this: Don’t worry about it. The people who developed this technology took great strides to ensure the recordings sound authentic, and we use this technology ourselves quite frequently with great results.

Marrying Call Capture Technology with Voice Broadcast

One drawback of the call capturing and its amazing lead-generating capabilities is the lengthy list of callers who require follow-up at the end of a day or week. The solution? Voice Broadcast.

Using your Voice Broadcast system in combination with call capture technology creates an unbeatable, time-saving marketing tool. What if you received 15 calls about a particular home? Calling all of those people back one by one could take quite a bit of time. With the Voice Broadcast system working for you, though, you can return all of those calls in a matter of minutes. Your 800 number tracks the callers’ phone numbers. Just take those numbers and send a voice broadcast message to them.

Now you’ve just returned all 15 phone calls with one easy message! This gives you an easy opportunity for personalized follow-up to leave a positive impression with your prospective buyer.

Step Into the Future

There’s no question technological advances like call capture numbers and Voice Broadcast are the way of the future, helping clear your slate and freeing you from the time-consuming activities that prevent you from the truly important facets of your career.

And once you experience that freedom, you’ll wonder how you ever conducted business the old-fashioned way. “It’s really a huge part of my business now,” Connie Alexander says. “I can’t imagine giving it up now that I’ve used it.”

We’d like your feedback on this article. Send us an e-mail at Greg.Herder@HobbsHerder.com to share your thoughts with us. Tell us how you’d utilize these advances in phone technology and whether or not you think they’d be valuable in your market, and why.

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Talking Property by MyAgentPhone

2006-03-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

Turn all of your listings in to Talking Properties today and start selling more homes immediately.

Creating a Talking Property is very easy, simply click on the Talking Property tab in the MyAgentPhone software, type in the property address and choose an extension. The last step is to record the property description and remember to let the callers know that they can be connected to you and schedule a tour of the property or ask additional questions by pressing 1 NOW.