The latest issue of ‘The Economist’ has an interesting article about the value of real estate professionals.  The piece questions why estate agents in Brittain charge 2%-3% of the sales price as commission and typically do 40 – 50 deals a year while American agents charge double that and average 7 transactions a year.  Here, please read it for yourself.

It does make you wonder.

And there is some pretty good speculation on the part of the author, too . . . ok:  maybe (s)he gets a little carried away near the end of the piece but I think for the most part the points are well made.

Here’s what I remember:

I was running a Century 21 office in Georgia in the early 80′s with an average sale price at about $100,000.  Commission splits to agents were reasonable:  in the 60%-65% range for solid producers.  The Franchisor announced their new premiere award, the Centurion.  At that time, an agent needed to generate $150,000 in Gross Commission Income to the office or close 50 sides of business to win.  Because our price range was lower and our commissions less, my agents found it hard to conceive of generating $150,000 in commissions.  But they could imagine doing 50 deals a year . . . and they did.

I remember being on the Convention shuttle that year with my first award winning agent.  We were comparing notes with another award winner from the San Francisco area.  Each had won the same award, the Centurion.  My agent was sharing that she’d done 55 closed sides and asked what the other agent did.  The answer:  12.

It would be hard to tell which agent delivered the best service to her client, but I’ll tell you this:  as a buyer or seller I’ll take the 50 deal a year person every day.  That’s a person who fights and claws her way through a transaction, who learns how to make things work and brings all of that street smarts to the table.  That’s a high value addition to the transaction, worth every penny whether Set Fee or Percentage Based.

While I do have a problem with high percentage based commissions, I think a bigger issue right now is poor productivity.  How can we hold ourselves out as knowledgeable experts when all we’re doing is 5 or 6 or 7 deals a year?

The Value of A REALTOR is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Exactly one day after I went off about Social Media, look what shows up on the cover of the California REALTOR Magazine! I seem to be swimming upstream here

This Is Funny is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

I just got through with a webinar on the latest social media app – the one Zucherberg paid a billion for.  I say I ‘got through’ with it, not that I completed it.  After 32 minutes I could not find a compelling reason to invest any more time.  Oh, the presenter was good and information was . . . informative.  But I just couldn’t make the leap to understanding how this thing was going to make me any money.

Look, it’s true:   I’m old.  But I’m hip-old.  I can tech it up with the best of them.  I understand technology and use it constantly.  I get excited over the next great thing.  But there is a naked emperor in the room and I can’t believe I’m the only one who sees him!

Our industry is bombarded with ‘gurus’ touting the benefits of social media in our business.  I am not sure if any of the ‘gurus’ ever sold real estate or ever sold much, but they sure are talking and we sure are listening.  Still, I have yet to hear from anyone who can point at Facebook, Twitter, Printerest, Google+, Instagram, etc. and say without reservation that the app (all by itself) created a single new client who generated income.  I’m sure the stories are out there, but I haven’t heard them; which tells me it’s a pretty rare phenomenon.

Kirk Eisele taught me about the ‘Network Effect.’  That’s something that occurs when there are enough people in a group that the group becomes valuable.  An example would be Facebook.  A large part of their revenue stream comes from selling highly targeted pay-per-click ads.  When Facebook had just a few thousand members, the value of those ads – the value of Facebook - was minimal.  But when Facebook started talking in terms of millions of users, the ‘Network Effect’ had been achieved and each new member increased the value of Facebook as a marketing tool.  (The ‘Network Effect’ is something Facebook has all over Google +).

So, it seems to me that you’ll make money with Facebook not by having a page and posting and liking and commenting, but by tapping into Facebook’s strength – that ‘Network Effect’ – and buying pay-per-click ads aimed at homeowners in your target market.  Honestly, I think it’s one of the best marketing vehicles for real estate today.

Tammy Patzer helped me understand that, by themselves, social media platforms – heck, all electronic platforms – rarely produce adequate or consistent results. But there is a synergy that happens when you are in a dozen places online, and that synergy yields better results all around.  You have to think of it as a world wide WEB – just like a spider WEB – and the more strands to your web, the more flies you’re going to catch.  So Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aren’t the stars, they are the supporting cast.  Yet I see brokers investing time into Facebook who have done nothing to localize or optimize the star of the show:  their Help-U-Sell website.

When I got my first real estate license – you know, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth – I started noticing a lot of people coming into the business looking like they were going to set the world on fire.  And sometimes they did.  But more often, they’d get bogged down on organizing their farm or researching the market or mastering the MLS . . . .in other words, doing things that looked important but kept them from doing the things that would make them productive (like going out, meeting people and asking:  wanna buy?  wanna sell?).

Today I think we have the same group passing through.  But today they’re investing all of this time in social media, thinking that somehow it’s going to make them tons of money.  It’s not.  Face Time - time spent eyeball to eyeball with people in your marketplace - is what will help you maximize your productivity and your income. Your electronic life is there to make staying in touch easier and less time consuming so that you can have MORE FACE TIME.

I love what’s happening for Ken Kopcho this year.  Since January his production is way up.  He’s having a good year.  He’s using his electronic tools, his websites, his Facebook, and even jumped on Zillow with both feet.  But when you ask him why he’s doing so much better he’ll tell you:  More Face Time.  Not more Facebook time, more Face Time.

So can we please return to common sense?  This is a people business.  When people need help with a big project – like buying or selling a home – they look for knowledgable practitioners they like and trust.  Likeability and trustworthiness are rarely established through typing and clicking.  It usually takes a handshake and a smile.

Grousing About Social Media is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

We started talking about an inventory shortage back in the Fall.  The perfect storm of no new construction coupled with investor frenzy at the bottom of the market and fence sitters finally deciding now was a good time to buy has left most markets with very little to sell.  Oh:  there is inventory, but it’s mostly overpriced or essentially unsaleable.  Anything priced properly has multiple offers.

So today, getting listings is essential.  We have to build inventory to meet the demands of our marketplaces and thus, prosper.  But how?

We’ve got great tools at Help-U-Sell.  I’m very excited about Excel Print/Mail’s new mailbox flyer program.  It’s a perfect way to get your seller message out to a defined geography.  And using postcards to work the neighborhood around a listing has never stopped being effective.  A few weeks ago, we learned that Robin Rowland had sent a letter to every listing that expired in 2011 . . . and ended up with a couple of listings.  Not bad.

But mostly, getting listings today is not much different than it was last year or five years ago or more.  It all comes down to the basics.

‘Remind me again,’ you say, ‘What, exactly, are these basics?’

David Knox has a ton of good stuff on his website to develop great brokers and agents.  Each month, on the first Tuesday of the month, he releases a free salesmeeting on video and this month it’s all about the basics of getting listings.  I urge you to go to his website and click on the video link to ‘First Tuesday’ - it will wake up your possibly hibernating listing genes.  While you’re there, click around a bit – it’s a treasure trove of good ideas.

And here’s another thought:  Why not set aside that trashy novel you’re nibbling at every evening before you go to bed and get a copy of what I believe is the best book ever written about how to list and sell real estate, ‘How To List And Sell Real Estate’ by Danielle Kennedy.  It’s been in existence for what?  30 years or something but has been updated, revised, made more relevant . . . and is packed with great ideas on how to get more of what this business is all about:  inventory.  (You can get it at Amazon and B&N, too, but make sure you get the 2011 edition)

Interesting:  both of my recommendations, David and Danielle, have the same initials:  DK.

DK Gets Listings is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

(If you’re looking for a topic, here’s your next salesmeeting)

Objections:  it’s such an adversarial word!  The salesperson presents the product and the customer objects!  Says ‘I don’t want that, because . . . ‘ and then the salesperson pulls some magic script from the recesses of his brain that suddenly makes the customer want the product!

Malarkey.

That’s not the way it works at all . . .  except in sales training seminars where we practice, drill and rehearse the script over and over again until those almost foreign words flow off the tongue like honey.

Let’s step back from that selling situation for a moment.  What is the customer saying when he or she ‘objects?’  How about:  I have a question . . . or I’m concerned . . . or I don’t think this is right for me.  Sometimes they might be asking for a little encouragement, a little nudge, some reassurance.

It’s hardly the brick wall most sales trainers insist we must break through in order to WIN!  Remember, if your goal with your customer is to WIN, that means somebody else has to lose; and what kind of business will you be building if your goal is to make losers out of all your customers?

Your customer is your partner.  You are working together on a project – your customer’s project, be it buying or selling a home . . . or both.  You’re in the equation because of the valuable knowledge and experience you have in real estate and it’s the customer who recognizes that and pulls you in.  Winning to you has nothing to do with sales quotas, your income or anybody else losing.  It has to do with your customer achieving his or her goals.  That’s a good win.

How you respond to customer questions and concerns, however, is important and will have quite an impact on how many customers you are able to successfully serve in your career.  The best response to any concern is truth as you’ve observed it in your career, not some magical canned response.  For this reason, the most effective responses are based on research and data and/or your own experience.

In the listing consultation you are likely to encounter questions and concerns in several areas:

The sign: The sellers may not want to broadcast the fact that they are selling to the neighborhood.  Ultimately this is their choice, but you owe it to them to explain how much it will impact the marketing effort.  Knowing – really knowing – exactly what % of buyer inquiries into your office come from signs is a critical piece of information to take with you on a listing consultation.  Weighing the cost of not having a sign versus the benefit of having one  is Consultative Selling at its best and has nothing to do with breaking down an objection.  It has to do with the seller making a good choice with input from his or her advisor:  you.

The lockbox:  There could be a number of reasons why a seller might not want a lock box, so job one when this concern is voiced is to drill down a bit.  And here is a special phrase, one you will use over and over in your career:  ‘Please, help me understand. . . what is your concern with the lock box?’  ‘Help me understand,’ is a good start as is ‘Just to clarify my thinking, tell me why . . .’

It could be they have valuables and they don’t want anyone in the house unless they are there . . . in which case, the issue really isn’t the lockbox, it’s the valuables and how we can get them picked up and put away for the duration.  Maybe they’re concerned that the cat could get out or the dog could misbehave, in which case, again, it’s not about the lockbox, it’s about making appropriate arrangements for the pets while the house is on the market.  Knowing to the decimal point what percentage of your listings are sold by outside MLS brokers (who often use the lockbox) is another key bit of information you must have with you anytime you go on a Listing Consultation.  With this knowledge you can help the seller make a good decision.

The Term of the Agreement:  You ask for six months and they offer you two.  Stop for a moment.  Before you get into a tug of war over the calendar, ask yourself, ‘why would they not want to sign a six month agreement?’  It could be they are concerned about being tied up . . . but it could be something else. So first, drill down.  ‘Just so I understand . . . what is it that concerns you about the six month agreement?’

Usually this concern has to do with uncertainty.  They like you well enough and your program sounds good but they’re not quite convinced and they want an out if it doesn’t work out. If this is the case, first see if you can isolate the part of your consultation that left them uneasy:  was it your marketing program, your internet presence, your office location, the size of your staff, your track record in the neighborhood or any one of a dozen other things.  Ask:  ‘Just so I’m clear, what is it about the program that worries you?’  You may discover that there is a key bit of information you left out or that they didn’t understand and you can clear it up on the spot.

An important stat you need to have with you at the Listing Consultation is the average days on market for similar properties in the area.  Pointing out that they are offering you 60 days to do a job that, on average is taking 132 days can be powerful.

Finally, if the problem is general uncertainty, give them an out!  Get the six month agreement but amend it so that it can be cancelled with five day’s notice.  Of course you’d have conditions with that, but I’ll leave it for you to figure out what they might be.

Price:  This is a special and very important concern.  But it’s one we’ve already explored in several posts.  Go here , here, here, and here, and refresh your memory!

Commission:  This is a concern pretty much reserved for ordinary agents and brokers and they have dozens of scripts to justify their lofty fees.  But, really:  it’s the one concern you probably won’t hear as a Help-U-Sell broker.  After all, you are the low cost, set fee alternative to all of that, which is probably why the seller called you in the first place.  Still don’t be spooked if he or she asks you to cut your already low set fee.  Some people just have to ask and are then fine when the answer is no.

Marketing:  Your marketing program is (and should be) largely internet, direct mail and local visibility based.  That’s what works today, but your seller may not know it.  They may still have the idea that an ad in the newspaper or in a homes magazine will sell their property.  Your job here is to educate, to show in black and white what’s happened to print media marketing in the past decade.  Start with the local newspaper.  Find out what their circulation is and compare that with your metro population.  You’ll probably find that about 20% of the households in your area get the paper.  Do they really want you to go after that small piece of the market?  And that group has expressed no particular interest in buying real estate!  They just get the paper!  Compare that with a visitor to helpusell.com or any other real estate website.  That’s a person who at least has a need!

If there are still homes magazines in your local area, pick one up.  Note the date of publication (if you can find it) and the date you got it.  Choose an impressive ad – the back cover or a two-page spread in the middle.  Go through the MLS and highlight (with a yellow highlighter, you know) every home in the ad that is sold, pending or off the market.  The results will probably be impressive – impressive enough to share with a seller who is hung up on print. (Here’s some great information about the reach of print media today)

Are you starting to get the picture?  ‘Objections’ aren’t objections at all: they are simply requests for more information.  And it is information you should have at your fingertips.  Always.  Here’s a task:  comb your memory banks.  What are the most common questions or concerns (objections) you’ve gotten from sellers and buyers in your career?  Write them down.  Now, ask yourself:  how will I respond next time I hear this?  What bit of factual data can I have at my fingertips that will help my customer make a better decision.  Then go get that information.

By the way, my intent here has been to short-circuit that old adversarial objection thinking:   the belief that, somehow, a magical, technique laden script is going to get your customer to do something he or she doesn’t feel good about.  It has not been to undermine the sound listening and explaining tools we use when working with customers.  Things like saying, ‘Tell me more’ or ‘Help me understand’ when a concern is voiced.  Things like checking back to make sure the customer understood what you just offered:  ‘Can you see how that would make a difference?’  Even using a true third party example:  ‘I worked with a couple last month who had the same concern.  We did this and they did that and now they are so happy with their decision.’  These are simply the skills of a good listener.

Effectiveness in this arena – actually, in sales in general – is largely the result of knowing your business . . . and being prepared to document what you know.  You bring great value to a transaction, and that value will be understood and underscored by your buyers and sellers if you’ll anticipate their concerns and be prepared to discuss them.

I Object! (Objection Handling Debunked) is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Sometimes great marketing is so simple, so basic, hardly hi-tech, not even expensive.  Let me tell you what I saw today.

Early this morning I went over to the Morley Field Velodrome.  It’s a bike racing oval in San Diego’s Balboa Park – a wonderful thing where spandex clad riders tear after one another on banked curves and slanted straighaways.  Today they were having their regularly scheduled bicycle swap meet – an occasional event where local bike shops and individuals sell everything bicycle.  I’d heard about it and wanted to see for myself.

‘Get there early!’ my friend said, so there I was, in line behind about 200 others at 8:15 am.  ’What time do they open the gates?’ I asked the couple in front of me.  ’Oh, usually around 9,’ was the reply.  That’s where I woosed out.  It was chilly, I was in shorts and had nothing in particular to purchase . . . no way I was going to stand there in the cold for 45 minutes!  If I’d wanted to buy a $2,000 bike for $1,200, it would be worth it, but I was only curious.  So I left.

Pulling out of the lot I came face to face with an open house directional sign with a brilliant flourescent pink flag on top.  It’s a local independent broker I don’t really know . . . but I like the neighborhood so I figured, what the heck else am I going to do at 8:30 am on a Sunday (seeing how I’ve given up pancakes)?

So I started on my pilgrimage to the open house.  From my starting point to the property was about 2 miles.  In that distance I counted – get this – 21 directionals, each one with a bright pink fluorescent flag on top.  These were nice signs:  A-frames all in excellent shape.  As I neared the property and, I guess, the center of her target market, I started seeing bus benches with her distinctive logo – the same one that was on the directional signs. By the time I got to the house, I’d counted 7 of them.  That’s 28 impressions on only one of the routes to the house.  I have no idea how many other routes she mapped.

Of course, when I got to the house I discovered it was open from 1pm – 4pm in the afternoon, that it was overpriced (in my humble opinion) and not much to look at from outside.  The flyer box was full, tough; and interesting:  the house next door and one across the street had staked flyer boxes in the yards with a small rider sign stating ‘Coming Soon.’  It was the same agent.

How many times have we heard it?  Signs are your best marketing tool.  But how many of us go to this extent to maximize their power?  I can’t remember who it was on our regular Wednesday Power Hour call who talked about using as many as four directionals at an intersection for an open house.  I was amazed a that; but it was nothing like this!  Overpriced or not, you know that broker had traffic today, whether she ran an ad or not.  She may even have sold the property or one (or both) of the others on the block.  I think it would be a safe bet that she picked up a good buyer or two as well.

Think about it.  I saw, roughly $600 worth of directionals in my two mile drive.  They are reusable, so she’ll get much more mileage out of them than she did today.  The bus benches are about $250 a month and I saw 7 – that’s $1,750 a month, a healthy budget especially since she probably has more that I didn’t see.  But they are keeping her in that top of mind spot in her target market so that every other bit of marketing she does is that much more effective.  Best of all, it’s safe to say she had a productive Sunday afternoon . . . and what is your time worth?

Remember:  we are in a turf war.  You’re fighting for control of a little piece of real estate located between the ears of everyone who lives in your target market.  The name of this place is ‘The Best Real Estate Company To Call.’ And the company who wins it will do it with visibility and consistency.  My hat’s off to this local independent broker today:  you showed me Help-U-Sell marketing at it’s finest.  Hey – maybe we should talk…

A Marketing Lesson is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Inman is out this morning with an analysis of housing trend stats compiled by Realtor.com.  Not only is the news good, it bolsters something I talked about in November and December of last year:  the very real possibility of a housing shortage.  Really:  we have pent up demand, fence sitters becoming motivated, great rates, some relaxing in lending (well . . . some), and almost no new construction in five years.  Put it all in can, shake it up and you get:  low inventory and high demand – a recipe for rising prices.

In a dramatic chart, Inman points out that, across America,  inventories last month were down 21.48% over what they were a year ago.  And the 2011 figure was 9% lower than 2010! That’s a 30%+ reduction in two years.  Also, the median age of inventory – the number of days on market – was down almost 20%, 2012 vs. 2011:  things are selling 20% faster than they were a year ago.

The stats are nice, but you’ve been telling me this for months.  When asked how bad things are (by those wonderfully positive attitudes in my life), I always say the same thing:  anything salable has multiple offers.  What are you waiting for?

A good friend in Atlanta just sold her house for top dollar in a week.  Of course, she worked like a mule for 3 weeks getting ready to sell, including paying a professional stager about $250 for a 3 hour consultation.  She says that was some of the best money she ever spent, that the advice is what gave her the edge.  (Help-U-Sell brokers, are you ready to dust off those advertising banners we used so liberally a few years ago? Sold in 16 days, Seller saved $6,346!)

Inman goes on to present the ten markets with the biggest drop in inventory over the past year.  Some of the biggest drops were in areas where the housing crisis has hit hardest:  Arizona, Florida, and California.  Of course, some of that might be attributable to that mysterious ‘shaddow inventory’ I keep hearing about:  the large number of foreclosures being held back by lenders today.  Somebody tell me:  is this for real?  Or is it just more gloomy cocktail party babble?

So, here, according to Realtor.com and analyzed by Inman, are the top ten markets with the largest drop in inventory, March 2012 over March 2011:

10.  Portland, Or/Vancouver, Wa

Inventories down  38.79%            Median Price $249,900

9.  Orlando, FL

Inventories down  39%                  Median Price $155,000

8.  Atlanta, GA

Inventories down  39.26%           Median Price $159,900

7.  Seattle – Everett – Bellevue, WA

Inventories down  39.38%           Median Price $314,900

6.  Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Inventories down  $39.66%       Median Price $168,000

5.  Miami, Fl

Inventories down  $42.34%       Median Price $269,000

4.  Fresno, CA

Inventories down  45.56%         Median Price $159,900

3.  Phoenix, AZ

Inventories down 48%                Median Price $179,000

2.  Bakersfield, CA

Inventories down 50.35%         Median Price $139,900

1.  Oakland, CA

Inventories down 51.91%          Median Price $336.120

What are the stats in your area?  Share them here, I’d love to know!

And, by the way, if it hasn’t occurred to you already, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUILD INVENTORIES!  One of the great truths of our industry is that the company/office/broker who has inventory has all the business he/she/it can handle.  Go get it.

The Best ‘Toldja So’ News! is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Lots of talk about email this week.  There’s a good reason:  we got hacked over the weekend.  Someone got into our server and used it to send out a bucket of spam.  Dealing with it meant shutting down the server for awhile.  In discussing this with our Help-U-Sell family it’s become clear that a little education about the basics of email is in order.

Email happens when you send a message from your internet connected computer (or device) up to your mail provider’s server.   The server then sends the message to the server that hosts your recipient’s email.  The recipient will receive the message when he or she accesses their mail from a connected device.  OK: Truth is it’s much more complicated than that, but that’s essentially what happens.

The question of the day is:  how do you access your email?  There are a couple of ways, you know.   You could use a local Email Client like Outlook, an internet based email client like Hotmail, Gmail, or AOL or you could use a more direct method, WebMail.  A quick poll today on our Power Hour call revealed that most of our Brokers use Outlook or Outlook Express.  These are full featured programs that do much more than simply send and receive messages.  But they are BIG programs that live on your computer and sap your computer’s resources.  Outlook, in particular, uses a LOT of memory . . . which is not a problem if you’ve got lots to spare, but make no mistake:  it’s a BIG program.  When a local client like Outlook retrieves your email from the server, it actually downloads a copy of the message and any attachments to your computer.  Even if you never open the message, it’s there, taking up space on your hard drive.  And remember, if it’s on your drive and you don’t have a backup copy, you are at risk of losing it if there is a crash or super virus in your future.  This is why, if you use a local client, you should always check the box when you set up an email account  for ‘leave a copy of the message on the server.’  You’ll have a remote copy if you ever need it.

Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and the like are similar:  they can all be configured to go out and get your mail from various other servers.  But they also provide direct access to their own email accounts.  So if you have jamesdingman@gmail.com, you can configure gmail to not only pick up mail at that address, but also at, say, jamesdingman@helpusell.com.  Unlike the local clients, these services do not live on your computer.  There may be some app like interface that helps you get to them, but generally they are out there in the ‘cloud’ somewhere.  So the strain on your computer’s resources is reduced and you’re not filling up your drive with things unless you choose to download them.

Webmail is something different still, and we are fortunate to have it for your Help-U-Sell email.  Webmail gives you direct access to your Help-U-Sell mail much as, say, www.gmail.com gives you direct access to your gmail messages.  Again, it lives out there on the Help-U-Sell mail server, not on your computer, so it does not strain your computer’s resources.  It is sleek, lightweight and actually gets your Help-U-Sell mail a tiny bit faster than any other client because at least one step is eliminated in the process.  Help-U-Sell folks can check out our Webmail platform by going to:

mail.helpusell.com

and logging in with their OMS password.

I’ve been an Outlook user for decades and I admit:  I am a little spoiled by its depth of features.  I use mail, of course, but I lean heavily on the address book, Calendar and Task functions.  However, I can almost feel the strain on my system as it works away hour after hour.  And, what the heck:  I’m getting mail not just on my computer now, but on my phone and tablet and so on.  I’ve decided to convert to a non-local solution.  I’m using Gmail to retrieve my personal mail and Help-U-Sell Webmail for my business communication.  Since Webmail and Gmail are internet based applications, I can access them from just about any mobile device.  I think it would be a good idea for you to check it out and see if something similar would work for you.

By the way:  one of the things that made our mail server vulnerable to hackers was the simplicity of some of the passwords some of you are using.  Anything that uses your name, initials, birthday, children or pets names you are vulnerable.  The best passwords make no sense to anyone . . . but how do you remember a non-sense password?  Here is some guidance:

Use a Mnemonic.  Choose a phrase you will always remember and select the first letter of each word.  Use numbers when you can and remember ‘the’ can be ’3′, and toss in a symbol or two ($ for s).  Capitalize the first letter and Bam!  you’ve got a great password.  For example (courtesy of Google):  ’To be or not to be that is the question’ becomes 2bon2btitq.  ’This is one very secure password I hope’ becomes Ti1vspih.  ’Sell fast, save thousands, the experts next door’ becomes Sf$t3end.’

Please, Oh Please, examine and edit your passwords,  not just your Help-U-Sell email account, but for all of your accounts.  Reset them to something only you will understand and remember.

Email Basics is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

The first thing I noticed when I went into the bathroom stall was the white card with a QR code on it, sitting on top of the toilet paper dispenser.  I picked it up.  ’Search for HOMES on the MLS, just like an agent,’ it said.  Of course I pulled out my Android phone, opened Google Goggles and clicked on the QR Code.

I was taken to an agent’s Listingbook sign up page.  It is a standard webpage Listingbook creates for each agent who registers for their program.  This one was pretty good. It had the agent’s picture and contact information, and a crisp bulleted description of Listingbook, how it works and why it is superior to other property search tools.  To the right there were input boxes for First and Last Name, Email Address and Phone (Optional).

Yes, I am in real estate.  I am intrigued by QR codes and I love Listingbook.  But I don’t think my reaction would be all that different from anyone else mildly interested in the local real estate market.  I would have completed the fill-in boxes on the spot (or on the throne as it was) to get access.  Of course, then the agent would have my contact information and as I used Listingbook to search for homes, he/she’d also be able to see what I was looking at.

Here are the lessons in this:

• Marketing. Superb!  Can you imagine a fully loaded campaign structured around the phrase, ‘Search for HOMES on the MLS, just like an agent?”  Thousands of QR codes like the one described scattered all over town, Blitz signs with the same message and code, Maybe even a mailbox campaign like the one Mike Paholke at Excel is doing for us these days.  Almost everyone interested in real estate in your target market would at least click the code to get more information and many would sign up . . . and each of them would be that much closer to being your clients.
• The power of Listingbook.  I have been on a real kick the last few weeks to get you guys (you Help-U-Sell brokers) to start selling your websites as the great search tool they are.  Because they receive information every night from the MLS, they are far more up-t0-date than, say, Zillow or Trulia.  However, if your MLS has Listingbook, it’s even better! Listingbook is not an IDX feed that happens overnight.  It’s real time.  So an active listing that goes pending at 1:15 pm will show in Listingbook as pending at 1:16pm.  The IDX feed will take a day to catch up.  More important, the only way a consumer gets a Listingbook account is through an agent and then that agent can see every listing the consumer looks at, can see at a glance when their criteria changes, when their areas change, when their searching activity picks up (usually heralding a more imminent purchase).
• QR Codes. Have you noticed?  They are everywhere.  And just as DVD marketing was all the rage 7 years ago (we were distributing DVDs because there was a good chance the consumer would view them), QR Codes are the hot ticket today.  One relating to anything of interest to the consumer is likely to produce a click . . . and clicks start the relationship process.

I know I sound like a broken record, but:  Call you MLS and ask if they have Listingbook.  If they do, decide whether you want to signup for the free account for the very moderately priced upgrade.  Then start marketing it!  Everytime anyone signs up for an account through you, you have their contact information and a basis for staying in touch.  Once you get the account take advantage of the free training offered.  There’s a lot to Listingbook and much of it is easy to miss if you don’t take a moment to get up to speed.

I can think of no better local campaign to generate leads today than the one described here.  Drive people to your Listingbook sign up page – which will be perceived as a high-value offer – where their contact information is gathered and then start building a good working relationship!

On Another Note:  I sent each of you an email today about Website Lead Generation and Operational Areas.  I didn’t want to publish that here because, frankly, I don’t want the competition to know what we’re doing.  Please check your Help-U-Sell email and look for that message, read it and make any adjustments you need to make.

QR KICK! is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

I am so pleased.  I’ve been checking Help-U-Sell office listings in Google Places and many are now claimed, edited and verified.  Thank you all.

Now:  do you want to see one that’s really done right?  Check out Tiffany and Sonny Bulaj’s listing for Help-U-Sell Hometown in York, PA.  Notice the photos!  The $1,000 offer!  The Testimonial!  Wow!  Here’s the link:

Help-U-Sell Hometown.

Google Places Update is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog