Another Cool Outlook Tool from Xobni
September 8, 2008
Recently a friend in the business send me an email suggesting I try out Xobni, a ‘must have’ plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. I always get a little skeptical about Outlook plug-ins, usually because they always end up causing my Outlook to “go funny.” Maybe there some code Microsoft puts in the program that says, “If anyone tries to add on a piece of software that REALLY makes Outlook work well, then sabotage it!” But in this case, it looks like the only quirks come during shut down, and even then I can’t be sure it’s Xobni’s fault.
I can say this: Xobni is something every busy Outlook user needs to check out!
More Meaningless Marketing
August 21, 2008
When I read this headline this morning, I immediately thought of that Britney Spears song, “Oops! I did it again!” Once again, another real estate company is reporting some “numbers” designed to get people - consumers, agents, Martians - to gasp. Seems like their website has generated some few millions of “leads” to their agents. You know, buyers who go on their website and ask for more information. It’s another orchestrated PR campaign to get the public to say, “Wow! That’s a lot! It must mean they are really good!”
Too bad, then, that it’s just another example of totally meaningless marketing. What’s worse: Generation X and Y know it.
The Future of Real Estate Prospecting
August 19, 2008
Here’s an idea to make any agent’s day: If you’re finally fed up with the poor results and high costs of postcard mailings, newspaper ads and cold calls, and you’ve come to the conclusion that blind mass-email marketing makes you more annoying than maybe it’s time to get LinkedIn.
Or MySpaced. Or RealTowned. Or Facebooked. Or a member of just about any of the hundred or so major social networking sites. No matter how you look at it, the opportunities just add up.
First, look at the research. No, not the online web blather: of course the social network sites are going to “claim” they are the next greatest thing to croutons (which recently replaced sliced bread as the next greatest thing). We mean the consumer research. It looks like this: Baby Boomers are quickly losing ground as the “largest” source of real estate business to the combined numbers of Gen X and Gen Y. With more than 100 million X and Y’ers still in the market - yes, they are, and going to be the driving force for the next 30-40 years - it’s time to start propsecting on their turf.
In the “olden days” prospecting for sellers and buyers meant going to the Boomers’ watering holes: television, radio, newspapers and mailboxes. Yet fully 40% of homes were sold to first-time buyers last year, and the majority fo those were Gen X and Y’ers. Who don’t read newspapers, watch television on their computers, listen to satellite radio or download commercial-free podcasts and don’t ever check their U.S. mailboxes (they receive and pay their bills online, not with stamps!).
Now, if you’re just getting around to social networking, you’re pretty late to the game - by about 3 years. That’s still par for the course for most REALTORS and technology, though, so if you do it after reading this blog post, you’ll likely be ahead of the curve for most of your competition anyway. If we really wanted to turn social networking into real estate’s next money-making frontier, however, we’d get managers to start mandating it for every agent. Yeah, pretty impossible; managers can’t even get them to show up at an office meeting.
No question about it: Social networking will be a key method for contacting future buyers and sellers. A large source of sellers in the next 5 years will be Gen X’ers who are about ready to move up. They only work within friends or vendors who are referred to them through their sphere of influence. They think all REALTOR marketing - and marketing in general - is baloney (and they are mostly right). So you’re only going to get their attention if you can leverage their sphere of influence. That means someone they know knows someone you know who can put in a good word for you. Like LinkedIn’s “Recommend Me” function. Maybe even just an email. But it’s certainly not going to be an air-brushed glam-shot on a postcard that catches their eye…
Making eye contact with Gen Y’ers is going to be even harder. That group of attention-deficit, multi-tasking, wireless networking socially shy first time buyers (and we do love them!) doesn’t pause long enough to read your e-newsletter (who gets email these days? send them an IM!) And since they’re co-dependent purchasers using Mommy and Daddy’s money (ie., Bank of Baby Boomers) you’re going to have a double-deficit to work from when creating relationships. So once again, they’ll want to get to know you - which doesn’t mean your ego-centric website of awards and typed testimonials. It means they’ll check out your “real-ness” on your social networking page, look at who’s connected to you (and do they trust them) and maybe throw a virtual martini at you. And then, maybe just then, they’ll write something on your virtual “wall” and accept a “friend connection” from you and bingo! You’re making friends in cyberspace.
Look, you don’t get to write the rules. So stop writing ads. No, you’re not going to need an avatar and some virtual dollars, or go walking through a 3-D fanstasy world to find future customers: That’s kids stuff and it’s going to remain that way as long as human beings don’t live in bubbles. But as long as the party stays online - and it’s only getting bigger - you’re going to need to work the room. No more going “to the club” to rub elbows with future customers. For the future - starting today - you’re going to have to social network online.
Now, get to it!
Just Shoot Me
July 17, 2008
I know, I probably deserve it. I’m the one who’s constantly poking and pushing and prodding the REALTOR population to put more property video online. I should have learned my lesson, though, after I cajoled the industry into putting more photos online, only to have ended up with the creepy, scary stuff we’re seeing today.
I thought I’d seen it all. I could even get used to the bad photos. Now it has moved into video - and if this is what we’re going to get from REALTORS, I’m thinking I might do better herding cats.
Boost your Blackberry with a Powerful RSS Reader
June 26, 2008
Here’s a cool tool I’ve been playing with for a few weeks. It’s called Viigo and it’s a RSS reader for your Smartphone. I’ve been testing it on my Blackberry Pearl (which still continues to leave my students in awe at the fact that they don’t need to carry around lunch-box sized smartphones unless their cranky old MLS mandates it) and it has worked flawlessly. So it’s time to share the product with all of you.
Oh, yes. And it’s free!
When Companies Listen to the Customers, it’s Magic
June 25, 2008
Well, I don’t know what took so long, but Microsoft finally seems to have read its emails, listened to its voice mail and talked to its customers. According to a headline over at Engadget, Microsoft is going to support Windows XP until 2013. It’s about time!
Customers worldwide are breathing a sigh of relief as the Redmond Behemoth seems to have remembered a fundamental premise of running a good business: Listen to your customers!
There’s no magic in that premise. Your customers will tell you everything you need to know to be successful. After Microsoft launched Vista, both customers and industry reviewers provided it feedback. As expected, some people hated it (usually those whose computers were manufactured by Henry Ford Senior) and some loved it (those of us who understood that an OS change means, well, some things are actually going to be different). But more and more, especially amongst corporate clients with large installations, lots of proprietary software and sometimes older hardware in the field, the message was simple: Please don’t take Windows XP away. We might get to Vista in the future, but right now, we’re happy (and in a recession, without extra finances) still using XP.
Unfortunately, Microsoft, whose engineers and sales people are rightly enamored with their own products, just wasn’t listening. They were so certain they were right, so sure they could push the change through, that they turned a deaf ear to their clients. Even after giving a little - pushing back the mandatory cut-over date for computer vendors to sell machines with Vista only - Microsoft continued on the path of most resistance. They said: Vista or Nothing!
REALTOR Marketing Challenged by Gas Pumps
June 19, 2008
According to the NAR Survey of Home Buyers and Sellers (2007), buyers who search online real estate want to see the following (In order of importance):
- Pictures
- Property Descriptions
- Virtual Tours
- Area info
- Maps
- Agent Info
Now, most real estate agents look at this list and immediately see #6 and get all upset. What? It’s not about me? They don’t want to see my high-school photo? Oh no!
Lights, Camera, Video on your Website
June 17, 2008
Part 1 of a 3 Part Series on Video and Real Estate by Amy Chorew.
You have less than 6 seconds to capture a visitor to your website. Can video be the key to engage the consumer? Could be, if your video is professional looking and polished. Creating good video is an art form - it gives a good first impression each and every time. If you ever need to be reminded of how bad real estate video can be, just visit YouTube and search for some real estate videos there…. Okay, real estate video is evolving…
What can we learn from industries who have already made video on their websites standard fare? First off, the types of videos we should have on our websites. Consider:
- Welcome message
- Testimonials from Top Clients saying
- Property Showcase of particular listings
- Town Profiles and other “informational” video
If Zillow Zestimates are Zilly, why is REALTOR.COM doing them too? (Audio)
June 16, 2008
Listen to this blog entry!
Click the podcast image to stream the recording (opens in a new window)
Been having a great discussion with the fellow over at 4REALZ.NET over the new REALTOR.COM Home Estimator tool just released - and quite quietly, we might add, since even we techhies missed the press release (so we suspect the public did too…. and about half the REALTORS who don’t even know REALTOR.COM exists…)
Dumb Things Technology Still Does
June 14, 2008
I love technology. Of course I do - I’ve built a company around it, with it, because of it. Every day our technical support call center answers thousands of calls about technology. We help REALTORS build careers with the benefits of technology. I’ve even been known to play a video game or two, in my day.
But sometimes, doesn’t technology just seem to be dumb?
I don’t mean that the people using the technology are dumb. That’s just normal: Some of us just take a little longer than others to find the scroll bar or locate the “any” key (when asked to press any key to continue…)
That’s just it. If we can press any key to continue, why do we have to press a key at all? Just do it. Don’t wait for us slow-poke humans. If there is no consequence to what key is pressed, why does the technology make us jump through the hoops? There are countless points in our day when the computer pops up a window and say, “Hey! I’m about to do this to you!” and the ONLY button it offers is “OK”. What if it’s NOT ok? Too bad - no button for “Not Ok!” Once in a while there’s an “OK/Cancel combination” but then again - Why would we cancel? If we started a process, shouldn’t the computer assume we want to do it? Stop? I want the computer to speed up!
Why iPhone will Never Beat Blackberry
June 13, 2008
Perhaps I’m just getting old, but I still don’t get the fascination with the iPhone (new or old). Maybe someone can help me out? I just read the cool story at Engadget (love their site - bookmark them!). Apparently the whole universe has become star-struck again as Apple plans to release its next version - cuter, cooler, whatever - of the iPhone. And they’re about to release a software development kit so people can write software apps for it. Just about the only thing I can say about these two moves is: It’s about time. Apple must have learned its lesson about releasing the SDK, because it’s lock-down on hardware/software in the Mac personal computer end of things prevented it from dominating the universe.
MLS gets SAD and REALTORS Wither Further
June 11, 2008
I never ceases to amaze me. With the industry in turmoil - real turmoil meaning homes aren’t selling, credit is harder to come by even for good borrowers and silly groups like the Austin City Council trying to kill local real estate with local environmental-efficiency upgrades before permitting a house to sell - the REALTOR industry just keeps shooting itself in the foot. Never mind a weak dollar, shaky lenders and foreclosures undermining the markets in the states with the largest economies in the country - FL, NY, NV, and of course, California. Don’t worry about the changing generations of buyers disrupting the comfy-cozy medieval guild system we used to call the real estate business. And as for new third parties like Trulia and Zillow, they aren’t even on the radar of really disrupting the business, considering how easily they were co-opted into playing nice with the big franchisors.
Nope: Just leave it to the local MLS system to put the final nails into the coffin of good old real estate.
That’s just what’s happening in San Diego this morning, as Kris Berg, a local REALTOR and member of Prudential California reports this morning in a wonderful article (written as an open letter) on the Inman News site today (See the article or her personal blog or trackback link).
Lord and Taylor should Sell Real Estate
June 9, 2008
Frequently in this column, I have argued that REALTORS have a lot to learn about selling and customer service from “professional” sales organizations. A common reference has been Zappos.com who puts at least seven photos of every pair of shoes online. Zappos proves that just because you have a large database of “inventory” there’s no excuse for not having lots of clear, informative information and images for your products. Zappos even raises the bar on “descriptions” on inventory: their writers describe shoes in terms of customer desires and needs - like “sexy, comfy, classy, etc.” This is totally unlike REALTOR home marketing, which mostly consists of “it has bedrooms, it has baths, it has a kitchen.” Zappos markets the product based upon how the buyer wants to buy it - desires and emotions - while most REALTORS market property as if they were giving a description of a car accident to a policeman.
Prospecting Simplified with Microsoft Outlook
June 5, 2008
Prospecting Simplified with Microsoft Outlook
With a hundred emails a day, a schedule full of tasks, three listing presentations, a showing and a training class, how is a modern real estate agent ever supposed to keep up with her marketing plan? Simple, if you let technology do the work! Regular readers of this column know that there is no way to do it if you’re still generating postcards, labels and postage, but transfer your prospecting to email and follow up becomes simplicity itself. Let’s see how.
From a technology perspective, follow up marketing should take no more than 15 minutes a week. If that sounds too good to be true, read on. If agents and brokers are going to get their money’s worth from their web sites, search engine marketing and banner ad campaigns, they have to ensure follow up marketing takes place aggressively enough to maximize the potential of every lead. Even with the variety of wireless tech tools - from email-ready cell phones to mini-tablets like the Samsung Q1 - that simplify managing email on the go, too many REALTORS lack a systematic approach to converting the leads they already received last week, and the week before, and the week before, and the week before….
And that’s why the cost of marketing never seems to pay off.
Tools You Already Have to Sell More Homes
May 30, 2008
Here’s an quick thought that could have a profound effect on how REALTORS can improve their business:
Use what you already have.
It’s amazing how many of us already have enough technology to list and sell homes for three careers. Yet for some reason, agents and brokers are always on the hunt for the “next silver bullet” to boost their sales. Now, I completely understand that we’re under a constant barrage of “use this, it’s new” marketing by tech companies and gadget freaks. But for a group that’s notoriously resistant to all of this stuff, it’s remarkable how agents are also the first ones to consider throwing their money away on the quick fixes.
Take, for example, online leads. Why do agents pay for them? It’s the modern-day snake oil sale, and it never fails, because the formula is so simple: “We had an agent who got a lead and it lead to a million dollar sale! That could be you!” Sure. If I remember, Ginsu used to “cut through a tin can and still cut a tomato.” Of course, nobody wanted to eat a tin-tasting tomato, now, did they?
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