Matthew discusses his Formula of Fives approach to growing your business.
Watch this video Matthew investigates a strategic change in Starbuck's business model and relates it to the real estate industry.
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Announcing the launch of the Matthew Ferrara Learning Network with a whole week of FREE Matt[Live] WebTV!

For all the efforts to clear the U.S. housing market, the sheer scale of the real estate crash defies even the most aggressive approaches like short selling. What’s needed to get the country out from under a crushing debt crisis and inventory glut is an idea that’s been keeping markets healthy and wealthy for decades, Down Under.

Matthew Ferrara explains how real estate salespeople can grow their business every day by following the low-cost and sustainable Formula of Fives.

Matthew Ferrara offers some contrarian answers to an “ask anything” session at a recent real estate conference.

There are two basic reasons why companies fail: unwillingness to embrace the obvious changes of their day, and a smug rejection of customer feedback. At Barnes and Noble, you can get both.

On Screen – a new weekly “launch” of news, commentary, resources, bloggers and other information you can use to get your week started – from Matthew Ferrara & Company.

Matthew Ferrara offers ten ways to start focusing on what you can – and will – do this year to reach your success.

November 12 – San Diego, CA – As the National Association of REALTORS Annual Convention opens this week in San Diego, Matthew Ferrara & Company announced the launch of its latest learning service, real estate brainchain (http://www.rebrainchain.com). The new online video learning community features high-quality training lessons for real estate professionals on a broad variety of topics like sales, marketing, technology and management. As easy to use as YouTube, but with real estate specific content, brainchain launches with almost 100 ready-to-learn lessons featuring some of the industry’s top trainers. “Brainchain changes the paradigm in online learning for REALTORS,” says Matthew Ferrara, CEO of Matthew Ferrara & Company, the parent of brainchain. “In the last two decades, we have repeatedly delivered innovations in real estate training, first by incorporating technology into the classroom, then by creating the industry’s largest delivery system of webinars. We’ll deliver more than 3500 webinars this year alone, but we still don’t think that’s enough availability and affordability for the industry. That’s why we’re introducing real estate brainchain.” The new platform uses the latest video innovations to change how real estate professionals use the internet to grow their business. While many real estate agents have been using [...]

According to the Wall Street Journal real estate blog, a “W” or “U” shaped recovery is shaping up to be the most likely curve for the real estate industry, if not the economy as a whole. According to one property mortgage insurance group, there’s still another 12% drop to go in most markets. And even though some economists think prices will remain flat as inventory stabilizes – and we all know that’s also to be tempered with regional biases, since some housing markets have remained reasonably healthy – the chance for another full year of slow or flat growth will pose serious challenges for real estate agents and brokers who have barely hung on this year.

Real estate is essentially a research industry: trouble is, most agents and brokers think the most important research is about houses, prices, square footage and such. Considering the data that sits in most MLS systems – unverified and incomplete – you’d think they would know better by now. In fact, the best research for any sales industry isn’t the commodity data but the customer specs and competition capabilities. Knowing everything there is to know about the consumer – and the competitors who are trying to beat you to their door – is far more fascinating. And given the state of the housing industry, also more revealing.

Why is it that some things just won’t go change? There, on my doorstep, was a reminder that some companies still don’t get it. Nearly two pounds of absurdity, neatly wrapped in a plastic bag, and personally delivered to to my front porch, was a reminder that the more things change, the more some things stay the same. Absurd, when you think of it: Who uses the Yellow Pages these days?

Video blog entry from Matthew's blog post titled "The Persistence of Absurdity"
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For some time now, I’ve been asking myself if I’d missed the point about Twitter. Give it some time, I told myself. Sometimes these new technologies just need to shake themselves out. Originally, Motorola  shelved the mouse as an input device, only to have someone dust it off years later and make it the tool of choice for personal computers. So I gave Twitter a chance. I tried it myself, and even started to “follow” some people online. Alas, with the release of a new study, I now know  that I should have stuck with my initial reaction. Twitter is really dumb.