The dreaded “Goober Call”…just the thought of it makes me squirm like a child waiting in the dentist’s office. Some of you may be asking, “What the heck is a goober call?” We Realtors have ALL experienced the goober call on many occasions, some more often than others. A goober call, my fellow Realtors, is when a Seller calls and asks you things like, ”Hey, why isn’t my house selling?”, “How come I haven’t received any feedback on that last showing?”, or – god forbid – “Just what the heck are you doing for all those commission dollars I’m paying you?”

Actually, a goober call is almost every call the Seller makes to you. The reason I say that is because most of the time the call doesn’t start out as a goober call, but turns out like that. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mean that I think the Seller is a goober, I just think that the conversation is a goober call, and honestly, the goober is usually the Realtor if they get that kind of call. Why am I dissing my peeps, my colleagues, my own Realtors? Simple: if you get a goober call, it’s usually your fault. These types of calls can be prevented with a little effort and strategic planning.

“Terry, how can we avoid goober calls?” I’m glad you asked! The first way to prevent goober calls is to ALWAYS do a listing presentation using proper presentation software (like PowerPoint). Yes, I said ALWAYS. A good listing presentation is invaluable to you as a Realtor. First, it should set out all the parameters with regards to marketing efforts, advertising, communication and feedback systems, and how your client will use your systems. You must explain your processes, commissions and any other ancillary services you may offer. The key is to never over-promise and under-deliver. If you say you’ll communicate feedback from every showing, you’d better darn well do it.

Another strategy I use in my business is to send the Sellers a `Stats Update’ letter every two weeks. This letter should explain to them what the current market conditions are, what comparable homes have recently sold or been listed, and how many web hits MLS and your website have generated. By giving the Seller this information BEFORE they ask for it or even want it you eliminate the goober call. On opposite weeks to the stats update letter, send a marketing update letter and include PDF`s of any ad or marketing piece. Let them know where and when their home will be exposed to the market. Also, send them all the listing and selling documents via email so they have the ability to answer their own questions before they call you, and the conversation turns into a goober call.

This approach has helped me greatly in my business. I’ve sold 100 homes every year for the past 12 years with NO buyers agent, only an admin person. And, I did it working only the odd weeknight, and hardly ever on weekends. That, my fellow Realtors, is what happens when you eliminate the goober call.

On his blog, WebInkNow, David Meerman Scott wrote about the U.S. Department of Defense’s social media strategy, engaging in heavy-duty SM activities, from blogging and Facebook, to videos and photo sharing. Essentially, the DoD’s putting a human face on the military.

Numerous methods are being implemented in a multi-channel effort, each with their own focus on the different areas of the military. From The Pentagon Channel’s website, Facebook and Twitter streams, the U.S. Army’s ArmyLive blog and You Tube channel, to the U.S. Air Force’s “Counter-Blog” strategy.

What can you take away from the U.S. military’s strategy for developing a simple social media campaign for your business, and become a “social media rockstar” in your own right? Take a look:

This just gives you an idea of the potential. As you can see, it’s pretty simple, and you can tailor your strategy to fit your life, making it as complex as you like. Start small to get your feet wet, and work from there.

The main thing is that you open yourself to new ways of communicating with clients and colleagues, for both outgoing and incoming messages, and use these tools to your advantage.

Lisa-May Huby, Director of Marketing

By now most everyone is aware of Twitter (unless you’re my parents), but you may not know or understand how it works, and just how powerful it can be.

For those of you that have been living a somewhat sheltered life (or with my parents), Twitter is a micro-blogging social networking site. Each post is limited to 140 characters, hence the ‘micro-blogging’ label. At first glance, for most of you Twitter probably seems like so much pointless, mindless drivel, spewing out what people ate for lunch, what their dog ate for lunch, or that their car broke down. And, if you follow people that write about such mindless crap, then yes, it’s completely pointless.

A word of caution (and I’ve said this before, often): don’t underestimate the power of Twitter. It’s real-time, high-speed information sharing like we’ve never seen before. Take the plight of US Airways Flight 1549 that crashed on the Hudson River – news of the crash broke on Twitter before any of the major networks had even heard about it.

What you get out of Twitter has everything to do with who you follow and what you share. Who you follow brings you the news and information you find useful and valuable. What you share gives others, your followers, information they find useful and valuable, and will hopefully want to re-share (ie. retweet) with their followers.

Businesses of all types have grasped Twitter as another marketing channel, promoting free and paid content, sales messages, surveys, promotions, and support updates. One industry that seems to be divided about Twitter is real estate – some use it to their great advantage, while others struggle to comprehend it and the purpose behind it.

The reality is, there’s nothing to figure out – it’s not rocket science, and it’s certainly not hard to understand. It’s simply an ongoing stream of information and randomness. The tough part about Twitter isn’t understanding it, it’s controlling and managing the streams so that what comes into your consciousness is relevant to you.

Some great tools for managing Twitter are Twitter Lists (accessed through Twitter and a number of external apps), HootSuite (my personal fave), ping.fm and TweetDeck. There are a ton of others out there, it’s simply a matter of trying them out and finding one that works best for you.

Incorporating Twitter in your real estate business is more than just Tweeting out links to new listings, virtual tours and open houses. You’ve heard, “Build it, and they will come”. Have something useful to share, and they’ll read it.

Twitter – and other social networking sites – are simply another way for you to communicate with others, and them with you. You wouldn’t call a prospect and tell them you just ate a grilled cheese with pickles; they’d probably think you were nuts and never have anything more to do with you. So please don’t be compelled to share that same sort of thing over other communication channels. Blog posts, the latest industry stats, market trends and changes, proposed construction, and so on – that’s something useful that people will want to read and share.

Keep the grilled cheese and pickles to yourself.

Lisa-May Huby, Director of Marketing

In my last post on Web 2.0 conversation, I talked about how Web 3.0 has come and slapped us upside the head. I mean, we’re just getting used to Web 2.0 – aren’t we?

Moving on to the next in my short series, communication takes the spotlight.

Communication comes in many forms. We can use the telephone, meet face-to-face, or we can implement a strategy where technology is used. I personally like the 80-10-10 rule: 80 percent of the time I use technology, 10 percent of the time I use the other two.

The key to successful communication with clients is that you should always give them information before they ask for it or want it. For example, how hard is it to write one letter every two weeks describing what the local real estate market conditions are like, and what you foresee happening in the very near future? Once a library of letters is composed, you’ll find you can re-use the same letters with some slight changes. When you have the letter composed, add in a few stats that support your point.

RealtySites PLUS™ has a sophisticated lead/online consumer tracking system that tracks public/private views on your website. Sending a client letter every two weeks with specific stats that includes local market conditions will increase your value with the client, and eliminate those client goober calls that inundate you daily. RealtySites PLUS™ also offers an automated showing feedback request system where agents who showed your listing are emailed a feedback form.

If you want to blow your clients’ mind with current, up-to-date communication, start doing some of these simple tactics, and increase your value proposition.

TLC

Since using our amazing new Realty Sites Plus web software, I’ve begun very specifically studying where my audience and leads are being generated from.  I use Google Anayltics which helps me find out how people are finding our website.  I can track many different attributes of my audience including what they typed in to the google seach engine to find us, what country they are coming from, what language they speak, what service provider they use (ie. Rogers, Bell), and even the average amount of time people spend on our site, and what pages they visit.

Now, of course the reason behind my studying these patterns is to learn more about my audience and try to build and grow this group.  So for me, knowing if they came from Google or just typed in our web address directly helps me to market appropriately.  One thing I found quite interesting was that so many people are coming from places like Facebook.  We created a group on Facebook which helps Consumers learn about market trends and our listings.  What we didn’t realize is the number of people that then go from our Facebook group to our website.

I had no idea that places like Facebook would bring such large audiences.  I recently found this excerpt from www.CIO.com.

“On Facebook, millions of people declare themselves as fans of performers, products, even the president. The number-one fan page on Facebook is dedicated to the late Michael Jackson, with 10.3 million members. President Obama is next with 6.8 million. Starbucks is the biggest retail brand with 4.8 million fans. But becoming a fan of something is the equivalent of wearing a logo T-shirt. It doesn’t bring M.J. back to life, reform healthcare or sell more coffee. 1-800-Flowers intends to find out whether social networkers are also social shoppers. In July, the $714 million flower delivery company launched the first Facebook storefront. Collectively, Facebook’s 300 million active members spend eight billion minutes per day on the site, according to the company. An Experian survey found that dwell time for an adult visiting a social network is 19 minutes and 32 seconds. Meanwhile, 35 percent of adults who had been on a social network in the past month had also bought something online in that time period, the survey found—a ripe demographic.”

I found this amazing.  Although I do spend some time online checking what my friends pictures and chatting, I had no idea I was joined by such a large group that would ultimately help drive even more people to our website.

Happy Surfing!

June & Rock Belanger, Prudential LeClair & Associates Realty

Wow, how did this happen? It seems I just learned about Web 2.0, and now the so-called gurus are talking about Web 3.0!

Okay, here’s my take on Web 2.0 and how it affects us as Realtors: web 2.0 is about conversation, communication, transparency and instant information. As realtors we need to learn how to implement these strategies into our web initiatives, marketing campaigns and advertising.

Now, let’s break each one of these Web 2.0 strategies down a bit. In the interest of keeping this information digestible, I’m going to cover my points in 4 separate blog posts.

Conversation: As Realtors, we need to create cutting-edge techniques to captivate the online consumer through conversation. We can do this by giving the Seller a voice when it comes to promoting their listing. There is software out there that has some great technology that allows the Seller to post comments on their own listing, creating a dialogue with the online buyer.

With a new web solution on the market, the prospective Buyer also has the ability to converse with the Seller through an innovative rating system that allows them to rate the property out of 10 stars, and leave anonymous comments if they like, again creating conversation. Notice that conversation doesn’t necessarily need to be two-way.

By giving Buyers and Sellers a voice to communicate with each other, we give them the ability to become more connected to the sales process, and of course more connected to the Realtor.

Opening the door to an online dialogue like this has many advantages. First, it gives the Seller an opportunity to share the warm and fuzzies about their property that aren’t included anywhere else, giving you a little added help with the listing. Second, by allowing online prospects to rate a listing and provide anonymous feedback, it gives you a sneak peek at potential objections, and the opportunity to make changes in the listing as you need to (like removing a photo that’s raised concerns).

I know that many of you reading this are shuddering at the thought of seeing less-than-desirable comments and remarks on your listings (or getting spammed), but don’t be concerned. There’s always the option of turning comments on or off, or intercepting comments before they’re posted, much like many blog applications.

Don’t let fear of spam or abuse hold you back from using technology to your advantage.

Stay tuned for my next post that will outline more effective ways of communicating with clients and prospects.

TLC