Agentjason 2.0

Happy Graphs :)

This tab in my web browser has been open for a week and now I forget how I even found this site but I'm sure you will really like it.  At it's core, Happy Real Estate News is a lead generating site for a company called REality.  Happy Real Estate News is dedicated to promoting good news about the industry and they even have Happy Graphs! 

Once you click through, you'll find yourself in the REality site where it seems you can gather advanced statistical data about your market and use it on appointments.  I haven't signed up and so I can't endorse it but graduates of mine might be reminded of a highly competitive and flexible tool we work on in the Floyd Wickman Program called the Real Estate Trends Analysis.  This may be a spot to get your data for the tool...then again, maybe you can get the same data from your MLS...but if paying this company is easier...

Anyway, I think this site is noteworthy because it can prompt you to use a tool from class you may have forgotten, it can trigger thoughts about your own lead generating site, and if nothing else it's always best to focus on good news.  I better go shut off CNN in my hotel room!  Have a happy week!

PS.  If any of you use the site, leave a comment or send me a personal email.  I'd love to hear about your experience.

Has Redfin really rocked the industry?

As I traveled last week a second story in USA Today got my attention.  I don't read a lot of news but basically the headline was "Online real estate company Redfin wants to do to real estate what Amazon did to books."

So I read the story but came away thinking, really?  What's new here?  The trigger for the article was the NAR settlement which we all knew was coming so it was low hanging fruit for the news editors.  But at it's core, it is just a company that is rebating commissions to it's customers, a practice that's been done for decades by somebody in every market.

Most of my readers call themselves traditional Realtors so here's my message to you:  This is no different than any other commission objection you've heard so treat it the same way.  And realize that whoever the Realtor is and whatever their fee, nothing will replace the need to build strong, basic salesmanship skills.  It's your craft so you should always work on it.  In the end, consumers will use who they've built a trust relationship with and in the absence of that will shop on price alone.

All the more reason to pay attention to my more recent and upcoming posts. (God what a shameless plug that was!)

How to go Beyond Blogs

Gail asked me for a few "how-to's" so here you go.  Read this USA Today article for inspiration, then take just 30 min to 1 hour and follow these steps:

1. Visit TypePad (my favorite and this blogs host) or Blogger or Wordpress or even Realtor.com and set up an account.  TypePad cost a few bucks a month the latter three are free.  If you already have a blog, consider duplicating it on ActiveRain.
   
2. Pick just one topic you're passionate about regarding your industry and write a few paragraphs to get started. Then publish it.
3. Now go to Facebook.com and set up an account.  Use the Friend Finder feature to see who in your database is already on Facebook and send them friend requests.
4. Next up, go to Twitter and open an account.  If you notice on Facebook, some people include status updates.  These were inspired by Twitter and using them has become known as micro-blogging.  Searching withing Facebook applications, you will find a tool called BlogIt.  BlogIt allows you to update both Twitter and Facebook status at the same time. 
   

Connecting online like this is the essence of building online relationships.  Take this for example:  When I publish this post a string of web activity will be generated keeping me connected to lots of people, many different ways.  People who use blog readers will be alerted to the post, an email is triggered to my email subscribers and they get it the next day.  Facebook will automatically pick it up and put it on my profile.  Plaxo Pulse (yet another online connector) will pick it up, and a widget with my latest rolling headlines will pick it up and display it on my profile page at the Floyd Wickman site.  I'll duplicate the post on ActiveRain as well. 

That's enough for now.  Next up we'll talk more about micro-blogging and LinkedIn.

Beyond Blogs II

"Jason. Where have you been? You've been away from your blog lately." Well, not really. I've been online for sure, completely obsessed with Facebook and LinkedIn or said another way, I've been busy social networking. But I've been on the blog too; I've been micro-blogging. Twitter (bottom of right column) is a way to give people short bursts of information about what you are doing.  Each time you type in a "status update" you are leaving a tweet.  But as the idea caught on, people figured out that these short little statements are micro-blog posts. And like the Business Week article in the previous post suggests, it's remarkable how well you can get to know someone by reading them. So essentially I've been building relationships online. That's something that just a few years ago, Realtors thought impossible.

There's a lot of talk about how buyers start their search on the web, but what about sellers?  My neighbor works for a tech company in Austin.  He has over 220 connections on his LinkedIn profile.  And before they meet with anyone interviewing for his company, they check out the person on LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc.  They aren't looking for bad stuff per se, just information, to make the interview more fruitful.  So if corporate America has caught on, and the next wave of agents and customers grew up with social networking, can we afford to not jump in?  How many sellers would look us up before we got there?  Is Facebook/LindedIn/Your Blog the new pre-listing package?

To be sure, a few weeks ago I went on an appointment where I had connected with all three on Facebook prior to the face-to-face.  I'd never met them before, but we already felt comfortable with each other and had an established relationship.  Obviously it was a very fun appointment.  What if they all could be like that?!

Gail asked me for a few "how-to's", so in the next post I'll get into that.  For now, look over to the right and find the blue "F" and "Lin" buttons.  Click on them and explore!

Beyond Blogs

Realtors are a pretty tech savvy group for sure.  Back when the industry was afraid of being replaced by the internet, we all rushed to the web creating web sites and virtual tours.  Yet I'm not so sure we're all keeping up, evidenced by the huge number of off the cuff comments I hear as I travel:  "I don't understand blogs so I don't do one.  Or, Facebook is just for my kids."  Would it interest you to know that several of my Facebook friends are owners or Presidents of billion dollar real estate firms?

If you feel like you've been missing out on the blogging, social networking, twittering phenomenon, start with this article, Beyond Blogs  from Business Week.  I bet it'll at least get you poking around online to learn.