Real Clues

[RealClues] #264: Trends (part 5)

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AWESOME WOMEN WANTED!
Join the best female talent in the industry for the most awesome conference ever. www.ReallyAwesomeWomen.com --sponsored by women leaders for women leaders. March 19-21, 2007, Sandia Resort, Albuquerque, NM. Managers, broker/owners, entrepreneurs, executives--if you're in leadership, don't miss this amazing opportunity to network with the top female talent in the industry. Sign up today!

This week at LuxuryClues: More luxury tips--for the next few weeks, I will be a little quiet on the writing front--see Welcome notes.
http://www.LuxuryClues.com

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Table of Contents
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1. CoachingClues: Twenty-One Trends that Will Influence Your Business in 2007 (Part 6 of 6)
2. Welcome Notes
3. Reprise: Stop Hemorrhaging from Commissionectomies: Five Strategies to Knock Out
Competitors (Part 5 of 5)
4. Create a Better Life: Are Self-Defeating Habits Defeating Your Business?
5. Featured Products: Six months of coaching--only $149.00
6. Increase Your Production with Personal Coaching
7. Give Us Your Feedback on this Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe

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1. CoachingClues: Twenty-One Trends that Will Influence
Your Business in 2007 (Part 6 of 6): A Glimpse at Web 3.0
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If you're not up-to-date on today's technology, your business may be gradually eroding away. To avoid going the way of the dinosaurs, it's imperative that you update your technology tools now.

Our last four articles examined how demographic, digital, economic, and web trends will influence your business in 2007. Today we look at the technology tools designed specifically for the real estate industry.

#13: New tools for lead conversion, not just lead generation
Currently, almost 50 percent of the web leads go unanswered. Until recently, agents and companies had to figure out ways to incubate web leads using drip email or autoresponders. Sorting through the leads and qualifying them was a time consuming process. Today's new technologies provide a variety options to automate the lead follow-up and lead conversion process. For example, companies such as Point2Agent.com, Sharper Agent, and Top Producer provide multiple campaigns that make lead incubation virtually painless. The latest innovation in this area is that some of these systems will text or call you when a "hot prospect" returns to your site for a second time.

Opportunity: Most web visitors do business with the first agent who contacts them live. Staying in touch electronically with an invitation to visit your blog, enter a drawing, or providing some other item of value, will allow you to stay top of mind until the lead is ready to become a serious client.

#14: Scrubbed Leads
Many web visitors are tire kickers. Spending money or time on them is a waste of resources. For teams and companies, LeadQual.com charges about $15.00 per lead to qualify (scrub) the lead. People making inquiries on-line, are connected to a live person on the LeadQual fast response team. The fast response person qualifies the lead and if it's viable, the caller's information is sent to the agent(s) designated to receive leads. If the agent agrees to take the lead, the call is handed off to the agent. The process takes two to five minutes. Today's consumer demands immediacy; this is one of the most effective ways to meet that demand with a minimal cost.

Opportunity: Using the LeadQual.com system dramatically improves lead conversion. It also holds costs down since you only follow up with pre-qualified leads.

#15: Push-to-talk technology
For individual agents who prefer to receive leads on their own schedule, another great alternative is "push-to-talk" technology. The branded version of this for the real estate industry is RealPing. (http://www.realestatecoach.com/marketing/realping.html) When a web visitor wants to speak to you, they click the RealPing button on your website. The system then notifies you with a text message or phone call that there is a live visitor on your site who wishes to reach you. Using the numbers on your cell phone, you can actually show the web visitor MLS listings as well as any other relevant information on your site. Watch for a new version of RealPing that will launch later this month.

Opportunity: Combined with their MyHomeManagementClub.com product that offers what may be the best consumer newsletter in real estate, the RealPing product gives you the capability to respond immediately to web inquiries as well as tracking and staying in touch with leads who are not interested in doing business right now.

#16: Analyze analytics
Very few agents track where their leads originate. Even fewer track where their web leads originate and how many they convert. While this may seem like a pretty geeky activity, working with web analytics can help you spot where to invest your money as well as to identify what is not working on your website. Since Google still produces the most real estate web searches, the Google analytics program (google analytics) is probably your best choice, especially since it's free. Point2Agent also has an interesting analytics program that lets you track how many page views a specific listing has had as well as where those page views originated.

Opportunity: Analytics can be a very powerful tool when working with sellers. For example, if your listing appears on 12 different websites and has generated 2400 page views, there's only one logical conclusion about the property--it's overpriced. The statistics objectively demonstrate that you have created plenty of exposure for the property. This is a powerful tool for obtaining price reductions.

What other trends will influence your business in 2007? See next week's article to learn more.

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2. Welcome Notes
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Welcome to our new subscribers this week. Each week RealClues provides you with great strategies to improve both your business and your life. If you find this issue of RealClues helpful, take a moment to hit the "forward" button and send it to another friend in the business.

There's an old saying that says that we teach what we have to learn. I've loaded my plate and have not been taking time off to support my personal well being. Friday I took a bad fall and broke my arm, sprained my wrist, and hurt my hip. I kept telling myself I needed a break. Well, I got exactly what I asked for. If you did not read my post on LuxuryClues.com about the principles of attraction, it would be an excellent idea to do so. I didn't specify how I wanted the break to take place. Now I'm being forced to slow down. It's amazing how limited you are when you only have the use of one hand. Try flossing your teeth or putting on your clothing. If you don't do so already, take a moment to be grateful for your good health. Also, as you set your goals, be sure to specify how you want them to show up. If you're not taking care of you, it's time to start now.

Have a great week!

Warmly, Bernice Ross, MCC, and Byron Van Arsdale, MCC
www.RealEstateCoach.com, www.LuxuryClues.com, www.RossdalePress.com, www.ConferenceCallTraining.com, and www.TeleconferenceLine.com

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3. Reprise: Stop Hemorrhaging from Commissionectomies: Part 5 of 5
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What are you doing to make the phone ring?

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20050808.html

If you missed parts 1-4, you can read them at:

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20050711.html

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20050718.html

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20050725.html

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20050802.html

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4. Create a Better Life: Are Self-Defeating Habits Defeating Your Business?
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Are you struggling to make your business successful? Do you attract good customers and clients only to lose them along the way? You may be sabotaging your business without even being aware of what you are doing. To learn whether or not you are your own worst enemy, click on the link below to take the assessment. (By the way, this is one of just seven free assessments for agents that are on the public areas of the www.RealEstateCoach.com website!)

http://www.realestatecoach.com/assessments/agent/ast_6.html

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5. Featured Products:
GREAT VALUE--Six Months of Coaching Only $149.00
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**Too much to do and not enough time? Fired by a client? Attracting people who never list or sell with you? If so, you could probably benefit from working with a personal coach. Sadly, not everyone can afford $200 - $1000 per month for coaching. What to do?

If you would like the benefit of being coached by two of the best real estate coaches in the business, then you need our "Get Balanced or Get Crazy" audio CD coaching program. During this six-hour program, Master Certified Coach Byron Van Arsdale, coaches me through the most common challenges agents face both professionally and personally. This program takes you step-by-step through the primary blocks for business and personal success. To see a list of topics covered, click on the link below:

http://realestatecoach.com/training/getbalanced.html

To order:

http://www.profcs.com/app/netcart.asp?setCookie=TRUE&MerchantID=35347&ProductID=1549288

**Interested in seeing whether coaching is right for you?
If so, please email us at info@RealEstateCoach.com to arran

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6. Increase Your Production with Personal Coaching
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Looking for a well-trained coach who knows the real estate business? Our coaching team can help you increase your production and make your dreams come true! Send an e-mail to Shane@RealEstateCoach.com and we'll help find the right coach for you.

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7. Give Us Your Feedback On This Newsletter
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We want your feedback-to share your thoughts and suggestions, please e-mail us at Shane@RealEstateCoach.com.

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8. How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe
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Visit our Web site, http://www.RealEstateCoach.com to subscribe/unsubscribe to RealClues.

Copyright (c) 1996-2007, RealEstateCoach.com and Teleclass4U.com, LLC. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute RealClues as long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the contributors to this newsletter is attached.

Contributors to this newsletter:
Bernice Ross, MCC, and Byron Van Arsdale, MCC, Owners, www.RealEstateCoach.com, www.LuxuryClues.com, www.ConferenceCallTraining.com; www.RossdalePress.com; and www.TeleconferenceLine.com
Shane Bowlin, REC General Manager

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