We live in a Chicken Little World, which is why I love Steve Harney’s take on the latest gloom-and-doom housing market numbers: http://kcmblog.com/2010/08/26/everybody-calm-down-armageddon-is-not-upon-us/.

No, the sky is not falling, and yes, anyone who really knows real estate could have predicted these numbers. We know the tax credit pulled forward many buyers, and we know that poor jobs numbers and lagging consumer confidence directly affect housing. Regardless, many brokerages will book better numbers than 2009 at year-end, even though the story would be happier had it ended in June. As Steve and others note, we’ll still see about 5 million sales this year, similar to what we had in 2000, which we thought was a pretty good year. Like much in life, it’s all relative.

What IS different is that we have far too many sales agents and far too much brick and mortar – even after the attrition of the past few years. That absolutely has to change to “right-size” this business. Smart-and-savvy practitioners must skate where the puck is going:

• Opportunity: Fewer agents don’t necessarily mean less revenue. How about putting the effort we put into recruiting bodies into coaching our fertile raw material to a 20% or 30% increase in units? How would that look from a productivity, profitability and branding standpoint?
• Opportunity: Home ownership as a percentage of households is declining for various reasons, which means rentals will be stronger. People have to live somewhere. What are the opportunities in developing profitable rental and property management offerings?
• Opportunity: Many Americans are sitting on cash they’ve been unwilling to invest due to market uncertainties. At some point, they’ll want to put that money to work. Real estate is a great buy now. How many of our associates are truly educated and proficient at working with sophisticated investor buyers, who can represent a long-term, customer-for-life income stream?
• Opportunity: Years from now when we look back on 2010, we’ll be saying things like, “Gosh, I could have bought this house for X in 2010. Boy, did I miss the boat.” Are we articulating that to buyers when they ask us, “How’s the real estate market?”

I keep reading that recruiting is the only salvation of today’s broker. Yet, in private conversations with brokers, I hear them say that probably 30% of their sales force is truly engaged, committed and effective. Think of the wasted effort and resources spent on the other 70%, and on continuing to spin that revolving door by adding the wrong people to your bus with feverish but not necessarily thoughtful recruiting. Remember the old saying about continuing to do the things we’ve always done and getting the same result?

Success does in fact depend on a GREAT sales force. It does not depend on recruiting for recruiting’s sake. The real key is quality talent selection, arming that talent with market-relevant, consumer-focused skills development and coaching, and enforcing standards and accountability.

So what if you take a temporary step back in market share in that re-tooling process? Building a company with universally strong talent is the ticket to true brand differentiation. It will trump body shops every day of the week in this consumer-driven economy. And you may in fact not step backward, because cleaning house sends a powerful message to those remaining: “You meet our standards, we only have winners here, our leadership is focused on helping you achieve your full potential.”

As someone smarter than I said: “Stop waiting for the storm to pass, and learn to dance in the rain.” Opportunities are everywhere. Those who seize this day will be the market leaders of tomorrow.

Posted by:  Pam O’Connor

When was the last time you were “tricked” by a brand? The last time a promise conveyed via a brand’s marketing and promotional efforts was not honored or fulfilled? How many customers feel like Spike Lee when he learned that Lebron James was not signing with the Knicks?

“We got hoodwinked. Led astray. Hornswoggled,”…“We got bamboozled.” cite

Oftentimes this “trickery” is unintentional or inadvertent. Indeed, many times it’s a result of not fully mapping a consumer experience. Usability, accessibility, and readability are base-level components of any effective website, according to this research article. These elements are important considerations in designing a superior customer experience. But the article points out that an understanding of cultural nuances is equally important in elevating customer satisfaction. And it’s this angle in the article that led me to think this concept could be applied to real estate website design.

Think about it. Each of your targeted customer niches is essentially part of a distinct consumer culture. First-time home buyers’ culture differs from second home and vacation home buyers’ culture. Understanding these “cultural differences” is critical to delivering a superior customer experience that flows from your web presence to your call center to your agents. Accordingly, a first-time home buyer webpage/website will have different imagery, calls to action, content, property choices, etc, than a webpage/website targeted at fulfilling the needs of second and vacation home customers.

The biggest take-away from this article is that brokerages should not try to create a “one-size fits all” website, but to focus on creating distinct webpages/websites that recognize “cultural nuances” in these distinct consumer segments.

“The right approach is to create a “culturally usable” website where designers localise websites for each of the target cultures, taking into account all the overt and covert factors that need to be considered when designing for such cultures.”

Another point the researchers make regarding website design is for developers to ensure design consistency across a company’s entire web presence. This consistency should take the form of uniform navigational elements and layout.

Thus, to minimize the possibility of “consumer trickery” the article states that businesses should focus on understanding cultural nuances, designing a web presence that meets each consumer culture’s unique needs, with an eye towards consistency and ease of use. This article is a very easy read (about 24 pages), includes a handy design flowchart on page 15, and includes sound advice for anyone interested in ensuring that their web presence properly resonates with potential customers.

Posted By: Eric Bryn

“You can learn a lot from people who view the world differently than you do.”
- Anthony J. D’Angelo

Multi-national corporations use pre-decision surveys and questionnaires to identify if an employee will be successful in an overseas assignment.  While the exact list of the attributes they are trying to discover in candidates varies slightly from company to company, essentially they are looking for those who are adaptable, open, and empathetic.

In this series we have looked at how, in order to be local experts, we need to have an understanding of what happens elsewhere; at how small changes in how we express ourselves can create a huge improvement in comprehension no matter what the language and how to redefine “International” into more actionable consumer segments for better marketing and service situations.

The world is a very big place, and the complexity of culture makes it impossible to identify and understand every single person around the world within its context. Since we can’t develop a local mindset for everywhere and every situation, the best we can do is to develop our global mindset. Working to further develop our adaptability, openness and empathy is an important part of the process.

Although difficult for everyone, those living in large or more isolated countries have a greater challenge. For example, compared to other countries, those of us in the U.S. are actually at a disadvantage in the race to develop our global mindsets. Just based on our location, we are separated from most other cultures by vast oceans.  Even the media we consume lacks diversity. A 2004 study found that only 12 percent of local television news was international, and of that, 81 percent was devoted to the war on terror and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The remainder—49 minutes out of 48 analyzed hours—was spent on all other international issues.

To build or expand an existing global mindset means an independent investment and dedication in many cases. The links to information about real estate and business customs around the world in PART II can be helpful, but are just one resource. Foreign news websites and travel, taking advantage of new technologies to “chat” with people in different parts of the globe and making a point to share information with existing relationships outside your home country are things that consistently challenge and educate me in my pursuit of a more global way of viewing my business and the world.

Posted by: Sharon E. Michnay, CRP, GMS, WRS, Executive Director, Corporate Business Development, Halstead Property. Sharon is a member and former chairperson of the LeadingRE Advisory Council.

We live in times where the truth is a hard thing to find. Journalists present opinion as fact, making it difficult to distinguish between the front page and the editorial page. A journalists’ list-serv was exposed recently for sharing tips on how to present stories to influence a particular outcome. Whatever your politics are, this should be disturbing because we rely on the media for facts we don’t have time to research ourselves.

The same disconnect occurs in the real estate business. Our industry’s own “news arbiters” face the same challenge, I suppose, of generating revenue, so they respond by being provocative and positioning themselves as the hotbeds of innovation and bad boys of real estate.

They make judgments about which companies are the most innovative in real estate, based either on “pay to play” sponsorship dollars, or whoever touts the cool new business model. What they often fail to consider, however, is who is actually doing the business.

Creative marketing is one thing, but too often, reality is something else entirely. Actual results are what truly matter. We should be searching behind the Wizard of Oz curtain to ask, “Where’s the beef?”

When one highly-touted “model of the future” company claims to have 24 average transaction sides per agent – a goal anyone would want to emulate – and in fact did 32 sides in total in the first half of 2010 and is ranked about 75th in the market per the MLS, what’s with that? Certain companies are highlighted in every real estate media outlet, yet no one seems to ask how much business they are actually doing relative to their competitors.

Yes, we should respect new ideas and new forms of competition, but we also must balance hype with results. Accurate statistics paint a true picture of who is doing what relative to whom, how they are improving or declining compared to the market, and the kinds of customers they are serving. That is why – in this age of transparency – numbers reported to real estate news sources must be submitted correctly and validated appropriately so that we can identify the emperors with no clothes.

At LeadingRE, we talk a lot about numbers and performance because they matter. We put a high value on innovation, with our own “Most Innovative Brokerage” award, but to even qualify, the company has to be a market leader within its footprint, regardless of size.

Ideas without execution and marketing without monetization are meaningless.

So let’s pay attention to what’s behind the curtain to see whether ideas are producing results. Talk is cheap. Results require hard work, tenacity and staying power. Regardless of size or business model, the true verdict must rely on how well high standards of performance are generating growth, profitability and market leadership.

Posted By: Pam O’Connor

Four years ago challenger Google passed incumbent Yahoo! for dominance on the consumer web (as measured by market share). Guess what’s happening right now? Facebook is turning the tables on Google, and in less time.

The two graphs below look strangely similar no?

Granted, Facebook is not yet in a position to substitute for Google in search the way Google was for Yahoo!. But I think the analogy still holds well. Yahoo! was not simply a search engine at that time either. It was the gateway to the web of the day, and that’s what we’re talking about.

The point? Even if SEO is working well for your company today, you need to start paying attention to Facebook.

The good news is that Facebook is not another lead generation platform; it is a referral sphere builder for both your company and your agents.

Facebook is a platform for building out both an individual REALTOR and brokerage company’s network with an eye to generating referrals.
As we all know, the majority of any successful REALTOR’s business is word of mouth referral, the minority SEM/SEO/leadgen driven.

Have someone on your team build a Facebook centric marketing strategy for your brokerage and your agents. Those who do so now will get an advantage over their competition the same way the early SEO visionaries did.

Alex Chang is the CEO of Roost, a proud partner of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® and a real estate technology company leading the way in innovation in the Social Media space. Roost’s Social Media Toolkit provides free and premium tools for Real Estate Agents & Brokers to get real ROI out of Social Media.

Terms like International and Global are both in heavy use however they are far too broad to be useful.

In our local business, we recognize different consumer segments – luxury, first-time homebuyer, investor, etc. From a macro level, we typically segment our customers at the customer level. Internationally, the macro level is the country level.

The best place to start identifying which countries are most interested in your location is by checking your company website analytics. Analytics from www.relohomesearch.com and www.luxuryportfolio.com reporting can enhance your knowledge of potential consumers and where your marketing efforts should be directed.

With the countries identified, you now know:

• What languages you potentially should translate your website and materials into
• Cultural training to offer your agents
• Where to investigate on and offline marketing venues

To approach your marketing from the micro level, you need to consider the in-market segmentation and detect segments across borders. This is going back to some of our “local” segments such as luxury and investor and identifying the segments that exist in each identified country. Additional research should be performed here as not every segment exists in every country or in the same amount in every country.

Don’t forget the valuable relationships you have through your membership with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. Other local experts are willing to share the venues that have generated the best response for them and if a reciprocal client base exists perhaps a co-branded campaign can be an option.

While we have the tendency to look elsewhere when we consider the International issue, migration has created another consumer segment to consider when marketing and developing services.

Statistics from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development showed a 61% increase in immigration to the U.S. and a 104% increase in immigration for the combined countries of the EU during the same 9 year period of 1998 – 2007. Although immigration has slowed along with everything else recently, it is predicted to resume as economies improve.

Increasing evidence indicates that diversity is growing in more areas than just New York City and L.A. New U.S. residents are less likely to choose these gateway cities and more likely to opt for a mid-sized metro area. This switch is bringing home the international issue.

Posted by: Sharon E. Michnay, CRP, GMS, WRS, Executive Director, Corporate Business Development, Halstead Property. Sharon is a member and former chairperson of the LeadingRE Advisory Council.

For us, the 4th of July weekend was rainy with no breaks for fun on the beach. Our annual family gathering, which usually takes place outside at Madeira Beach, Florida, had turned into a cocooning event spread out over several condominiums overlooking gray skies and a turbulent Gulf of Mexico. My nieces and nephews, ranging in age from 22-30, were starting to get cabin fever by the second day when one piped up and said “let’s go to Target!”

These college graduates in their first post graduation jobs all agreed in unison with great enthusiasm. I had to ask: “What are you going to Target for?” Their response? “We don’t need anything; we just like to shop there. We like to look at what’s on sale, buy toothpaste and anything else that may be a bargain.” Well, I looked at them like they were speaking a different language and had to get to the bottom of this strong customer loyalty that Target had created in this Millennial Generation. Next question: “Why Target? Why not the other mega retail stores?” Now they were looking at me like I had two heads. “Aunt Jana, we don’t go there.” I won’t convey their reasoning but if you have ever searched the mega retailers by name on YouTube for visual entertainment, you will understand their sentiment.

At this point, it was their turn to question me, the one sitting on the fence between the baby boomer generation and generation X. “So Aunt Jana, where do you buy your toothpaste and deodorant?” My response, of course, was the grocery store. Okay, I got the two headed look again**. In a final attempt to understand this fascination with Target, I inquired again, “What is so special about Target?” My nephew responded, “Aunt Jana, when we all started college and had to furnish our dorm rooms, Target had packaged together everything we needed: a comforter and sheets, a tall mirror, dorm approved microwave and other stuff. It was so convenient and the stores are clean.”

Yes, they used this word and being a clean store was important to them. Add to that Target’s convenient locations near most major universities in Florida (and probably nationwide) and their extended hours and you have a winner as far as college students are concerned. It seems that Target has effectively captured the attention of the freshman college student, managed to keep their attention throughout the student’s college career and secured a loyal following with this generation as they enter their first job/apartment/house.

How can this information be used to develop a customer base for real estate companies? Can effective marketing and delivery of multiple services (real estate, mortgage, title, insurance, home warranty) neatly bundled together to the Millennial Generation be the competitive edge needed to capture and retain this generation of first time home buyers? Is there something else unique that real estate companies located in college towns do to cultivate these same college students with the goal of turning them into loyal customers once they get that first job/apartment/house? If it takes on average of five years (average time to get college degree) for Target to create these dedicated customers, how does this translate for the average real estate broker and their customer outreach program?

The tastes and preferences of the Millennial Generation will most likely change once significant wealth accumulates, and only time will tell if this steadfast faithfulness to Target will fade. In the meantime, Target will continue to enjoy the strong loyalty and purchasing power of the Millennial Generation, or at least the allegiance of those in my family!

*(Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT; © 2010 Target.com. All rights reserved. The Bullseye Design and Target are registered trademarks of Target Brands, Inc.)

**Apparently, my nieces and nephews don’t shop for groceries at a grocery store – they go to the gourmet market which offers primarily food items. Their food buying/consuming habits are a customer loyalty story for another day!

Posted By: Jana Coleman

The web is inherently international, but does just placing something on the web equate to international marketing?

How do we reach the greatest audience? Place the listing on the company website, syndicate it out to multiple locations and maybe write a blog post or “share” it on social networking sites. These are all very good tactics, but there is a less glamorous side that is equally important: making sure the information is understandable from multiple language and location perspectives.

Selling clients search for and want to find their home on international sites like www.relohomesearch.com and www.luxuryportfolio.com, and we place them here and on other sites. The websites they will search to see their home marketed and their interpretation of the content can be quite different than that of someone from abroad.

When marketing to a global audience, it may not be possible to include “apartment” “flat” and “condo” in the same web description. That would just be weird. Taking a closer look at those descriptions is definitely warranted.

Someone from London will connect “apartment” and “flat”; however, what will he/she make of “C/A/C?” And really – will someone explain to me what a “tear – off roof” is? Here are some more of my favorites: “mn lvl office”, “surrnd snd” and “wndw”. English is my first language, and even I had difficulty getting some of these.

Look at it this way:

German: Zimmer
English: Room
Web Description: Rm

Getting from “RM” to Zimmer requires at least a 3-step process whereas if “Room” is used the translation becomes much easier for the reader. In addition, if you are participating in a site using an automated translation system or if a user attempts to use the Google Translate tool, the meaning of these abbreviations will not be correctly expressed.

Another issue arises when syndicating website listing information to third-party websites. Most listing descriptions are written in the context of their appearance on the main corporate website. Most of these sites contain rich content further describing the neighborhood/town and its amenities which in that context would not necessitate inclusion of that information in the web description. If the syndication site doesn’t also contain this information, the property description will be less effective as readers are unable to identify the location and lifestyle benefits of the property.

In a global context: Stay away from colloquialisms, slang and abbreviations. Write property descriptions as stand-alone articles expressing every benefit and feature of the listing.

I would love to hear your favorite abbreviation nightmare or colloquial confusion story.

Posted by: Sharon E. Michnay, CRP, GMS, WRS, Executive Director, Corporate Business Development, Halstead Property. Sharon is a member and former chairperson of the LeadingRE Advisory Council.

In Part I, I suggested that our business had become as global as it is local. Real estate is a local business in a global economy. It is undeniable that we must know our neighborhoods and local real estate practices in order to provide superb services to our clients, but that isn’t the complete picture.

Every client that comes from further than across the street has the potential to be accompanied by a different real estate culture and, with it, many different assumptions and expectations. The MLS system is probably one of the most obvious examples of this.

The U.S. and Canada have an extensive, well regulated listing sharing and cooperation program between brokers that rarely exists elsewhere. The impact to real estate culture and the expectations of services available from real estate professionals is immense.

If you are an American, you will expect your broker to work on your behalf and to share with you every property that meets your parameters. In the reverse, a French national may impede a search in the U.S. by working with multiple agents and gaining the full attention, resources and benefit of none of them.

Add in the culture of homeownership and different tax and legal issues for an even better look at the depth of complexity we aren’t really addressing with an exclusively local focus. It is just as important to understand our local business as it is to understand how it is the same or different than others.

The opportunity exists to improve services by learning some of the major differences that exist between our own and other markets. When working with a client from another country, take a few moments to do research on his/her real estate market and business culture.

It’s easy to look at “International” as a challenge, but there are also many benefits. New information brings new knowledge brings new ideas. Even if the concepts are foreign, they have the ability to spur innovation and the creation of beneficial programs and services at home.

Posted by: Sharon E. Michnay, CRP, GMS, WRS, Executive Director, Corporate Business Development, Halstead Property. Sharon is a member and former chairperson of the LeadingRE Advisory Council.

Over the past several years, I have had several opportunities to speak on the subject of “International.” Over this time, I’ve seen interest peak and would consider the current state as waning in the real estate industry.

Is this because we have a limited view of what “International” is? Perhaps all the information we’ve gathered has simply created a confusing interpretation of an overused term.

While International can be defined by its opposite – local – doing so leads not only to confusion but an unadressable issue. Using this definition, how exactly can you create a program, develop a solution or offer services to essentially the rest of the world?

This is the age of localization, market segmentation and specialization, and we need to learn how to translate that for the international arena. So much of our conversations have been about developing international business, but I would argue that in today’s world our business of real estate is as global as it is local. Globalization continues to escalate rapidly and our challenge is how to deal with, derive benefit from and add value to it.

We need to be the local experts, but not to the exclusion of everything else. We need to better understand marketing our exclusive listings in a global environment. The definition of “International” as “Everything outside my country” needs to be re-examined and addressed in the manner in which we address the rest of our business. And ultimately, we need to develop a more Global Mindset.

In light of the global economic crisis which has slowed migration, dampened foreign investment in real estate and made higher priorities of other issues, that is a lot to ask. It is also quite challenging to accomplish because there are no established best-practices to follow.

This is part one of five segments that attempt to explore some of these topics. As one voice with an overwhelming subject, I hope you will join me by adding your comments, asking your questions and sharing your knowledge and experience along the way.

Posted by: Sharon E. Michnay, CRP, GMS, WRS, Executive Director, Corporate Business Development, Halstead Property. Sharon is a member and former chairperson of the LeadingRE Advisory Council.

Funny thing happened at lunch the other day. I was dining along with Carlotta Landschoot and Mary Lou Lee (Watson Realty Corp) at one of the newest restaurant chains of Darden Restaurants known as Seasons 52. If you are lucky enough to have one in your market, you’ll understand it’s all about the seasonal offerings, each under 460 calories and their wonderful mini-desserts.

Well, when it came time for dessert, the waitress, Kyla, came to our table, laid down fresh cutlery and napkins assuming we were all having dessert. I immediately pointed out to Kyla that I had noticed this bold selling gesture, and she responded indicating it was known as assumptive selling and all waiters are trained on this practice. Of course, it helped tremendously that she also had on hand a tray of 10 different freshly prepared mini-desserts just waiting to be selected – no waiting for dessert here! We each had a different dessert and enjoyed every bite.

The first question is: how can we incorporate assumptive selling into referral generation? How about instead of saying: I understand you are moving to Orlando. May I have someone contact you to assist? Say this: I understand you are moving to Orlando. I will have our Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® member in Orlando contact you immediately to offer their assistance. At this point, the only questions should be the “what” (needs) and “when” (timeframe) of the move. Try it once and see what happens.

The second question is: how can we provide immediate response with virtually no waiting? (Remember, the desserts on the tray were fresh and ready to eat, not a display of what we could order.) With technology today, it is entirely possible to have an agent in Orlando call your customer while you are still sitting in their living room. It takes efficient coordination between you, your relocation department and the relocation department and agent in the destination market. While we may not be able to literally deliver the destination agent to the customer’s living room (yet!), conversations can happen immediately via mobile phones and video conferencing is available via Skype.

If reading about this has made you hungry and you are lucky enough to have a Seasons 52 nearby, check it out. I bet you have dessert!

Posted By: Jana Coleman

REAL Trends recently released its always-anticipated Top 500 Report highlighting the country’s biggest real estate firms. Again this year, the brokers of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® led all national brands in units sold and sales volume, with 27.5% of total units and 26.9% of total volume of the top 500 companies. This translates to about 75,000 more transaction sides than the closest competitor! 

The network also had the #1 market leader in 41 of the top 90 markets in sales volume, transaction sides or both – nearly double that of the closest competitor.

Congratulations to these companies for continuing to achieve these results even in challenging times!

Posted by:  Robin LaSure

In 2006, Yahoo offered Mark Zuckerberg (the founder and CEO of Facebook) $1 billion, and he refused. Want to know what this social networking site is valued at today? Below is an infographic of some very interesting Facebook facts that Mashable shared on their blog. The facts below clearly illustrate that Facebook has come to dominate social networking.

Tip: Facebook updates their stats frequently and you can find this information on their Press Room page.

[Source: Online PhD Programs for Mashable.com]

Posted By: Jennifer Sciortino

Sonja Lovas of Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate in Katonah, New York is one of Propopoly’s most active bloggers. Her content is dynamic, interesting, comprehensive and a joy to read – she covers everything from buying/selling tips to local events to her listings (including excellent videos) to school reports to fine dining. She brings her heart and personality into every post and truly conveys her passion for selling real estate and living in the community she loves. She has made blogging a main focus of her marketing plan and her hard work has paid off in the form of new clients and referrals.

Be sure to learn more about Sonja and read more of her over 130 posts: GuideMeHome2Westchester.com/Sonja-Lovas

What got you into blogging?

I attended a meeting about blogging presented by Eric Bryn. He was so enthusiastic I decided to join the group and went home and wrote my first blog and signed up on Twitter. I then attended a LeadingRE function in NYC where I met Jennifer Sciortino and listened to her speak about the importance of it as well and was motivated to continue posting.

What keeps you motivated to blog?

I like to blog because I find it to be a creative outlet. I get to talk about what I do, and I love what I do. There are many aspects of Real Estate that a lot of people don’t understand and are not aware of. I have heard agents say 100 times or more when discussing their transactions, “we should write a book,” so in some ways, I am. I can write about my experiences about unusual conditions of the sale, accomplishments, activities and events I care about, places in my geographical market area and my pet peeves.

How do you keep coming up with material?

If you take any question that anyone has ever asked you about real estate and write a blog post in response to that, you’ll have 20 or more posts right there. I also look at real estate magazines such as House & Home, REALTOR® and my local board newspaper and identify the things that I as a Realtor need to know and then summarize them and make them a blog post because buyers and clients need to know the same things we do. Also, as I look around at everything I do, I try to tie it into real estate and that becomes a blog post. It’s fun to look around at the events and things around your town and community and then share that via a blog post.

Most bloggers use social media tools like Facebook or Twitter as a way to publicize themselves. Do you?

I use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn. It is a great place to stay connected with people, find people and learn about the “buzzzzz.” You never know where or how someone will find you.

A lot of people are interested in blogging for the money earning potential. What are some tips for people interested in making money from blogging? What are some realistic expectations in regards to what can be made?

My realistic expectation is to be a better agent. Writing helps me become an expert. I understand and can communicate information about the process of the sale from seller and buyer points of view because I can express it in written form. It is one thing to know something, and quite something else to be able to put it in writing. When you write it, you own it. I have learned more about my geographical area and am paying closer attention to details of events because I started blogging than I would have had I not. I have a better understanding of the market because I write about it and describe my charts. Blogging and social media allow me to use technology to start interactions with people when other agents are uncomfortable. Blogging for earning potential is there but not with an occasional post and cannot be specifically defined. It’s how you use it and what you focus on that will pay dividends. The people who are watching and evaluating you to see how you work won’t find it with a couple blogs. I have been most successful by combining blogs and social networking. Writing also enables me to describe more elegantly the properties I represent as well as improved my writing communication skills through letters and email with clients. It is difficult to define exactly what the ROI is, but so is “word of mouth,” or “through the grapevine.” I look at blogging as my way of spreading the word, my word, and growing a bigger, more intertwining vine.

If you had to offer one success tip for someone who is contemplating starting a blog, what would it be?

Start by writing a minimum of 20 minutes every day, 1 hour or more works best for me. Keep a running list of blog ideas that pop into your head, and stay organized on your computer with your blogs and photos (it will save a ton of time). Don’t try to write a book with every post and read other people’s blogs about any subject you have an interest in.

Have you received business from blogging?

I’ve had a number of ways that I define results from blogging. I think it is success if someone posts a response to one of my blogs or when I find out that a client is reading my blog.

I’ve received an inter-office referral from an agent who is not a blogger but is reading the blog. I received a phone call from a person about listing her house - I returned the phone call and asked how she’d come across my name. She said that a friend of hers came to an open house that I had back in August and I’ve been sending her follow-up information. I send Just Sold and Just Listed postcards with a tagline stating “For more information on me, visit GuideMeHome2Westchester.com.” And so this new client looked me up and said she was so totally impressed by all of the blogs that I have written and by how active I am that she felt that social networking and social media was the only way homes were going to be sold and so she wanted to talk to me about listing her home.

I also received an inquiry from my listing on Trulia – he wanted to have some more information about the property sent to him. I remembered that I’d done a blog post on that condominium so I replied back and said that I had a blog post and I did a video of the entrance and the entire complex and I sent that along and scheduled an appointment and I then had a buyer client! I also I have 2 accepted offers I directly contribute to my Wildwood blogs. Propopoly is working for me.

What do you do when you’re not blogging?

My first love is for my family so any time I can spend with them is a pleasure. I also exercise daily by walking and jogging, spinning, or weight training. I’m a firm believer of 10,000 steps a day (that’s 5 miles), and while my goal is much higher, over the course of a year I actually achieve closer to 11,700 steps. Yes, it is computerized and downloaded. I love to read books, listen to books on CD and read other peoples blogs about a variety of topics. I love playing with my Golden Retrievers and watching them swim. Cooking is a passion so I test 3-5 new recipes a week and gardening is always enjoyable. Actually, all these activities are intertwined and mentioned in many of my blogs. They are in many ways, my profile and resume.

Posted By: Lauren Ake

The return on investment for corporate giving can be measured in a variety of ways, as I explored in a recent article in Mobility, the magazine for Worldwide Employee Relocation Council members.

Here are a few outlined by www.tano.org, website for the Texas Association of Non-Profit Organizations:

1. Media hits as a result of corporate giving – these include press releases, references in annual reports, and recognition at annual events.
2. Employee satisfaction – According to www.Time.com, 76 million members of Generation Y representing the new 20-something workers want to spend their time in meaningful and useful ways. For many, this is volunteering in the local community.
3. Leverage potential – the possibility of solving a local community concern by teaming up with corporate partners sharing similar corporate and philanthropic goals has a long term impact on all involved.

A good example of a real estate company that has excelled with corporate giving is Chicago-based Baird & Warner, which established the Baird & Warner Good Will Network in 2002.

According to Jim Schiefelbein, vice president, chief marketing officer, the mission of the Baird & Warner Good Will Network is

“to assist our neighbors in need in communities in which we work and live. Money is raised through donations on every real estate and mortgage transaction, employee payroll deductions (with 100% company match) and branch office sponsored events.”

The long-term impact of Baird & Warner’s efforts – as well as those of countless others in the real estate industry – is beneficial on so many levels. As Jim notes, “Our firm has long believed that doing good is good for business. When our neighbors need us, we want to be available as a resource to them, and further to be recognized by our clients as a good corporate citizen that they are proud to do business with. Also, from a strategic perspective, our philanthropic efforts enable us to regularly showcase another dimension of our firm in the press, which helps to differentiate us in the marketplace.”

Maybe now is the time for you to initiate or re-engage in your own corporate giving program. Whether your company’s contributions are financial or the gift of time, fostering an environment where each individual can make a difference cultivates an environment commensurate with the values of the next generation employee, supports your firm’s marketing efforts and demonstrates your company’s commitment to your community and those in need.

Posted By: Jana Coleman, LeadingRE Vice President of Business Solutions

Earlier this year, my husband and I decided to sell our condo and upgrade to a single family home. We called our trusted real estate agent, talked to her about our plans and started our next adventure.

Luckily, I get to read home selling tips on a daily basis from our Propopoly^® bloggers. I remember one of our bloggers, Julie Sarton from Keefe Real Estate, writing about how to stage a home. She did a series of posts on how to stage your kitchen, bedroom, living room, and more. Her posts were very helpful and offered great advice. After reading them, we took action and started staging our home to sell. We…

1. Rented a storage facility to eliminate some of our “clutter” (i.e. our Wii Rock Band set, etc.)
2. Displayed fresh cut flowers on our kitchen table
3. Cleared off our kitchen and bathroom countertops
4. Bought new towels to display in the bathroom
5. Stopped using our elliptical as a closet

We were surprised at how many showings we had within the first week our condo was on the market. On day six, we had a couple coming over to view the condo for the second time. Four days later, they became our buyers.

So… how did we sell our condo in 10 days in this market?

1. Listing Price: We listened to Steve Harney’s advice on pricing your home to sell.  We looked at what other similar units were selling for today and used this to set our price
2. Staging: We made our condo look neutral and uncluttered so that perspective buyers could picture themselves living in it, not us
3. Sensible upgrades: Due to lack of storage in the unit, we transformed a recessed wall into a closet
4. Started with a good asset: Our condo was nice, in a great location near public transportation, great restaurants, bars and shopping.  This is what originally sold us and is what sold the current owner
5. Worked with a great agent: She helped us think through the major decisions but always took our final decisions in stride

Did we make bundles of money on our sale? No, but we achieved our goal of selling our property quickly at a fair price and now have capital available for a single family home. 

Posted By: Jennifer Sciortino

The Power of Word of Mouth (WOM) Marketing from Eric Bryn on Vimeo.

Posted By: Eric Bryn

We’re back from an exhausting but hugely gratifying conference week in Las Vegas at the beautiful Encore at Wynn hotel. So many members, speakers, sponsors and industry leaders contributed to making this a terrific learning, networking and energizing experience to help us all turn 2010 into a great year despite market challenges. Thanks to every single one of you!

And, we had a special tribute to a special lady, Ruth Ann Pepple, as she opens the next chapter of her life post-retirement. In a “This is your life” tribute with several surprise guests including Steve Murray, Cris Collie, Joe Aveni, Shel Detrick, Wes Foster, Rose Marie and Bob Phillips, Chip Roach, Dick Christopher, Dick Elsea, and – via video – Senator Johnny Isakson, Ruth Ann was feted in fine fashion to celebrate her outstanding 37-year career. Congratulations, Ruth Ann! (You can reach out to her in person at 312.424.0430 or rapepple@leadingre.com ).

The buzz on Twitter throughout the conference was fast and furious (#Leading2010) and some bits of the awards evening are even on YouTube.

From the great tech minds at work during MarTech, to the many broker insights in the Sales Managers Leadership Symposium and broker tracks in the main conference, to our top producers at the Luxury Portfolio SUMMIT, to terrific relocation and referral sessions, to a wonderful shared general session with RESPRO featuring FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens, Ron Peltier and Guy Kawasaki, it was simply a fabulous week.

And now, the challenge for all of us is to roll up our sleeves, make a list of the top two or three take-aways, and execute back at home. Recessions are fertile territory for those who understand opportunity. Let’s get to work Making the Best Brokerages Better…our LeadingRE mantra.

Posted By: Pam O’Connor

Mortgage assumability is a great way to stimulate additional real estate sales and also prevent many properties from being foreclosed!

In the 1970’s and early 1980, there was not a “due on sale” clause in mortgages. If this clause was removed, the number of foreclosures would drop significantly over the next six months. We would have buyers to take over these mortgages since it would require little or no down payment. Home owners and investors would be willing to pay more than the current comparable because there is no qualifying requirement and very little cash required and the belief that the market value will be going up in the next few years.

The new buyer would receive a deed which would have a clause “by accepting this deed, the buyer (Grantee) agrees to accept and assume the mortgage and become personally liable.”

The only negative is the possibility that a new buyer may not live up to their new obligation because of the ease of acquiring the property. Thus, a good credit history should be a requirement of the buyers. The positives are saving the foreclosure, stabilizing or increasing the real estate values, preventing future credit problems for some sellers, increased State revenue by State Stamps on Deeds and providing housing for a lot of good individuals who lost their employment and now have a regular job but cannot qualify because of credit issues.

This type of program would excite investors, since most investor loans for single family rental properties are 30% down (or at best 20% down) plus closing costs. My estimate is that this could reduce foreclosures by 20% within one year and would not be a subsidy by the Federal Government.

We don’t like the Government telling the mortgage industry what they can put in their mortgages. Unfortunately, they are already dictating to the mortgage industry.

Mortgage assumability is a simple answer whose time is right in 2010.

Posted by: Bill Watson, Chairman of the Board,
Watson Realty Corp.

Throughout the past 10 years, approximately 15% of my incoming referral business has been generated from 3rd party company referrals. When looking at my 2010 business plan I questioned that business. Is the time and money spent to manage this business worth it? Should those efforts be redirected to securing other more profitable business?

Real estate brokerages are comprised of independent contractors who affiliate themselves with a company because they feel they will be provided with the best business platform to be successful. The company’s success is determined by the professionalism of those contractors.

Corporate clients want their relocating employees to be provided with a comprehensive relocation program. The core of this program is to assist their employees with either the purchase or sale of their home in order to facilitate their relocation, and they typically outsource this task to relocation management (3rd party) companies. As long as these corporations believe that their programs are being administered in their best interest and at a reasonable cost, they will continue to work within those 3rd party relationships.

Networking is one of the most valuable tools for business development in any industry. Let’s face it: conference networking is especially integral to the continued success of any business as it puts ‘a face with that name and number’. Networking is about making initial contacts appropriately, building relationships and creating opportunities. Great networking goes well beyond the initial meeting – it takes discipline to develop and sustain the relationships.

The first rule of networking is being prepared to talk to strangers, something even the most outgoing personalities can sometimes find daunting. Conference networking is easier in that those attending are engaged in the same industry, revealing an immediate commonality and topic of dialogue. For first time conference attendees, the idea of networking may be especially intimidating. If you are a first time attendee, shift your mindset – it’s easy – here’s how:

First of all think of yourself as a unique source of knowledge on your company, the services offered and market(s) covered – you have much to offer! Secondly, realize that you are a new source of business for other attendees – you are a very valuable contact!

Following are additional tips to ensure success.

Before you go:

Prepare a list of those you would most like to meet. If you are attending the LeadingRE annual conference in Las Vegas, simply click on the link below for the attendee list updated in real time:

http://events.leadingre.com

You might think that my trip to Las Vegas is for a chance of luck. But it is quite the contrary. If I don’t go to Las Vegas for the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® Annual Conference I would be taking a huge risk. This year’s conference is an exceptional value and is worthy of your time and money. The return on your investment is a sure win!

If you are uncertain if you will attend, consider these reasons.

• Re-Energize Yourself: The conference has a history of high energy and exciting experiences, and this year will be no exception with the partnership of the lights and dazzle of Las Vegas.
• Re-Tool Yourself: The conference is known for the quality sessions and speakers, and this year will be no exception. In fact, the conference program has been expanded and enhanced to provide a broader audience with valuable take home information.
• Re-Kindle Relationships and Make New Ones: It has long been known that conference is the best time to build relationships and re-kindle old ones. It is a wonderful opportunity to put faces with those voices we have long been talking with. It is commonly known that people want to do business with people they know, and if they don’t know you, how can they do business with you?

Thank goodness 2009 is over! What a tough year it was for all of us. But… we survived!!

Now it’s time to start thinking about 2010 if you haven’t done so already. One of the best ways to get your New Year started off in the right direction is to finish up 2009 and bag it for good. In other words, “Clean Some Things Up” and get a clean start in 2010. Listed below are some good tips to help us complete that clean up and set ourselves up for Great Success in 2010.

1. Clean that Computer up!

• Now is the time to clean up all those old e-mails.
• Go through your Contacts and make sure they are all correct and needed.
• Purge your My Documents file. Transfer all of the documents and files you want to keep to your Server, an external hard drive or to a thumb drive for safe keeping.
• Check your computer out for performance issues. Do you need a new one? Is it time to transition to a laptop? Check your memory and see if you may need to add additional memory. How about your virus software? Is it up to date? Have you defragged your hard drive recently? How about your software? Do you have the most up to date versions? Great sales going on right now, and it is the perfect time to upgrade.
• Finally, it’s time to update all of your Social Networking sites and information. Do you need to un-friend some folks on Facebook or My Space? Do you have all the right contacts in Linked In and other Business Networks? How about your Profile? Is it correct and up to date and do you have an up to date photo?

You may have been reading the various “top 10 2009 real estate stories” assessments while relaxing over the holidays, as I have.

On CBS MoneyWatch.com, Alison Rogers viewed 2009 from a macro consumer perspective in her analysis, citing things like increasing foreclosure numbers, the ongoing credit crunch, and increasing rentals.

A more cut-to-the-chase recap was that by Steve Harney. Steve just states the “facts of the year” rather than his opinion, backed by statistics. While it’s not necessarily fun reading, the good news is that we’ve navigated it so far, and his real service is to underscore the areas where great real estate professionals can make a difference. Creating strategies to solve these specific problems for clients provides a powerful action plan for 2010 for real estate practitioners.

A more internally-focused review of 2009 comes from Stefan Swanepoel on Active Rain’s blog. Several of Stefan’s picks were right on the money – the impact of the housing credit on sales, foreclosures and short sales, RPR – while some others seem a bit random. The change of one brokerage franchise brand to another? The creation of NAR’s credit union? GMAC changing its name when that had been expected for over a year? One comment on the post read, “I didn’t know about a lot of these happenings before,” perhaps because they didn’t really rise to “top 10” status?

The National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009 again shows the power of a referral and responsiveness.

p. 62, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

p. 94, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

Over fifty percent of buyers and forty-nine percent of sellers who used a real estate agent found their agents through a referral by friends or family, another real estate professional, or from an employer or relocation company. What attributes lead to increased referrals? Let’s look at some more NAR data below to find a plausible answer.

p. 60, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

p. 96, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

These charts reinforce what we already know: buyers and sellers want knowledge experts. Help with negotiations, finding the right home, competitively pricing a home, and marketing expertise are among the most important attributes to your potential clients (and likely your past clients, too). What other attributes do buyers and sellers find important?

p. 64, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

p. 97, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

These charts show that reputation, honesty, and integrity are among the most important attributes for an agent. Responsiveness and listening skills are also important. As you plan for the next 90 days and for next year, ask yourself whether you want a reputation as a lackadaisical agent or a consummate and engaged professional, ask yourself what skills (like negotiation) should I build-up to reinforce my reputation, ask yourself what attributes I need to hone to increase positive recommendations and referrals from current and past clients.

p. 63, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

p. 94, National Association of Realtors^® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009

Sixty-six percent of buyers and sixty-four percent of sellers contacted just one agent to assist them with the purchase or sale of a home. What this tells me is that responsiveness, already a key point in selecting an agent, is likely a key factor in gaining business too. The first agent to pick up the phone, answer an email, respond to a chat, reply to a Tweet, comment on a status update, etc, increases their odds of gaining a new client or retaining an existing one.

Are the charts above simply a representation of common sense? Treat people like you like to be treated? Likely. But it’s also useful data to use to ensure that you’re providing as superior and meaningful and remarkable (as in Seth Godin’s definition) and memorable experience as you can to your current and past clients, which will inevitably have a positive impact on your business.

Posted By: Eric Bryn

Hosting a local talk show, All Things Real Estate, has created a synergy, goodwill factor and an opportunity to show our company culture of service to the public. This educational marketing strategy has fostered immediate benefits for our company and associates.

The talk show format is upbeat, conversational and real. The guests come from all tangential industries to ours such as attorneys, appraisers, lenders, other brokers, interior decorators, insurance representatives, inspectors and clients who all have a story to tell. The weekly topics are easy to fill and there is no shortage of guests willing to come on the show and share their valuable information.

We are not selling anything on the show other than straight information. People can say all the right things but if they have an ulterior motive in trying to sell a product, service or property, it comes across as disingenuous. We are transparent and if we are not genuinely sharing information for the public good, we would be found out rather quickly. The indirect benefits of appearing on the show are reward enough. The seeds are sown with the potential future customer listening to the show.

The radio format helps me to establish instant credibility not only with the public but with our guests who are in many ways, our partners. And it helps me foster even better relationships with our most important adversaries: our brokers.

Yes it can! In September 2004, prior to the devastation of four hurricanes and the recession, Pruitt Real Estate had seven offices and 207 agents serving Brevard County. As the largest independent company serving the Space Coast of Florida, we enjoyed a commanding 19% market share in our primary market area.

Back to back active hurricanes at the end of 2004 coupled with the economic recession resulted in a 58% decline in sales from 2005 to 2008. This downturn required us to take immediate cost cutting measures; however, I along with my management team was cognizant not to make the wrong decisions and risk losing key producers.

Today, we have 3 offices and 142 agents serving the same territory. Market share now stands at 12.3% in our primary market area, a declined shared by most companies ranked in the top ten. Market share fragmentation has occurred in the last two years due to the rise in small start up companies. When asked how I was able to accomplish this productive retention rate of agents and market share, I can attribute this success to these factors:

As real estate marketers dive with enthusiasm into the lastest social networking and cloud computing offerings of the web 2.0 world, there are some basic questions to be asked. Concerns regarding the ownership of content, security, and what could happen next are discussed in this prezi.com presentation below. This is the first in a series on this topic - please post any thoughts and comments below.

Posted By: Neil Elver, Sr. Web Developer - LeadingRE

There has been plenty of gloom and doom in real estate for quite a while now, but I’m fortunate to be exposed to shining confidence and enthusiasm for the future of our industry. There are many who inspire me and others with their positive attitudes and willingness to share.

Some of the best examples come from our Power Producers, an elite group of top performing sales associates participating in the LeadingRE Institute, our network’s education portal for sales associates, brokers and managers. These professionals meet monthly to network, brainstorm and share success tips on various topics. In between calls, they have ongoing dialogues via a listserv.

What we’re hearing from them is energizing and validates why we have every reason to be optimistic. They are reaching out to one another, and even to competing agents in their markets, working together to overcome new hurdles in the closing process and ensuring positive outcomes for their clients.

Our business is (unfortunately) known for following a one-size-fits-all approach, whether it’s the same commission rate charged for the novice or the 20-year seasoned veteran, or for the listing that is sold in a few days versus one with high carrying costs over a multi-month period of time.

Likewise, we’re in a box when it comes to online leads. We pretty much assume that this term is synonymous with inquiries that come to a website from a consumer searching listings. Well, of course, search is the primary way in which consumers engage us online, but why should it be the only way? And while the listing agent may know the most about that particular home, is that the best way to choose an associate to vet and analyze and advocate for a particular buyer?

We now have the perfect platform to proactively engage consumers looking for trusted advisors – blogging. But even with blogging, we’re taking the traditional inside-out view: “What do I the blogger know and want to blog about?” versus “What is the audience I want to engage and what do they want to learn about?”

Many brokerages across the country have managed their online presence and successfully served clients on their websites for years. Others know they need to…and it’s never too late. A successful strategy to serve consumers on your website, often referred to as Internet Lead Management (ILM), must first start with an analysis of your goals, your company cultural, and your resources. I’m a firm believer in the under promise and over deliver philosophy.

So what is your goal when creating this ILM strategy – fast response times, 24 hours a day coverage, and the ultimate in lead capture? How about quality consumer engagement and a real a value added for sellers…or is it more about agent appeasement? Maybe it’s some version of all of the above. How will your agents view this new initiative – big brother or helping hand?

One misstep firms often make is to create a strategy where consumer inquiries on their agents’ listings are routed directly to the listing agent with no company follow up or notification (and no support). In these same firms questions on competing companies’ listings are immediately engaged by a company staff member, receiving a rapid response and connection to a quality agent. I understand the original thought behind this approach, as it takes away a lot of the “big brother” factor, but when you boil it down are you not simply providing a higher level of service to your competitors’ listings than your own?

With business planning season in full swing, it is important for all of us to look ahead to the coming year and outline specific objectives to ensure our success. What do you plan to do differently in 2010? What actionable goals do you have in mind? Now is the time to evaluate where you want to go and how you plan to get there.

With this aim in mind, we invited noted industry coach Steve Harney to be the keynote speaker at the upcoming LeadingRE Sales Rally and Executive Exchange, being held during the NAR conference in San Diego on November 13. Steve will share “Five Keys to Preparing for a Great 2010” to inform and motivate us.

A panel of top producing agents will offer more inspiration, sharing success tips on topics ranging from luxury marketing, to mentoring, to green initiatives and social networking. And, brokers and managers will participate in a lively and informative brainstorming session where they set the agenda and share ideas on current challenges and solutions.

We invite you to attend and get started now on a terrific 2010!  LeadingRE members can learn more here: conference.leadingre.com/salesrally. You do not have to be registered for the NAR conference to participate in this meeting (but your company does have to be a member of LeadingRE).

Posted By: Dan Schmitz, LeadingRE Director of Broker Resources 

How many times have you either asked that or thought that? Today, it’s a tough question being asked in the relocation industry. In fact, I’m not aware of one organization – whether corporate, third party, or brokerage – that isn’t being asked to redesign our service menu, reduce the bulk, offer leaner items, and create a healthier diet for us all.

Challenging? Yes, it is…it’s not easy to slim down. Achievable? Yes, it is…when we set our goals and work towards them.

Everyone’s financial diet is being trimmed; there are no “seconds” available on our tables. We are doing this at home and at work. We are cutting back on out-of-date and unnecessary expenses, overhead, and jobs, while trying to increase and grow revenue at a time when not too many companies and transferees are biting.

Weighing In:

1. Can the relocation industry continue to support the zero-fee pricing model as a viable solution? No.

2. Can broker referral fees and supplier participation fees continue to be increased either internally or by their valued clients? No.

3. Can a corporation see relocation costs continue to rise, yet achieve more with less? No.

4. Can we really expect each other to survive if we continue with the same old diet? No.

What if we don’t change our old habits? Will we be the next ‘biggest loser’?

With all the chatter and “hype” around using social media for selling real estate there inevitably comes the questions: “what is the ROI (return on investment)?”, “Is anyone actually making money using these sites?” and “give me a concrete example of success.”

Realistically the ROI for social media is hard to calculate (but so is the time you spend at social events), but people definitely are making money, and, YES, there are success stories. Social media is a “soft” sell/tool and shouldn’t be measured directly by time in, results out – but by overall results. By a “soft” sell, I mean it’s not about posting listings to your Facebook page or Tweeting them via Twitter and expecting to find that perfect buyer.

That said, here is a great example of how social media can work for you. Chrissy Smith, the marketing director at Peabody & Smith in Franconia, NH, recently shared a great success story about one of her agents – Joy Moore , CRS, GRI (and btw Lakes Region Board Realtor of the Year 2009).

Joy is an agent in her early 60s who isn’t intimidated to try new things. With Chrissy’s help, Joy jumped on the social media train, joined Facebook and immediately began connecting with friends, family and even her 30-ish daughter’s friends. Low and behold, one of her daughter’s friends was in the market for a home, was reminded of Joy’s career through their Facebook connection, and ultimately ended up contacting her and buying a home, with her assistance, that was far above their marketplace average.

Chrissy and her team have helped lead the social media charge by holding classes to make her agents more comfortable with these tools and even help them to build profiles. She’s counciled her agents about how social media is just one more touch point and encourages them to blog and write in their real voice – i.e. if you are writing from home, talk about home. If you are writing from work, talk about work. Chrissy’s advise is “be real, be yourself and be out there.” Clearly it’s working.

Posted By: Stephanie Pfeffer

Can you effectively introduce a business unit which is counter-intuitive to the very foundation that your company was built on? The answer is an emphatic YES! Michael Saunders and Company started in 1976 as the premier luxury real estate firm serving the Sarasota elite and expanded over the years to meet the demands of the affluent along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

For years, their sales price has been significantly higher than the MLS in all areas serviced and $1MM+ sales were the norm. But even then, while known as the luxury leader in Sarasota, they did in fact handle less expensive homes by appealing to the wants and needs of those buyers.

In 2008, in response to the changing real estate market, the company continued to adapt to the times by actively seeking and obtaining key REO accounts to augment revenue. By creating a completely separate division (BEST Opportunities & Bank Owned Properties) with a unique logo but similar color scheme, MS&C has successfully integrated a profitable division which might to some seem, detrimental to the core foundation on which the company was built. As a result, their market share continues to grow while their competitors on the sidelines look on.

Since the inception of the program, MS&C has experienced a 35.8% closed conversion rate for properties in the program. According to recent website statistics, a Best Opportunities property attracts 4-5 times more visitors than an IDX listing. In addition to this, clients stay on a Best Opportunities property detail page 35% longer than IDX listings and 97% of the visitors view two or more properties.

“Our mission is to be the market leader,” comments Michael Saunders, “and that requires us to be nimble in dealing with whatever market is handed to us. But we believe we can still do that in the context of the brand we have built…as the brokerage of choice of the most discriminating consumers.”

Posted By: Jana Coleman, LeadingRE Regional Vice President, Southeast

As I walked into the auditorium for the New Media Atlanta Conference, hosted by REtechSouth , I was struck by the fact that virtually all of the attendees were armed with their laptops, and I immediately regretted not bringing mine.

It has been a while since I attended a technology event, and maybe this practice is the norm. Given that it was a conference on social media, it is not surprising that attendees were tweeting, blogging and sharing their impressions in real-time. People were also taking pictures of slides (so much easier than transposing them!), video taping presentations, and – yes – simply typing their notes.

When Chris Brogan , co-author of Trust Agents and president of New Marketing Labs, took to the stage, my admiration for these multi-taskers took a turn. It seems Chris is a fan of letting discussions on BackNoise.com (a site that allows people to hold conversations on the fly) run live on the screen during his presentations. An excellent presenter, he is un-phased – even amused – by the conversations taking place on screen behind him, taking his own advice and listening to the feedback social media provides. Occasionally, he even paused to address some of the comments or ask, “How am I doing?”

Two things struck me about the constant commentary. First, I was surprised by the tone and language in some of the posts. While most about the actual presentation were quite positive, many comments were seemingly unrelated and unnecessarily rude. Given recent discussions on civility (or the lack thereof) in America, I will avoid a lengthy discourse on the topic, but I had to wonder what these people sought to accomplish beyond eliciting shock.

Secondly, I questioned if they were really hearing all of the great insights Chris was sharing. So focused on their attempts at a witty post and so engaged in the “conversation” going on online, were they missing what they came for?

No matter how much we engage in new media, no matter how skilled we get at multi-tasking, there are times when it pays to slow down and simply listen. Constant chatter in any form can distract us from focusing on what matters.

Posted By: Robin LaSure

Recently during a lovely dinner with colleagues, the conversation turned to a common one for any industry: Generations X and Y.

Even the names allotted to these generations give them an air of mystery, and there are many seminars, studies and conference sessions that try to examine how to attract, communicate with and serve these groups both as consumers and real estate agents.

Common solutions often discussed include recruiting new real estate agents from these generations. According to NAR statistics, 70% of Realtors come to the industry from non-related fields, the inference is that most real estate professionals do not enter the real estate industry right out of college. Although there are many solid reasons why real estate is a good career, one can hardly fault anyone facing substantial student loan debt from not starting their career in a commission-only position. Most of us in the real estate industry recognize that real estate is often a second, third or fourth career. The average age of the “older” GenX crowd is in the early 40s and GenY is just entering their 30s. If the studies showing the average time GenX spends in a job is 3.5 to 4 years are correct, and the assumption is made that not every job change equals a corresponding career change, then as a workforce, GenX is just now entering a potential second career phase, and GenY has a long way to go.

The last several years, a confluence of social and technological events have altered our industry in ways we could never have imagined.

Consumers today have access to a huge repository of data made available by sources outside of a conventional real estate destination. These entities have accessed our knowledge base, acquired our service position and offered it to our customers in ways we have never imagined.

As a result, each of us, from brokerage business owners and management to individual sales associates, have had to take stock of our surroundings in order to shift with the times and position our businesses to survive and thrive. Actions taken to position a business to grow are the mark of vigilance and vision. The time has come for brokerage companies and agents to reset their business and personal models to persevere. This will speak volumes about the people we are and our commitment to our clients and our brands.

Is GenX (individuals born between 1963 and 1980) too much of an outlier demographic to plan your future real estate brokerage recruiting goals around? I don't know the answer to this and will shamelessly dodge this question. For this post I'm focusing on the nexus between Millenials (individuals born between 1981 and 2000 which are also defined as "Gen Y" and "Generation Next") and Boomers (individuals born between 1946 and 1962).

Recruiting is generally one of the top two or three most important goals a brokerage has to remain profitable. This has been covered in a variety of forums:

Who Needs a -Broker?
Recruiting Experienced Agents – What’s Your Strategy?
Do Your Technology Investments Help You Recruit, Retain and Coach Agents?

And after reading Generation Blend, Managing Across the Technology Age Gap, I'll add my two cents to the mix. According to the author, Rob Salkowitz, the book is "about people, generations, and the transformative impact of new ways of communicating, collaborating, and managing information." The book, indeed, is a great read and includes some really good summary stats about the convergence across generations as well as actionable advice. What's surprising is that Salkowitz points to many statistics and characteristics that Millenials and Boomers share. Here are some salient tidbits taken from a "Generational Workstyle Matrix" (pp. 58 - 60) Salkowitz put together:

Motivation - Why they work
Boomer: (a) gain status through achievement, (b) make a personal impact, (c) save for impending retirement
Millennial: (a) make a social impact, (b) satisfy high expectations, (c) learning and personal development

Trust and transparency
Boomer: (a) trusts philosophies and ideologies but not institutions, (b) expects that commitments will be honored
Millennial: trusts parents, teachers, and guiding figures, (b) sees popularity as validation, (c) wants to hear the big picture

Collaboration and autonomy
Boomer: (a) peer consensus valued, (b) smooth team dynamics prioritized over efficiency
Millennial: (a) collaborative by nature, (b) values networks as problem-solving tool

Work/Life balance
Boomer: (a) Workaholic legacy, but now seeking more balance, (b) reluctant to forgo status conferred by work; wants to stay relevant and active, (c) may have increasing responsibilities to children, aging parents, grandchildren
Millennial: (a) accustomed to multitasking; work is just one more thing to fit into the schedule, (b) looks for work opportunities that advance personal development goals and social values

Let's assume a brokerage wants to recruit young new talent to its firm and groom and train this new talent to align them with the firm's culture (ala a Zappos-like mentality). Let's further assume that the firm targets a 25 to 28 year old age group. Using the insights from the Generational Workstyle Matrix, this firm could create the following infrastructure and culture that would appeal to their targeted age group by implementing the following:

Knowing that their Boomer agents may be craving worklife/balance the firm could "recruit" a team of these agents to mentor the new hires while taking the pressure off their sales goals; perhaps compensating these mentors with a flat salary combined with traditional agency commission structure. This allows the Boomer agents to stay "relevant and active", gives them certain status within the firm, frees them up to manage personal matters, and gives them a bit of income stability. Reciprocally, having a group of mentors meets the "trust" needs of the Millennial new hires while giving them a team that by its nature would be collaborative and focused on fostering Millennial learning and personal development goals.

Additionally, the mentor team would function as a ready "network" for problem-solving. The firm could go further and create a specific social network (a Facebook page or Ning.com powered site, for example) focused on this recruiting team where each mentor maintains a presence, thus, integrating their presence into the Millennial new hire's existing social networking stream. The firm could also institute clearly defined goals and milestones so as to give Boomer mentors a stake in defining the firm culture and legacy going forward (thus allowing them to define an ideology through their participation in the mentor program) while giving the Millennial new hires a sense of the big picture and how they fit into it. Finally, as part of this mentor-mentee network, the firm could offer a couple of firm-sponsored social causes for which Millennial new hires could volunteer; doing so creates a positive public relations message for the firm while fulfilling the Millennial goal of making a social impact.

This is just one idea stemming from the Generation Blend book. I encourage you to get a copy of this book and develop generational strategies that will make a positive future impact on your business.

Related posts:
The Future: Agent, Brokerage, or Consumer-Centric?
Many Industries Want to Follow a Zappos Model, Can We?

Photo credits: adpowers, Dennis Wong

Posted By: Eric Bryn

Given the proliferation of social media over the past few years through such venues as Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Flickr, YouTube, etc., and the growing engagement of the consumer public, along with our desire to market our company and our associates in new ways, we are pursuing a corporate strategy of dedicating a new position – Social Media Manager – to maximize these new social media opportunities in the most skilled manner possible.

As this video illustrates, the power of social media is undeniable.

The Future of Real Estate - Avery-Hess, Realtors from Amit Kulkarni on Vimeo.

It is well documented that the companies who embrace these networks are witnessing greater connection with their constituents. By conversing and connecting through this manner, these companies are able to better translate their inherent value proposition in new ways, building brand loyalty in a manner never before available. The impact this is having across all corporate and sales channels – from brand awareness to sales – is noteworthy. We have a lot to learn from Zappos in the shoe business and many other industries that are using social media to strengthen their brands, engage new customers, and ensure repeat and referral business through viral marketing.

Our new management team member, David Tra, who brings a background in social media and possesses significant writing and communication skills, will be compiling our interactive video content, managing all our social media outlets (Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook, blogs) and training/coaching our associates on how to incorporate social media into their personal business.

To our LeadingRE colleagues, stay tuned for updates on how this focused strategy is working for our company…and how it might be something to consider for your own.

Learn more about Avery-Hess, and search for home in the DC Metro: www.averyhess.com

Posted by: Amit Kulkarni, Director of Marketing & Technology, Avery-Hess, Realtors^®, northern Virginia suburbs of D.C.

I was watching a movie last weekend, never mind which one (okay, it was “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” and I give it two and a half stars), and I realized how often I see people using webcams and internet services to communicate in the movies. I only know a handful of people who use Skype and webcams in my day-to-day life, but it made me wonder why we are not embracing this technology more in our professional lives. It would save us money on long distance and toll free numbers; it allows us to stay on the cutting-edge of new technology, and the real bonus is the relationship-building fostered by the fact that we are “seeing” each other daily.

Right now we all pay for a toll free number, which is still necessary so consumers can reach you easily. But if you are paying for a long distance service – like I know we are – you can save costs by making a free phone call over the internet.

The added equipment is not expensive. If your computer does not already have a built-in webcam and microphone, you can purchase a webcam for as little as $29, and a good microphone is about the same cost. The actual web service is provided free using a company like Skype or another service. The software is typically something you can download for free.

Inman Connect San Francisco 2009 epitomized the current deconstructivist nature of the real estate industry.

Deconstructivism in contemporary architecture stands in opposition to the ordered rationality of Modernism...One example of deconstructivist complexity is Frank Gehry's Vitra Design Museum in Weil-am-Rhein, which takes the typical unadorned white cube of modernist art galleries and deconstructs it, using geometries reminiscent of cubism and abstract expressionism.

Real estate data and content in the form of IDX, blogs, etc. is fragmentized and atomized. Client relationships are similarly situated when considering the many different ways real estate professionals can interact and communicate with clients in a Web 2.0 world. Further, in the midst of this rapidly changing client relationship matrix, one could legitimately argue that the recent financial crisis essentially shattered any lingering "modernist" real estate practices regarding branding and client engagement.

Connect SF 2009 was a crucible in this regard.

Throughout the conference there was a steady stream of collaboration, interactivity, and collegiality (obviously juxtaposed against thinking of ways to outshine your competition). The conference sessions were geared to get one's idea juices flowing by showcasing best practices and incenting open dialogue. Some of the sessions that peeked my interest included:

• Building a Brand that Matters, which was delivered by Zappos COO Alfred Lin
• Broker/Owner Breakout: Start on the Road to Reinvention, which was three hours of sessions moderated by 1000Watt Consulting focusing on issues brokers/owners face regarding branding, technology, and normative changes with respect to client relationships
• Blogging by Numbers: How to Measure, Analyze and Optimize Your Social Media Plan, which was a fascinating discussion about the critical role metrics plays in driving effective social media marketing strategies
• Ruby on Real Estate: How to Apply Agile Development Principles to Your Project, which discussed iterative product development principles and the competitive advantages related thereto

Read the complete article >

Based on a recent Real Estate Beat blog post, I started thinking about WETAG’s efforts in Social Media and how these efforts have affected our business so far. About a year ago, we started thinking about how we should deploy all these web 2.0 things. We knew most of the tools are very U.S. centric and that it would be hard to adapt them for business in Europe, but on the other hand, we knew also that most of the best things in the Internet started in the U.S. and later spread across the world. So we decided to jump on and start blogging, Twittering, running our own Facebook fan page and uploading video to our own YouTube channel.

Our blog, SwissMediterraneanLifestyle.com has had the most impact for WETAG. The SEO value from our blog is the most important aspect of all these new tools to us. Given the fact that we are a rather small market regulated by certain laws that make it a bit more complicated to purchase a property if you are a foreigner, and also considering that we’re in a beautiful, but not too well known, luxury second home market, we’re always looking for ways to increase interest and web site traffic.

So far, we’ve received a very good, and increasing, number of interest and visitors to our own web site through our blog. Numbers of foreign visitors multiplied by many times over the “normal” and so did the number of qualified buyers in the end. Our ranking in search engines improved so much that we are on page number one with a lot of search terms our clients are actually using when looking for real estate. Our blog also provides the opportunity to present ourselves as being the experts in luxury real estate in our market and, as a result, to that, people actually started calling us because they’ve agreed with what we’ve posted on our blog and trust that we know what we are talking about. Right now, we have two qualified high-end buyers who are looking at some properties and they came solely through our blog. Without a doubt, blogging has been our most valuable new tool so far.

One of the charters of Luxury Portfolio Fine Property Collection^® is to help our members stay up-to-date on the latest stats and information on the luxury consumer. The data, of course, is always good, and we find that through proprietary and primary research, sponsored studies and generally reviewing trends. The ultimate resource though is our members. We have unique insight into consumers’ hearts and minds through the brokers that are part of the Luxury Portfolio Fine Property Collection^®, as they are our eyes and ears on the street. We usually share our findings through our Be Your Luxury Self^® education program but thought we’d share a bit with The Real Estate Beat as well.

Much as we’ve reported in the past, today’s affluent buyer continues to define “luxury” as something that is highly personal. It’s interpreted more and more by the individual and something that a person judges for him or herself.

The more we as real estate professionals can make our service customized, individualized and personal, the more today’s luxury consumer will value us.

This trend towards personal experience and interpretation is reflected in general in a move away from conspicuous consumption and buying to impress. Just as John D’Ambrogio of Rubloff, Inc. in Chicago recently noted in this post, it’s not so much about a trend towards ”luxury shame,” but more a redefinition of what constitutes luxury. Global trends definitely point to a decline is conspicuous consumption.

Now that doesn’t mean gloom and doom for luxury. It simply means today’s luxury consumer is spending their money more wisely. Today’s affluent consumer is more likely to value the customized services of a personal shopper than they are an oversized designer bag. In fact, when asked to define “luxuries,” the item that often rates highest is time and being able to spend that time with family.

Tere Foster, a contributing blogger and luxury real estate professional with Windermere in Seattle recently shared how this trend is being reflected in the Seattle market with a demand for more manageable and family-friendly floorplans. As she points out, it’s not so much about square footage but about what you do with that space.

So what does that mean for our real estate professionals? Helping a buyer to understand and see how a home with a large kitchen/family room will enhance their family time is something that will resonate. According to a recent study by the Luxury Institute, vacation homes are still the most desired luxury item by wealthy U.S. consumers. In the study 19% of wealthy consumers currently own a vacation home, but a remarkable 42% are considering purchasing one.

So if time and family are the ultimately luxury this is good news for the real estate industry over the long run. There is no question but that the affluent consumer is still out there; it’s just about understanding the factors that influence their buying decisions and getting a pulse on their hearts and minds.

Posted By: Stephanie Pfeffer

Valid points are being made about how other industries are doing a better job than real estate operators in leveraging social media to enhance their brands, boost business in a down market, and touch customers. In fact, we focused on this same opportunity a few months ago.

We can all do a better job of taking bold steps to extend our reach via these wonderful new channels by learning from best practices outside of our industry. That said, let’s not assume that it’s just sales associates who are leading the way in the social networking world of real estate. Just because we see regular tweets and Facebook posts from more agents than brokers doesn’t mean that brokers aren’t aware and active in this space, albeit below the radar in many cases.

As examples, JLS Connect is a new brokerage-sponsored way to allow consumers to comment on listings using new Microsoft software. And dozens of our brokers have brought in LeadingRE and Institute specialists to teach social networking classes to their associates – including two-day CE courses – to arm them for this new kind of prospecting, with best practices being shared company to company because they understand the importance.

Real estate company channels are emerging on YouTube, fan pages on Facebook and profile pages on LinkedIn.

When it comes to blogging, member brokerages large and small have adopted Propopoly to provide an easy, turn-key micro-blogging solution for their agents. Some of the earliest and most successful examples of integration integration of company websites and blogs have occurred with our LeadingRE members.

What is the true ROI test of social media? Whether these efforts get you to page 1 of Google as evidenced in this search that takes you to Latter & Blum. In that test, many of the best-optimized websites are brokerage sites or agent sites that are sponsored or hosted by brokerage firms. Just because the broker’s face isn’t front and center on Twitter doesn’t mean there isn’t some social networking leadership going on behind the scenes. And while there is lots of opportunity to make much greater headway for real estate brokers in social media, let’s give some credit where credit is due. As with so many things, brokers don’t do a great job of tooting their own horns, but many of them are definitely working to move their agents and brands forward using social media.

Posted By: Pam O’Connor

Wow. Take a moment and let that sink in. According to an article by Ruder Finn I read on emarketer.com that is one of the reasons half of those aged 18 – 29 go online. More than 2/3 also went online to post comments on social networking sites.

Now, while the world doesn’t revolve around real estate and this “rage” will be directed at many different industries and companies, it is something we need to consider seriously. If you listen to Matt Ferrara, he’ll tell you that this is the real estate buyer of now and for the foreseeable future.

It’s enough to strike fear into any business, especially if the furthest you’ve looked into social media is creating a fan page on Facebook. There are enough fear-inspiring articles out there, so let’s discuss something else – customer service.

Most people won’t submit a “comment/suggestion” form on your website to tell you about a problem they had with your company. They call, email, status update and blog about it to their friends. It’s not an IT issue because it involves technology. It’s not a marketing issue because it happens in a visible location. It’s a customer service issue because it specifically relates to a customer’s experience with the company.

Social Media presents an excellent customer service opportunity. Just as we have customer service staff and escalation plans for issues that come through internally, we need to further develop those for issues that rise to our attention through other locations.

Who in your company is monitoring your brand online? Who is responsible for responding to posts about your brand – both good and bad? Is there an internal distribution system based on topic? Have you had success in solving the issue behind the “rage”?

Posted by: Sharon E. Michnay, CRP, GMS, WRS, Director, Corporate Business Development, Halstead Property. Sharon is chairperson of the LeadingRE Advisory Council.

It’s great to see that, even in a really challenging housing market, our LeadingRE members still had over 130,000 more closed transactions than the closest national franchise brand, according to REAL Trends’ Top 500 report on last year’s sales.  In this group of the top 500 companies in the country, our members had almost 30% of the total transactions and included six of the top 10 companies.  The report also tracks top market share companies in 88 of the top markets, and our members were in front there too, being #1 in either units or volume in 40% of those cities.

We’ve developed our annual pie chart to reflect the Top 500 numbers, as well as our bar chart showing leadership for the entire LeadingRE network versus the entire networks of our various national competitors in the U.S.

What’s really amazing is the deep-rooted commitment and staying power of the leaders behind these firms.  Many of these brokers have experienced revenue declines of 50-60% over the last three or even four years.  There aren’t many businesses that could sustain that kind of market downturn and still survive, so hats off to the owners, managers and sales associates who are working hard every day to go out and get the business rather than waiting for it to come to them.

These days, information is plentiful, but true expertise is much harder to find.  By adapting to the needs of today’s home buyers and sellers, providing them with relevant and meaningful market data and analysis, communicating with them in whatever way they prefer, and adjusting marketing strategies to yield results, true real estate professionals are demonstrating their value to consumers.

So when the 2009 sales figures are released next May, it won’t surprise me at all the outstanding brokerages of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® dominate yet again by doing the work today that will put them at the top.

Posted By: Robin LaSure

If this recent article by Marc Davison in Inman News makes you uncomfortable, that’s a good thing. No pain, no gain. There are some very good lessons here.

Posted By: Pam O’Connor

See what these three top LeadingRE brokers shared with members attending the annual LeadingRE conference in Scottsdale earlier this year. Ron Shuffield of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell in Miami shares the importance of telling your story to consumers via the press using facts and figures. Martha Turner of Martha Turner Properties in Houston delivers inspiring messages to sales associates. And John Reinhardt of Fillmore in Brooklyn shows how great leadership and a positive manager mindset turns troubled time into “The Great Recession,” with the emphasis on “Great.” Take a look at what real people in real markets are doing to stay out in front:

Ron Shuffield - EWM Real Estate, Miami, FL - Speaks at LeadingRE 2009 Conference

Who Moved the Cheese? - Martha Turner - Martha Turner Properties, Houston, TX

John Reinhardt: Great Recession

Posted By: Pam O’Connor

Those famous words of Yogi Berra have never been truer. Our business is changing, and if we don’t lead that change, we will be left behind. The Strategy Salon held at the LeadingRE Annual Conference earlier this year explored what will be necessary to thrive in the future. Get the take of our LeadingRE faculty members on some of what will be necessary.

Posted By: Pam O’Connor