Vendor Update.

If you are a current Imprev user, they just released v3.0 of their product. You'll notice a major interface change as well as some new features when you login. If you've been toying with the ideas of subscribing to Imprev, you might want to do it soon...I hear rumors that they're jacking the price up to $299 the first part of November.

I'm currently developing a seminar on agent branding. I will be talking about the importance of establishing your own 'brain space' with your clients, and hope to have a ton of solutions that can help you 'get it done'. Special thanks to thebrickhouse.com for designing my new custom logo.


If you want to hook up your own logo, contact Wes.

Gizmo Alert.

Did you know that the average company employee spends approximately 5.9 hours per week surfing the Internet for non-work-related purposes? Kind of makes you glad you're self employed huh?

Well, when I'm at work andI run across a cool product, service or gizmo on the web, I usually bookmark it for future consumption. Today, I share my favorites with you...

In no particular order:

Google Earth: The most amazing aerial photo, mapping, interactive globe software on the planet. Free download.

VajaCases: Custom built in South America, Vaja sells leather cases for your PDA, Treo, Notebook, Sony PSP. This gear is pimp, but be ready to drop some serious jack. I have one for my Treo 650...As good as it gets.

Home Movie Depot: These guys recently took 37 of my circa 1974 8mm film reels and transferred them to 2 DVD's. I was able to edit and drop in sound tracks (mostly because having no audio is a drag). Total cost: Around 3 Hundy.

iTunes 4.9: Apples digital music establishment just jacked up the stakes by adding podcast downloading to it's iTunes software package. If you've never heard of the word Podcast, check out their site.

Real Estate Cartoon: These guys will draw these hilarious caricature's of you in various real estate situations. Something a little different for your marketing dollar.

-Jeff

Help Them Off The Fence.

I know I don't need to tell you that it's a great time to be listing homes. Now, there are a million people with a million explanations as to why we're currently experiencing California-esque conditions. Bottom Line: It's harder to find listings and more competitive for your buyers. As I consult agents about this very topic, a couple of questions usually arise:

(1) What are you doing to create listing opportunities?
(2) What systems do you have in place to insulate your business from supply & demand shifts?

Creating listing opportunities simply comes down to communication. Letting prospects (homeowners & sphere) know that now is a GREAT time to sell their home. I've got this great little postcard template that says something along the lines of "Thinking of Selling, I have a Buyer". Or how about developing a piece that asks your clients "You've got equity, consider putting it into investment properties". Be thinking about ways that you can use the market conditions to stimulate action, or in other words, help them off the fence. Email me if you'd like to discuss ideas or would like a copy of my template.

If you feel like your business systems are not fully weatherproof yet, check out this article or pick up a copy of Gary Keller's "Millionaire Real Estate Agent" for ideas. As always, if you need some Marketing Love™, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

-Jeff

Are they important to you?

As many of you know, I've been doing this Marketing Strategies seminar for the past several months, and its been a great opportunity for me to share some new ideas and, hopefully, inspire the agents who attend to recommit to the idea of an ongoing marketing strategy.

I ran into an interesting statistic lately from NAR (that I have since incorporated into my seminar), that really hammered home to me the importance of staying in touch.

"Only 11% of buyers and sellers use the same agent on their next transaction". Now I don't know if that's surprising to any of you, but it blew me away. There are real estate speakers that go all over the country talking about the importance of 'generating referrals' and 'adding value'. Why then, are we leaving so much money on the table?

I think the answer is complex, but it probably has something to do with the way in which we view our business. It's easy to get so caught up with the everyday, that we lose sight of our 'system'. The machine that ensures long-term success. The message that says to our clients, "your transaction was important to me, and I want to work with you again".

Surprisingly, 89% of your past clients won't work with you again, not because you did a poor job on their transaction, but because you failed to remind them (over time) how important they are to you.

The answer to this is simple. Always put the relationship before the deal, and take every opportunity to let them know that they are important to you. Email me if you need an idea or two.

-Jeff

What's New 'Round Here

In my feeble attempt to keep this site updated, I thought I'd spit
out a couple of new ideas here.

2005 Trend: No Touch Marketing. You heard it here
first.

Imagine this scenario: (1) Send a quick email. (2) A value-added
marketing piece goes out to your pre-defined farm list or sphere.

That's it.

Yes, it's legal, and no, we don't pay for your marketing piece. But we
do have a system that will make your marketing strategy 'auto-pilot'.
And if you've heard me preach about marketing lately, you how important
an automated marketing strategy is.

If you want to hear more about this program, drop me an email. I'll send
you to a website to take a look at.

And...Have you checked out Fidelity RealQuest? You can check out a
really boring login screen at fidelityclient.com, or...if you want a password,
email me. This is our new, improved, and utterly state-of-the-art online property information database. As always, this service is free to Fidelity business partners.

Oh yeah, and I ran across this cool site the other day. It's called Obeo. It's like a Barry Bonds Jose Canseco Virtual Tour on steroids...you can even do these digital floor plan tours...check
it out.

-Jeff