Archive for April, 2008
I was drawn to this article on the excellent “Future of real estate marketing” blog. It speaks to the investment being made by some of the major global beer companies who are deep in a major comeptitive battle. The voice of a blog is their chance to tell the truth, as Joel says in this blog post, imagine if real estate companies (rather then just agents ) took the initiative to start to take control of the media about this industry and share some of the truths that “they” so often say the media twist to the media’s own ends.
I could see a valuable role being played by Barfoots or Harcourts just for example or the Professionals or Ray White taking a position and really sharing a high degree of transparency to demonstrate a side to this indusrty that is so often lacking.
Ah well in the meantime until they wake up and smell the coffee it will remain for fellow bloggers on the Voices network to lead the way !!
April 30 2008 | Advice and Background to blogging | No Comments »
You may not realise it but your email address is a big part of your public image and you need to consider what your email address says about you.
As a real estate salesperson, you are providing a professional service and therefore should be using a professional email address. You are in a position of trust and are quite often the recipient of sensitive information that people would not even share with their closest friends.
So while you may think it is ok - even cute – to use a family email address such as smithfamily@randomdomain.co.nz, what this says to people you are dealing with is: “Please send me sensitive information about your property and your personal/financial position. All your information will be treated in the strictest confidence, unless of course my kids get home from school early and check the emails before I do!”
Ok, so maybe that’s a little extreme but using a Gmail, Hotmail or similar address just doesn’t do you any favours. It does not promote a professional image, or suggest that the content of your messages are either professional or business related. This is of particular concern given the fact that spam is such a big issue nowadays. Your email may go straight to a spam folder or be deleted by the recipient without a second glance, as they did not realise that askforme107@topmail.com was in fact the email address of the salesperson they had spoken to earlier that day.
Another questionable choice is using the general office email address, such as admin@realestatecompany.co.nz. Not quite the personal touch people are looking for! This also affects your email response times as it may be hours or even the next day before an enquiry is passed on to you depending on how busy your administrators are.
People want to know who they are dealing with and know that you are working in a professional capacity. This is easily portrayed by an email address format such as yourname@yourcompany.co.nz. An email address like this not only demonstrates that you have a professional relationship with the company, but also helps to promote your company and drive traffic to their site, as most people will recognise that your email address includes the company’s domain name.
April 28 2008 | General | No Comments »
Yesterday, John Key announced that National, if elected, would invest up to $1.5 billion towards a fast broadband network for New Zealand. The investment would be made over six years and would help to fund an upgrade of the current copper wire network to a fibre cable network and bring faster internet services to three quarters of New Zealand’s homes and companies.
It’s an ambitious plan, which would undoubtedly encounter its share of setbacks - like the recent Pt Chev ‘cabinetisation’ issue for example! However, given last month’s news that the number of broadband subscribers has now overtaken dial-up users in New Zealand, it’s clear that somebody needs to deliver. Our appetite for the internet is clearly growing and will play a major part in the country’s economic development.
In terms of the real estate industry, the internet has changed the traditional role of the real estate agent. Buyers and sellers now have access to a wealth of information, which was once exclusive to agents. Buyers no longer need you to find properties that suit their needs - they can do that online before they contact you. Over 80% of real estate searches now begin online, with the average buyer spending six to eight weeks researching online before they even contact you.
Consumers expect to find all the information they require online and when it comes to real estate that means the following:
- Property address
- Accurate pricing
- Large, high quality images
- Maps
It’s a mistake to think that by omitting this information, you will encourage consumers to call or email you. Instead, you are more likely to frustrate potential buyers and encourage them to go straight to your competitors, who provide the information they are looking for.
Whatever happens with New Zealand’s broadband upgrade, it’s clear that the popularity of the internet will not diminish. With an ever growing number of people accessing the internet, you need to step up and make sure you’re the person they come to for the information they need.
April 23 2008 | General | 5 Comments »
In this month’s email update, we offered you the chance to win 1 of 5 copies of the 2008 Swanepoel Trends Report. A brief summary of the report is provided in the email but these lucky winners will be able to enjoy the full version:
- Brenda Ellis – Pakuranga & Howick Realty, Howick
- John Renshaw – Barfoot & Thompson, Warkworth
- Jan McCorkindale – Harcourts, Remuera
- Rebecca Grieve – Rex Davy, Royal Heights
- Barbara Kirkman – C21 Countrywide, Kerikeri
Congratulations to you all, I hope you find it an enjoyable and valuable read.
If you do not currently receive our monthly emails and would like to do so, just click here to subscribe.
April 21 2008 | General | No Comments »
If you need to score a few brownie points with your colleagues then we’re here to help! Just nominate your colleague for a free feature listing (valued at $795.00) and if they win, you’ll get one too. I know, you’re thinking nothing is ever that easy so there must be a catch. Well you’re right, there is!
We’d like to reward salespeople whose listings are of a consistently high standard. Therefore, the salesperson you nominate must have current listings on the website and all their listings must meet the following criteria:
- At least 5 photos per listings (but the higher the quality and the no. of photos, the better!)
- The salesperson’s details must be showing on their listings
- There must be sufficient detail provided about the property whether it be in the property detail or through the use of features (maps are good too!)
Just in case you’re a little unsure, here’s an example of what we want and what we don’t want:
____________________________________________________
So if there is someone in your office who you’d like to nominate, just email me their name by Wednesday April 30th. Or, if you think you could be a winner, you just need to get one of your colleagues to nominate you – remember you have time to work on your listings between now and the 30th! Winners will be announced on Friday 2nd May. There will be 3 winners chosen so that’s 6 feature listings up for grabs.
If you’re an office administrator and you nominate a winner, you’ll still get a free feature listing – you’ll just have the extra task of deciding who you’d like to give it to. Think of the fun you could have!
April 18 2008 | Feature listings | 2 Comments »
If your listings are uploaded electronically to realestate.co.nz - as the majority of listings are – you need to be aware that we do not receive any agent details in your upload. Therefore, if an agent or salesperson has a new phone number or email address and those contact details are updated in your software, they will not be automatically updated on our website. Agent details need to be updated on our database, so if you get a new mobile number, make sure you’re not left waiting for the phone to ring and login to our private site to update your details.
Once you’re logged in just click on ‘My Details’ in the menu on the top right of the screen. Agents can update their own phone numbers and email addresses, while office administrators will have access to change details for any agent in the office by selecting individual staff members from a drop down list.
If you require your login details, just email us or call 0800 732 536 for assistance.
April 15 2008 | Admin Hints & Tips | No Comments »
Fellow bloggers – if you had not noticed we have promoted you all to the home page of the website – a page that is delivered over 15,000 times per day! – so write some new and interesting posts and watch the traffic rise!!
If you cannot see your post on the home page, it is either because you need to scroll down a bit further or you need to write a new post as we can only grab the latest few posts!!
April 10 2008 | Promoting your blog | No Comments »
