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Posted by Nicolai Kolding
I think it’s well past time for the layout of the “traditional” real estate office to change. As a customer, I see woefully little that is designed around my needs. As someone with a vested interest in the success of this industry, I see wasted costs galore that make my stomach churn. As I’ve written before, I believe we can do much more with much less. I can’t imagine a better time to move forward with revolutionary designs.
Remember the days of beeps and buzzes, answering machines and pagers? These not-so-old communication and contact methods today rank somewhere among pink princess phones and pulse dialing. And where we used to wait until we returned home to check our messages, today a missed cell phone call is a rarity. 24/7 accessibility has become literal for many, and I’m tempted to break into dance when a funky ringtone interrupts my grocery shopping. And while I may be old enough to remember telephone party lines, I have evolved with the instant-communication times.
To kick off the summer driving season, we promoted a rideshare day at the Realogy headquarters on Friday, June 20. For weeks we revved up the internal communications machine to drive participation through stump speeches, email newsletters, plasma screen promos, executive emails, flyers, sign up tables and water cooler talk. We even held out the carrot of two $50 gas cards. It was a full court press. The result? Out of a building population of about 900, we had 88 register with Nuride.com (not bad), and on the big day itself, about 25 people took the leap and carpooled into work.
Dear brokerage owners and managers:
I know times are awfully tough right now and, believe me, I’m not trying to kick you while you’re down. But I have a nagging question I need to ask: have you considered the possibility that you may never make more money than you are today? I’m not even thinking about what you made, say, in 2004 or 2005. I’m talking about never earning more than you are right at this very moment. Think about that possibility for a minute. What if this is as good as it gets?
Posted by Kevin Doell
Trite but true, “all real estate is local.” Yet, the parts make up the whole, and when you put all those parts together, you arrive at the “big picture.” Analogous to this is that all environment is local, too. In countless villages, towns and cities, individual activity affects the local environment in ways that result in a significant collective impact on a global scale.
Posted by Sherry Chris
The latest new thing to hit the real estate blogosphere is the “Blog Meme.” In essence, it is a blog chain letter that lets others learn more about you and vice versa. I am still trying to trace its origin, but that part does not really matter. The interesting thing for me is that while blogging is transparent, it is also anonymous, and this is a good way to learn more about your fellow bloggers. Last Friday, I noticed on Facebook that Rudy from Trulia had Memed me … check out his blog about Meming.
Posted by Kevin Doell
We had dinner with the guys from Domus Consulting the other night. Kevin Boer and Pat Kitano dropped in from California to talk shop on social media. Smart guys. They were talking social media and Twitter, the social media micro-blogging tool that has been the rage of late. Many people are beginning to tinker on how to make it work for themselves. Even news media such as Reuters and the BBC are exploring ways to incorporate the tool into their news gathering activities.
Catching up on my podcasts this morning, I pulled down the PRI Studio 360 show “Creative Minds Go Green.” It was a great program full of crazy stuff to make one think about the many shades of green.
Posted by Wendy Forsythe
Last week was a very exciting week for us as we rapidly move towards our launch in July. What made last week more exciting than most? Our consumer website and brand intranet came one step closer to coming to life!
Tomorrow I’m kicking off a company-wide employee green Task Force and, wouldn’t you know it, someone sent me a link to Earth Hour 2008. Great timing. Check out the video above.
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Sherry Chris |
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Nicolai Kolding |
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Wendy Forsythe |
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Scott Schubiger |
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Robert Albanese |
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Jason Steele |
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Kevin Doell |
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Paulette Costa |
