Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate
Insights from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate into the real estate industry
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First thing this morning we issued a media advisory announcing the press conference and webcast of our formal launch, which will take place on July 23, 2008 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco!
To get all the details click here.
See you in San Francisco!
Whether speaking about a sales person, a manager or a company leader, the ability to embrace change is the primary personality trait for those individuals who maintain a ‘hip’ and progressive persona in our business. This is not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination, but remains something that is easier said than done. The successful agent understands that as customer needs and wants evolve, so must our business vocabulary. Even more, the most successful agents that I have met actually learn to enjoy the changing business environment.
Just take a moment and consider all of the changes that have occurred over the past 10 years alone. In 1998, many agents did not have presentable Web sites or even effectively used e-mail as a communication tool. As time passed however, sales professionals learned to use technology in building and managing their businesses and navigated the advent of VOWs and IDX solutions. Brokers and agents have witnessed the transformation of marketing and advertising from sole focus on newspapers to a primary focus on Internet environments, as well as countless other key changes too numerous to mention here. Now, prospecting and social networking are coming together as building blocks to enlarge an agent’s sphere of influence.
Posted by Wendy Forsythe
I’ve been hearing many people give agents advice that in order to prosper in today’s real estate market you need to get “back to basics.” Honestly, every time I hear this phrase the hair on the back of my neck stands up.
It’s not that I don’t absolutely believe that there are fundamentals that every agent needs to focus on in order to be successful. I do. However, I think to define these fundamentals as “basics” is misleading. There is nothing basic about our business. Those that are successful are so because they have adapted to the market, to consumers expectations and have worked hard at doing the right things along the way. The tasks they fill their days with today are different then they were 5 years, 10 years or 15 years ago.
The issue I have with “back to basics” is the time frame. What basics, in what market, in what year should you get back to? If you go back to the basics of 2004 you are likely not going to last long in 2008. Should you go back to the basics of 2000, or how about 1995 basics? My point is that the business has changed and how agents attract, retain and meet clients expectations has changed with it.
Posted by Jason Steele
As you may know from my last blog post, my family and I are in the market for a new home. I began the research process of finding an agent both on the web via Active Rain and through local referrals from friends and family in our prospective neighborhoods. We chose the agent through active rain as they happened to be much more knowledgeable and in tune with our requirements for finding a new home. The agent set up an automated email from their local MLS that would send us listings as they hit the market. In addition I went to Realtor.com, Zillow & Trulia daily just to make sure I had all of the bases covered so that the perfect house wouldn’t fall through the cracks. About a week ago a very promising home hit the market in our price range and it just seemed too good to be true. The pictures on the MLS site were plentiful, good school system, taxes were in line with our expectations and most of the all the price seemed low for the amount of property/beds/baths. There wasn’t an address listed so I went off to Trulia to see if I could figure out where in the town this home was located and sure enough there was an address. The default view is “map” and the location appeared to be ideal as it bordered a large wooded area. I zoomed in a bit and then hit the “satellite” view and that’s when things really came into focus. There appeared to be a building with 4 large round towers no more than 50 yards behind the woods in the rear of the property.
My first assumption was some sort of water treatment facility so I threw a search into Google Maps and it turns out I was pretty close, but it wasn’t water — it was sewage. After seeing Erin Brokovich I decided to pass on this house, but it got me thinking that 5 years ago I may have put an offer on it.
When a blog post about sending handwritten notes gets 26 comments, it tells me that the blogger has hit a nerve. Rudy’s post last week did just that. When I read it, an image came to mind of the letter being passed around the open office space at Trulia with people marveling at what a stamp actually looks like, and commenting on the penmanship of the writer. One person posted a comment on the blog saying he hadn’t sent a letter in over 10 years! Another commented on how difficult it is to get people’s actual mailing addresses. It got me thinking about the power of personalization in a transparent yet impersonal world.
Posted by Sherry Chris
It never fails … good things happen when you least expect them. When we were offered a 15-second spot twice every hour for 60 days’ rotation on the CBS Superscreen at Times Square, it was too exciting to pass up! 1.5M people look at the huge screen every day! It wasn’t originally part of our extensive launch plan, but we quickly incorporated it. Of course, the challenge became: how do you create a 15-second video announcing the launch of Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate when you can’t display the name or trademark until July?
After many hours of creative and legal brainstorming, we came up with a teaser ad that we think will catch people’s attention. And just when they get a little tired of looking at our teaser, we will switch it to the real thing!
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.
So, I got to work over the weekend answering the 8 questions below. After you answer the questions, you choose 8 bloggers and ask them to answer the 8 questions, and so on, and so on … this could go on for a long time. I think we should plan to have a meme reception at Bloggers Connect. Well, here goes:
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.
For my part, I realize I have to get my “twitter fingers” on. It’s not that simple and there’s a learning curve involved. But so far so good. I’m set up on Twitter at “kvdoell.” And I even set it up to drive the “tweets” automatically to a page on our blog. Watching it work was pretty cool! I felt 10 years younger. Maybe twenty. Ok, 25.
Posted by Kevin Doell
Last week I immersed myself in green by checking out an EcoBroker training event in Kingston, NY. The event lasted three days: one day on health issues, one day on energy conservation issues and a third on marketing. In all, it was a lot of ground to cover. During breaks I would take the temperatures of the attending brokers and agents who all seemed to be enjoying the course and getting something from it.
As expected, there were all types in the crowd with backgrounds that ran the eco-gamut – from “super die hard,” to “looking for a new angle,” to “professionally intrigued.” And though the famed Woodstock, N.Y. was just a stone’s throw away from our digs at the Quality Inn, not a Birkenstock was to be seen amidst the group. It seems that some of the old badges and trademark apparel of green has fallen by the wayside. There needn’t be a visual cue present for a green spirit to lie within.
Posted by Kevin Doell
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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 |
