Social networking is all the rage, it seems. Yet when we polled the 138 CyberStars(r) at our CyberStar(r) Summit recently, only 5 of them traced 5 or more transactions from Social Networking during 2009.

Please realize that these CyberStars(r) are leaders in our industry, good businesspeople who are experts on using today’s technology. To my mind, this shows that Social Networking isn’t making agents much, if any, money!

Contrast this with the results from their Web sites and blogs. When we polled them as to how they did re. closed gross commissions from their site/blog, the results were outstanding. Most reported generating healthy commissions from their sites and blogs. CyberStar(r) Marilyn Kohn of RE/MAX Unlimited, Peoria, IL (www.MarilynKohn.com), for example, had 173 transactions from her site in 2009. CyberStar(r) Debbie Yost of Western Pinal County, AZ (www.YostHomes.com), had 51 plus another 38 pending that were generated last year.

During her presentation to her fellow CyberStars(r), Debbie showed us the numbers from her site:

• 2009 Web site commission income: $338,299
• 2009 Web site & promotion costs: $18,688
• ROI (Return on Investment): 1,710%

Look again at that ROI: staggering! Other CyberStars(r) have achieved great results from their sites and blogs according to a survey I did at the Summit. I’m in the process of putting together the average number of transactions these 138 agents from the US and Canada put together, and I will report them to you.

For now, here is a list of what Debbie finds people gravitate to on her site:

• Weather
• Best Buy List
• Breaking Real Estate News
• Foreclosure & short sale information
• Big IDX invitation
• Video client quotes/testimonials

As mentioned, I will be focusing on what makes a Web site profitibale in future posts. For now, take a look at the numbers…hopefully, you will be inspired to pay attention to your site, learn what makes a site profitable and begin focusing on developing your site.

Oh…if your Social Networking is paying off like these sites, keep it up. If not, think about reallocating your time, spending more time on your site!

It’s a great day here on the lake in Reston…hope it’s a great day wherever you are, too!

Allen F. Hainge
Founder, The CyberStars(r)

Ever felt that you, as a real estate agent, are on “information overload” when it comes to available technology?  Such information overload can lead to “Analysis Paralysis” when it comes to selecting technology that will help your real estate business.

When I need to find out what works when it comes to making money and saving money in my business, I go to my CyberStars®, 225 top agents in the US, Canada, the Bahamas and Australia who focus on what works, not on what’s cool!

We just finished our 2 day CyberStar® Summit, a gathering of 138 top real estate professionals.  Our purpose was to share the “latest and greatest” in technology for real estate from the standpoint of using it in our businesses to increase our ROI.

I will be reporting on many of our discoveries in future blog posts.  We had 25 Top Tech Tools shared by our opening panel, comprised of CyberStars® Rob Levy (www.RobLevy.com), Peanut Janson (www.akaPeanut.com) and Nate Martinez (www.NatesHomes.com).  These three gave us a fast-paced review of their favorite money making tools in five categories:

• iPhone Tools
• Hardware
• Software
• CRM (Customer Relationship Managers)
• Cameras & Video

Here are just six of the 25 top tools they recommended for the iPhone.  Check back here for future articles on other tools they recommended…and how to use them in your business!

1. Jawbone Bluetooth (Headset w/incredible noise reduction)
   
2. ColorSplash (iPhone app for converting photos to black and white while keeping chosen details in color, $1.99)
   
3. Instapaper (Read saved unread article for reading later…free and Pro Accounts available)
   
4. AutoStitch iPhone App (Automatic image stitching for panoramas from your iPhone, $1.99)
   
5. Zillow iPhone App (View r.e. information on homes around you while on the move, free)
   
6. Tour Narrator (Capture buyer feedback in your iPhone using photo, notes & audio, $1.99)

Again, these are just 6 of the tools these top agents shared with us.  They also showed us how to use them in order to make more money!

The whole point of our CyberStar® Summit was ROI: Return on Investment, and I will share more ROI-based tools and strategies with you in coming blog posts.

It’s a great day here on the lake in Reston…hope it’s a great day wherever you are, too!

Allen F. Hainge,

Founder, The CyberStars®

I got the following query on RealTown’s Real Estate Expert discussion group:

“I am writing this just a few days before New Year’s Day 2010. Each year for me New Years is a time to reflect on the past year and try to improve personally and professionally. We as real estate professionals need to be constantly evolving and changing to meet the needs of our clients and the market. One of the changes I would like to make for 2010 is my listing presentation. Each potential client will want to know different information but as a general rule what should be included in a listing presentation? “

Here is my reply:

Good question, and I’m glad to see you’re thinking ahead, improving your business performance.

You’ll get replies re. content, I’m sure.  I’d like to give you a tip or two re. delivery:

First and foremost, think like a seller! Look at your presentation as if you were selling your own home and choosing an agent.  Also, show others, non-agents, your presentation and ask them for comments.  Tell them to be as critical as they can and learn from their comments!

Remember: a picture is worth a thousand words. Use visuals, as opposed to words (especially wordy explanations) in your presentation.

Uniformity is important. Spend time on integrating various materials gathered from different sources so that you have a smooth, integrated, visually pleasing presentation.  There are a number of VA’s (virtual assistants) who specialize in graphics who would can do this for you.  I can recommend one if you wish.  Remember, too, www.eLance.com.  Just describe your needs on eLance, put out the job for bid, look at samples from those who bid, then hire one.  You’ll be amazed at how cheaply this can be done.  One of my fellow CRS Instructors put out a bid on revising the graphics on all his slides, chose one and got a marvelously beautiful and effective set of slides.  Cost him under $100!

Don’t forget: 87% of today’s consumers go on the Web to choose an agent to sell/list their home.  You MUST have a strong Web presence and let that be reflected in your listing presentation.  Use Snagit (www.SnagIt.com) to “grab” your site, all of it, including active links, and put it on a thumb drive to give the sellers.  Reproduce individual pages for your print pages.  Better yet: show it during your presentation using a notebook or, better yet, a tablet pc!

Testimonials, testimonials, testimonials!  Use photos of the clients or the home, not just words.

Again…if you are dealing with the “typical” consumer of a certain age, demonstrating your Web presence is critical.  Show ‘em your market analytics, show ‘em how you display your listings, show ‘em how you market your services on your site, show ‘em a copy of your blog, etc.

Hope this helps all of you who read my blog in addition to the agent who wrote the original post!

It’s a beautiful day here on the lake in Reston…hope it’s a beautiful day wherever you are, too!

Check out Allen’s latest ebook, “Digital Essentials for Today’s Agent,” here!

I hope you’ll join me for the next Webinar I’m doing for NAR’s Learning Library.

Topic: From The Field: How Top Agents Dominate Their Market

Date: Wednesday, Nov. 18^th

Time:  8 p.m. Eastern

Registration: http://tinyurl.com/yhbuod4

No hype…no selling…no “techie talk,” just solid information from two of real estate’s best!

CyberStar® Char MacCallum, CRS, Char MacCallum R.E. Group, Olathe, KS

138 transactions over the past 12 months!

CyberStar® Valerie Hunter-Kelle, CRS, Keller Williams Realty, Clarksville, TN

242 transactions since January!

Topics Include:

Getting Started: Why Did You Succeed Whereas Most Agents Fail?

Being the CEO of your own company

3 Essential Tools for Success

Business Planning & Execution

Time Management: Hour of Power & Daily Activities

Bumping Into The Glass Ceiling

Building a Successful Team

Top Tech Tools For a Profitable Business

Hope you’ll join us for this outstanding session!  Register here.

It’s a great day here on the lake in Reston…hope it’s a great day wherever you are, too!

Learn about Allen’s latest eBook, “Digital Essentials for Today’s Agent,” here!

If you are a productive agent, you eventually run into the Glass Ceiling.  It’s not a limitation by sex, age or any personal characteristic.  Rather, it’s TIME.  You have so much going on, you are trying to handle it all yourself, and you just do not have the time to do so.  The “Little Things” are taking away from your primary purpose of building a profitable business.

That’s when it’s time to turn over the “little things” to a good Virtual Assistant (VA).

CyberStar® Dianne Dunn of Keller Williams Realty, New Bern, NC, has had a VA for seven years.  Here are a few tips she passes along, together with some of the tasks she has turned over to a VA.

“I have used RealSupportInc.com (Carrie Gable) for 7 years after she was recommended by my fellow CyberStar® Joan Prout.  Every top agent should have a VA, and I would recommend that you make sure any VA you choose is very familiar with real estate and that she is familiar with your database management program.  We use Top Producer 8i and Carrie knows it well.  I also recommend that your VA has a checklist of all the tasks that need to be completed, and that she follows them carefully so you do not need to supervise everything.

“Tasks that my VA does for me include, but are not limited to:

• Creates virtual tours and posts them on all of our websites.
• Sends thank you letters to sellers, including links to all websites where the property is listed
• Sends out monthly reports to all sellers from Realtor.com, Homefeedback.com and VirtualTour.com
• Sends out an email blast to our entire database whenever we have a new listing or a price change.
• Prepares monthly statistics and posts on our blog and in the Realty Times newsletter
• Keeps me updated on the stats for my monthly neighborhood newsletter

She does many other tasks upon requests, and she, like any good VA, definitely makes me money!”

Maybe it’s time that you broke through the Glass Ceiling?  If so, hire a VA today.

It’s a great day here on the lake in Reston…hope it’s a great day wherever you are, too!

More tips on finding and using a VA can be found in my new eBook, “Digital Essentials for Today’s Agent.”  Only $29.95!

It’s about 4 in the afternoon.  I live by myself, and The Dinner Fairies don’t usually swoop in to place a good dinner in front of me.  All right, sometimes the Domino Dinner Fairies do, but that doesn’t happen too often.

I am responsible for preparing my own dinner.  Right now, I have two choices: will I take the easy way and just plop a Stouffers in the microwave shortly before watching 60 Minutes or a Masterpiece Mystery tonight on PBS, or will I cook a more complete meal?  One choice is simple, quick and it “gets the job done after a fashion.  The second involve taking time for preparation.  I think I’ll opt for the latter.

The decision is similar to decisions you and I have to make in our businesses: take the easy way or devote the time for better results.

I am associated with a great group of 220 agents from the US, Canada, the Bahamas and Australia: my CyberStars®.  From them, I have learned that taking the easy way simply does not work in business.  It’s what most agents you compete with do, and, as you know, most agents don’t make much of a living.

Growth involves pain.  The pain might be minor, i.e. taking the time to cook a full meal.  It might be major: taking action that involves abandoning old habits and adopting new ones such as learning how to use a real estate specific database, going to seminars necessary to business growth, implementing good followup systems where none existed before, etc.

The results of my decision will be realized when I eat dinner tonight.  The results of taking the “hard way” in business take a bit longer…but they are worth it!

It’s a great day here on the Lake in Reston…hope it’s a great day wherever you are, too!

Have you checked out my eBook, “Digital Essentials for Today’s Agent?”  If not, see it here.

We had a post on our private CyberStar® Google Group re. answering and following up with prospect calls:

“When the team is all out in the field, there is sometimes nobody who can drop everything to answer a new web lead phone call or return a phone call on an inquiry.  I don’t have an in-person assistant that sits in the office, so what would be a good solution?”

Here is one on the responses. It came from CyberStar® Leigh Brown of RE/MAX Signature Properties, Charlotte, NC. You can see Leigh’s money-making Web site here.

“I have a VA who handles incoming leads and vets them out before they are assigned to buyer agents.  It is a great setup as she is licensed and used to be a buyer agent so she knows how to convert and follows scripts and such.

If they are 12 months out, as many are, she puts them into Real Pro Systems and Altos Research and makes the monthly followup phone calls.  If they are 6 months out, same thing with bi-monthly calls. If they are inside of 90 days, they are assigned to a buyer agent immediately.  It is money well spent, especially when you consider the fact that most of us lose the 12- month people since it’s hard to properly keep up with them. BTW: We recently converted someone who has been working on for 2.5 years….all because of our followup system.”

Here are the main points I got from Leigh’s post:

1. A Virtual Assistant doesn’t cost you money, he/she makes you money
2. You need a system of some sort to followup on buyer leads, since most don’t buy that day
3. Technology such as Real Pro Systems and Altos Research make followup automatic
4. Personal calls, based on the prospect’s time frame help solidify the relationship

It’s a beautiful day here on the lake in Reston…hope it’s a beautiful day wherever you are, too!

Check out Allen’s eBook, “Digital Essentials for Today’s Agent, here!

The more business we do, the more we need help getting organized. My CyberStars, top agents all, are no exception, and we just had a Topic of the Week on our private Google Group soliciting tips on the topic of getting organized.

I like this one from CyberStar Bruce Slaton of Keller Williams Realty, Sacramento, CA (www.BruceSlaton.com). Note below the separate Web site Bruce has built for his offers….great idea, and a real time saver!

“I create a folder on my computer for each property with common sub folders like ‘offers,’ ‘termite reports,’ ‘photos,’ etc.  Using my ScanSnap, I scan all relevant items into this folder.  When the property closes, I drop the folder into a CD using the CD burner I purchased through US Digital Media. The CD is archived.

All of my assistants’ computers are networked to this drive and store everything there.  This cuts down on our paper use and keeps my desk cleaner…just a little, though. It’s easy for me to access this information when I am out of town, as I use GoToMyPC. GoToMyPC lets me log onto my computer as if I was sitting at its keyboard and get what I need.”

We are big on organizing offers as well. Instead of a batch of crazy offers coming in from every direction, I lead all agents to my offer page. The one I have for REOs is at www.SubmitREOOffer.com. Use of this site and the information it contains limits the amount of phone calls I get, and I get more streamlined offers in to process.”

My thanks to Bruce for allowing me to share this idea. Hope it helps you get more organized!

It’s a beautiful day here on the lake in Reston…hope it’s a beautiful day wherever you are, too!

Check out Allen’s New eBook, “Digital Essentials for Today’s Agent,” here.