Agent Web Sites
Prudential Properties Plus AGENT WEB SITES
Mike Manley November 2001… “The vision is to use technology to increase our productivity. To increase our productivity by increasing the number of customers that become
available to our Agents. To use the most productive concepts that currently work in real estate and apply
current and future technology to those processes to enhance them and make them
available to all our Agents”.
The following are the results of this thinking.
What works in the Real Estate Business? Agents acquire their business from many different sources as a survey of 1 years
business shows.
Sales came from the following market segments.
Past clients buying or selling 25%
Referrals from past Clients, Sphere of Influence, other Agents 27.5%
Sphere of Influence buying or selling 18%.
70.5% of business came from areas where the Agent has already established some
form of trust…based on the client personally knowing, or knowing of the Agent.
The following areas represented the 29.5% balance of business with Open Houses being the most productive at 7%: Open Houses, Internet responses, all Newspaper advertising, Direct Mail (post
cards, flyers, and letters), Office Duty, Sign Calls, Phone Calling and Door Knocking.
As has been said over and over again in the industry, the buying and selling of Real Estate is usually the most important financial transaction, by far, in most people’s lives. Also Real Estate transactions for most are few and far between. The average Buyer and Seller do not want to screw up or be taken advantage of,
so they look to someone they feel they can trust to guide them through the process.
How does one build trust?
- By proven personal performance. Providing value and valued services.
- By referral. Trust can be transferred from one person to another.
- By familiarity. Seeing someone over and over again develops a sense of trust.
- By association. Being associated with someone/something trustworthy can infer trust.
Building a business based on trust relationships; past Clients, Sphere of Influence and referrals, is by far the most productive way to build a real estate business that grows.
It makes sense to maximize business from the area where 71% of the business already
comes from.
What do some Agents do to maximize their results from these different groups?
Past clients
-Keeps in contact; making them feel that their agent
is their real
estate expert.
-Shows them that they are special.
-Ensures that they are comfortable in using their agent
again.
-Works at getting them to refer their family and friends.
-Does a great job so they are more likely to help.
This group can only grow by doing more business, but can be a prime source of
referrals.
Sphere of Influence
-Keeps in contact; making them feel that you are their
real estate expert.
-Shows them that they are special.
-Ensures that they are comfortable in using you as their
real estate agent.
-Works at getting them to refer their family and friends.
This group can grow and can provide more business, so it’s very important. The
more competent they feel you are the more business they will refer to you.
Other Agents
-Develops relationships with Agents and Brokers from other areas.
-Shows them that you are serious about referrals
-Ensures that they are comfortable in using you as their
referral Agent.
-Works at getting them to refer their family, friends
and clients.
This group can grow and can provide more business, so it’s important.
Building a business based on trust takes time and effort.
Some Agents are able to take advantage of all that Top Producer and Real Estate Gurus such as Joe Stump, Mike Ferry, Floyd Wickman, and Richard Robbins have to offer, but others can’t. Some people are process oriented and others
aren’t. Real Estate Agents tend not to be process types. Those that are find it
easy to take advantage of the systems that are available.
The key reasons that most Agents do not go full bore with a Customer Relations Program are because of:
- The time and effort commitment
- Not knowing where to start
- Fast results are too important.
- Don’t think that what they will be able to offer is enough to make a difference.
- Don’t want to work any harder than they already do.
- The $ cost to get someone else to do it is too much.
“The vision is that we develop systems that will further the formation of the relationships between our agents
and their "contacts" and between the company and its Agents.
Currently the most productive method of increasing customers is through personal relationship
“networking” and having systems in place to make the most of those personal relationships. Personal relationships are those with past Clients, Sphere of Influence, and
can come from meeting people at parties, at open houses, or even over the phone.
The more remote the contact though, possibly the harder it is to establish the
trust that it takes to form the desired relationship”. Mike Manley (November 2001)
We developed the New TorontoTheGood.com (TTG) and the corresponding Agent web
sites to take advantage of what current technology has to offer. The key technologies we are making use of are:
- The ability of digital technology to duplicate itself for virtually no cost.
- The ability of Web sites to be information centers.
- The ability of e-mail to be a low cost means of direct communications.
- The ability of a web site to be the prime source of valuable benefits.
We are exploiting these technological capabilities by:
- Having our Agent’s web sites automatically duplicate much of the content on TorontoTheGood.com.
- This auto population and updating of Agent sites adds a huge amount of information (content) to an Agent’s site
along with the ability of Agents to add or have added more content of a personal
preference, making for an effective, up to date, information and benefits source for Clients, Customers and Sphere of Influence.
- Email, whose base content can be provided by the TTG system, is used as the primary method of communication with all contacts to provide both updated information and benefits.
Prudential Properties Plus’ Agent internet sites have been designed to make it easy for our Agents to maintain and develop their relationships with their Customer base and have 4 main functional areas to increase business.
- To increase business from current Clients, and contacts.
- To develop relationships with prospective Buyers.
- To develop relationships with prospective Sellers.
- To generate leads from visitors.
1. To increase business from current Clients, and contacts.
Torontothegood.com is committed to develop useful, effective content for our web sites, which includes valuable Real Estate related information and “other” benefits specifically for Agents Clients and “contacts.”
There are 3 types of content that we are pursuing for TTG and our Agent sites.
I. Real Estate information provided by TTG, our Agents and other sources. This type of information would
be available on TTG and all Agent web sites and includes:
-Local market statistics and analysis
-Market updates
-Mortgage and finance information
-Home ownership issues, roofing, water management, mold,
etc.
-First time Buyers, move up Buyers, retiring, country
properties etc.
-Community issues
-Buying and selling information and advice.
II. Specific real estate benefits for Clients, Customers and Contacts.
These are specific items of value that can be made available on all the web sites
Benefits such as:
-Services from approved suppliers, such as plumbers, carpenters, handymen, electricians, lawn and snow services
etc.
-Related recommended real estate services, Mortgage Bokers, Movers, Lawyers, Home inspectors etc.
Any time a new benefit is introduced on TTG and the Agent sites an email can be created by TTG and sent out by each Agent to their contacts telling them that a new benefit is available on the Agent’s site.
III. Specific benefits from local businesses, such as coupons for discounts, or free merchandise. We will arrange for valuable
benefits as we will be emailing thousands of “contacts” and will have the benefits
available on TTG and all individual Agent web sites.
Agents can also arrange their own services and benefits if they like; ticket offerings, discount offerings, local services that they
arrange for only their customers and they can email their own “contacts” regarding
the availability of their benefits on their web site.
Another content area that can be developed by an Agent is specific types of information pertaining to certain common sets
of people. If an Agent deals with a specific condo building they might want part
of their site dedicated to information about those condos. Also an Agent could
develop part of their site to appeal to their farm area or any other type of definable
group that makes sense. The objective is to get these people to go to the Agent’s
web site for information pertaining to the specific area. This can be done through
flyers or ads informing about your site, where “contacts” can sign up for newsletters,
or any benefits that you specifically design for them.
2. To help develop relationships with prospective Buyers.
Each Agent’s web site has information that is very helpful for Buyers. From how the Real Estate business works, to forms that Buyers fill out to get
onto the Property Match System. Agents can direct prospective Buyers to their
web sites from open houses, from advertising, from their for sales sign riders,
from encouraging existing “contacts” to send possible Buyers to their site and
from search engines.
3. To help develop relationships with potential Sellers.
The Agent’s internet site can be used to help get listings. Anyone who is thinking
of selling should go to an Agent’s site to find out, how real estate works and
what you and your company have to offer. An actual listing presentation can be
created within the Agent’s site and the site can be used as a presentation tool.
4. To generate leads from visitors.
Each Agents web site has the same capability of TTG to capture leads throughout
the website. Each lead, even if it comes from a page generated by TTG, becomes
part of the Agents leads follow up system. Agents monitor leads generated by their
own web site and TTG through their own “back end.”
Our agent web sites provide Customer Relationship Management capabilities in each of the agents “back ends” along with the other business related tools
available as part of our Extranet.
Each Agent has the capability of easily modifying or adding to their own web site through their individual
“back end”. You don’t have to be a web designer to do it yourself. It’s in plain
“English” and quite simple to do.
The TTG system has been designed to help Agents build their relationships. To build trusting
relationships by providing valuable benefits, services and information, by keeping the Agent in constant contact building familiarity and by the Agent’s obvious association with a very successful enterprise. The system is designed to help our Agents
get more business either directly or by referral.
To see an Agent web site based on this technology
click here.
