Archive for August, 2008
Real Estate Database Dilemmas
· CommentsIf you’ve been in real estate for a while, you’re undoubtedly aware of the problems there can be when you’re trying to manage a contact database.
Depending on your technology setup, you could have contact information spread out over numerous databases:
- The database for your website
- The database for your IDX MLS provider
- The database for your contact manager
It’s a difficult situation. I really wish industry providers would get together and come up with standards that would make consolidating information much easier. After all, look at the Internet! Lots of people had to agree on lots of issues to make it work.
The problem is made even worse by the fact that, in my humble opinion anyway, no one vendor has put it all together yet. Some IDX MLS vendors offer websites, but they aren’t the best. Some website vendors offer contact databases, but they aren’t the best either, and the list goes on.
So, looks like we’ll just have to put up with the problem of where to store the contact information that should really be centralized to be effective.
One thing I was very happy to see is that Top Produceer has removed the “frame busters” from their forms in Top Producer 8i. So, if you are a Top Producer user, you can now frame forms into your website.
No consolidation required - anyone who completes a form on your website will go directly into your Top Producer database.
I’m so excited.
The Answer Is: No.
Just because you are establishing a consulting business model, you’re not necessarily reducing your fees. You are letting your clients have choices about the level of support you provide. And, I think it would be important to make that distinction clear to your clients.
As Jack Harper said in the Real Town Real Estate Consulting Group, “we have a pricing schedule that sets hourly and bundled prices such that when the client decides to add a majority of them all up it would total just below full-rate traditional commissions. The reason is that they are paying up front. Since the risk to our income is reduced, we can afford to lower the fees.”
Have you ever thought about all the things that have to be done when you’re acting as a listing agent? If not, take a look at this list compiled by the Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association. There are 180 tasks. Not all of them need to be done for every transaction, and depending on the situation, some of the tasks may take a few minutes or a few days.
Now, as you look over that list, think about the potential for breaking the tasks up into “bundles”. Can you see the possibilities?
Whimsical Wednesday: We Won!
· CommentsThe Olympics are back again. I watched most of the Opening Ceremony. It was an amazing thing. The drummers, for example. How you can get all those people to do the same thing at EXACTLY the same time is mind boggling.
I gave up watching after some of the teams entered the venue. As usual, I was amazed by all the countries I’ve never heard of. But, then, I was curious about the lighting of the torch. I’m a night owl, so I tuned in toward the end of the broadcast and had a chance to see the torch ceremony.
I’m not a big sports fan, but there is something about the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics that touches me. It’s more about so much of the world coming together – if only we could truly understand each other and quit fighting, that would be my dream, Olympic or otherwise.
So, the lighting of the torch is always a touching scene for me. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, here’s how it went. There were 8 torch bearers. The last one was a famous Chinese athlete. After lighting his torch, he was elevated on some kind of a wire to the height of the “membrane” at the very top of the stadium, and if you saw any of the Ceremony, you heard about that.
Once he reached the top, the wire changed the angle at which he was suspended, and he “ran” all the way around the stadium. As he passed by, photos of the travels of the torch from Greece were projected on the membrane.
How he had the strength to “run” in place while hanging on a wire is beyond me. It was quite something. Then, the torch had appeared as if by magic at the top of the stadium, and the lighting of the flame gave me a familiar lump in my throat.
And, the men’s gymnastic team got a Bronze medal! How cool.
And, Sarah Brightman was there. I am in awe of her voice, but I can’t help thinking that she always looks like she’s high on drugs.
One of the people I watched the early part of the Ceremony with (who will remain nameless) complained, “I can’t understand a word she’s saying!”
Guess that’s what happens when Sarah sings in Chinese… 
I’ve talked before about the fact that I think agents and brokers are running real estate consulting service firms. Today, I saw a couple interesting posts on RealTalk about changing how real estate professionals charge for their services.
Have you thought about it? Do you think it’s possible? Do you think it’s necessary?
The posts were made in a RealTalk Group called “Real Estate Consulting” by Jack Harper. Jack has been a licensed REALTOR® since 1983, and is a broker in California. Jack says that he is an
- avid proponent of radical change in how we in the real estate industry need to restructure our business models – away from transaction-dependent contingent commissions and toward service models that are more client-centric and allow the consumer full choice when it comes to selecting the services they want us to perform on their behalf.
I think it’s a fascinating concept for real estate professionals to actually get paid for the time they spend on a client’s behalf. Here’s how Jack explains his approach.
Having been in the consulting business for quite a few years, I understand how the consulting fee model could be applied to real estate. I think the question is, will the industry be able to pull it off?
Jack talks about three different types of pricing models:
- Hourly Services
- Consulting Packages
- Full Service Plans that could either be traditional commission or a capped fee
Can you think of services you perform that could fit into an hourly fee structure, or ways to bundle certain services in to a package?
The first thing any consultant learns is how critical it is to manage the “scope” of the project. That’s why it’s important to write a project description that defines exactly what tasks will be performed. Any consultant who doesn’t learn how to manage their projects’ scope doesn’t stay in business very long!
If a proposal states that two revisions of a design are included, that gets written down and accepted by the client. If the client wants 15 revisions, they know that some of those revisions will be outside the scope of the project. Well, they don’t always know it — but when the fact is pointed out, they can see it’s right there in black and white.
Why should real estate consultants charge any differently?
The Secret to a Great Listing Presentation
· CommentsWhen was the last time you really took a hard look at your listing presentation? If it’s been a while, take the time to get it updated. Especially in a slow market, you don’t need to spend time with listings that won’t sell or sellers that won’t listen.
Use Your Listing Presentation to Educate and Evaluate Your Prospect
Just like a job interview, a listing presentation is an opportunity for you to decide if you want to work with the seller, while the seller decides whether he/she wants to work with you.
Given the fact that you are running a real estate consulting business, we should stop thinking about these meetings as listing presentations. Maybe we should call them Home Selling Evaluation Meetings. The seller evaluates you and vice versa.
Elements of a Great Home Selling Evaluation Meeting
Don’t Just Talk About Technology, Demonstrate it! – You’ve got a laptop computer, right? Put your presentation materials in PowerPoint. And, while you have the computer handy, show off a few other things:
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