Category: Help-U-Sell

What’s Great About the Help-U-Sell Web Solution

I just got off a Tech Demo with Ron McCoy, Robbie Stevens and a prospective franchisee. The purpose of this kind of call is to show the prospect what we’re doing with technology and to distinguish our platform from that of every other national brand. I believe, as usual, we were successful, but there’s always a side benefit to these kinds of meetings:

I get so excited about what we have I want to shout it from the rooftops! Let me crow a bit.

First, consider: why are real estate Brokers interested in the Internet? It might seem like a stupid question, but it’s not and it deserves careful consideration.
Brokers are interested because that’s where buyers (and, increasingly, sellers) are. We know this. We’ve watched the statistics rise year after year. It makes sense that, where we used to spend major marketing dollars in largely print media, we would now shift those funds toward the Internet. To the savvy Broker, the Internet is, first and foremost, a Lead Generator.

Although nobody would argue with that, it is remarkable how many Brokers have sites that are seemingly designed to generate . . . nothing.  You see them all the time:  they are basically static sites, where nothing changes day after day except the possible feed from the MLS.  They are largely vanity sites or online business cards, and just as your paper business card does no good sitting in  your pocket, so a typical, static Broker site does no good sitting in the darkness of an un-optimized web.

Some Brokers realize that having a web presence is more than having pretty pictures and nice text online.  They realize that a web site, a web presence, requires management.   Someone’s got to take responsibility for constant over-site, content refreshment and troubleshooting.  But we are real estate brokers!  We don’t have time for that!  So what do most Brokers do?  Either give up, or hire an outsider to manage the website.  Some may see an increase in leads but for most, even a managed website is just a big black hole in cyber-space into which money disappears every month.

What we have at Help-U-Sell is a Broker website that is completely proprietary (we created, own and control the technology and are not dependent on any outside vendor), that is also easily managed not by high priced outsiders, but by our Brokers.

The back-end of the website includes a content management system that is as easy to use as, say, Microsoft Word.  A broker, knowing nothing about HTML, scripting, Flash, or anything internet-tech, can log in, go to the individual pages of the website, and edit the content.  He/she can add pages, load videos, create links, etc.  And if that sounds too technical, we have paid hand-holders at headquarters in Sarasota who will help you do it.

As a result, a Help-U-Sell Broker website is not just an endless boilerplate litany of how wonderful Help-U-Sell (the national brand) is.  It’s also loaded with the references to the local community, inserted by the Broker, that will make the site attractive to search engines.  And, by the way, if your idea of having a website is to generate leads (and it should be), it all starts with being attractive to search engines.  The people have to be able to find you and they will find you when the search engines like your content.  What do search engines like?  Local, local, hyper-local content.  Custom content that doesn’t exist anywhere else.  Content that is dynamic and changes regularly.  Content that includes a mix of media:  text, photos, video, hyperlinks and so on.  The Help-U-Sell Broker websites put all of that at the fingertips of the broker.

I also get excited by the valuable foresight of the development team (and Robbie, in particular).  Early on, they built a ‘MOBI’ site to accompany Helpusell.com.  The mobi site is automatically activated anytime a consumer comes to the website via mobile phone.  On the mobi site, all of the content is optimized for the smaller format of a smart phone screen.  This is so important, and here’s why:

The average age of a Realtor today is something like 54.  The average homebuyer is much younger, about 34.  That’s a 20 year generation gap that can easily be measured in technology.  The young buyer today – the buyer that will shape our future – is using the smart phone constantly and they are using it the way we (older folks) use computers.  The smart phone IS the computer of choice for the most important segment of homebuyers in the market today.  So, you have to be smart phone optimized to interact with these buyers.  The helpusell.mobi site makes that possible.  So do other forward thinking innovations, like the automatic generation of a QR code for every listing, so that an interested homebuyer can access information on the listing without having to type a long URL into their phone.

It’s very important.  But does it work?  Robbie mentioned today that about 50% of the traffic on helpusell.com is coming from smart phones.  I think that says a lot.

Finally, the thing I’m most excited about is the responsiveness of the tech team to input from the field.  Since we created, own and manage our own technology, it’s a lot easier for us to make a change or add a feature than it would be for someone who has to go through a vendor for that.  Our brokers said they wanted customized, localized searches built around local areas or neighborhoods.  We have them.  Some brokers wanted to require registration at some point on the website.  We now have that option.  Some wanted a less costly (ok . . . free) alternative to paying outside vendors for virtual tours.  We now have that.  The whole platform is open for discussion and improvement, not by a group of disconnected egg-heads, but by real estate brokers and those who understand what goes on in a real estate office.

If you set out to recreate the technology you have at Help-U-Sell as an independent broker, you’d spend thousands, not just once, but every month.  For our brokers, it’s just part of the package:  no additional charge.

If you are a Help-U-Sell broker and you have not been as involved in your web life as you probably should have been, but want to get started NOW, call me or anyone at corporate and get the ’11 Days to a Great Website’ document.  It will give you 11 brief, focused tasks you can do in 30 minutes to an hour a day over a couple of weeks, that will take you light years ahead of your competition in terms of website effectiveness.  And if you’re like most great ‘people’ persons and you’re completely lost when it comes to this stuff, call the Tech Team in Sarasota and they will help you do it.

If you are a Help-U-Sell outsider and you’d like to know more about what we’re doing to stay on top of technology, get in touch.  We’ll be happy to give you a demo.

The Benefits of Being a Help-U-Sell Broker

Here’s a little vid we did for the Franchise Opportunity Center. It’s the first time we used the Green-Screen studio we created in Sarasota. Next time we have to work on lighting (or get me a body double!). (Oh, and contact lenses, too . . . . Mary, can I expense that?)

Innovation

Today, the Real Estate Industry Soil is fertile and innovation is struggling to blossom all over the place.  It’s because of the downturn, you know.  When the market is hot, when buyers and sellers are abundant and financing is plentiful, everyone goes into a gallop just to keep up.  There’s not much time for invention.   Not only that, in a hot market, market share shifts are rare as well.  Just as a downturn spawns creative thinking and new ideas, it also provides an opportunity for bold upstarts to gain marketshare.  Often it is the combination of boldness and innovation that results in growth during tough times.

The fledgling real estate franchises gained a major foothold on the real estate business during the tough market of the late 70s and early 80s.  Small independent brokers wrestling with fewer sales were grasping at anything that would give them an edge and national branding seemed to be the answer.   It was during the same downturn that MLSs began to move away from the endless printing of  ‘MLSBooks’ and convert to a purely online model, a major innovation.

ERA Real Estate launched at this time and was seen as quite the innovator.  Few remember, but the letters, ERA, stood for ‘Electronics Realty Associates.’  Their hallmark innovation was that each office had a crude fax machine, called a ‘People Mover.’  A homebuyer sitting in an ERA office in, say, Atlanta, could receive faxed pages from the MLS Book from an ERA broker in Seattle.  All of the other (non-ERA) brokers had to rely on the US mail to share information with an out of towner.   That silly FAX machine was seen as a huge piece of innovative technology.  (Aside:  we also forget that in the early days, ERA brokers and associates wore a distinctive blazer.  Like the Century 21 mustard gold coat, the ERA blazer was light powder blue – just like my high school prom tux!)

All of this is a prelude to what I really want to talk about, which is Help-U-Sell Grein Group in Stafford, Virginia.  I stopped in to see Josh and Bettina Grein on a recent swing through that part of the country and I came face to face with innovation, born out of necessity.  (Remember?  Necessity is the Mother of Invention).  The Greins were struggling with a tight market and an uncooperative landlord.  Their rent was huge given their location and the decline in the market.  But the landlord would not entertain any thought of a renegotiation of their lease.  They tried and tried and got nowhere . . . until they announced they were leaving.  Suddenly the landlord wanted to deal but it was too late.

Josh and Bettina found a struggling coffee shop in a much better location in their town.  They felt, with a few adjustments, the coffee shop could be profitable and the extra income from coffee sales would be a nice supplement to their real estate income.  The shop also offered a solution to their landlord problem.  There were additional rooms in back of the shop where Help-U-Sell Grein Group could relocate.  They decided to make the leap.

When I stopped in, they’d been open about two weeks.  The  coffee shop was full of people in the early afternoon and though it was a true coffee shop/cafe, it was also clearly the home of Help-U-Sell.  Listing fliers were prominently displayed and it would be hard to miss other identifiers at the back of the shop.  Josh told me he’d talked to more people about Help-U-Sell in the past two weeks than he had in months.  Bettina said she’d had three good agents stop in and ask about coming to work for them.

The Greins have experienced a downturn from peak levels of 2006, but they have managed to hang on and gain share while their competitors have withered.  There’s is a strong market made up of people who work in and around Quantico Marine Base, the FBI National Training Academy and those who make the hour long commute to Washington DC every day.  They have done well in the upper end of the market where homes are priced in the $500,000 – $800,000 range. As Bettina says, ‘We do well in the upper end because that’s where people can save the most money.’

(Aside to every broker who’s ever told me Help-U-Sell is not for the luxury home market:  it’s all about attitude and expectation)

It’s a little early to tell, but my belief is that Josh and Bettina are on to something that will help them gain an even bigger share of market.  They have taken the First Objective of Marketing to the max.  You remember that, don’t you?  The First Objective of Marketing?  It’s Visibility.  First, you want to be Visible.  You want your logo to be seen everywhere, over and over.  That’s why we use blitz signs and have our sellers put out directionals, and wrap our cars and on and on:  it’s so we are Visible to the max.  The coffee shop has made Help-U-Sell Grein Group more Visible than they ever were at their old office and it looks like an innovation that’s going to pay off.

Help-U-Sell In A Nutshell

Here is a slide show with voice over that will be combined with live video and turned into Flash for the Help-U-Sell Franchise Sales website.  It’s intended to distinguish Help-U-Sell from ordinary real estate to prospective franchisees.  I think the message has broader appeal, though.

The final will will have a talking head (me) running in front of this show, kind of like what your local TV weather person does in front of a moving map.  What’s here is just PowerPoint with voice over, converted into a movie and uploaded to YouTube (and then embedded here in the blog).  I did this not only to share the video and the information, but also to test what I’ve been squawking about so much lately: that YouTube video can be a valuable tool in becoming attractive to Search Engines.

Tami Patzer taught me (all of us, actually) that Google will index video uploaded to YouTube and will actually transcribe the voice track, turning it into searchable text.  This little video is packed with the kinds of phrases consumers and prospective franchisees might use in search strings.  Also, Google LOVES video (notice, next time you do a Google search, the prominent placement video is given on the first page of results) so, in theory, I should get more than my share of hits.

All of that is technical mambo-jumbo; but if you’re in business today – any business – and you don’t have someone paying attention to these kinds of issues, you’re missing the boat.  By and large, consumers are shopping online and your ability to be found online is directly related to your chances for success.  You have to use all of the tools and constantly add to your tool box as you build a solid online presence.

That’s one of the great things about Help-U-Sell that’s not mentioned on this little show:  the technical leadership the company provides to its members.  We not only own and host our own websites (no outside vendors to mess things up), we have designed them to be easily customized, optimized and localized by our offices.  We also hold weekly tech webinars where we continually upgrade and enhance our members’ knowledge about doing business in the Internet age.

Cue the Cocktail Party Music

‘So, what do you do?’

‘Well . . . do you remember that big real estate sales commission last time you bought or sold a house?’

‘Urgh!  Don’t remind me!  I think the Realtor netted more than I did!’

‘That’s not all that unusual today.  . . But, me?  I’m in the equity preservation business.’

‘What?’

‘I help people have great real estate transactions at a fraction of the cost – which helps them hang on to their hard earned equity rather than turning it over to a salesperson.’

‘Oh, you’re a Realtor.’

‘Yes, Realtor with a twist.’

‘What’s that?’

‘I’m a Help-U-Sell Realtor.  We are a Set Fee Real Estate Company.’

‘Set Fee?’

‘Yeah.  Instead of a fat 6% or 7% commission, we charge a low Set Fee.  It usually saves thousands of dollars over what the other guys do.’

‘So you’re a discount broker?’

‘No, I’m a different kind of broker.’

(puzzled look)

‘I do everything they do and a number of things they don’t do, but my business is organized differently.  I’m leaner, more efficient and I use technology to produce the same results they do at a fraction of the cost.’

‘And it works?’

‘Let me put it this way:  Last year the average agent in our MLS closed 4.75 transactions.  There are just four people in my office:  me, my  assistant and two agents who work with buyers.  Together we closed 74 transactions last year – which works out to what?  18 each or something.  Sure it works.’

‘Damn.  Wish I’d met you six months ago.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘My home’s on the market with Acme Realty right now.  One of my neighbors works for them.  Anyway:  it’s not working.’

‘Where is it?’

‘Over on Elm.’

‘Oh, the two story? . . . with the fenced yard?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘I showed that last month.  Yeah.  I had an out of town buyer.  I remember he liked it all right but he was really wanting something with a basement — which is what I eventually sold him.’

‘Oh; so it goes.’

‘What I remember is the price.  You were right at the top of the market, probably a little above it; and with prices still dropping (slowly now, thank goodness), it didn’t compete all that well with others on the market.’

‘That’s why it’s not working out with my agent.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I haven’t heard much from her since the listing was taken, but I’ve told her a couple of times I think we need to lower the price.’

‘What does she say?’

‘She says she doesn’t think that’s the problem and that she’ll do some research and get back to me . . . which she hasn’t done.’

‘Well, it’s your listing.  You control the price and terms.  Maybe you should start telling rather than asking.’

‘What I’d like to do is cancel the listing and try another agent . . . maybe you!’

‘I really can’t talk with you about that while your home is listed.  When the Acme listing ends I’ll be happy to talk with you, but right now – assuming the listing is still in effect – I really can’t go into that with you.’

‘I wish there was something I could do.’

‘There is.  Call your agent, set an appointment to meet with her – at her office if you prefer – and have her pull a new Market Analysis for you.  Then set a reasonable price.  And remember:  if you’re basing your today price on the prices of similar properties that closed 90 days ago and more, you’re probably setting it too high.  When pricing today, you really have to anticipate and reflect the trend.’

‘Have you got a card?’

‘Sure.  Here it is.  I hope you can work things out with your agent and I wish you luck.  If things don’t turn around, I’d be happy to talk with you.’

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