Real estate agent marketing

Leverage your reputation to close more deals

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:45:25 -0800

Thank you to business resource & tools web site AGBeat for their featured review of ReachFactor, in which they say, “ReachFactor.com is a real estate directory that serves the agent so they can better reach the consumer and because of the level of free features the company offers to help Realtors, this is going to be a hit.”

We've got over 3,000 clients today who say that with ReachFactor they're getting more phone calls from prospective customers, they spend less energy convincing prospects to choose them, and they face less pressure to lower their commission. What we're finding is that having a visible reputation online eliminates a lot of prospecting hassles. Prospects can find you. AGBeat did a thorough product review so I copy below the entire article. Click here to read the original.

ReachFactor to launch with innovative features agents will flip for

A new twist – agents will love this

There’s something different that is about to hit the market, something that could be the answer to telling an agent’s story better than a star rating and one that doesn’t seek to get in between the agent and consumers. We do a lot of interviews with a lot of companies, but when one matches our ethos of improving the industry in a way that truly impacts the consumers, we perk up. Enter ReachFactor.com, a company that has spent months working with agents, a third party research firm, and consumers to determine the formula they would use to be the ultimate real estate agent directory.

What they determined before they even wrote a line of code was that consumers want to know three things (and one may not have occurred to you before)- how active an agent is, what their consumers have to say about them (good and bad), and what the size of their network of fellow agents is. The last one was a surprise to us, why would consumers care? Consumers want to know that an agent has reach and knows who to call- consumers value connectedness which we suspect is a belief that when an agent works with them, they’re one phone call away from the inside track.

Innovative, agent-centric features

ReachFactor.com has a variety of unique features that are innovating the directory concept, starting with the idea that they serve as an interactive profile for agents to use rather than a database of agents they want consumers to come search through- it acts as a verification source that can be embedded in a website or Facebook.

One of the most innovative features they will launch (and dare we say the only company doing this) is an activity tracker wherein an agent can check in (or out) while they are at a property, much like Foursquare, in an effort to show that not only do they screen properties, but when they say “I am active in X neighborhood” there is a real way to show that fact off.

Another innovation that they have made to the entire model is that everything is funneled to the agent, where they say it should go, so when an email address is entered into the system by a consumer, that information is not used to generate traffic for themselves by drip marketing, nor is it resold as some sites do. We genuinely believe the agent-centric nature of ReachFactor as opposed to almost any site offering agent ratings or rankings. ReachFactor even has their own verification system so as to avoid abuse by an agent or their competitors, a feature missing from many ranking sites.

Realtors’ profiles

Most features of the site are free – an agent can add branding to their profile and engage in checking in and the like as well as building their network of agents to show the public how connected they are, a feature which is limited to an agent’s own market to curb the “I have 4,233 friends but I’ve never met any of them and they don’t live in my city” faux network so many boast as their reality.

Typically we are critical of any system that offers points for user behavior, but because all points on ReachFactor are private (consumers and agents can’t see how many points an agent has), and that it acts as a directional prompt to help agents with the flow of using the site, and that it feeds the algorithm for agent search, this time around, points might actually work.

Enhancing a profile

Agents’ profiles can be enhanced at a low cost to include links to their social networks, and have a share button and RSS button, along with a “call now” and “ask me a question” call to action button. Additionally, video testimonials can be added to the site and if an agent needs videography done, ReachFactor has a national network of videographers agents can work with.

How are listings handled?

So how are listings handled? Is this just another real estate search site waiting to happen? No. An address is not visible until it is enhanced by a user with descriptions and photos and ReachFactor will auto-populate as much information as possible. Listings will be a MLS-independent feature that agents with pocket listings will enjoy as they have somewhere to feature them, and a helpful feature for agents that list new homes that don’t necessarily go into the MLS.

Free Craigslist flyers and Facebook app

“Yelp ushered in an era of reviews, honesty and consumers distrusting of agent grandstanding,” ReachFactor.com CEO Suresh Srinivasan told AGBeat. When Srinivasan talks about ReachFactor, his passion for truth in marketing is evident and is at the core of everything he talks about. To avoid that grandstanding, their product offers third party proof of an agent’s reach, reputation and activity- they even offer a trust badge that can be embedded on Craigslist or a Realtor website.

ReachFactor offers free Craigslist email flyers which appears to be a feature agents have taken to readily and we hear is converting well, and there is a Facebook app the company has developed which offers a custom tab and syndicates their ReachFactor updates to their Facebook Page wall to passively show consumers they are active and connected. We believe these two options will be the honey that attracts the bears and when agents discover the agent-centric features available to them, they’ll stick around- the company hasn’t even launched publicly yet, no press releases have gone out, yet they already have over 3,000 paid platform users and is a free member benefit to Bay East Association of Realtors (we suspect more boards will join in).

This is going to be a hit

Reputation management, agent profiles, realtor reviews- all these have been tried, some have done well, others shut their doors before they even launched to the public, but ReachFactor.com is a real estate directory that serves the agent so they can better reach the consumer and because of the level of free features the company offers to help Realtors, this is going to be a hit.

Photo tour of features:

The following images offer commentary from ReachFactor to point out features on the pages.

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Bay East Association of REALTORS® Partners with ReachFactor to Go Beyond Agent Ratings

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:58:17 -0700

Bay East Association of REALTORS® Partners with ReachFactor to Go Beyond Agent Ratings

Bay East Association of REALTORS® announced today a partnership with agent reputation innovator ReachFactor to help its agents showcase their performance, shorten sales cycles, and generate high quality inbound leads for free. ReachFactor will be integrated into Bay East’s intranet and become available to members in October, 2011.

ReachFactor is a patents-pending technology that allows real estate agents to display factual information about their client reviews, current activity, and/or peer network strength so consumers can find them and make a quick, anxiety-free decision. The technology requires almost no work on the part of the agent.

“ReachFactor presents a very unique way agents can engage consumers and improve their business,” states Tricia Thomas, CEO Bay East Association of REALTORS®. “ReachFactor is a comprehensive agent rating system — agents can use whatever facets of the system they feel showcase their strengths best and ReachFactor automates much of the outreach.”

ReachFactor’s expanding feature list allows agents to:
• Collect and display verified client reviews
• Automatically showcase screenings, showings, open houses, and other daily activities
• Demonstrate the size and ‘reach’ of their marketing network
• Connect with consumers through social media and search

“Our partner program has arrived and we’re excited that Bay East Association of REALTORS® officially kicks it off,” states Suresh Srinivasan, CEO of ReachFactor. “I feel strongly that we and REALTOR® Associations share a common goal, which is to satisfy an unmet consumer demand for information, but do it by empowering brokers and agents with a system that fairly credits them for all their hard work. We look forward to partnering with real estate organizations around the nation.”

About Bay East Association of REALTORS®
Since 1947, the Bay East Association of REALTORS® has been providing association and MLS services to real estate professionals in the San Francisco East Bay. Agents, brokers and appraisers who belong to the Bay East MLS have access to comprehensive property information for homes in Castro Valley, San Lorenzo, San Leandro, Hayward, Newark, Union City, Fremont, Sunol, Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore. Serving over 5,000 MLS users, the Bay East Association of REALTORS® offers, education programs, professional development, and emerging technologies that enable agents and brokers to provide quality real estate service.

About ReachFactor
ReachFactor is a patents-pending reputation platform for use by real estate agents to build a bona fide reputation and engage more buyers and sellers. Prospective home buyers and sellers who browse real estate agent profiles on ReachFactor are rewarded with a rich, facts-only database of client reviews, activity metrics, and summary of the marketing strength of real estate agents around the nation. ReachFactor was launched in September 2010. For more information, visit: www.reachfactor.com

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Reviews spam.. The dark world of online reviews!

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:20:10 -0700

I was speaking with a potential business partner the other day about deceptive reviews online and how bad the review problem’s become. I was explaining the length we go to verify reviews, but he didn’t believe the problem was big enough to justify the expense. He thought we were wasting our money.

Fake reviews are more prevalent than most people think. It’s not hard and doesn’t cost much. And the cheaters are getting pretty clever. See below:

1) A negative review (a real one) of a doctor posted on Yelp.

2) Doctor goes on the offensive, solicits positive reviews for money.

3) Notice how the reviews are pre-written, leaving nothing to chance.

4) Notice too the email addresses are @aol, @verizon. Hard to spot a fake.

5) A review on Dexknows for the same doctor. Real or fake?

Worst part is that people think they can spot fake reviews from a mile away. Wrong. A group of Cornell researchers put out a study recently that underscored how poorly humans judge deception. Savvy industry insiders are no exception. The person I pitched obviously thinks there’s no real problem here.

Sure, some portal sites put up Facebook Connect or ask for an email address when taking reviews. But sorry guys, Facebook Connect isn’t a filter (do you know how many people have fake personas on Facebook). And we all know about hotmail. If you can buy a positive review for $0.02 and the portals don’t really filter, what do you think is happening? What happens when someone wants to harm a competitor's reputation??

Our company is not going to stop investing in verification because we think it’s the right thing to do. Even though we set the hurdle high we still tend to catch a lot of deception (1 out of 50).

I’m curious. Has your brokerage or a real estate agent you know been impacted by reviews spam?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

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Got a Post-Sale Strategy? Join the Club

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:50:21 -0700

As everyone in this business knows, referrals are the gift that keeps on giving. One satisfied buyer or seller leads to another, and soon your reputation grows among past, present and future clients. It’s the best kind of real estate agent marketing, so why wouldn’t you want to encourage it in your real estate business every step of the way?

Oddly enough, it appears most real estate professionals do not have a post-sale plan in place that they use on a consistent basis. It’s understandable, though: Once a listing has been acquired, a buyer located, an offer made, countered, etc. etc., and the ink is dry, most real estate agents take a deep breath and carry on to the next prospect without following up with the previous client in any way. According to research done by Suzanne Roy at Tech Savvy Agent, less than 10% of Realtors have an after-sale process in place designed to retain some kind of communication with former clients. One of Ms. Roy’s first suggestions for an after-sale strategy is to gather Realtor testimonials Specifically:

“It always has and it always will be not what you say you can do, but what other have said you have done. The easiest way to gain testimonials is to request it within a week of closing and via an email. Get it while your successful closing is still fresh in everyone’s minds and get it quick!”

We could not agree more. In prior blog posts, we’ve shared some tips on how to collect real estate agent reviews, mainly the one-two punch of (a) make it part of the process, and (b) give your customers a reason to put in the effort. We also shared how to effectively turn these agent reviews into trusted marketing material for Facebook, Google, etc..

This turns an ineffective “testimonials” section of your web site — which research has shown few people trust — into a dependable marketing tool that promotes the skills and market-savvy you bring to the home-sale transaction.

Adding another process to an already detailed process might not seem possible at this stage, especially since the simple feat of acquiring a listing can be pretty gargantuan. But, it’s going to make your business grow.

Do you have any advice for how to stay in touch with clients after a sale, or how to earn referrals? Please share them in the comments below!

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Fire the search engine optimizer - get active on Facebook

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:07:26 -0700

I recently came across an SEOMoz study that looked to see what impact, if any social media has on search engine rank. The results surprised me. The number of Facebook comments/likes/shares you get seem to directly impact your Google rank.

The study looked at results from 10,000 Google searches and compared the top 30 results to see what they had in common vs. the low ranking sites. The common denominator? Over 60 percent of the high ranking sites had Facebook comments/likes/shares!

We wanted to see whether there was any evidence of this effect within our own client base. So we looked across 2000 clients and pulled out those who had a similar number of listings and client reviews. We then compared the search engine ranking for those who used Facebook vs. those who didn't.

We found great evidence to corroborate the SEOMoz study. Let me show you a prime example:

Here are snippets of wall posts from the Facebook page of our client Lori Fleming. You notice our application automatically shares into Facebook a status update about every new listing – announced when it first hits the market, then also when the price changes. She also shares updates immediately when she gets a new review from a client.

But notice how she socializes the news (see the picture below). The agent ‘liked’ her own listing update. This ‘like’ broadcast the news to her 145 Facebook fans. It gave them a quick ‘heads up’ that there was a recent price change.

Notice then that Zak, one of her fans, commented on the same post. When Zak does this, it broadcasts his comment, along with the agent’s original post to all of the agent’s fans AND Zak’s Facebook friends. Zak just sent a broadcast about this agent to his 130 friends. The two likes on the past client reviews (from the earlier picture above) just promoted Lori's service history to a few hundred more people.

What seems to be happening is that these ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ are really links saying “hey, I like this information and think it’s important. Go check it out.” This is a social indicator that's now factoring into Google's algorithm.

What kind of content gets likes/shares/comments?

To get social interactivity you want to promote things that are heartfelt, touching and warm - or are about timely, bargain-hunter information. Listings and past client reviews are perfect content sources. You just need to be diligent about sharing your content properly.

For example, if you are making status updates about a listing be sure to put up individual property pages inside Facebook. When you create your wall posts you want to give fans the ability to see what you've posted about without clicking out of Facebook. People in Facebook don't want to click out. The goal is comments, likes & shares - we don't want to lose them.

So what has this activity done for our customer's search engine ranking? See below:

Search phrase Google Rank Position

top sunset utah real estate agent #1, #2, #4, #9

top sunset utah realtor #1, #2, #5, #6

sunset utah real estate reviews #1, #6

sunset utah realtor reviews #9, #10

lori fleming realtor reviews #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #8

recommend sunset utah realtor #3, #4, #8

recommend sunset utah real estate agent #1, #2, #7, #10

utah real estate agent reviews #6, #7

The agents who didn't use Facebook had just a few appearances in Google, mostly just for their own personal name.

If you've struggled with search engine optimization or worry about the lack of leads from the Web, get going with Facebook immediately. It's really not that difficult to stimulate likes/comments/shares. Just do it right!

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Do your clients testimonials have Reach?

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:48:26 -0700

I was delighted to get the opportunity to sit down with Celeste from Happy Grasshopper last week and talk about agent reviews. This is a really critical topic for agents now not just because it stimulates more referral business. But because many portals unfairly take advantage of agents without the agents' knowledge, or go directly to the agents' clients to solicit reviews.

What agents need to realize is that client reviews in real estate are a scarce commodity. How many potential reviews will an agent have every year? 1? 5? 10? And will one client really leave a review on 4 different websites? Not likely. Like gold or oil, this commodity is valuable.

It behooves agents to be the ones who collect reviews from every one of their past clients for this reason. Whether the review is good or bad, the buyer or seller will appreciate the agent's professional outreach as well.

Agents should avoid being duped into doing a portal's marketing for them. They shouldn't let others reach their clients before they do!

This also underscores the reason for ongoing relationship marketing, and why agents should really be thinking holistically about their client communication strategy.

Via Celeste Nelson -Get More Referrals Automatically (Happy Grasshopper | Automatic Referral Marketing System):

I am always searching for great tools to share that save time. My philosophy on technology is that it should shorten your work day, not add more tasks to your to do list.

ReachFactor.com is definitley my kind of technology. They offer the easiest way I've ever seen to engage with past clients, collect testimonials from them and spread their kind words about you around the web. In addition they have some great tools for easily syndicating your properties.

I told Suresh I wish I could use their online survey and reputation tools at Happy Grasshopper - he said their services are only for agents right now so I would have to wait. At least I can share what he had to say about how ReachFactor works and what you can do to make sure the testimonials your clients give get found on Google.

Celeste: How does the client feedback system work on the web?

Suresh: It's actually quite simple. ReachFactor auto-creates a Web survey that an agent (or brokerage) can either send to clients themselves or let ReachFactor send for them. When ReachFactor handles the process, we send an email to past buyers or sellers asking them to complete a brief survey to provide feedback on the agent. ReachFactor even sends a few polite reminders just to make sure agents are able to collect a large number of reviews. By using ReachFactor's automated service agents save countless hours of follow up and don't have to appear to be begging for a testimonial. Past clients also get a sense the agent is a consummate professional since they're using a 3rd party market research service to collect the feedback.

Celeste: How does ReachFactor help agents build credibility?

Suresh: ReachFactor has a verification process around reviews to ensure that responses received are actually legitimate, verified opinions from past clients. Our verification process includes making outbound phone calls and researching transaction information. Once verified, we place a 'Verified Seal' on these reviews to give prospective buyers and sellers some assurance that these testimonials weren't 'gamed' or made up like the reviews appearing on almost every agent rating site out there. What ReachFactor does is provide the agent something akin to a Good Housekeeping seal of approval so agents are able to establish instant credibility. Many agents are using our verified reviews in their listing presentations already.

Celeste: Where should agents be sharing the testimonials their clients give?

Suresh: The important thing for agents to remember is that the reviews ReachFactor collects for them are not anonymous testimonials that anyone could have handwritten into their own website. These are bona fide reviews that were verified by a 3rd party (ReachFactor). Agents should enhance all their marketing with these testimonials because it will help them improve their lead conversion rates. And ReachFactor makes it really easy to do this.

Agents are enhancing their direct mail with badges we provide, they're embedding our widgets in their blogs (like ActiveRain), they're showcasing their bona fide reviews in listing presentations, and they're using our syndication to spread the reviews to search engines (Google, Bing) and social media.

For example, we provide the HTML code for a widget that anyone can embed on their website's About Me page or References page. The widget automatically scrolls through all the reviews they've received. We've heard from customers that they've seen an appreciable increase in contact forms being filled out.

Another prime location to share testimonials? Social media! People tend to share, comment, and 'like' things that are heartfelt, warm, and touching - which testimonials tend to be. Social media is the new farming ground for referral business and those 'likes' and 'comments' are the fodder. Our social media connector helps agents get the word out with their own custom landing pages for Facebook and an auto-post feature that shares their testimonials to Facebook and Twitter. This is content that populates into social media that promotes the agent. Agents don't have to do a thing.

Celeste: Can you tell me about your syndication tools?

Suresh: We empower 2 kinds of content publishing (syndication) from our platform - reviews and listings. These are great assets agents possess that can help them land new business when promoted properly. In ReachFactor syndication is as easy as checking a box 'on' or 'off'. The agent decides what to syndicate and where. We include publishing options to social media, craigslist, and the most popular real estate portals for listings. We've heard from many real estate brokerages that our syndication tool is the simplest thing they've seen on the market.

Celeste: What is the cost of the service, how do agents get started - do you have an offer for our readers?

Suresh: Our Smart Marketer package is for agents and is just $24.95/mo. We also have a separate service for brokerages and associations. There's no setup fee and we offer a 60-day money back guarantee. If your readers use promo code: HAPPYGRASSHOPPER they can get the entire platform for $99 for the first year. They just sign up at http://www.reachfactor.com/signup

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RE Technology review highlights new success factors for agent marketing

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:06:49 -0700

We were recently interviewed by RE Technology to round out a series of articles they wrote on real estate agent reviews. We had the opportunity to discuss our platform and motivations for building ReachFactor but also discuss trends in real estate agent marketing.

While ReachFactor is typically mentioned in the same breath as real estate agent reviews sites, what we really offer is a platform to boost agent marketing productivity by:

- properly leveraging assets agents already have

- and showcasing the work agents are already doing

We're not trying to create water-cooler gossip about agents, or help agents anonymously brag about themselves or thrash their competition by posting to one of those review sites. Those review sites do this very well :)

You see, while I ran my previous company (a website marketing firm) I saw thousands of agents struggle to build a nice site, write content, and maintain a blog while keeping a reasonable work-life balance.

Most agents also didn't understand they had to budget something to get their website noticed. "Build it and they will come" died a long time ago.

A simple formula helps agents more cost-effectively close new business

Hundreds of thousands of potential buyers and sellers are online researching real estate agents. I'm not talking about listings lookie-loos; I mean actually looking for an agent.

We help the agent gain credibility among perfect strangers (most websites don't do this very well), and we help them reach these prospects wherever they happen to be researching agents online.

Today, agents using ReachFactor grow their fan base on Facebook, they rise to the top of search engine results pages, and we give them a Web presence filled with the only sales material that really gets results - the bona fide opinions of past clients. I add emphasis to 'bona fide' because we go out of our way to verify that the feedback from past clients is legitimate. This is the only way to build long-term credibility.

ReachFactor is an entirely new way for agents to market themselves without much time or expense. Agents survey past clients and they import listings. We just package and distribute it all to give prospective buyers and sellers the information they crave.

As Scott Myers, Broker-Owner of a leading San Antonio real estate office said: "These are the new basics (of Web success). This takes hardly any of your time... and is how to reach the buyers and sellers in the 30-45 year old age group."

Thanks RE Technology for the interview! And thanks everyone for your support! You can read the full agent reviews article if interested.

Please contact me (suresh@reachfactor.com) if you'd like to get a demo or learn more.

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Don't star 67 yourself into oblivion

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:23:05 -0700

I was interviewing a sales person last week and she made a comment I found very interesting. She said she commonly calls prospects by first dialing *67 so that it masks her caller ID. She said it helps her phone calls get through. I wondered why no one wants to pick up the phone when they know it’s her?

Crazy? No, I’m sure lots of sales people do this. Will she get the job? Never.

Here’s why.

Great sales people don’t have to use *67 because they’re great at adding value. In the first connection or meeting with a prospect they ask questions and listen. They are really good at understanding people’s problems and needs. Then they think night and day about how they can solve those problems. Then they follow up.

Good sales people get past the caller ID filter because their reputation is not that of a ‘salesperson’ it’s that of a ‘consultant.’

There are several sales people I love hearing from because they come with information and advice to help me solve my problems. When I recognize their phone number I pick up the phone. Sure, most of the time they’re selling something, but I know that good advice does not come free and usually they pitch something that’s directly related to the problems I’ve got.

Do you know how many times I pick up the phone when the call comes from ‘anonymous’? None.

I’ve noticed while reading real estate agent reviews that good real estate agents all seem to listen and solve problems. They’re perceived as consultants not ‘sales people.’ If you’ve gone on a listing presentation and you’re not getting called back, and you find yourself constantly using *67 I say stop wasting your time re-think how you approach your business.

In this transparent world we live in the tactics that drive you to use *67 will eventually make you obsolete.

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Trying to get a great review from a client? 3 tips for a better response rate

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:18:18 -0800

Feedback from past clients is a great marketing tool. There’s no sales pitch or advertisement that’s as trusted as the opinion of another customer. In fact, the 2009 Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of 25,000 people found that “recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising."

When you ask clients for their opinion you want to be careful to not damage your relationship in the process. You don’t want to ask the same customer to post a review on Yelp, Facebook, then on LinkedIn, etc, etc. That’d be too much harassment, don’t you think?

If you’d like to collect all your reviews in one place, remain in control of them, and re-purpose them across Facebook, Google, your website, blogs, listing presentations, etc. you should leverage a survey tool like Survey Monkey or ReachFactor.com to handle the job. Some services like ReachFactor also give you a dedicated Web page that displays your reviews and contact info (without any of your competitors being shown) for lead gen potential.

Blind surveys get about a 50% response rate. These are surveys that are emailed (or sent) to clients without prior notice. 50% is not bad, but keep in mind that each review will help you rank higher in Google, maintain your commission structure through an enhanced reputation, and close more business. Each review is worth money -- so we should all strive for a 100% response rate.

Here are 3 tips many of our clients use to get a 100% response rate.

1. Make Some Phone Calls: Call your clients in advance and ask them for help. If you’ve done a great job the client most probably appreciated that you worked so hard to get the deal done. [8 out of 10 surveys clients receive are glowing reviews]. Play to their emotions and use a holiday like the new year to your advantage..

“Hi Susan, I wanted to call and just say thanks so much for trusting me to handle your real estate transaction last year. 2010 was tough but I think we accomplished something great together [cite personal anecdote]. As 2011 rolls in, I’m doing my best to collect as much feedback as I can from prior customers to help me improve. Would it be OK to send you a 30-second Survey by email? I’d really appreciate your help with this. I’m using a service called [ReachFactor, Survey Monkey, etc] so please keep an eye on your email for the Survey from them. I’ll follow up in a week just to make sure you got it. Thanks so much! Wishing you and your family a very happy new year. ”

2. Add a Personal Message to the Survey: Most survey services automatically include a template cover letter that goes out with each Survey but allow you to make modifications. It is always better to personalize each message so people are reminded of who you are and the transaction experience. We’ve seen this style of personal message work very well:

Hi Susan,

It was really a pleasure assisting you with your home sale in Calabasas. I am so happy that we were able to close at your asking price! I hope you and the kids are settled in your new place and that the weather is not too bad (I hear that San Antonio is hot and muggy this time of year).

I’m getting myself ready for 2011 and wanted to get your opinion on the service I provided. This will help me improve my service. I promise this won’t take more than 30 seconds of your time and it will really help me. I appreciate it!

[insert link to survey here]

Sincerely,

Judy

You’ll see that the message places the survey into context, lets the client know you still remember them, and then asks them to complete the survey which should take them no more than 30 seconds.

3. Send, then follow up: If you have a big client roster, another option is to send blind surveys to your entire roster then follow up only with those who don’t respond (remember, 50% will likely give you a response anyway). Your follow up should be a phone call to let them know you’ll be sending a survey from a 3rd party Survey service and you’d appreciate it if they could keep an eye on their spam filter in the next day or two. Something like this..

Hi Susan, it’s me Judy. I’m doing a year end survey of all my clients and would love to get your honest feedback. I’ll be emailing you a link to a 30-second survey, could you please fill it out? The email will come from a service I use called [ReachFactor, Survey Monkey, etc] so please keep an eye out for it. In your spam filter too - haha!

I really appreciate all your help and wish you and the family a very happy new year!

Please call me if there’s anything I can help you with.

Some survey services send reminders automatically (ReachFactor sends them 1, 3 and 7 days after your initial request) but it’s always a good idea to make a phone call. If your client has not filled out your Survey don’t think they’re ignoring you. They most likely haven’t checked email or their spam filter in a while.

So there you have it. Start 2011 with a bang. Real estate agent reviews are craved by consumers and this is the time to separate yourself from others in the industry. Be sure to use a service that helps you gain Google traffic, drives that traffic to you directly, and allows you to re-purpose your reviews into all your marketing automatically. It costs almost nothing and each review strengthens your reputation. That's priceless.

Remember the Nielsen results.. reviews are the most trusted form of advertising.

Here’s to a prosperous new year! Cheers.

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Should you control your own Agent reviews or go 'portal'?

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:48:38 -0800

Yelp, Zillow, etc etc. There are now many places a consumer can go to review a real estate Agent. Many accept anonymous reviews, yet nearly all ask Agents to send their past clients to the portal where they must register to post a review about the Agent’s service.

Sounds like a good idea, right? Ask a past client to post a review about my service on a high traffic consumer portal. What’s wrong with that?? Let’s think for a second about what these portal sites gain (potentially) at an Agent’s expense.

What does the portal gain? Suppose a portal has 1 million registered consumers. They let an Agent solicit reviews from clients and post them to their site for free. That’s great, but nothing in life is free. Most of them require that the Agent’s past client register on their site which means the Agent drives the portal a new customer. As more Agents drive consumers to the portal, the portal could expand from 1 million registered customers to 2 million, all without marketing expense. Sounds great for the portal, I don’t blame them. More consumers means more traffic to their site and the ability to generate more advertising revenue.

What’s the Agent’s expense? The Agent’s clients are inevitably added to the portal’s mailing lists. Guess what, unless the Agent happens to advertise with the portal, their clients could be directed to use a different Agent the next time they have real estate needs. Does that sound fair?

Also, how many times can an Agent ask one homeowner to give them a review? Once? Twice maybe before they’ve alienated them? It would be a major inconvenience to ask each customer to go to every portal site and post a review. The Agent could cause lasting damage to the relationship between them and their customer. Would an Agent really want to be the extended marketing department for the portal and help them gain more traffic? Shouldn’t the portal consider Agent reviews great content for their existing traffic? Instead of requiring Agents to send customers to them, couldn’t they just provide every Agent a way to post their reviews directly into their own profile?

A review from a past customer is extremely influential, especially a review that has been manually verified legitimate. It carries a lot of clout. But unlike restaurants that can generate 100s of potential reviews per day, real estate Agents may have just a couple dozen transactions per year; Agent reviews are a scarce commodity. A scarce commodity inherently has a lot of value (think gold).

I’m not saying what portals are doing is bad. They provide a valuable service for consumers. Agent reviews are exactly the kind of information that today’s home buyers and sellers crave, and the portals must make money to survive. However, Agents should not be put in a position to lose control of their reviews, solicit new traffic for a portal, or help educate their clients about other Agents. Marketing the portal is the portal’s job, isn’t it?

When we started our company we thought through these very same issues. We decided that instead of launching another portal, the industry really needed an independent 3rd party that allowed Agents to solicit reviews from clients, have each review manually verified, and then let every Agent control how and where those reviews get syndicated (or not).

If an Agent prefers to print reviews to take into listing presentations and nothing more, that’s their business. If they prefer to post reviews in Facebook, or to drive traffic back to their own site or blog, that should be entirely up to them. If they want to turn on syndication one day and turn off syndication another that should also be their choice, shouldn’t it?

As an Agent, would you rather control your reviews or go ‘portal’?

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Your LinkedIn opportunity is waiting for you.. 5 things, 3 days.

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:47:31 -0800

Many Agents I speak with are very pessimistic about their chances of gaining new business through social media. Don’t be a pessimist, I can assure you that business is generated through social media every day.

I recently stubled across an example from my university alumni group I follow on LinkedIn which inspired me to write this post.

Read the question and notice how active the thread became (the comments continue to come in). This is not a one-in-a-million fluke. The new generation of home buyer and seller (the 30-45 year old demographic) is tightly connected with and lives inside channels like LinkedIn and Facebook. And you can see by the number of replies in this thread, these are very active discussions.

My guess is that after receiving all these referrals she likely Googled the names of the agents to find out more about them. This is where having lots of easily discoverable reviews (letters of reference) online comes into play. When she discovers them, she will have enough social proof to reach out and make contact.

A Nielsen study of over 25,000 Internet users found that “Recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising.” Another study by comScore stated that 88% of people are strongly influenced by peer reviews. It just stands to reason that this tech savvy group of people would turn to the Web for opinions and advice about everything, including the selection of an Agent.

To market to this audience you need to cultivate a reputation – this is not ‘hard sell’ territory. Collect and distribute your reviews and get yourself into these online conversations to lay the groundwork for great business opportunities.

Sound scary? It’s not. You don’t need to monitor every single conversation being said online. I’ll give you five things you can do over the next 3 days to tip-toe into the world of LinkedIn and leverage reviews.

Activity for Day 1) If you don’t already have a LinkedIn profile, get one and make sure to include a link to your website, blog, and/or facebook business page from there. Click on the Add Connections link you’ll see on the top right side of LinkedIn and send 10 connection requests to colleagues in your office, past associates, or other contacts. Day 1 complete. Great job.

Activity for Day 2) Join 5 (or more!) established groups. LinkedIn makes it pretty easy to search for and join groups, and it should only take you a few minutes. See the screen shot below.

Groups to join include alumni (high school and college), local city & entertainment activity groups, chambers of commerce, local civic organizations, or other interest groups. There are literally thousands of groups you can join. Don’t be shy about trying groups out. You can join, monitor the conversation, and leave if a particular group is not right for you. It’s expected. Day 2 activity complete. Fantastic.

TIP: If you don’t want to be inundated with messages from the group or don’t want to be stuck having to visit LinkedIn every few hours for updates, set yourself up to receive a weekly email digest of discussions taking place. LinkedIn makes this easy. Just edit the settings for the group while signing up. See screenshot below:

Activity for Day 3) Ask 10-20 past clients for a letter of reference or review. Broadcast these reviews around the Web (post to your website, facebook business page, your blog, tweet them, etc) to ensure they're discoverable. You see, buyers and sellers doing research via social media are looking for 'social proof' to make and validate their decisions. These have a profound influence over your prospects.

Now for 10 minutes per week) Ok, now it’s time to monitor the conversations & engage. Reading over the weekly digest for a group should not take you more than a few minutes each. One sure-fire way to know you’re in a group that’s right for you is that you feel compelled to say something from time to time. When you feel this way, speak up! You are contributing to a conversation & you’re sharing your opinions – this helps you form new bonds. Some people are very active, some are passive, and that’s really up to you.. the really important first step is to be there & listening.

Remember, it’s human nature to be curious. So as you engage in conversations people will either click on your profile to view more about you or they’ll Google you. This is the reason we took our reviews and spread them everywhere, because as people try to find out who you are, you will have a collection of reviews that are easily discoverable. These reviews from others influence prospects more than your own sales pitch ever could.

Now that you've got great 'social proof' - start getting more active across social media and see what happens. Opportunities will strike when you least expect them.

Suresh Srinivasan is the Founder/CEO of ReachFactor, a platform that helps Real Estate Agents and Offices collect reviews from past clients, independently verifies them, and syndicates them across the Web and Social Media to help build reputations.

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How to get Twitter benefits even with zero followers

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:17:42 -0800

Most people think Twitter is only useful if you have hundreds of friends directly following your tweets. Not entirely. Even people with no Twitter followers can use it to get their name out there.

Did you know that many websites (news, conferences, trade shows, and other local sites) embed Twitter widgets on their websites? Those widgets most often display all the tweets from a very specific search in Twitter.

For example, if I operated a website about events and news in San Francisco and I wanted to build a Twitter widget for it I’d just go to Twitter.com and create a “Search Widget.” I can get pretty detailed with the types of things I want to include in the widget too. I could create a widget that displays ‘San Francisco OR @sf OR #sf’ so that anything that has the keyword in it, uses ‘sf’ in the name, or uses the hashtag would be displayed. Once I create that widget, I just cut/paste it into my website. Now my website displays everything in that widget.

Now as an Agent wouldn’t it be nice to show up in those results? You bet. Free exposure is nothing to sneeze at (especially to an audience that may be geographically or topically relevant).

Check out a screen shot of this happening in the real world.

This agent in Tennessee had a letter of reference (endorsement) automatically tweeted out and is now being promoted by this local news site in Tennessee. Extra cost? None. How great is that!

So it really only takes 2 things to start getting benefit from Twitter, even if you have zero followers:

1) If you haven’t created your Twitter account yet, create one. Think of an account name that perhaps includes an abbreviated version of your area served and/or topic (ex. 'LoisSFagent').

2) Start posting things to your Twitter account. When you create posts use hashtags and keywords related to the area you serve.

Hope this helps!

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Three-time tech entrepreneur launches Web service to help real estate professionals strengthen their reputation

Suresh Srinivasan (ReachFactor - automated client surveys & social sharing) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:42:15 -0700

For Immediate Release

San Francisco (October 21, 2010)

ReachFactor (www.reachfactor.com) is a unique new Web application that helps real estate professionals strengthen their reputation and close more business by automatically collecting, verifying and promoting reviews from past clients.

Most marketing services for real estate professionals are time consuming, complicated, and require uncommon expertise; however, ReachFactor doesn’t require an Agent to write a sales pitch or produce any content. Instead, ReachFactor leverages an Agent’s listings and past clients to help them save time, money, and sell more.

ReachFactor’s core feature allows Agents to effortlessly connect with clients to collect feedback. Endorsements are verified by ReachFactor and then, at the Agent’s option, promoted across major Web services, the Agent’s website, and social media to encourage more and better consumer interactions.

“Your reputation is absolutely critical to generate a high conversion rate” says Suresh Srinivasan, founder and CEO of ReachFactor. “Consumers have always sought the opinion of others before selecting an Agent but the Web has taken the place of the neighbor.”

Unlike anonymous reviews posted on Yelp and the Surveys that national brands and offices send on behalf of Agents, ReachFactor collects and verifies the authenticity of reviews and provides badges and widgets that make it extremely easy to market endorsements online and off. Best of all the Agent remains 100% in control at all times and can get started absolutely free.

“Agents are already strapped for time and sapped of energy. The last thing they need is something else to do,” continued Srinivasan. “ReachFactor is a ‘set it and leave it’ marketing service that we’ve seen paying for itself in the first month.”

“ReachFactor is invaluable!” exclaims Robert Diamond, Broker with Century 21 Affiliated. “It‘s an excellent tool for networking with present and future clients and offers unlimited potential for new opportunities. I’ve received terrific feedback from past clients and ReachFactor helps me get the word out.”

Real estate professionals can get started for free at www.reachfactor.com.

About ReachFactor

ReachFactor helps real estate Agents, Brokers, and Offices strengthen their reputation and increase conversion rates by collecting and promoting 3^rd party verified reviews from past clients. ReachFactor was started by three-time tech entrepreneur Suresh Srinivasan who previously ran a successful Internet marketing company that had tens of thousands of small business clients.

Contact:
Alan Meadows
ReachFactor
ameadows@reachfactor.com
888-262-6161 ext. 301

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