FYI -- I am very thankful I have just had a book published today!!  Business Lessons From Life -Translating Everyday Life Experiences to Your Business Success is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble's website to name a few.

Over the years I have been fortune enough to have some business success and manage very talented people.  To emphasize points in a fun and meaningful way I have usually told a life story that all could relate to.  At the urging of my people to document these "lessons'" I have written a book to help everyone learn challenging business lessons without personally having to have the experience. 

Thank you for considering buying the book.   I wrote it for you.  Why have to have the experience to learn a lesson? 

All the best - enjoy the read - have fun - and help others,

Scott

OneCall Home Showings' new program affords your office a low investment opportunity to systemize your Real Estate office's home showing appointment process.  For a low one time investment you have complete access to OneCall's web based Appointment Desk software platform where ALL of your Agents can manage their home showing requests on their listings. 

If you have an Agent on Duty or Front Desk model they can quickly confirm appointments on behalf of all Agents!!  Additionally, the program automatically advises the Listing Agent and requests showing feedback.  The more productive your team, the better the results and sales.

Call today to find out more -- this will be your best investment of the year!

Scott Wooters

President

(972) 489 - 5550

Your time is very valuable!!! Do you agree?  Then why do you continue to play phone tag with each other to coordinate home showing appointment requests?  Honestly, our system is so simple, easy to use, and inexpensive, that thinking about enrolling with OneCall Home Showings for more than 1 minute is over thinking it.  Just do it - you'll be happy you did.

Have a great career.  We look forward to being "at your service".

There is a lot changing out there.  The economy, consumer behavior, technology, politics, etc.   What are the top recommendations that you could personally share about how you evolved your real estate business practices (or your self development) over the last year to adapt? (new tools, new certification, new marketing ideas, new partners such a VA's, hired a Coach, etc).

Hopefully this post will share action items for others to consider and possibly adopt.  Thanks.

By the way - I have a blog about managing expenses if you want to check it out.

The following may help you have conversations with home sellers that insist on Appointments to show their home.  The information provides support for listing properties as Courtesy Call (CC) vs Appointment Required (AR) (limiting Buyers opportunity to buy).

• Homes statused CC receive 20% more requests to show than AR.
• Canceled Showing Appointments are twice as high on AR than CC (probably if an agent is    running late they decide to cancel altogether versus reschedule).

OneCall Home Showings is a comprehensive home showing service -- we have an extended hour call center that takes calls on behalf of Listing Agents from Buyers' Agents to schedule their listings' showings.  The above observations are a "back of the napkin" analysis of two dominate Showing Designations from our showing history reports.  Hope this helps convince your clients to opt for Courtesy Call (CC).

I just read an interesting Featured Post.  It was do customers do business with the individual agent or Company.  Overwhelmingly REALTORS agreed that consumers have the relationship with the Agent not the company.  The company plays a part in helping generate unsolicited incoming calls via its Brand and advertising.

Why do you select one Brand over another when selecting a home to hang your hat?  What is most important to you when deciding to affiliate with one company over another? 

I look forward to reading the responses and thank you.

I receive newsletters from a variety of different groups.  Some from Financial Advisory companies, some from REALTORS, some from Motivational Speakers/Coaches, and so on.  As a REALTOR I am sure you receive quite a few too.  Do you find them valuable?  How often should newsletters be produced (once a month, once a quarter)? What type of content do you find meaningful?  Any other comments or thoughts on newsletters?

Thanks for your opinion.

Have you ever surveyed your Associates/Agents to ask them what they think your job is?  If they say to provide copiers, conduct team meetings, compile office reports, have a closet full of flyers available for us, to manage the staff, etc you could be sending the wrong message.

Your Associates (agents) answer should be simple... to help us grow our net comm. income.

How would you recommend approaching REALTORS with a new service you know could help them? 

Thank you in advance for your input.

There are some markets where the standard protocol is to list the home owner contact number in MLS Showing Instructions.  Agents representing buyers call the home seller directly to leave a message that they will be coming bye for a showing.  It is an Opt-Out situation where it is incumbent on the home seller to contact the agent if the time does not work for them. 

We believe that this is not the best choice in an environment where consumer demands relative to service are becoming greater.  As a home seller (client) I would prefer for my number not to be published in the MLS (think of all the legislation relative to privacy). Additionally, why am I having to record who called?  What if I need to make a last minute change to the showing request because I have a sick child at home?  I, as the customer, now have to remember who was coming and contact the agent to make the change.

Additionally, as the Seller's Agent I lose control.  The seller has information about showings that I don't have - yes, I can be reactive and pull a Supra report after the fact but I don't have the ability to be proactive.  Is it good for your image to have to call your client on Friday to ask if they have any showings this weekend?

And what if your seller, despite the coaching, gives away too much information that provides negotiation leverage to the buyer.  Real Example; Buyer's Agent asks casually why the seller is selling: the seller than mentions that her husband had relocated three months ago for work and she is anxious to sell within two months because she wants her children in the new school district before school starts.

Thankfully, OneCall Home Showings exists so if you are a REALTOR in a market that defers home showing requests to your clients you can easily offer a valuable alternative that greatly distances your level of service from your peers.  We would imagine that you would win a lot of listing presentations when you told your prospect that you have a service that confirms showings for them, keeps their personal information private, and allows them one easy number to call when they have to be reminded of a showing or have to make a last minute change to a showing request.

Consumers are demanding more and as you read AR blogs they are looking for value. 

Now is the time to elevate your level of service.  If you are the first in your market you will have a distinct competitive advantage.