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How to set up an Automatic Alert for the Referral Network

Every member of ActiveRain needs to set up an Automatic Alert! This feature is potentially one of the most important features ever released on AR.

The Referral Network Automatic Alerts represents that finishing step that gives the Referral Network the ability to become useful on a widescale basis.

A couple weeks ago, ActiveRain presented a forum whereby members of this great community can post referrals for other members. The referring member is then contacted by members that would be willing to work the referral based on the agreed upon terms. It gives the referring member a great chance to see who among us is willing and eager to work with their client, at the same time giving them a chance to check out that person before making the referral.

I really believe that agents who find the time to be diligent in their participation here probably have it together in the other facets of their business. Taking a minute (or twenty) to read through the blogs someone has posted can really give you, as a referring agent, a sense of who you are referring to and conviction that that person will take good care of your client.

However, it was a little cumbersome to go into the referral area every day (or more often as I'm sure a few of you may have done) and check to see if anything was posted in your area. Alas, Matt and his team (and by team I mean James and Ben) have given us Referral Alerts.

Now, as a member, you can go into the referrals area and create 'Referral Alerts' so that when someone posts a referral to the specifications you have pre-determined, you are alerted.

At first glance, I think it could use a little more flexibility. With the price range for instance, if I am interested in any referrals over 500K, it looks like I would have to set a couple of alerts up, one for each of the price ranges.

If ActiveRain as a collective community can rally behind this new Referral Exchange I believe that we could change our entire industry for the better!

Posted by Ken Bell on 08/10/2007 10:27 PM

Comments (57)

activerain referral network

57 Comments on How to set up an Automatic Alert for the Referral Network

AUG

2007

Thanks for that update Bob..I thumbed through it and noticed that function.

Thank you, I set mine up. I am still really new to this site and I enjoy finding out about all the new things that can help us,

Bob - Good to know! Thank you very much for the great information!

Great info, many thanks for the help. I will set mine up as well!

Damn you Bob, I had the blog post in draft mode about this, you took my thunder away :)

Haha Matt,

This was a very time sensitive post.

It is okay with me if you put a link to your post in the comments section of my post!! ;)

Thanks, I had quickly checked out the referral site, but did not catch this function...will set mine up.

I requested a link on how to use this function from AR and got my question answered with a question. Thanks for the help....will try it.

The market area that I cover in my County has 6 different cities; so if I am understanding correctly I need to set up an alert for each city. Harris County is a HUGE county so I can't go by that as I have NO DESIRE to drive in to Houston.l

Thanks, Bob for the heads up - quite a nifty little feature. I've got the alerts all signed up and am patiently sitting here waiting for the referrals to start flying in .... thanks.

Thanks for the update, very useful info, I just set mine up.

Marchel,

Yes, as far as I can tell you have to set up individual alerts for each city or go county-wide. Good news is that setting up an alert only takes a minute or so and can result in commissions.

Thanks, I totally missed this "alert" feature. It certainly makes it much easier than remembering to check that page every day.

Thanks for the help. I just missed this "alert" feature. It just goes to show you, with only a little extra effort, things can be made so much easier.

Well I sure didn't know that was available. I appreciate you letting us know---now I'm off to set up my alerts.

This is really a sweet addition, thanks guys.

Now Have a Blessed Day,

John Occhi, Hemet CA REALTOR®
Mission Grove Realty

Great!!

Thanks.... I never even looked over there to the side to see any alerts.

I just set mine. ;-)

Thanks for commenting everyone.

The guys at ActiveRain are constantly striving to provide a great tool for us. Thanks guys!!!

AUG

2007

Hmm, seems to be an issue. Keep getting a message "need to set up at least one location to proceed" when one has been selected (state PLUS county). Anyone else having a problem?

Jeff

Thanks but they don't have an alert for notaries. :( Hopefully it's coming soon.

Jeff,

A few diagnostic questions:

Are you clicking the "Add" button after selecting things from the drop downs?
If so, does the location replace the "You must add at least one location to your alert" text?
If so, and you still get the red "Need to setup at least one location" error, please email support with your Operating System, Web Browser (and version), describe the error, and ask them to assign the ticket to me.

-james

Marchel,

You can add up to 5 locations to an alert. So you could have five cities, or five counties. Any more than that and you'll need to setup more than one alert.

-james

James - still a problem. I will follow-up tomorrow with the info needed

Jeff

James Hillyerd commenting on my blog?

Oh my goodness, something must be really messed up!!!

haha, thanks for keeping things in order James.

Hi Bob - thanks for bringing this to our attention! I'm off to check this out and set up alerts for my areas.

Ann

It's not really James...it is my Flat James:)

Thank you for the tip. I went in and added my areas. I will bookmark, pass on and update as regularly as I can to be sure I am alerted of any referrals in my area.

Many thanks ! We love referrals and have 2 pending from AR in a short time.....This will make things sooo much easier !

Thank you for the update Bob.

Hi and thanks for taking time to note the Referral Alert Section! Because I'm new to AR and there's so much information on the screens, I know it would've taken me longer to discover this feature on my own. I specifically found it because of your post...thanks!

Wow that is pretty cool - I will have to check it out!

Thanks for sharing this Bob. I'm sure this post is much better than the one Matt had written:) OK I'm going over to sign up.

BB,

I have this feeling that anyone who has been around here for more than a month, that has a referral for a listing in Poinciana is going to be sending it your way.

Yes, I'm sure mine was better than Matt's too........haha

Thanks for the heads up on this - I didn't see that link.

Thanks and great easy to follow instructions. I will set mine up right away.

Glad you pointed this out! Another helpful blog to share with new invitees to Active Rain, now that I know how to do this. Thank you.

Woohoo! thanks.

AUG

2007

Cool feature!!! I had not noticed the addition of the alert. I tell you Active Rain gets better and better by the day!!

Update: I went in and set up the alerts. It was quick and really easy!! AR is the B-E-S-T!

WOW..........Thanks man..............Great info.

Oh no! You've gone to the same school of graphics mark up as me! Bob Carney has to teach a class one of these days so we can all put our crayons away.

Thanks, Bob, for the update! We should try to have a specific location for suggestions and ideas in relation to this feature. Perhaps we already do...I am going there now. It sounds way groovy!!!

Good idea...I bet quite a few of us have not done this yet!

I hadn't notice the referral alerts -- that is a great feature and I will have to set up the appropriate alerts. This is definately one of the great benefits of AR. It is time that those of us in the real estate community take back our profession from those who resale "referrals" for an arm and a leg!

GREAT TIP! I've been looking for that!

Thanks.

More great stuff from the AR network? Wow! Thanks for this. We're heading over there now.

Bob,

This is something that I was not aware of with the referral network! Thanks,

Chris,

Haha.........yeah my kid did the drawing on that one.........haha. I'm not the most gifted graphics guy around, there is no question about that.

The rest,

Thanks of commenting everyone. I'm glad I could bring it to your attention!!

Sarah,

If you have a suggestions of how it could be better, leave a comment here. I'll make sure you get credit for it when I take it up with Jon and Matt.

I am trying to set up additonal towns on the same alert. It is only letting me select 2 towns; is that because i have put the county also? Should I just put the town and not the county.

Marchel,

I just set up four towns. I think James said five was the max. They are all in the same county, and I did specify a county. Are you just hitting the 'add' button?? That worked fine for me.

Pretty cool..However, I looked at referrals posted for my area and the link was broken!! OOps. Also, North Carolina is a big state..they should break down the area a bit...