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Is Mobile Technology a Useful tool in the Hands of a Successful Agent... Or is it Overkill?

Via PRweb I read an interesting press release about Casey Margenau Re/Max's #1 agent worldwide for 5 years straight. It caught my eye because it's always helpful to look at the best agents to get marketing ideas and inspiration.

Casey just recently started using a service called mobilepricecheck.com. Here's how it claims to work:

Stick a sign in your yard with a toll free 800 number.
The "drive by" customer can call this number and enter a special code that is specific to each listing.
Then they receive a text message telling them more about the listing.
The agent receives an email report giving them the cell phone number of the person that requested the info, and the property address they were interested in.

Bonus Feature: allows you to catalogue all the cell numbers on one address and send out a mass text message to all the customers that originally requested information. This could include: price reduction, open house announcements, etc.

I see a few problems right away with this service.

Why would you need to request a text message when there are probably flyers by the sign?
Verizon and Sprint both limit text messages to 160 characters. How much information about a property can you actually put in such a short text message.
Will it be confusing to non-tech savvy customers?

I definitely love the follow up idea. It is probably the most useful feature of the service. Being able to snag customers in a way that is not "pushy" has some value. The press release also talks about the opt-in feature which requires each customer to agree to receive text messages, and mentions that each text message has an opt-out feature.

It looks like this company has thought of everything, but the bottom line is: do you need it? Does it add value? Or is it just overkill?

As I see it, the primary value in this service has to do with the follow up text messages. That could be helpful. But really... how many people actually use the text messaging feature on their phones. I maybe use mine 2-3 times per month. I don't know anyone over 20 years old I would consider to be a "heavy" text messaging user.

Is this technology actually making any headway? I would guess that the next big thing will be a video tour that can be sent in a text message to someone's phone. To my knowledge, you can't send video messages with Sprint or Verizon... But that would be cool. I'd pay for something like that.

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Posted by Justin Smith | SEO, SMO & Blogging Consultant on 11/29/2006 09:59 AM

Comments (20)

real estate, marketing, advertising, customer service, mobile technology, text messages

20 Comments on Is Mobile Technology a Useful tool in the Hands of a Successful Agent... Or is it Overkill?

NOV

2006

Many consumers are quite anxious about getting calls on properties. It's kind of like "big brother is watching you". Many of these services operate on the premise that you will actually call them. Some agents love them. I prefer to drive them to my website by use of a sign rider with the website highlighted.

We use our website and a toll free number with call capture on our listings. So far, the toll free number has brought in over 20,000 in GCI this year. Not too shabby ROI!

We also like to drive traffic to our website. We've used a service before that's similar to this one, and we didn't get all that much out of it. Having our phone number and we address on each listing sign has worked well.

i can't see the text being any better than the usual capture of the 800 number...and like you said, most of the baby boomer demographic and heck most of Gen X isn't heavy into text-so who are you playing to?

this is great but there are alot of people who just play around with this type of technology. There will be people who are not interested in the property and may just be toying with you. You just have to seperate these indviduals from the real prospects.

This is like Cell Story. The person making the money is the vendor who signs agents up for the 30 bucks a month the service costs. Sign up 200 agents all across the country for a start up fee, and 30 bucks a month and that is a nice chunk of change 6,000 gross revenue-- all without having to do a CMA, take people through houses or listen to complaining clients.

This is a program that appears to take advantage of the leading edge of technology. This is a very good thing. The tech-oriented consumer is statisticly more likely to have a higher income than traditional consumers, they are more likely to have researched their options, and take less getting from search to offer. Additionally, they are more likely to work with the first agent they interview than traditional home-seekers. All this adds up to more business for the agents willing to keep up with technology. Overkill? I would say definately not. Anything that brings consumers to an agent (or the agent to the consumers) is a good thing.

The consumers are using this technology. If we want to reach them, we need to keep pace.

First time homebuyers are much younger than they used to be. I have an investor client who is only 22.

There is a saying, "If you build it, they will come." The consumers have essentially built new avenues to communicate through. (Instant messaging, Myspace, text messages, etc.) Well, they have built it. It is up to us to decide if we want to come to them or not. Do we want their business? If you don't want it, watch out! There are those of us out there that do!

We use to use an "800" number call capturing system and I think the callers are much more savvy now and know how these sytems work. They don't call as much and inquire.

I put myself in the shoes of the buyer. If I call the number, I know that I'll have to deal with an agent calling me and trying to sell me. I probably don't want that right now. If I did, I would just call the agent directly using his number on the sign. If you follow up with the buyers you might get a few that want to talk to you. But you'll have to go through a lot who want to know who you are and how you got their cell phone number. If you like that sort of thing, more power to you. I'd rather have them go to my web site and have them call me when they are ready to talk about looking at homes. It's the same thing with making people register before using a MLS Search tool. You call them up and many get very annoyed. They don't remember what site they were on and don't want to be bothered.

As long as agents can handle the technology, then there is nothing wrong with it. In the hands of some, it's having it but not understanding it would be useless. Still, not all the new gadgets are needed. We have to decide what's necessary for us to use in our line of business.

Eventually, everyone will become more tech savvy, and as agents we will have to keep ahead of the curve. I find that getting too far ahead of the curve is more likely than not when it comes to most of the new technology. For now, websites that are cutting edge are gaining the advantage. The interactive marketing such as talking signs, and now this text messaging, I think will have to have a proven track record before I would invest in them.

I have not heard a rgeat deal of feedback on this sort of technology although it is gaining in popularity. Seems to me the 800# call capture is more effective. But the system COULD be a good ploy with sellers in this market to help grab a listing by showing your competitve edge. That may be the greater value. But I also suspect this sort of thing will appeal to Gen X and Y since they are so tech-oriented, and texting is second nature to them.

NOV

2006

I might start a flame war here but oh well.

This service has NOTHING to do with mobile technology. This is Marketing Technology Period.

Second Rant:
I in no way want a text message from anyone! Unless I know them. Text messages cost MONEY. I am a GenX'r but maybe a GenY'r won't mind a text message. Yes I could get an unlimited plan or similar for probably 10 a month. Now from their site it seems like the caller can OPT IN to receive the message but I can't be for sure.

Third Rant:
Great you can catalog all the number and send out a MASS SPAM TEXT MESSAGE! Good luck with that one.

Non Rant:
Call capture is a good technology to help find out how many people actually call you, where their from, who they are, etc... How about this instead - setup a Grand Central (www.grandcentral.com) account for free and capture the phone numbers that come in there. Now this might not do as much as the company mentioned in this post but its a possibility.

OK, I'm done ranting.

Loren

Hi Loren,

I'm not sure I get your point about being "marketing technolgy", and not "mobile technology" of course it's marketing technology, the post is about a new marketing idea... but it's with a text message mobile technology. Not sure where you're going with that...

I definitely agree that this would probably cater more to the generation y crowd (maybe that's why the press release caught my eye). And this crowd understands the opt-in/out concept. If they don't want the text messages anymore they will opt-out.

Also, I think the mass text message is a great idea. Imagine all the customers that go by a listing and grab a flyer... you probably won't have contact with 99% of them. But with the text message it's non-intrusive, unlike a phone call, and you are capturing an audience that you wouldn't have had before.

The one gripe I have with the call capture 800 number is that many of the people don't want to be called. A random call from someone you don't know is much more intrusive than a text message. And most cell companies are rolling out free unlimited text messages with some plans, so it's not like it's a burden. I've never met anyone that was worried that a 2 cent txt msg would break the bank.

But I still want to see a video tour of a listing on my treo!!

I have tested this service and just so you know the text message comes in up to 3 parts (messages) so that you get all the information you need. I personally think this is a great service for the early adopters. It always creates a stir when something is new and novel.

There is a much bigger market here than you all are giving credit. The twenty somethings use text messaging like we use email. It's just a part of their lives. And the upcoming young adults (currently teens) use it every day (I have two teens myself). The 10 cents a minute doesn't stop them from giving/getting messages from their friends so what makes you think they'd care about getting real estate info in this manner.

The other really good thing is that the info is saved in their phone (including the agents name and number).

I plan on trying one of these services in the near future!

Sometimes there are just TOO many technologies out there, attempting to give a new twist. I agree with you, Justin. Nothing really JUMPS out at me with this one. Bring on the video!

I guess i didn't explain myself to well, I have a habit sometimes of typing a mesage but what goes through my head doesn't always get trasmitted to my hands and onto the screen.

When i saw the title I was thinking hmm a good post on technology and its about marketing.

Now when I find out anyone that enables video listings on a treo or Pocket PC I will write an article on my blog. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME.

I will be posting an article about how to put listings on an iPOD. But I will say its a royal pain in the behind and as much as i play with tech, I would rather pull out my eyelashes than do what i will be posting.

Anyways,
Sorry for my earlier rant
I had a bad day with computers today and vented.

Loren

I like useful technology, but I'm a stickler on privacy issues. I protect my cell phone number and have it blocked so it can't be harvested. With that said, as a consumer, I would object to unrequested contact and would NOT want my number on anyone's call list or database.

Another consideration is that text messages charge a per-message fee under many cell plans - which would mean charging potential clients for farming them. It's not something I would do, not something I would recommend and not something I would welcome as a consumer.

I still think podcasting videos, something I'm looking into - is the way of the future. I just received this story by email yesterday, which pretty much confirms that video and podcasting works in real estate.

Never heard of it, sounds okay...I do admit I love technology and am always looking for the bigger and better deal, but I am willing to wait for something better. It will be around soon enough.

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