Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoy time with your family and friends this week. This week we are sharing a small charitable effort supporting children in other countries. We sponsor a few children via Save the Children, a great organization. Subscribe to our YouTube videos. Watch Video Now - Short 2 Minutes: Save the Children video by Steve Join the Billion Dollar Agent Profit Model Save the Children - Charity by Best Agent Business When I was a teenager, I became aware of this organization and saved some of my allowance to sponsor a child of my … (0 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: If Your Assistant Became Ill, Would You Be High and Dry?
- 02/27/13 12:34 AM
Staff Transition - What if a Key Assistant Needs to Pause? We have about 15 Key Assistants, of our 130 assistants, who are the direct contact with clients. Recently, one of the Key Assistants became ill and had to pause work. If that assistant was an in-house assistant or a solo virtual assistant, our clients would be left high and dry and dead in the water. The beauty of our Best Agent Business model is that our team of Team Leaders, Key Assistants, and Client Services pulled together in 24 hours to reassign those clients to a new Key … (0 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Zillow and OwnAmerica Marketing
- 11/26/12 05:16 AM
Lately, I am running into more agents who are advertising on Zillow with good results. You may want to consider becoming a premier agent on Zillow and also doing some advertising on your core zip codes. I would suggest you investigate the same for Trulia. Over the past few years, the real estate search market has become more fragmented as Zillow, Trulia, and others gain search market share compared to Realtor.com. My main concern is for agents who only are spending advertising upgrades on Realtor.com and not on Zillow, Trulia, and other sites. They may be overspending on Realtor.com and under … (0 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Lessons From a Mike Ferry Conference
- 11/07/12 05:01 AM
It's been a while since I attended the Mike Ferry conference with a few thousand top agents, but I go back and review my notes frequently and thought I'd share. It was as if I was at a Buffini conference without the Irish accent; very different. Mike devoted the majority of the conference to a focus on Customers for Life and working your Clients/S.O.I. Mike calls Past Clients C.O.I. meaning Center of Influence. As you all know, we never use the word Past Client at Best Agent Business because that has negative connotations. We call them Clients. Here are some … (0 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Time Management for Real Estate Professionals
- 03/30/12 01:41 AM
The schedule of any real estate professional is, by its very nature, unpredictable, riddled with peaks and troughs, and often administered on the go. Thankfully, today’s technology provides excellent tools for managing life on the move, but there are still many tasks that need to be completed which can trip up even the most talented agent if left by the wayside.
The first step in any effective time management plan is always to make a list of tasks, and put them in priority order. The primary focus must always be on the biggest goal and not on the smallest task. … (2 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: BOO With a Smile - - Ghosting It Forward For Halloween 2011
- 10/16/11 05:22 PM
Aren't you sick of all the negative news flooding our lives?! Halloween can be more than screams and scares, and last year the Best Agent Business folks had fun with "Ghosting It Forward". Let's spread some cheer and positive messages by "ghosting" our friends, neighbors, and even strangers again this year! Ghosting It Forward was a creative project of Lifebushido which is the parent company of Best Agent Business. The concept was based on the book and movie called Pay It Forward, which encouraged people to do three good deeds for three other people and then asking the recipients to do … (2 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Considered Using a Virtual Assistant? Now is the Right Time!
- 10/09/11 03:22 PM
It's almost Halloween, have you completed 3/4 of the goals you set back in January 2011? I didn't think so! The great ideas you had for mailings, newsletters, cleaning up your database, and starting a blog are still just that . . .great ideas. Now is the time to make the wise decision to hire a virtual assistant to take over the tedious (but necessary) tasks such as paperwork and calls so that you can tackle the new projects on your list of goals. It is wise to hire a virtual assistant who actually LIKES writing, creating databases, designing newsletter layouts, … (7 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Are People Motivated to Share Your Information?
- 10/01/11 04:05 PM
Last week I blogged about "contagious ideas" as described in Dan Zarella's book, Zarella's Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas. Ideas that are passed along, i.e. retweeted, linked, emailed, forwarded, or liked are labeled contagious ideas by Zarella. Certainly, we all would like our marketing ideas to be contagious. In my previous blog,"Are You Creating Contagious Ideas?", I shared some insights from Zarella's book regarding exposing people to your ideas and getting people to pay attention to your ideas. The third point that is highlighted in the book is motivating people to act on your ideas. … (0 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Are You Creating Contagious Ideas?
- 09/22/11 06:46 AM
Dan Zarrella, of HubSpot, is a social media master who has written several books about using social media for marketing. His latest book, Zarella's Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas, condenses his many years of experience and research into some valuable advice we can use in real estate marketing. I was convinced to read past the first paragraph of Zarella's Hierarchy when I realized this book was not just another "solve all of your marketing problems with social media" tome. It was based on experience and data analysis. In fact, Dan states in his introduction that … (4 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Twitter's "Promoted Tweets" - Good Idea For Real Estate Agents?
- 09/14/11 07:16 AM
Many of you have been using Twitter to keep new listings, or other bits of information flowing to your "followers". You may have noticed more and more tweets, topics, and trends labeled with the word "promoted". This is Twitter's new advertising platform, Promoted Tweets, which was introduced in 2010, but really didn't get moving until this year. Promoted Tweets are regular tweets, but advertisers pay to have them reach a wider group of users. The Promoted Tweets are attached to key words and are offered on a pay-per-engagement rate. The client only pays when Promoted Tweets are re-tweeted, replied to, clicked … (21 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Law Of Attraction And Your Success In Real Estate
- 09/09/11 05:21 AM
"I will see it when I believe it." These words from well-know writer, Dr. Wayne Dyer, hold enormous truth for your real estate success, and in fact for everything in your (and my) life. A belief is just a thought that is repeated over and over again in your mind. If you are not repeating thoughts of success over and over again until they become your belief, then you will not see success. The Law of Attraction rules our universe - - how often do we repeat statements like: "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer", "birds of … (4 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Don't Be Crazy - - - Stake A Claim On Your Free Business Listings!
- 09/04/11 07:54 AM
Whether you like it or not, you probably have a business listing in Google Places, Bing Business Portal, and Yahoo Local. These listings were pulled from Yellow Pages and many other third-party resources. If you have not checked your listing, you may be in for a surprise. Go into Google Maps and search for your business as a potential client might search. For example, "real estate agent, Bethesda, MD". Did your listing show up dead last on the list? Have they listed an outdated phone number or incorrect street address? It makes sense to take control of your listing NOW! … (1 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Earthquakes, Floods, Hurricane Irene - - Do You Know Where Your Backup Is?
- 08/26/11 05:42 AM
So - - - most of us didn't bother to use our seatbelts until it became law and we were threatened with fines and traffic tickets. And, we don't think seriously about backing up our computer files until disaster looms. With the East Coast earthquake just days behind us, and Hurricane Irene bearing down on some of us - - it may be time to get serious about backing up your computer! Close your eyes right now and imagine that your office has just been wiped out. Hard drive is gone, never to be retrieved, all those bits and pieces … (3 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Check Out The New Fence In Real Estate - - The Geo-Fence
- 08/21/11 05:48 AM
Oh, I love this neighborhood - I wonder if there are any homes for sale? That scenario is played out often as people, searching for a new home, drive or walk through a neighborhood. Now imagine the technology that could alert them to any available homes that matched their "wish list" as they entered the neighborhood boundaries. The technology called "geo-fencing" is here and has to just be tweaked to work perfectly for real estate! A "geo-fence" is a virtual boundary around a specific geographic area. When a person enters or leaves the geo-fenced area, a signal is sent to a … (0 comments)
The answer most likely depends on your age and whether you own a smart phone! Some folks recognize the funny looking little black and white squares as a symbol containing information, and others wonder if it is something leftover from a crossword puzzle. QR code stands for Quick Response Code and it is a specific matrix barcode that is designed to be read by smart phones. The code is made up of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. We are all familiar with the barcodes used in retail. The scanner at the checkout … (4 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: What's Your Take On Google+?
- 08/11/11 05:07 AM
I've asked for an invitation to use Google+, but am not one of the "elite" to be chosen yet. The articles I've read about all the "bigger and better" ways we can communicate with our friends, clients, prospective clients, etc. are intriguing. In fact, in July, I summarized the features of Google+ in "What's All The Fuss About Google+" . It's interesting that Google does not describe Google+ as a product, but as a "project". The focus here is to stress that Google+ is a result of making Google itself more social rather than creating a new stand-alone social network. In … (9 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Want To Increase Your Income?
- 08/08/11 12:52 PM
Stupid question - right?! A recent article from Realtor®Mag stated that the average annual income for a real estate professional in 2010 was $28,100. Forty six percent of sales agents made $24,999 or less. I'm sure your first reaction is that this is only true because of the terrible economy. This might be a good reason except that the figures are not much different than they were 10 or 15 years ago. How much money do you THINK you will make this year? If the thoughts are tinged with negativity such as "it's probably worse than last year", "it's a tough … (2 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: Seller Appointments – Are You Getting The Listings?
- 08/02/11 05:06 AM
What do you know about the seller’s motivation before you meet? If your answer is, “Not much”, you’ve probably lost the listing already. In your initial phone call or email to schedule a meeting with the seller, ask questions about his reasons for selling. Take time to chat and learn about his motivation. For instance, what is his urgency in selling? What specific concerns does he have? What are his expectations? Now you are ready to collect the necessary information and gear your presentation to your prospective client’s motivation. Here is your homework before the meeting: Get tax records Do a … (3 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: WTF - - Work Time Fun?
- 07/30/11 11:07 AM
My brother-in-law was so proud of the bargain he got on a case of quality tee-shirts at the flea market last Sunday. And, he thought the slogan; “Work Time Fun” was cool enough. (It becomes even more obvious that he is over the age of 50 as the story unfolds). He thought he might even take the case of shirts to give to his staff at the hospital – it would show some work spirit. That is until his son, much more internet slang savvy, informed his father that WTF was NOT a slogan that he should promote wearing at the … (4 comments)
real estate virtual assistant: What’s All The Fuss About Google+ And Does It Have Anything To Offer An Agent?
- 07/24/11 10:28 AM
The teenagers and techies have been posting and tweeting about the new Google+ for a while now. I’ve become curious enough to sort through the hype and opinions to try and determine what it may mean for those in realestate. Google+ is Google’s answer to Facebook. In Facebook we have “friends” and “likes”. In Google+ we will have “circles”, “sparks”, “hangouts”, and “huddles”. Google+ is designed to give us more control over how we categorize and interact with people. The Google+ “Circle” allows you to customize your friends list. For instance, in real estate you might have categories such as clients, … (15 comments)
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