I did the coolest pre-listing conference ever in my career! 

A potential client sent me an email informing me he had seen an article in our local association newsletter about me.  He lives in Germany, has a home here in Fort Collins, and is thinking about selling.  We exchanged emails and I provided some baseline info on how our market is doing and general sales data on the neighborhood where his house is.  He gave me his phone number in Germany and agreed I'd give him a call to discuss the options.  

The day before our appointed call, lo and behold, I discover that I can't make international calls from our office and I hadn't bothered to pick up an international call plan for my cell phone.  Then I remembered that while I was a manager, we used Skype for some of the coaching calls I had with our president. I also remembered seeing troops in Iraq on the news using Skype to communicate with loved ones stateside. 

Sure enough!  The client had a Skype account!  I set up my laptop in our mini conference room.  My cheapo HP laptop that I bought for less than $350 last year has a built in web-cam and integrated microphone.  All I had to do was enter the clients Skype 'handle' (aka username) and ring-ring, there he was!  I was able to speak with both the client and his wife and actually SEE them, too!  I know this is relatively 'old' technology but this was my first opportunity to put it to use in a truly productive and meaningful way.  The picture and audio quality were just fine and the conversation went really well.  If they decide to sell, they are going to use me. 

I wasn't sure how meeting someone over Skype would play-out but it was almost like being in their living room and having a normal conversation.  I'm sure there will be lots more opportunities to put this technology to use rather than just for international applications - say, absentee owners who live out of the area or presenting a contract to people on vacation... 

Anyway, I just wanted to share this experience in case there are any of you out there who haven't tried Skype.  What was even better, is that the price for that video call was unbelievable!!  It was cheaper than the minutes on my cell phone!  Yep, you guessed it - Skype is FREE!  What an amazing time we live in, right?!!  Check out the SKYPE site at www.skype.com