How Do You Communicate With Your Sellers?

The frequency and quality of your communication with sellers is important.  We often communicate by phone calls, mailings, and periodic meetings.  All of these are important methods for keeping your seller informed as to the progress of their listing and providing them with feedback from potential buyers and buyer agents that go through their home.

 But what about internet activity?  We often tell them that over 78% of consumers today search the Internet for homes and often are more informed on the buying process. How do we communicate the level of Internet activity related to their home?

 I use a "Weekly Activity Report" to keep my sellers informed on the amount of traffic their listing has had on the Internet.  I include the following categories in my report:

• Overall Internet Activity
• Real Estate Shows Viewed
• Real Estate Show Flyers Viewed
• Realtor.Com Activity
• MLS Agent Hits
• MLS Public Client Hits
• My Personal Web Site Views
• My Personal Web Site Views as Featured
• My Secondary Web Site Views
• Trulia.Com views
• Open House Activity

What you use for your tracking report will depend on what tools you are using to acquire tracking information for Internet activity.  Your web site may provide you with tracking data related to the number of views on properties you devote space.  You may also get information from other services you use such as Real Estate Shows or other media.  Some web sites will give you data for properties you post.  In addition, your MLS will give you data on the number of agent and public client hits for each listing you have.

 In summary, the types of data you have available on Internet activity will be the source for your tracking report.

 I also include information on my report related to:

• Caravan activity and agent comments
• Agent showings - with feedback
• Phone calls
• Emails
• and more

Below is a sample of the report I put together in Microsoft Excel:

I also put my "other" information on this page related to the items listed above (other agent showings, emails, etc.)

 In addition, I build a dashboard of graphs related to each data item listed in the Excel spreadsheet above.  A dashboard is a series of small graphs that the viewer can look at to get a complete picture of activity without having to leaf through several pages of report information.

If you work rather well with Excel you can easily duplicate the above dashboard (and possibly even improve on it.)

If you would like a "template" for the Weekly Tracking Report I use please email me at Jwnoroski@chervenicrealty.com.  I will be more than happy to share it with you.

 I update my tracking reports each Monday morning and print them in PDF format.  I email the tracking reports to my clients in PDF format so they have them in a "view only" format.  I will group the data tab and dashboard tab in excel and then print to PDF so both reports are in one file.

I have the ability to print documents to PDF files by virtue of a program that came with my Tax Program.  You can also get a program that will permit you to print in PDF format by going to www.cutepdf.com.  You can download a free program from this site. I also believe that ADOBE has a platform that will permit you to print PDF files as well.

 My sellers have indicated that they like getting their "Weekly Tracking Report" and like seeing how many views their home have had on the internet.

 I have two web sites that I use.  One site is imbedded in the first site and both web sites provide me with tracking data that I can use in my weekly reports.  I also draw information from the Realtor section in Realtor.com.  Trulia.com also gives me tracking information.