I remember when I was a college student there was this guy who had a special mug he carried around at parties. This mug was HUGE...really....and of course he liked it because it held enough to get him where he wanted to be pretty quickly.
I have that mug now and it is filled with Google kool-aid. Let me tell you, it is pretty yummy stuff.
If you haven't already, check out Stefanie Hahn's post on the NAR YPN blog titled "Google-tastic Goodness" where she defines the different programs Google has created for the general public and for agents who use them. There is so much that Google has created that people don't even know exists - so much that can make agents more productive.
But I knew these things existed, so why today am I so crazy for Google? Honestly, it was my new phone. On Friday our friends at Verizon Wireless introduced the Droid, a new phone that runs on the (Google) Android operating system. I bought one. When I did it became apparent that I was going to move all my mail to GMail in order to maximize the impact of my new phone. Doing so was so easy, and now (for the first time in a decade) I only look in one place for all my email, for my calendar, and for my contacts.
If you are reading this, I want you to start thinking about creating a Google account. I'm going to be writing more down the road (especially about my new phone) and I am already looking at ways we can enhance our own company email systems with the help of the Google crew.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Did we see the start of the National MLS?
I am a pretty religious reader of the work done by Brian Boero, Mark Davidson and the crew at 1000Watt Consulting. If you're planning to stay in the business a few years their blog should definitely be one to add to your RSS Reader.
In one of their most recent posts, Brian highlighted the move Google made to start including real estate information on their Google Maps service. I don't think it really surprised anyone that Google made the move, they've been collecting real estate data (including all of yours) through their GoogleBase service for years now.
So now a consumer can go to a Google Map and by searching for "real estate" they will not only get results but will also get them placed on the map. This is a big deal. Consumers will love it. Realtor.com will hate it. Agents who get on board now will benefit - especially when Google takes the next logical step and ties the listing to the property's YouTube video. Wow.
The question has arose (arisen?) whether this makes MLS services unnecessary. I don't think we are there just yet (although there is plenty of evidence on both sides of the argument) but it does prove to me that anything is possible.
Agents - pay attention to what is on Google. Learn how to maximize what is on Google. At the end of the day it may become your MLS.
In one of their most recent posts, Brian highlighted the move Google made to start including real estate information on their Google Maps service. I don't think it really surprised anyone that Google made the move, they've been collecting real estate data (including all of yours) through their GoogleBase service for years now.
So now a consumer can go to a Google Map and by searching for "real estate" they will not only get results but will also get them placed on the map. This is a big deal. Consumers will love it. Realtor.com will hate it. Agents who get on board now will benefit - especially when Google takes the next logical step and ties the listing to the property's YouTube video. Wow.
The question has arose (arisen?) whether this makes MLS services unnecessary. I don't think we are there just yet (although there is plenty of evidence on both sides of the argument) but it does prove to me that anything is possible.
Agents - pay attention to what is on Google. Learn how to maximize what is on Google. At the end of the day it may become your MLS.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Operation "Deep Sky" is definitely in effect
Not sure how many of you saw it, but for the last few days the Brand has allowed a sneak peak of the next generation of the national web site. If you have no idea what I am talking about go to CBWorks and read the article on "Deep Sky".
Trust me, I spent a lot of time there while I could. While I had been introduced to the Deep Sky project a few times before, this was the first time I could get in and get my hands dirty. While it was a beta test, it did teach me plenty about where things are going.
Why am I telling you all this? Because it is important to you too. The next generation of the site will be based on the idea that customers want video. Let me say that again - customers want video. The reason YouTube is the 2nd most-often used search engine is because people want to watch their internet these days, not read it.
My advice to you is to learn video, get comfortable with video, fall in love with video. Just like you had to move away from print photographs and fall in love with digital photos you are going to have to fall in love with video as a way to present your clients' homes.
Don't worry, Stefanie and I both realize that moving to video is a big step. We are here to help. I am teaching classes now, she is planning to teach even more starting in January, and we are all going to get there together.
Trust me, I spent a lot of time there while I could. While I had been introduced to the Deep Sky project a few times before, this was the first time I could get in and get my hands dirty. While it was a beta test, it did teach me plenty about where things are going.
Why am I telling you all this? Because it is important to you too. The next generation of the site will be based on the idea that customers want video. Let me say that again - customers want video. The reason YouTube is the 2nd most-often used search engine is because people want to watch their internet these days, not read it.
My advice to you is to learn video, get comfortable with video, fall in love with video. Just like you had to move away from print photographs and fall in love with digital photos you are going to have to fall in love with video as a way to present your clients' homes.
Don't worry, Stefanie and I both realize that moving to video is a big step. We are here to help. I am teaching classes now, she is planning to teach even more starting in January, and we are all going to get there together.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
What does your email do for you?
I've once again been remiss in writing more frequently, but I heard this story the other day and I felt the need to share it with someone - namely any of you who read this blog.
One of our agents (unnamed of course) chose to use their non-CBH email address to send information to a client. Now this client, who is not very sophisticated when it comes to the internet or email communication gets the message from the agent, reads it and then notices at the bottom something that says (paraphrasing here) "have a 500-600 credit score...there is help"
Now this client comes unglued, thinking the agent has written something about the buyer of his property having a 600 credit score, and gets ready to blow up the deal. Can you imagine what would have happened had the agent not been able to explain the problem away? A big commission check would be sitting in the toilet while some 3rd party email company was making their money selling ads in messages.
The moral of the story - PLEASE use your CBHearthside email when you communicate with clients. Not only does it portray a better message (like maybe that you work for a real estate company not named AOL) it also is free from dumb ads and garbage that cloud the message you are trying to deliver.
Anywhere you can get your 3rd party mail you can get your Hearthside mail. Trust me. If you want it on your blackberry, we can put it on your blackberry. If you want it in your outlook, we can put it in your outlook. It is very simple and much more professional.
One of our agents (unnamed of course) chose to use their non-CBH email address to send information to a client. Now this client, who is not very sophisticated when it comes to the internet or email communication gets the message from the agent, reads it and then notices at the bottom something that says (paraphrasing here) "have a 500-600 credit score...there is help"
Now this client comes unglued, thinking the agent has written something about the buyer of his property having a 600 credit score, and gets ready to blow up the deal. Can you imagine what would have happened had the agent not been able to explain the problem away? A big commission check would be sitting in the toilet while some 3rd party email company was making their money selling ads in messages.
The moral of the story - PLEASE use your CBHearthside email when you communicate with clients. Not only does it portray a better message (like maybe that you work for a real estate company not named AOL) it also is free from dumb ads and garbage that cloud the message you are trying to deliver.
Anywhere you can get your 3rd party mail you can get your Hearthside mail. Trust me. If you want it on your blackberry, we can put it on your blackberry. If you want it in your outlook, we can put it in your outlook. It is very simple and much more professional.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Maybe it is just me, but this is pretty cool....
Check out what Coldwell Banker introduced today via its "On Location" YouTube channel. I think it is an awesome way to position the brand as a tech savvy leader in the new era of real estate - but you tell me what you think.
Sorry if you can't see the whole number - the text number is 30241
Sorry if you can't see the whole number - the text number is 30241
Friday, June 26, 2009
The Doylestown Tweetup
Wednesday evening I went to my first ever local "tweetup". The term is a play on the word meet-up, but of course like everything having to do with the social network/communication tool twitter the word has been bastardized so that it promotes the service.
Before I get into the event itself, let me tell you how came to be and how I even knew it was there.
Of course you all know I have an account on twitter and I use it regularly. Even though it annoys Stefanie when I say so I do like my twitter account and I think it has value. (if you don't know Stef's position on twitter, just ask her - it's fun to watch the steam come out of her head). Nonetheless, I use my account to follow local real estate happenings as well as things that would interact with my other endeavors, including the Rotary Club I belong to (which also has it's own twitter account). Turns out the Rotary Club started being "followed" by a new twitter user called @DoylestownTwTp (which is of course shorthand for Doylestown Tweetup). I looked into what they were offering - and that's when I learned about the first ever local tweetup scheduled for the 24th.
So I went. All the people who had been tweeting back and forth about the event were there, and we all put on our nametags just like any other networking event Realtors go to all the time. But on this one your name was secondary - on your nametag you were required to put your twitter "handle" (which is just your account name like @CBeadling01) so that others knew who you were from the tweets you have filed, and they knew whether you were someone they wanted to follow based on your real-world conversation.
My guess is that when VH1 does their look at the '00s (have we come up with a name for this decade yet?) one of the things we will all laugh about is the tweetup. Just like pet rocks, parachute pants and the macarena, the tweetup will become a part of the legend of social networking.
But that is not to say the concept won't be around forever. What I saw in that room Wednesday night were a bunch of people with a similar interest gathering to meet one another and prospect for business (or for friends). As Realtors, we know that event well - we have just been doing it based on our memberships in the Chamber of Commerce, the local service club or the P.T.A. forever. This just brings a new (and free) spin to it all. Now you don't need an organization to generate meetings - a group of people with similar interests who have never met before can organize a time and place online and can show up with a basic "knowledge" of the other people based on what they have already read online.
Don't let the silliness of the name overshadow the underlying principle...social networking is not just about getting on facebook and telling your world that you saw a grey hair - it is also for extending your real-world network, which is what Realtors do best.
Go today to http://search.twitter.com and look up your town - see if someone is already meeting in your backyard and join them. If they're not, be the one who gets the ball rolling.
Before I get into the event itself, let me tell you how came to be and how I even knew it was there.
Of course you all know I have an account on twitter and I use it regularly. Even though it annoys Stefanie when I say so I do like my twitter account and I think it has value. (if you don't know Stef's position on twitter, just ask her - it's fun to watch the steam come out of her head). Nonetheless, I use my account to follow local real estate happenings as well as things that would interact with my other endeavors, including the Rotary Club I belong to (which also has it's own twitter account). Turns out the Rotary Club started being "followed" by a new twitter user called @DoylestownTwTp (which is of course shorthand for Doylestown Tweetup). I looked into what they were offering - and that's when I learned about the first ever local tweetup scheduled for the 24th.
So I went. All the people who had been tweeting back and forth about the event were there, and we all put on our nametags just like any other networking event Realtors go to all the time. But on this one your name was secondary - on your nametag you were required to put your twitter "handle" (which is just your account name like @CBeadling01) so that others knew who you were from the tweets you have filed, and they knew whether you were someone they wanted to follow based on your real-world conversation.
My guess is that when VH1 does their look at the '00s (have we come up with a name for this decade yet?) one of the things we will all laugh about is the tweetup. Just like pet rocks, parachute pants and the macarena, the tweetup will become a part of the legend of social networking.
But that is not to say the concept won't be around forever. What I saw in that room Wednesday night were a bunch of people with a similar interest gathering to meet one another and prospect for business (or for friends). As Realtors, we know that event well - we have just been doing it based on our memberships in the Chamber of Commerce, the local service club or the P.T.A. forever. This just brings a new (and free) spin to it all. Now you don't need an organization to generate meetings - a group of people with similar interests who have never met before can organize a time and place online and can show up with a basic "knowledge" of the other people based on what they have already read online.
Don't let the silliness of the name overshadow the underlying principle...social networking is not just about getting on facebook and telling your world that you saw a grey hair - it is also for extending your real-world network, which is what Realtors do best.
Go today to http://search.twitter.com and look up your town - see if someone is already meeting in your backyard and join them. If they're not, be the one who gets the ball rolling.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
2013 is only a few years away...will you be ready
I promised myself I would write an original post this time, but I saw this article from Stacy Higgibotham on the blog NewTeeVee and I had to share it with you. As you know, Coldwell Banker just launched it's "On Location" video service with YouTube to help buyers and sellers see properties and communities in a new way.
Check out Stacy's commentary on the growth of video online:
Even if you don't know what an exabyte is, know that it means people are turning to the web more and more to find video files....remember when you used to hate waiting for a page to load because it had pictures on it?
Your clients don't remember that either...they want more.
Check out Stacy's commentary on the growth of video online:
Even if you don't know what an exabyte is, know that it means people are turning to the web more and more to find video files....remember when you used to hate waiting for a page to load because it had pictures on it?
Your clients don't remember that either...they want more.
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