Keller Williams and Coursera Partner on Real Estate Education Certificate
Keller Williams has partnered exclusively with Coursera, a leading online learning platform, to offer the KW Real Estate Agent Professional Certificate. Within two to four months, the foundational program can prepare users with or without a college degree or industry experience for a career in real estate. "Two powerhouses in education – Keller Williams and Coursera – are joining forces to empower individuals to build rewarding careers in real estate," said Meredith Maples, senior director of Keller Williams University. Powered by the new partnership, the KW Real Estate Agent Professional Certificate comprises 124 hours of world-class content, including videos, readings, assessments, and hands-on projects. The KW Real Estate Agent Professional Certificate encompasses five core courses: The Principles of Real Estate Sales Fundamentals Establish Clients for Life with Buyers Establish Clients for Life with Sellers Manage a Real Estate Business "This is one of the most comprehensive foundational real estate education programs available on the market today," said Maples. "The KW Real Estate Agent Professional Certificate caters to aspiring individuals and licensed agents, offering essential foundational training for success in an industry that provides limitless opportunity." Over 142 million registered learners come to Coursera to learn job-relevant skills from 300 leading universities and industry partners. KW's certificate is part of a portfolio of more than 40 entry-level professional certificates designed to help learners become job-ready. One in four completers of these professional certificate programs secured a new job, according to Coursera's 2023 Learner Outcomes Report. "This new partnership enables us to train the next generation of real estate agents and leaders at an unprecedented scale," said Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer of Coursera. "This program provides an accessible entry point for anyone interested in the industry." "Keller Williams' top agents teach you exactly what it's like to be a real estate agent, help you master the skills you need to succeed, and provide a pathway to a fulfilling career," said Stein. To learn more about the KW Real Estate Agent Professional Certificate, visit coursera.org. The new certificate allows aspiring individuals to fully explore a real estate career prior to committing to pre-licensing education and a new career. Upon completion of certification, Keller Successful Career Opportunities in Real Estate (KSCORE) will provide scholarships to eligible individuals in qualifying areas for pre-licensing education. "This certificate will put aspiring real estate agents in a stronger position than ever before as they embark on a new career," said Maples.

Start with Training and Education to Defend Yourself and Your Organization from Phishing Scams
It was a Sunday morning, and I was taking a break from doing chores around the house. The house phone rings and my mom (a Baby Boomer) picks it up. I can only hear this side of the conversation, but quickly I gathered that it was "DirecTV" on the phone. The call went on for a fairly long time. Finally, when my mom hung up the phone, I asked her who it was. She told me it was DirecTV and they claimed to need to replace some of the equipment for our satellite to provide us with a better signal. The equipment normally costs $1,000, but it would only cost us $300, and after six months, we would get the money back. But something did not feel right. My mom called DirecTV from their number posted online, and guess what? DirecTV did not call her. It was someone trying to scam her out of $300. The scary part? It was really convincing. However, she knew to second guess the caller before providing her information. Why? Because it is something we have talked about as a family. The FTC reported that Americans lost billions of dollars in 2021 from scams. Americans are not the only ones losing billions of dollars because of scams. So are businesses. The exact dollar figures are not important. What is important is what you should be doing to protect your MLS, brokerage, or association. You must start with the first layer of defense against scams: educating your people. Start with educating yourself and your staff I'm not saying it is that simple, but the reason phishing scams work so well is that they are designed to target even the brightest people. Some scams are more obvious than others. Here is a phishing scam that someone tried recently targeting WAV Group's Facebook page and its followers: This one seems fairly obvious that it is a scam. But they wouldn't be doing it if it didn't work at least some of the time. You must stay diligent even when your team says, "Yeah, yeah, I know." Our data and technology experts at WAV Group have helped many clients over the years examine their technology stacks and consult with their staff to keep the scammers out. If you would like an expert to examine the vulnerabilities of your digital platforms or get help educating your team on the dangers lurking in their inbox, cell phone, text messages and social media, WAV Group is here to help. David Gumpper, our digital security expert, will be happy to help protect your team and your company from disaster. Click here and we will be happy to schedule a time to talk to you. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Reduce Buyer Frustration with Effective Financing Education and Preparation
Money may or may not buy happiness, but you for sure need it to buy a house. For most people that means getting a mortgage. Thirty-five percent of frustrated homebuyers in the WAV Group Homebuyer Frustration Report pointed to the mortgage process being a source of their frustration. One respondent in the study suggested, "There needs to be more workers in the mortgage field to make it run faster." Buyers just want a seamless experience from home search to the closing table. This is one of the reasons more brokerages have started offering ancillary services such as title and mortgage. Financing complications or delays are a constant struggle in any market, and when the market is moving fast and is super competitive, like it has been recently, it can get even more stressful. Here are some important points your team should add to their initial buyer education consultation. Review Their Credit Report Even if there is nothing incorrect or alarming to find on the report, it is quite likely that there is something on their report they could clarify or update which may get them a better score and possibly a better rate on the mortgage. So it is certainly worth the effort. Suggest they do this BEFORE trying to qualify for a mortgage. Get Organized Buyers will need to track down their tax returns, print out paystubs, and if they are self-employed, they will want their profit and loss statements for at least two years. There will likely be delays with the mortgage company processing documents. Do not add to that delay by not having the documents ready to submit and re-submit when requested. Get Pre-Approved Even before they find a house to make an offer on, buyers need to know how much they can afford. The pre-approval letter is an important step in the process, but it is not the end of the road. Buyers need to understand that there is still more work to be done once they find the house they want to buy. Put the Mortgage Company on Speed Dial Once a house is selected, there is an entirely different approval process before the mortgage will be ready to fund. Buyers should be prepared to stay in touch with the lender throughout the process, and the agent should be tracking the process as well. They should proactively check on the status of the mortgage consistently once the offer is made until it is ready to fund on closing day. Even the most prepared of buyers can sometimes get frustrated. As another respondent in the WAV Group Homebuyer Frustration Report said, they wish there were "Clearer financial requirements to close." As a neutral third-party, your agents can act as part counselor and part advisor for homebuyers trying to figure out the mortgage process. Sometimes they will just not understand what the mortgage company is asking for, or why they are asking for it. If your team can explain a term or help them get a document, that can help relieve some of the stress. Get all the insights and data from the WAV Group 2022 Homebuyer Frustration Report to see how you can set your next buyer up for a smoother home buying experience. Download now! To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

RE/MAX Debuts 'Reinvented' RE/MAX University
RE/MAX announced a comprehensive reinvention of its RE/MAX University platform, an exclusive-to-RE/MAX learning hub designed to help each agent level-up their professional expertise. Built on intuitive new technology, RE/MAX University offers affiliates a modern, simplified experience as they access relevant educational resources via desktop or mobile devices. Designed for RE/MAX professionals at any stage of their career, the platform leverages artificial intelligence to recommend learning courses and materials based on each affiliates' learning interests. The enhancements advance the strong educational foundation at RE/MAX, which disrupted the industry by unveiling its one-of-a-kind RE/MAX Satellite Network in 1994. The original RE/MAX University grew from that RSN innovation, and RE/MAX has been a leader in learning ever since. In fact, RE/MAX has found that agents who engaged with RE/MAX University, on average, closed 29%-38% more transactions and earned 31%-233% more in commissions. "This is a major enhancement to our industry-leading services. We've built an app and system that helps make great agents even better at helping homebuyers and sellers achieve their real estate goals," says RE/MAX President Nick Bailey. "The reinvented RE/MAX University puts agents in control of when, where, what and how they learn. Like never before, they're in the driver's seat when it comes to building their business and sharpening their skills in the areas they find most important. At RE/MAX, we believe the more you learn, the more you earn." With the reinvented RE/MAX University, RE/MAX agents and brokers can: Access thousands of educational videos, downloadable resources, webinars and more. Browse courses and other content by the task or goal they would like to improve, such as: Marketing their expertise Generating and handling leads Caring for buyers and sellers Nurturing repeat business and referrals Organize and share courses, uploaded content and streaming links in training playlists. Brokers can even coach individual agents with content recommendations and monitor agent progress through private coaching reports. Receive support from a virtual coach to keep their learning on track. Experience intuitive search. The new RE/MAX University search engine makes it easy for agents to find what they're looking for by topic or description, even if they don't know what the course or resource is called. Because a big challenge with education is cutting through the noise, the new platform recognizes each visitor and presents content that is relevant to them and their location. For instance, Canadian affiliates will see content applicable to laws and systems in their country rather than having to dig through U.S. programming. The result is a better experience and deeper engagement with education that matters most. Adds Bailey: "Having been a leader in the real estate industry for decades, RE/MAX understands markets are constantly fluctuating. Ensuring our affiliates have the resources available to them to be successful in any type of market is our top priority as it is the key to their long-term success. The RE/MAX University we've had for years has always been great, but this reinvented RU is off the charts. It's going to make a real difference to our affiliates and the consumers they work with."

Friday Freebie: Marketing Workshop for Brokerages and Teams
Does your marketing need a refresh? Would you like to discover new ways to reach consumers? No need to brainstorm alone. In this week's Friday Freebie, we're highlighting a free one-on-one marketing workshop that can help you find new strategies for bringing in more leads. Read on to learn more! Free Marketing Workshop for Brokerage and Teams, courtesy of Amarki We're big fans of webinars at RE Technology--in fact, we host several of our own every year. But sometimes a webinar isn't enough. When you're just one person in an audience of many others, your specific needs aren't always addressed. This week's Friday Freebie to the rescue! Real estate brokerages and teams can sign up for a free one-on-one marketing workshop that's personalized to their needs. Offered by real estate technology company Amarki, each 30-minute workshop is customized based on the brokerage's or team's needs and on discoveries made during the call. Workshop topics include: Brokerage and team marketing Agent and property marketing Digital marketing strategies Resources and benefits Ready to fine-tune your real estate marketing strategy? Pick a time and sign up for your FREE workshop today!

8-Week Video Series: Brokerage Brainstorm Now Available
Brokerage Brainstorm: Alternative Solutions to Every Day Challenges 8-week video series NOW AVAILABLE This FREE, 8-week educational video series led by industry experts, Frank Chimento and Mike Martella, dives into the nuts and bolts of running a successful real estate brokerage with each episode focused on a specific segment of your business: Recruiting 101 - What's most important to win a recruiting battle? Cutting costs on services, good idea or bad idea? Recruiting 2.0 - Whomever controls the leads, attracts the agents. Big brother vs. big partner - How do your agents view your brokerage? Creative services agency - Are you creating the best collateral and corporate branding packages? How are your recruiting materials? Consolidating technology - Can your tech offerings save you money and make you money? Service models - What are agents wanting the most from their brokerage? Recruiting - It's all about your BS: Belief Systems. Subscribers will receive an email each week as a new video is released. Don't miss out! Subscribe today at: boss.tryelevate.com.

Realogy Modernizes Agent and Broker Learning: Launches New Digitally Driven Learning Platform
Realogy Holdings Corp. announced the launch of its new dynamic, interactive and digitally driven Learning Platform for affiliated agents across a number of its well-known brands. The Learning Platform will be white-labeled for each brand and comes at no additional cost for affiliated agents and franchisees. CENTURY 21 University is the first Realogy brand learning portal to be upgraded, while the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Coldwell Banker and ERA brands will roll out their new learning platforms by year end.

Educate and Empower Your Agents with RPR's New Commercial Learning Series
Introducing RPR's new Commercial video learning series, a self-paced introductory course designed to give agents quick, self-paced tutorials on the RPR Commercial system--a tool that will amplify their market expertise and help them be a more efficient REALTOR. The series includes seven courses, each lasting 10 minutes or less, with a printer-friendly handout to accompany each lesson. It's a helpful resource and opportunity for members to learn about new tools and techniques to help deliver a unique, competitive advantage.

First-time Home Buyers Need More Tutorials
Last week's post was a more general discussion of process content for all types of buyers. This week, we'll focus on the first-time home buyer and their specific needs. If you're just placing content of interest or value to first-time buyers throughout your other buyer relevant content, you could be losing business.

New RPR Videos Help Agents Learn at Their Own Pace
REALTORS want to get more listings and be more successful, it's as simple as that. Your brokerage can show them how to achieve these goals by utilizing RPR, the nation's largest property database, built for REALTORS. We've made it easier than ever to educate and empower your agents with a new series of video tutorials and supporting materials.

[Infographic] Get Your Home Ready for Fall
There are a lot of ways you can help yourself and your clients at the same time. One of these is to share valuable information about protecting and maintaining their home. When they see you as a partner who's got their backs, they'll trust you and refer others to you as well. Seasonal content, such as this infographic on getting your home ready for fall, is a great way to build trust and keep in touch with your sphere. Find the infographic below:

Watch and Learn: This Year's Top 4 Broker Webinars
"Are you recording this?" There's one question we always hear during the webinars we host, regardless of the topic. And with good reason--brokers are busy people. Business obligations may pull them away during the event, there may be information they want to revisit later, or they may simply want to share the video with their associates. Whatever the case, brokers attend our webinars to see cutting edge technology in action, and learn best business practices from top brokers and other industry leaders. We record every webinar we host so that our subscribers can catch up on what they missed, or simply indulge in a fun, visual way to learn about technology. We hosted several webinars this year. Here are four of our best broker-focused webinars (and their recordings!).

Imprev Hosts Stellar Learning Labs at Inman Connect SF
One of the greatest innovations that Brad Inman added to Inman Connect in recent years is a hidden treasure that not everyone may be aware of: the Learning Labs. These are held on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, Aug. 9 and 10, from 2pm to 5pm. Learning Labs have become, in my experience, one of the best places where agents and brokers can learn tangible business practices that can be implemented immediately. A company that perfected the Learning Lab concept out of the gate is Imprev, a pioneering sponsor of the Inman Lab concept. Imprev, America's largest real estate marketing technology firm (based on the total number of U.S. real estate agents and brokers who are Imprev users), was once known as a tool for building flyers and postcards, and for powering the RE/MAX Design Center. Today, the company is rocking the real estate brokerage world with many of the biggest and best brands for its Automated Marketing Services. Imprev Learning Lab Lineup

RPR On-Demand Video Tutorials a Plus for Real Estate Pros
REALTORS®, broker brand managers and association staffers consistently reach out to RPR to request recorded versions of our webinars. We're happy to offer the recordings to participants, but did you know that RPR also offers on-demand video tutorials? In fact, these popular videos have been recently updated. How can RPR video tutorials help? To find out, we've surveyed three business professionals, each with different roles and perspectives. Here's their take on the matter: MEET OUR REAL ESTATE PROS #1: The REALTOR® Researching and identifying site use potential was easy for this St. Louis area REALTOR®. "The space is in an industrial area so I knew a sit down restaurant would cater to the area's working demographic," said Norma Nisbet, ALC, CCIM, CIPS, Vista Properties and Investments. With a quick look at RPR's Business Points of Interest (POI) video, Norma learned how to analyze nearby restaurants by type, annual sales, staffing levels and number of years in operation to determine how the new restaurant might fare against its competitors. Capturing this information within moments allowed Norma to then focus her attention on recruiting the right restaurant for her space.

Attracting Online Consumers: Listings and Syndication
Last year, ListHub collaborated with The CE Shop to create a course to help educate real estate professionals about the nuances of listing syndication and how to attract online consumers. Now you can learn about syndication AND get credit for it! This new comprehensive course from The CE Shop is designed with the goal of helping brokers and agents make more informed decisions about syndication and data rights. Course highlights include: Tips for putting together an engaging listing description A review of key fair housing laws and how they affect listing descriptions How to get the best images for listings An overview of the risks and rewards of listing syndication Tips for selecting and working with a listing syndication provider An analysis of listing syndication agreements and clauses to watch for Questions to consider before signing away your listing data

Listing Syndication Now Part of Broker Office Policy Manuals in Colorado
Colorado Real Estate Commission Position 21 (CP-21) was officially revised this week to include Listing Syndication within office policy manuals. CP-21 is a long standing position statement that covers a variety of topics suggested for real estate office policy manuals such as handling earnest money, contract review and, as of April 7th, listing syndication. Timing is perfect considering the recent changes between listing syndication giant, Listhub, and consumer portals, Zillow and Trulia. As of April 7th, Listhub and Zillow Group ended their contract with one another, leaving brokers and agents wondering how their listings will be sent to consumer portals. Increased marketing exposure for listings can be beneficial but may also come at a cost. Duplicate listings, lag time on listing changes, unauthorized use, unfavorable Terms of Use and re-syndication have become increasingly problematic. These issues, combined with general confusion of how listings are sent to third parties, may cause Managing Brokers to struggle with forming office policy regarding how, when and where listings should be displayed. In turn, agents are often unsure how to answer consumer questions regarding marketing properties on third party sites. Lauren Hansen, CEO of IRES and former state MLS Presidential Advisory Group member, presented information to the Colorado Real Estate Commissioners to encourage listing syndication dialogue between Broker owners and agents in February 2015. "I'm thrilled with the Real Estate Commission's decision to include listing syndication in CP-21. To my knowledge, Colorado is the first real estate licensing entity in the country to make this move," said Hansen. "I'm hopeful that this decision will be a launching pad for thoughtful discussion regarding the pros and cons of listing syndication at office meetings." To help brokers with the process, IRES drafted an office policy template related to Listing Syndication participation that they can cut, paste and revise as they see fit. According to the Real Estate Commission, the implementation of the new and improved CP-21 position will take effect immediately.

8 Tutorials to Master Your Business in 2014
In the online world, brevity is an asset. People are often too busy to sink their teeth into long form web content. That's why we're fans of the article series. Article series break longer, in-depth content into multiple easy-to-digest pieces. We published several series in 2013, and with the end of the year upon us, we thought it would be an opportune time to revisit our favorites. Below is a list of eight article series that all tackle complex issues in an accessible way. Check them out to learn new ways to boost your real estate business in 2014. 1. 56 Tips for an Awesome Real Estate Listing Presentation "Seven seconds. That's how much time it takes to make a first impression," this article series begins. If you've ever wanted step-by-step pointers to creating listing presentations that give you an edge over competitors, this is it. 18 Tips for an Awesome Real Estate Listing Presentation 18 More Tips for an Awesome Real Estate Listing Presentation 20 DO NOTs to avoid for an Awesome Real Estate Listing Presentation 2. How To Use Google's New Keyword Planner Just a few months ago, Google launched a new tool for planning and researching keywords for your SEO and PPC advertising campaigns. This two-part series walks agents and brokers through using the tool, complete with images and tips for planning your budget. Part 1 Part 2

Friday Freebie: Free Training from realtor.com®
Brokers, did you know that realtor.com® offers free training for your agents? It's part of the company's comprehensive Brokerage Services program. Classes are conveniently offered right at your office by realtor.com®'s experienced brokerage specialists. Read on to learn more. Free Training from realtor.com® Realtor.com® offers a variety of services that agents can leverage in their business. Do you know if your agents fully utilizing the options available to them? Do they keep their free profile up to date? Are they collecting and posting recommendations? Using the listing tools? If not, realtor.com®'s agent engagement training can educate your agents on how maximize the tools that they're already entitled to. Those tools include: Agent Profile Listing Presentation HyperSocial™ Tools Collaborative Search Mobile App Mobile Website Builder Business Planning Tool Housing Trends Newsletters Facebook app Learn more about free training classes at your office.

[VIDEO] Master the iPad in 15 Minutes!
Are you using your iPad to its fullest potential? Working on the run has become second nature to most real estate pros and mobile devices such as the iPad have made this possible. Jimmy Mackin, co-founder of Curaytor.com, and guest speaker for Homes.com at the 2012 NAR Conference, presented his recommendations on how real estate professionals can maximize the iPad. If you missed the live presentations at NAR, check out the video to see Mackin's presentation "Mastering the iPad in 15 Minutes" to learn the ins and outs of using the iPad to your advantage!

What Is A Brand, Anyway?
Today, in the interest of education, I'm going to address a few of the most common branding related things we see REALTORS® mis-term or misunderstand. Most of them have to do with things that the REALTOR® thinks is a logo. To those ends, I will explain what a logo is (and what it isn't), and then define and demonstrate what the things they misunderstand "actually" are. 1) Logo This is an interesting one. Agents almost universally refer to anything as a logo. For instance, we've seen REALTORS® refer to "their logo" as the phone number and email that are listed under their name, their photograph, or even their slogan (which will be described later). Technically none of these things are logo. Your name can be part of your logo. This totally makes sense, because you are your own brand. If you are going to use your name as your logo, though, it can't "just" be your name. It needs to be designed and styled so it looks different than the rest of your marketing pieces. For example: As you can see, there is a special type face, a background element, as well as a monogram in a circle above Dina's name. A logo like this could be the spring board for the rest of the branding an agent would have (e.g. the theme of the logo works its way into the agent's postcards, magazine ads, website, etc.).

Holiday Deal: IMSD Training Program
The holiday season is winding to a rapid close, but we're highlighting one last deal before 2012 ends! If you've made New Year's resolutions about your real estate career, consider making one more. Want to double your online leads in 2013? IMSD can teach you how to do just that. They're offering $200 off a full year of training when you sign up by January 8 with promo code DOUBLE. IMSD classes boost your knowledge of Craigslist, blogging, social media, SEO, pay-per-click advertising, and other prime online marketing areas for real estate agents. Members get access to live and recorded classes, homework assignments, ad copy, scripts, and more. Learn how to find, capture, and convert inexpensive online leads. IMSD's content is split into three series of classes: Systems, Social, and Search. 2013 training kicks off on January 8 with the Systems class series. Visit IMSD's website to learn more.

Training "Team Us" at Your Brokerage
Continuing with our series of articles on TEAM US, today we'll focus on training. No matter whether they are a newly licensed sales associate or a seasoned one, you need to deliver the training they need as soon as possible after their start date. Your program should be all inclusive and, at the same time, customizable to the individual. Regardless of experience they will require training on some company basics: How your company processes listings and agreements of purchase and sale Presenting your company's value proposition Company infrastructure such phones, email, website, paging, etc. Your company's mission statement A newly licensed agent, in addition to the above, will need training on how to make a living in the real estate business. Since they are new and motivated, there will never be a better time to teach them the right way of doing things. This is also the time they accomplish amazing things because they don't yet know that it can't be done. It, obviously, can be done but not according to the naysayers within an office who try to tell them the way things really are – at least according to their personal successes or lack thereof.

Weekly Video Tip: What Is Eyeline Matching?
Today, I want to introduce the first of a few videos that will cover what we call "shooting for the edit." But aren't we always shooting for the edit? Yes--technically, if you're shooting footage with the intention of editing, then you could say you're shooting for the edit. However, there's a big difference between shooting THEN editing, and shooting FOR the edit. Observe our first concept: Eyeline Matching.

HomeFinder.com CEO August Appraisal: Learning the ABCs of Real Estate
IDX? MLS? RETS? VOW? What in the world of alphabet soup is going on here? To say my first few months in the real estate industry drowned me in a sea of confusing jargon is an understatement. I transferred to HomeFinder.com from a travel website, Orbitz.com, and vividly remember thinking, "How hard can real estate data be?" Little did I know, the real estate industry holds more confusing rules and terms than a congressional spending bill. I am a self-confessed geek and still actively write code now and then, so you would think I did some online home schooling to answer my real estate questions. However, I quickly learned the best tutoring I could find walked the halls of HomeFinder.com every day. We employ a number of real estate agents and a host of industry veterans, and I soon quizzed them on a daily basis with questions like, What's an IDX feed? How do agents and brokers work together? How come Roost and RedFin get to have all of the listings on their sites?

Ben Kinney’s Listing Lead Sources
Before you can ever start prospecting for listing leads, you need to know who you are going to call. In this three minute video from the Internet Marketing Specialist Designation, our founder Ben Kinney reveals the eight sources that his team of listing agents uses to prospect for listing leads.

A Cheat Sheet For Designing Your Facebook Business Page Timeline
The marketing masterminds at HubSpot recently put together an easy to reference guide on setting up your Facebook Business Page Timeline. A few simple steps will have you on your way to a highly, personalized business page on Facebook. Facebook Page Timeline Design Cheat Sheet To view the rest of the infographic, click through to the next page.

What to Look for in Real Estate Back Office Software
Welcome to the first edition of The Back Office Blog (B.O.B.) – what to look for in back office software. In the ever evolving world of real estate, there has always been one constant and that's the financial viability and cost effectiveness to be a successful brokerage. When starting a new brokerage or analyzing your existing operations, your first thought will often be, "How can I save money and reduce my costs?" Click through to the next page for the top ten recommendations on what you should look for in a back office software solution that answers these two very important questions.

Be Thankful for the Good Things in Life
The real estate industry is as competitive as it’s ever been. For many REALTORS, success requires working smarter, a tough skin, courage, and innovation. The difficulties and frustrations of a highly competitive atmosphere make it all too easy for work to dominate our lives. Other aspects of life can get easily pushed aside when you need to head back out the door to meet with a client or stay up late to work on marketing strategies or through an outdated transaction process from the stone age. The high stress load, deadlines, choke points in your business process and use of technology can block out many of the good things in life.  

What’s driving the changes in the real estate market and how will they impact your business?
What’s driving the changes in the real estate market and how will they impact your business? Ian Morris of Market Leader, Inc. and Steve Murray of REAL Trends, Inc. are industry leaders who answer this question and offer valuable insights in their new book, Game Plan: How Real Estate Professionals Can Thrive in an Uncertain Future.Ian Morris will share “The 10 Trends That Will Drive the Next 5 Years,” featuring key findings from Game Plan on the evolving real estate environment and the trends you need to watch.When:                                            Friday, August 5Time:                                             10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM EasternCost:                                              NONETo Register:                                   https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/538866571 Who should attend:                       Real estate brokers and agents You’ll learn about: 10 trends that could affect your business Factors affecting brokerages and sales professionals Real estate challenges and opportunities Steps to thriving in the ever-changing industry You’ll learn how to create your game plan for the future and help your business thrive for years to come! Your questions are welcome in this live Q&A format.  

Why using video is so important in your social media marketing mix
Guest Contributor Michael Krisa says: Yesterday I was paddling the Saugeen River and shot this videodiscussing why using video is so important in your social media marketing mix. Video allows the viewer to see you, experience you and get to know you from the security and safety of their computer ... they set the rules of engagement and decide whether or not they want to work with you. Well michael - you ask - why would I want to give them such control? Because they already have control - ultimately they decide whether or not they will choose to work with you so why not make it easier for yourself and them?

Top 10 Grammar Mistakes to Avoid (Part Two)
In my previous post, I covered 5 of the top 10 grammar mistakes to avoid in your writing. Today, I'm going to share the last 5 mistakes. Just to remind you, I'm calling on everyone to catch any mistakes I've made and correct me. 6. Then vs. Than This one is pretty simple. As a general rule, use "then" when you're talking about time and "than" when you're making a comparison. Then: "I will see you then." You may also use "then" under other circumstances, such as when you're qualifying a preceding statement or making an "if . . . then" statement. Than: "Ernie is taller than Bob." "You're better at this than I am."  

Are Your Listing Descriptions Designed to Capture?
We’re living in an industry where indexable MLS listings – those that are visible to the search engines – are becoming frequently more common. So I feel that it’s important to bring up the value of optimizing personal listings to maximize on this opportunity. I was recently looking at the details of a real estate agent's personal listing and noticed the description contained a lot of abbreviations and agent jargon and thought that it was a shame that she had not written a better description for the prospective homebuyer and the search engines. The description listed the bedrooms in an abbreviated format and ran abbreviations together so it wasn’t easy to read, and even though the search engines are very good at picking up on words, the details were pretty much an undecipherable jumble. Maybe agents don’t realize the value of an indexable IDX or how using a technology that allows listings to be indexed can bring search engine traffic… and, therefore, transactions! Even if you don’t use an indexable real estate technology as an individual, writing a meticulous detail page will help you to market your clients’ homes to the utmost advantage on the Internet.  

11 Email Marketing Terms You Need to Know
Email service providers are constantly throwing around terms that sometimes our customers may or may not know. So we decided to pick 11 email-marketing terms and help you understand what they mean. Don't be offended if you know some of these, we're trying to cover a lot of bases here. Here goes! 1. ROI (Return on Investment) - Your ROI is the measure of the profit you make and/or costs saved at your business. For your email marketing campaigns you calculate cost of sending email plus time. ROI = [(Payback - Investment)/Investment)]*100 2. Open Rate - Your open rate is simply the number recipients who opened your HTML emails. It is typically measured as a percentage of the total number of emails sent, although calculation methods may differ. The open rate is considered a useful metric for judging response to an email campaign but it should be noted that open rates for text emails can't be calculated AND some email clients don't display images as a default which would under report your total number of opens. Open rates average about 20%.

Custom QR Codes for Real Estate Professionals
As QR Code technology continues to expand and diversify in the real estate space and beyond, flexibility with this technology becomes more interesting. Some agents may just want a sticker to stick on their For Sales sign to point home buyers to their website, property details or to give their contact information. Other may have researched all the available QR Code technology solutions tailored for real estate needs, and not found what they are looking for. QR Codes are versatile; they can be used, as we have seen, for mobile marketing, pointing to websites, they can point to mobile applications, and the can lead home buyers to an agent’s contact information.  They can be showcased in a variety of marketing materials like For Sale signs, property flyers, added to websites and property detail pages. 

Three in One: QR Code, Text Marketing and IDX
Did you know you can Google “Free QR codes” and create your own QR codes?  It’s true.  This technology is not patented and therefore costs nothing to generate.  Better yet, real estate technology vendors are offering this service for free too! The next step with a marketing tool, like QR codes, is lead generation. How do you track the success of your marketing efforts?  If you can’t measure it, does it have the value or reach you expect? The good news is that QR codes can be harnessed to validate marketing efforts, providing real estate agents and brokers with and understanding of who viewed your marketing, and more importantly – your QR code will track the potential customer’s phone number. This week we were able to preview the Goomzee QR code solution (www.goomzee.com) for real estate professionals. We spoke with Mike Sparr, founder of Goomzee.  Before founding Goomzee, Sparr worked for Nokia and believes in keeping a pulse on mobile consumers to target emerging technology trends.  While Goomzee started working with QR code technology three years ago, Sparr believes the time for QR codes is just now in the beginning stages.

Use A Badge To Increase Website Leads
We recently launched the ability for real estate agents to embed a trust badge into their websites and blogs that displays their reviews. I wanted to share some thoughts on how this can help you increase your business. Verisign recently published the results of a study that asked people to rate the trustworthiness of unfamiliar websites on a scale of 1 to 100 (with 100 being “I trust this site completely”). The study found that the the average score was only 61 out of 100. In other words, most people on the Web give unfamiliar websites a rating just above an “F.” And how well do you think a website with an “F” would convert cold visitors into new leads? Not well.

What is the Business Value of an API?
Guest contributor Peter Goldey says: I had the privilege to present on a Tech Connect panel during Inman NYC, moderated by Dan Woolley (W&R Studios).  Dan carved the conversation into three parts:  the history of API’s, covered by Adam DuVander of Programmable Web; technology tips and tricks, presented by Andrew Mattie of Diverse Solutions; and the business value of API’s – my part. As an information services provider, Onboard Informatics is constantly looking at new sources (input) and new delivery mechanisms (output) that can benefit our clients. As Onboard’s CIO, a part of my role is to ensure that how we access and deliver content meet not only our technical requirements but also our business objectives. API’s provide an important component of our strategy to do so. There are two sides to the coin of business value here:  Why choose to publish via API? And why choose to consume via API?

Want to Start Effectively Prospecting?
What’s the world coming to? Doesn’t it seem that most businesses today actually are looking for ways to avoid talking to customers? The airlines are a classic example. Want to make an airline reservation by telephone? Good luck! Just to accomplish this means spending several minutes going through an elaborate push-button menu. Then you are on hold for who-knows-how long. Really, the airlines would rather you go online, make your own reservation, get an e-ticket and print out your own itinerary and receipt. I don’t think companies intend to avoid customers. I think they want to use technology to its fullest extent to serve customers better and in the most cost-efficient way. But they have been overrun by technology. Some real estate agents are doing the same thing, especially when it comes to prospecting. They are searching for a technique, tool, software or system that will eliminate the task of prospecting, when in fact it will only eliminate prospects. It’s time to get back in touch with some real, fundamental principles about the reality of prospecting.  

When It Comes to QR Codes, What About Clikbrix?
QR codes are addictive, especially for those of us who like to walk around entertaining ourselves with our high tech phones.  Each time you scan there is a sense of excitement and anticipation – especially with those QR marketing campaigns that purposely hold back information that is ultimately translated to your phone. It’s like getting the white mystery flavored Skittle in your bag of colorful candy and finding out a whole new flavor like root beer! If you are curious, go to m.clickbrix.com on your mobile browser. It will magically pick the right reader for your phone. Once you have loaded the QR reader to your phone (as mentioned in the first part of this series), scan the QR code to the left for a special offer.  A great site to find the QR Reader of choice is http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qr-code-software/ QR codes are popping up everywhere now: billboards, price tags, websites, newspapers, blogs, and other marketing mediums. Now they’re also popping up in the real estate space! And tech savvy vendors to the real estate industry are embracing this technology in a variety of ways – linking to profile pages, linking to property pages, linking to virtual tours, linking to neighborhood tours, etc. This week we were able to preview the Clikbrix QR code solution for real estate professionals. We spoke with Erik Goldhar, co-founder of QR marketing agency, ‘QRe8 Mobile Experience’, the parent company of Clikbrix.com. Goldhar has a background in Canada’s digital marketing and ad world. Clikbrix and QRe8.com have been working on QR codes for the past 2.5 years and saw a gaping opportunity for this technology in the American real estate space. During this call we were able to understand several of Clikbrix’s points of view regarding the following: 1.) What are the benefits of using QR codes to promote real estate business?2.) What are some industry challenges you see with QR codes for marketing?3.) What solution is Clikbrix offering to the industry?

Excuse Me, I Have a Question...
Yesterday I read a post about an interesting feature that is available on Trulia and Zillow – but oddly, not at all available on any broker website. For some reason, the blog did not mention Ask a REALTOR® from Realtor.com – but I will include them in my thoughts. The feature is Ask A REALTOR® (http://www.realtor.com/blogs/category/ask-a-realtor/), Zillow Advise (http://www.zillow.com/advice/) or Trulia Voice Q&A (http://www.trulia.com/voices/qa/). All of these services have a common feature set that benefits the site owner, the consumer and the agent.

Lifestyle Search – What is it?
So what is lifestyle search? It’s the ability for consumers to find their “best places to live.” It enables users to submit lifestyle criteria and importantly allows them to prioritize the most important factors for their individual family’s needs. Once they submit the data the search will return results that highlight areas that best match their criteria based on the lifestyle priorities they defined. Using simple sliders they can also adjust the priority of their preferences to see how it changes the neighborhoods recommended. Let’s use the Online Dating industry as an analogy here. Many of these sites claim to help singles find their ideal match, but they are unsuccessful. Why? Because they are using only superficial measures to gauge compatibility and ultimate happiness. Sure, everyone would like to date or even marry the best looking guy or gal in the room, but that doesn’t usually work. Ultimately it takes more fundamental compatibility about the values you possess and the activities you enjoy to create a long-term match. Much like dating sites that only use superficial measures like number of bedrooms and baths are not going to satisfy a consumer’s need to find the right long-term “match” for their home selection. Lifestyle search can help find the right home match for a consumer by using factors that are more fundamental to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the homeowner.

A Tutorial To Help Straighten Listing Photos
Have you ever tried photographing a room, but couldn't fit it all into one shot? Have you ever had sellers ask you to make their house look as BIG as possible in the listing photos? Have you ever felt cramped for space when shooting interior photos? Of course you have – it's all a part of photographing real estate. If you've been confronted with these problems enough, you may have broken down and purchased a ultra-wide angle lens or fisheye lens to extend your field of view. These lenses work great for real estate purposes, but your photos may inevitably suffer from barrel distortion.  (See above image). 

The Value of Indexing for Real Estate Industry Websites
WAV Group is proud to release this property indexing white paper to explain NAR’s policy on indexing listings. The paper provides an overview of indexing, the process used by search engines to catalog information on the Internet. In order for MLSs to enforce IDX rules and regulations, they must understand indexing. Furthermore, anyone operating an IDX website needs to understand indexing and the advantages that it offers to search engine optimization (SEO) and online competition. Non-IDX property search websites like Trulia, Realtor.com and others have been indexing listings for years, and as a result - they have a significant advantage over brokers in online search results. The typical broker website may only have a few hundred pages of content if the listings are not indexed. In a major MLS market, that same broker may have 100,000 of pages of content if the IDX listings on their website are indexed.  

Recruiting Experienced Agents Is a Sales Process
Recruiting new agents is, for some managers, a task that seems to be a hit or miss proposition. They will try and engage the candidate with small talk and then launch into 'why' the agent should join their brokerage. Do this enough times, and the odds are good that someone will say 'yes.' But are we missing something? How do we know if we are really making the most of our opportunity to hire these candidates? What triggers them to say 'yes'? How many are slipping through our fingers because we haven't asked them the right questions...or, for that matter, really listened and paid attention to what they have to say? The answer: too many.   Recruiting is a consultative sales process Remembering that recruiting is a consultative sales process, the first step in developing the right atmosphere for hiring. It is essential to focus the meeting where it should be focused—on the agent, not the company—because, as we all know, selling involves, first and foremost, finding out what the prospect wants and needs. Without that information, it is almost impossible to match the right product with the buyer. And that is just as true in recruiting as it is in selling a home.

7 Ways to Avoid a Tax Audit for 2010
The Internal Revenue Service audits about one percent of US Taxpayers each year. As a real estate professional, you are likely to have an independent contractor relationship with your broker. Although your chances of being audited are pretty slim, there are basic principles that will reduce the likelihood of being part of that one percent. A few items to avoid are significant deductions for automobile expenses, home improvements, or outrageous meal expenses. By following these 7 steps, you can lower your chances of being audited.

Are You Armed with Thanks This Season?
“The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”  ~H.U. Westermayer “Develop an attitude of gratitude, at giving thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” – Brian Tracy Happy Monday! I hope you look forward to Thanksgiving and making this short week count! It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving and the inevitable Black Friday are already upon us. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, and it generally signifies the start of the holiday season no matter what your beliefs are.  Maybe it is just me, but people really seem friendlier around the holidays.   I like Thanksgiving because it is a holiday centered on family and friends and appreciating what we have.  It is one reason I send Thanksgiving cards not “Happy Holiday” cards.

Creating a Broker Technology Plan - Control, Transparency & Profitability
Brokers, large and small, face significant challenges they did not face 20 years ago.  Profit margins have eroded and control over their independent contractors has been minimized.   The consumer has taken on a much more vocal role in the process and is forcing transparency and responsiveness never before experienced.   Some of these challenges are related to technology and the advance of the Internet while others are cultural challenges that have come about through the changing broker/agent relationship.  WAV Group’s new white paper explores the issues behind the broker’s challenge to gain better control and visibility into their companies while re-establishing a new value proposition for their agents! While part one of this five part series focused on understanding how brokers got into the technological mess they find themselves today.  The second part of this series discussed how to get through the maze of broker technology. The third part discussed the new technology solutions that provide light at the end of the tunnel. The fourth part of this series detailed a case study WAV Group conducted to serve as an example to other brokerages. We have now come to the final part of this 5 part series, to discuss how a broker can create an effective technology plan.

The Two Best Tools for Blogging
Yeah, I know. At the end of my last post, What to write about on your real estate blog, I promised an article on blogging time management. That article is 90% complete. But as I was writing it, I got to thinking (uh oh). There are tons of tools out there that help make blogging more efficient. Do a Google search and you’ll find them. But that’s not the point in this article. The point here is to present you with the two best tools you can use for your real estate blogging adventure. Ready?  

Using Market Statistics to Gauge Brokerage Productivity
If you are thinking about how to boost agent and office productivity and utilizing key tools to track and monitor your success relative to the activity in your local area, consider market statistic products. The real estate industry in particular has seen a lot of local market weaknesses that have brought angst to the consumer market.  Providing market statistics to your agents, can certainly work to establish them as local experts and trusted real estate advisors. Most brokers think of market statistic offerings in terms of providing a tool to their agents.  Certainly this is a key component to most market statistic services, but it is not the only way brokerages can effectively leverage this data to drive their business. This week I spoke with Michelle Carter, VP of Sales & Operations at Trendgraphix and we discussed the value of real estate brokers using market statistics to drive their business.  Michelle is clearly passionate about the value market statistics offer the broker.

No Broker Backbone: How We Got Into this Mess
Brokers, large and small, face significant challenges they did not face 20 years ago. Profit margins have eroded and control over their independent contractors has been minimized. The consumer has taken on a much more vocal role in the process and is forcing transparency and responsiveness never before experienced. Some of these challenges are related to technology and the advance of the Internet while others are cultural challenges that have come about through the changing broker/agent relationship. Most Brokers really do not have a clear view of their operations from front to back today. With increased expenses and aggressive competition this is more important than ever. Broker systems have developed over time and are typically made up of multiple products from multiple vendors that were not developed to work in an integrated fashion. The result is numerous points of entering the same data over and over and not being able to share data easily between modules. Brokerages are experiencing cultural challenge as well. Consumer and industry pressures are forcing an evolution in the role of the Broker and the services they offer for today’s agents. The sense of community that used to be evident in every brick and mortar office is largely gone.Agents are mobile and more independent today. Smartphones, wireless Internet and even wirelessly enabled laptops, iPads and tablet PCs have changed the way agents do business. Many Brokers, however, still approach business the way they did before the Internet and this is a losing battle.