Online Real Estate Technology

Having just gone through the process of buying and selling our family home, I could relate to this video. The real estate agent who handled both of our transactions did not fall into this category but I had to laugh when I watched it, so please enjoy it before it gets removed.

The next Mike Andrew real estate internet marketing seminar will be held on Wednesday 25th March at the Boulevard,121 Studley Park Road Kew Victoria.

Topics covered will include, On Line Reputation Management, Integrating Social Media &  Blogging into your Corporate Communication Strategy.  

Registration will be from 9:15am for a 9:30am start. To attend contact Tino on ttabacchiera@domain.com.au or mobile 0409 417 001

Just a reminder that my real estate technology seminar series continues next week in NSW. The location and timing for the seminar is as follows:

Maximising Your On Line Marketing for Real Estate Professionals, Tuesday 17th March at Parkside Ballroom A – Sydney Convention Centre NSW.

If you would like to attend, please contact me here, we already have close to a full house but some seats are still available.

Look forward to speaking with you on the day.

The final Future of Real Estate marketing seminars will kick off next week and I would invite you to join us if you have not already done so. These seminars are a look at what and how technology will affect you and your agency in the future, as well as a look at social media and it’s impact on the real estate consumer.

There are 2 new venues for you next week and those agents in NSW who would like to attend the location is as follows: Monday 1st December, Sydney Marriott Hotel 38 College Street Sydney 10:00am for 10:30am start.

On Wednesday 3rd December I’ll travel with the domain.com.au team to Cairns and we’ll kick off at Cazalys Function Centre 344 Mulgrave Rd Westcourt Cairns commencing at 9:00am.

I’ll look forwrd to chatting with you on both days.

Strange title you may think for me to use in my blog, however it’s a term that I have used so many times in my past management career and a tactic that I have employed in the past 4 months with domain.com.au.

Over the past few months I have been working with lots of real estate professionals across all states and my theme in the presentations has been built around dominating the web in your local area of operation. This doesn’t always mean you spending substantial marketing dollars on the portals, what it means is taking a holistic view of the web and making sure that you have an all round strategy in promoting and marketing you or your agency. Profile is really what I mean in all of this. The use of new technology and communication tools such as blogs or podcasting and social media. Using SEO and SEM tactics to dominate the Google search in your area.

The general feedback I receive is the market is tough, sales are slow and agencies need to cutback on expenses. One area that is being cutback is on line, as I have mentioned before in this blog and in my presentations, do not cut back on your on line marketing, searches are up, UB’s have not dropped back so why cut on line?, yes make sure that what you spend is working effectively for you, and in that arena if you need help then email me or call me or ask for help, that’s what I’m here to do. If you are going to cutback on any area, cut your print, it’s expensive, reduce your add size if necessary.

As an example, take what I’m doing with Domain.com.au, I’ve upped my activity level in each state so that I get to see as many agents and clients as I can, we have introduced our seminar series, designed to provide you the agent with good information and education that will help you use the web more effectively, and at a time when most businesses are cutting back, I’ve convinced the powers to be at Domain to actually increase what we do and up our activity level where it really counts. There’s the announcement of the ninemsn joint deal, to replace realestate.com.au as the provider of real estate to all ninemsn customers, and we recently annonced the joint distribution deal with ebay. That’s because right now for me, it’s important to act, as Warren Buffet said just recently,”When the market is greedy, be fearful, but when the market is fearful, be greedy” that’s not an exact quote but hopefully you’ll get my meaning with this. 

However I think the biggest challenge for most real estate businesses is how do I ride this market economy to survive until it picks up again. It’s a cycle that comes around, it appears to me, every 10 years or so. Being able to face that market change and ride it through requires a mindset change or repostioning of your current thinking and work place practice, and that’s where a business coach can be helpful to you. I’ve done  seminars with Grant Thorpe in the past on this subject and I’ve covered articles from him as well, here’s a reminder of one of those posts for you,When the Times are Tough, the Tough Get Going  and after spending the last week on the road in WA, and having a great time with all the professional real estate agents there, I thought it time to share with you a very timely article from Grant.

The article is called “Now is the Time to Strike” and I hope you enjoy what Grant is talking about with this very positive look at how you can effectively change your direction or mind set.

Here’s the link to the article, please enjoy: 

http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1675681

I’ve long been a believer in the power of positive thinking and in my business career,taking positive action when it seemed that the odds were against me succeeding. That is why, today, I’m very positive about real estate agents maintaining their advertising spend on the on line space and not cutting subscriptions to the main real estate portals. If you are wanting to cut expenses, look at how much you spend in press for an add in the real estate section each week, and I’ll bet that you spend as much, or probably more, on that add than you do on your on line subscription. 

The other area that will help you is training, seeing how other people can overcome the hard times or even to succeed when the market is tough, is inspiring to us. I know that I get inspired by the power of positive thought and positive actions by those around me. The Domain breakfast series that we have been running is part of that positive approach and it never seems to amaze me that some of you out there, yes, real estate agents, can’t see the big picture, and can’t be bothered attending a 2 hour breakfast to learn, or to discover new ideas and concepts that will actually help you and your business. To those that do attend, and are always willing to push the boundaries or look at how they can improve in the current economic slowdown, i hope you get what you deserve, and that is success!!    

To that end, I spent some time in September on a seminar series with Grant Thorpe, Life Coach and Business Mentor, and Grants approach to life and assisting his clients build success stories around them is a positive experience that in tough times can help you weather the storm.  

Grant recently wrote an article on his blog about surviving the tough times and shared his strategies for gaining on and beating your competitors in tough times. I thought I would share this article with you, I hope it inspires you, I hope it gives you strategies to power forward in what you do in your life and your business.

Heres the link to that story, please enjoy: http://grantthorpe.typepad.com/life_coach_and_business_m/2008/10/index.html

Don’t forget, this Wednesday 29th October the location for the 3rd in the series of Power Breakfasts will take place in Bundaberg at the Spinnaker Restaurant starting at 7am. I’ll be presenting a futuristic view of Internet marketing and how real estate agents can leverage the power of blogs and podcasts and why real estate offices should have a 2 year strategy in place to take advantage of these new mediums. Plus I’ll take you through the impact of video and social media sites such as Facebook and Youtube and how you can use these sites to raise your profile on the net.

I’ll also take you through search engine marketing and why this is should be an important part of your office strategy. If you would like to attend and you are in the Bundaberg area please contact David Foki Domain.com.au State Manager on 0458 220 091

Here is the location for the first of the domain.com.au power breakfast’s that I will be hosting next week. The first will be at the Toowoomba Royal Showgrounds at Glenvale Road Toowoomba on Tuesday 21st Oct. The event will start at 7:00am, the event is almost booked out however, contact David Foki on 07 3031 6229 if you would like to attend. This will be followed on Wednesday 22nd October with the breakfast at the Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club on the Sunshine Coast.

This is well worth you coming along and you’ll walk away with some great ideas on social networking, blogging and podcasting as tools to integrate into your on line strategy.

The breakfast events are nearly at capacity now but contact David Foki on 07 3031 6229 and sweet talk him and I’m sure he’ll make room for you.

I’ve just spent the last three days on the road with the Kaplan Real Estate seminars and spending time with two amazing and inspirational presenters in Ian Grace and Grant Thorpe. The theme of the seminars was “How To Profit in Tough Times” and after the feedback we recieved on the day,I know that all the attendees certainly enjoyed the information that was presented by Ian, Grant and Myself. One very interesting concept that Grant presented and talked about was Fire The Seller, Now if you as a working real estate agent have ever come across the situation where you believe the seller has become a liability, you need to read and listen to Grant’s take on how to fire your seller.

I’ve included below a link to Grants blog and an audio grab of him talking with saleperson Malcolm Taylor about fire the seller. I hope you enjoy this.

I’ll post more about this seminar series in the next day or so including some ideas that were discussed and presented over the 3 days.

http://grantthorpe.typepad.com/life_coach_and_business_m/2008/04/fire-the-seller.html