“A 2% reduction in negative word of mouth boosts sales growth by 1%”

• London School of Economics and Political Science, “Advocacy Drives Growth” Study

 

If you are an active participant in today’s social media circles, you NEED to be monitoring and managing your reputation.  I’m not talking about your street rep (the kind that keeps you from getting mugged by a rival gang), but your online rep (the kind that keeps your company and your name shielded from mudslingers).  As shown in the London School of E&PL’s Word - of - Mouth study, mismanagement of your online reputation has the potential to devastate not only your image, but also your sales rate and company growth.  Thankfully, there is a bevy of web-based tools, both free and paid, that can assist you in your rep tracking. 

 

“Reputation Management” may strike fear in your heart and conjure dollar signs in your eyes, but rest assured that you can effectively track and manage your web rep without paying for anything.  How, you may ask?  Well, as David Salvato comments, “Free tools are the best tools when powered by Google.”

 

1. Google Alerts/Google Reader, and Google Blog Search

If it was deemed socially acceptable in a business setting, I would have ‘Google’ tattooed on my forehead in full color.  Unfortunately I would probably lose my job so I’ll have to be content with directing readers to use Google’s array of rep management tools.  Firstly, be sure to set up Google Alerts for yourself.  These keyword searches are completely free and are delivered to you as they are indexed by, you guessed it, Google.  The easiest way to organize and view your Alerts is to send them directly to your Google Reader, as opposed to routing them into an email inbox.  Here is a list of keywords to get you started:

 

•  Company & Product name
  • Also track variations thereof, for example “Company X has terrible service”, “Company X is fantastic”, and so on
• Employee names
• Website Keywords
  • Check your website analytics to see which keywords are generating the most traffic
• Competitor names

 

Setting up your Reader to the best of its potential can be a pill; check out this preso from Ian Lurie for an easy-to-follow walkthrough.  Another great tool to familiarize yourself with is Google’s Blog Search.  As opposed to the basic Google Search, Blog Search scours blogs, forums, and comments to deliver results per the keywords you request.

 

2. StepRep

In the same vein as Google Blog Search, StepRep delivers search results per the keywords you dictate, and files them according to your response.  This means that every search result you receive will be filed in your “Reputation Monitor” within either the “Positive”, “Negative”, or “Not Relevant” folders.  StepRep will oftentimes deliver pages that Google Alerts miss.  They also provide a website widget you can embed in your blog or site that features an easily-updated list of the StepRep results you want to promote.

 

Between these two tools you will have eyes on almost every mention of your brand and your competitors indexed across the world wide web.  Keep in mind though, that beyond simply tracking your online reach it is imperative that you constantly produce good content. Reputation management ties directly into social networking best practices.  If you are posting regularly on your blog and syndicating your content to as many sources as possible, you will increase your reputation, be it positive or negative.  If you are active on Twitter and like-minded ‘live interaction’ platforms, you will affect your rep.  If you are responding positively to comments and linking out to sources and working on your SEO and…the list goes on and on. Basically, if you are following the guidelines and suggestions set out by successful social media marketers you will be effectively managing your web rep.  By producing as much positive content as you can muster, you will eventually smother the negative content nipping at your heels.  One of the best ways to do this is syndicate your content to a multitude of sources; of course, this means that you need to set up a multitude of profiles/blogs in as many places as you can.  This sort of ‘spider-web’ network increases SEO as well, since you now have 20 blog posts linking back to “Yourwebsite.com”, as opposed to just 3 or 4.

 

So now you know how easy (and FREE!) it really is to manage your online reputation.  The tools I have listed above are free or charge, easy to use, and extremely effective for both corporations and individuals.  If you would rather not use the tools mentioned above, check here, here, and here for more ideas.  Remember that it is best to approach negative feedback with a customer-centric mindset; don’t fall into the trap of hoping it will just go away on its own.  Take the proactive approach: deal with the problem and then bury it under a mountain of positive web content.  And always remember that cultivating a good reputation is tied directly to your social networking efforts.  If you are truly transparent in your networking efforts, your good reputation will make itself.

Missoula, MT - Goomzee Corporation, a national leader in mobile marketing solutions for real estate professionals, today released a white paper on multiple listing services, and their respective platform vendors, across the United States.  When analyzing the vendor distribution by MLS accounts, one might determine the ranking and market share of each vendor but upon further investigation, some interesting findings were revealed.  Download here.

Pictured above is an example of the sign rider one would receive if they choose to order through Goomzee’s offices.  It is a 6×24 in rider with minimal branding (to save room for more info!).

Missoula MT Sept 8, 2009 - Agreements with Intermountain MLS of Boise and Northwest Montana Association of REALTORs in Kalispell, plus two others, continue to grow Goomzee’s nationwide footprint.  Goomzee®, a leading text message marketing and lead generation provider that connects buyers and sellers in real time, announces agreements with four more multiple listings services.

Intermountain MLS of Boise Idaho spans southern Idaho and eastern Oregon and is the largest multiple listing service provider in Idaho.  Northwest Montana Association of REALTORs spans Montana’s beautiful Flathead Lake communities and is the largest multiple listing service provider in Montana.  Goomzee also has signed agreements with Missoula Organization of REALTORs and Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORs with respective deployments pending.

“It is the Intermountain MLS’s practice to provide our members with the best available information resources and tools, increasing their value to their customers and making them more productive,” said Greg Manship, CEO of the Intermountain MLS of Boise.  “Goomzee will be a great asset in helping agents connect with buyers using today’s mobile and web technology.”

Mike Sparr, CEO of Goomzee, celebrated the signings.

“The nation’s leading MLS groups are recognizing Goomzee’s unique value proposition and continue to move forward with implementations.  Recently in California, for instance, we’ve been selected as the provider of choice for three additional MLS groups totaling over 51,000 members.  The nation’s leaders continue to acknowledge that Goomzee’s service, agility, and dedication to helping their members is unrivaled and for that, I’m thrilled.”

With the addition of Intermountain MLS, Northwest Montana Association of REALTORs (NMAR), Missoula Organization of REALTORs (MOR) and longtime client, Billings Association of REALTORs, Goomzee has further secured its leadership position throughout the Inland Northwest.  Additional rollouts in Pennsylvania, and pending rollouts in North Carolina, California and other key markets continue to secure Goomzee’s leadership position nationwide.

Goomzee’s existing partners continue to rave about the power Goomzee’s technology delivers to their agents, and their organization.

“Goomzee has provided a cutting edge product to the membership with very little effort by MLS Staff while having developed many opportunities for rev share or site license to its partner,” states Rosemary Scardina, CEO of The Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORs.  “The Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS MLS couldn’t be more pleased to be working with Goomzee.  ALL MLS’ SHOULD CHECK THEM OUT.”

Goomzee’s text message marketing solution, Realty Connect, compliments any MLS system and not only simplifies text message campaign publishing with their MLS Publishing Wizard, but also delivers valuable real-time market intelligence to the MLS organization on what buyers are looking at, when and where.  Before Goomzee, there was no efficient way to gather this information for a 360-degree picture of the market.

About Goomzee
Goomzee® Corporation, based in Missoula, MT, is a mobile and online service that connects buyers and sellers using text messaging technology.  Its industry-leading text message marketing platform, Realty Connect, delivers unmatched value and innovation to pacify sellers, buyers and sales professionals by facilitating live interaction while delivering property information and photos to buyer’s cell phones.  Goomzee was founded in 2003 and services clients worldwide, including the world’s leading mobile technology and telecommunications firms, real estate brokerages and franchises, multiple listing services and REALTOR associations.  Learn more about Goomzee online at http://www.goomzee.com.

Missoula, MT - August 25, 2009 – Goomzee, a leading provider of text-message marketing solutions for real estate professionals, announced today one of its latest innovations for marketing professionals, drag and drop photo organizing.  This functionality is available within its web-based campaign management software that its customers use to publish and manage text message marketing campaigns.  The new functionality will allow any user to reorganize photos and captions in seconds right from their web browser with a simple drag and drop interface.

Sales professionals realize that photos are essential when marketing any product or service today, and real estate marketing is no exception.  Recognizing this need several years ago, Goomzee introduced its patent-pending technology, Mobile Virtual Tours.  According to the company, users can upload photos from their computer or from any website, and the system generates a multi-photo slideshow that can be delivered to mobile devices as a single message, saving consumers from expensive messages or annoying ‘blasts’ of multiple messages.  When photos are automatically retrieved from MLS data feeds, the need for users to reorder photos, and their captions, was recognized so the company introduced the ability to reorder photos with a simple drag and drop interface.

“We continue to push the envelope when it comes to innovation that improves our customers’ businesses.  In the past year we have led the industry with innovations such as our exclusive Auto Responder, interACT lead follow up system, Dashboard with printable reporting and interactive charting, and now with our Drag & Drop photo reordering technology,” claims Mike Sparr, Goomzee’s founder and CEO.  “REALTOR associations, MLS’s, and enterprise clients continue to choose Goomzee over others, noting that our products and company offer more depth in technology, responsiveness and industry expertise than any they evaluate.  We always strive to be the best at what we do and the industry has certainly noticed.  I’m grateful for our wonderful clients nationwide who’ve helped us make this possible; rest assured, our commitment to innovation and quality continues.”

Drag and drop interfaces are common with desktop software but they are now becoming more popular within web applications.  As web browser technology advances, the line between desktop applications and web-based applications blurs, exposing users to a richer online user experience.  Goomzee’s adoption of these emerging web standards is yet another example of what users come to expect from leading web-based technology solutions.

About Goomzee
Founded in 2003, Goomzee Corporation is a leading national real estate marketing and technology solutions provider. The company’s core technology is specifically designed to connect buyers and sellers. Clients look to Goomzee for global expertise in mobile and web-based technology solutions. For more information about Goomzee, visit http://www.goomzee.com .

Contact:

Goomzee Corporation
Mike Sparr, CEO
406-542-9955
mike@goomzee.com
http://www.goomzee.com

Lehigh Valley, PA (August 17, 2009) — The Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS^® recently announced that Coldwell Banker Heritage has introduced Realty Connect, a service that allows homebuyers to receive information on homes for sale through text messaging.

 

REALTORS^®, who choose to use the service, will place a special text message code on signs and in advertisements. The national access number 44133 will appear along with the property code. Homebuyers will send a text to 44133 and enter a property code in the message area. Within seconds, key information on the home for sale will automatically be sent to their phone. If photos or a virtual tour is available, there will be a slight delay and then a link will be sent to view photos or video.

 

“More and more consumers are communicating via text messaging,” says Nick Kavounas, associate broker at Coldwell Banker Heritage and manager of its Allentown office. “Realty Connect is helping to differentiate us from other REALTORS^®. We provide immediate information to homebuyers by combining three forms of media into one: texting, virtual tours and flyers,” Kavounas adds.

 

Realty Connect, the text messaging system was introduced to Kavounas through his membership in the Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS^® that recommends the Goomzee system to its Association members.

 

Lon Whittier, quality assurance manager with Goomzee has worked closely with Kavounas. “Coldwell Banker Heritage has adapted the technology and incorporated it into their advertising mix,” says Whittier. “At Goomzee, we promote Realty Connect as a green product improving the carbon footprint by reducing the paper waste of flyers.”

 

 

About the Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS®

The Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS^® is a not-for-profit trade association. The Association provides professional development and training resources, competitive market information, legislative advocacy, a peer review and mediation process for members, and a dispute resolution service for consumers. LVAR is publisher of Lehigh Valley Real Estate Weekly and Commercial Corner. Members of LVAR pledge to uphold the National Association of REALTORS^® code of ethics, a criterion of excellence and professional conduct.  For more information, visit: www.lehighvalleyarea.com

 

 

About Goomzee Corporation:

Goomzee Corporation provides a mobile marketing technology platform that connects buyers and sellers at the point-of-interest.  Goomzee’s flagship product, Realty Connect, and now Mobile Virtual Tours, specifically assists real estate professionals.  The Company was established in 2003 offering hosted online storefronts to small businesses as well as consulting for some of the world’s largest companies and brands.  Goomzee is an industry leader in text message marketing and continues to innovate from a client first perspective. For more information, visit www.goomzee.com

 

Note to Editor: If you would like a demo on the system, enter 44133 in the ‘To’ section of your text message and 10054 in the message area and send.

 

As you may know, the holdings of Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions have recently been re-branded as LPS Real Estate Group.  Some individuals in the industry instantly labeled the move as a “Fire Sale”, but in reality the situation is really nothing more than a simple name change.  Well, maybe I shouldn’t have spoken so quickly.  “Simple” is misleading, as the advent of LPS has caused a bit of confusion among Real Estate agents and RE tech vendors alike, many of which work with FNRES-now-LPS on a daily basis.

 

With this confusion in mind, I set out to decipher the Rubix cube that is LPS’ corporate history.  Thankfully, several timelines made my job quite easy; here are my findings:

 

It all started when Fidelity National Financial (FNF) acquired Chicago Title and Trust Co. in 2000.  Finalized on March 20^th, the acquisition set FNF up to host a “leading market share in excess of 30%”.  A worthy feat, no doubt, but Fidelity neglected to rest on its laurels.  In 2001, a merger with VISTAinfo spawned Fidelity’s Mortgage Information Services (MIS) branch.  MIS promptly announced joint ownership of a leading national real estate database with LexisNexis (a global business information provider), and followed up with what FNF deemed the “best in industry” MLS system and IDX framing solution.  MIS rounded off the year with an acquisition of HomeSeekers’ XMLSweb™ division, a move which carried over into 2002 with MIS’s follow-up acquisition of ISDI and FNF’s acquisition of Eastern Software’s Empower.

 

Unbeknownst to many, Fidelity National Financial had big, big plans for 2003.  While all of the action listed above was going on, ALLTEL Information Systems had been quietly chugging along, processing roughly 20 million loans in the late ‘90s and slowly but surely acquiring underwriters, data systems, and mortgage software.  2003 broke the seal on a new era for the loan community as FNF acquired ALLTEL’s financial services division and renamed it Fidelity Information Services.  With their loan processing powerhouse in place, FIS was now in a position to make a series of corporate acquisitions that stretched for the next three years.  The list includes such software companies as Hamilton & Sullivan Ltd., Kordoba GmbH & Co., Aurum Technology, Certegy, and Sanchez Computer Associates.

 

By the end of 2006, Fidelity’s MSP mortgage platform was processing over 28 million loans, had become a publicly traded company, had been named the #1 bank technology firm in America, and had also been named to the S&P 500 index.  FNRES was fast becoming the “go-to” name for loans, financial technology, and MLS software.  FIS launched their Loan Portfolio Solutions division in 2007, and a year later went live with Lender Processing Services as a publicly traded company.  LPS then formed the LPS Real Estate Group to monitor FNRES’ real estate related holdings.  This is how the company stands today, a thriving, complex financial powerhouse.

 

I hope this synopsis clears up confusion for some of you.  Like many in the industry, we here at Goomzee were thrown for quite a loop when we began hearing buzz about LPS.  Now that we have the names straight, we look forward to working with the LPS Real Estate Group.

Everyone knows the importance of having ‘hyperlocal’ content on your blog, but how many people, I wonder, recognize the importance of being ‘hyperpersonal’?  Last week I was tasked to uncover some hyperlocal blogs in our current clients’ markets.  Most ‘experts’ will say the best way to get on another blogger’s radar would be to lurk around the site until you find a post you feel comfortable commenting on.  But I must say that I am not a fan of waiting, plain and simple.  I found several blogs across the States worth following and here is how I went about garnishing the authors’ interest via ‘hyperpersonal’ means:

 

There is a real person behind every blog.  This person has a unique childhood, a high school they graduated from and will remember forever.  These people have first loves, firstborn children, and first houses just like the rest of us.  ‘Hyperpersonal’ speaks to the idea of meeting the person behind the brand name, the history and memories behind the face.  The most tactful way I found to do this when sifting through new blogs is to send a simple email to the main author.  Some blogs are managed by groups of contributors, so maybe pick your favorite one or the overall admin contributor.

 

So what do you email them once you’ve found an author?  I took the time to read through their latest page of posts, trying to find at least one positive remark I could make about their blog.  Examples range from:

 

“That front view shot is perfectly framed with those tree branches.  Nice shot!  This house looks great; hopefully won’t take too long to sell.”

 

…to:

 

“You guys have some great hyperlocal links and content on your blog, such as local school district info and community events.”

 

After finding something I liked about their work, I also took the time to seek out their real name.  One of Boise, ID’s fine REALTORs responded favorably to this email.  She said her team “really appreciate[s] it when people take the time to learn our names.”   She also asked for a little more information about Goomzee and Realty Connect.

 

As you can see, my initial, personalized message opened the door to an explanation of my company’s product.  I didn’t have to include my value statement in the initial message because my ‘hyperpersonalization’ spoke for itself.  I received many such replies from America’s agents, and have since come to realize that while real estate marketing needs to be ‘hyperlocal’ to be effective, online marketing needs to be ‘hyperpersonal’, or it will be dismissed as nothing more than SPAM or solicitation. 

 

Jeff Turner of Realestateshows.com said this on the subject: “There’s always going to be need for face-to-face communication in real estate.  Find a way to marry the two worlds.”

We received this photo yesterday from Theresa Brockway of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty in Wilmington, NC.  Unfortunately she was subjected to a good ol’ fashioned montana traffic jam last time she was driving through, and she snapped this photo while waiting for ‘traffic’ to clear.  Thank you to Theresa, Kay Baker, and the whole team at CB Sea Coast!!

Last week’s team meeting produced an interesting tale of ‘overpricing woe’.  The parents of one of my associates listed their house in mid-2006 at $590,000.  The inaccurate list price was determined by their real estate agent, and the property sat on market for nearly 2 years, suffering a price drop of almost $200K.  By the time my co-worker’s family unloaded the property, they had to settle for only $400,000; this unpleasant situation could’ve been avoided if only it had initially hit the market in the correct price range.

 

Overpriced listings are, unfortunately, a common practice in real estate.  Some agents overprice their listings thinking they have provided themselves with “wiggle room” when it comes time to negotiate.  Other agents price too high because they are either in agreement with the seller’s over-inflated valuation, or they are “buying the listing”: an unethical practice I will expound on later in this post.

 

Overpricing a listing for the sake of “wiggle room” may seem like a good idea, but in the end it will only serve to hamper your selling efforts.  High priced homes do not yield as many inquiries as listings that are priced competitively; the lack of offers usually leads to several price reductions and a lengthier term on market, two factors that serve to erode the integrity of your listing.  Savvy buyers will shy away from ‘lemons’ that have sat for months on end, only moving in for the kill when the agent has reduced the price by half of its original value. 

 

Sometimes homes are priced too high for no other reason than the agent-seller team is in agreement.  The trick in this situation is being able to look at a property objectively, as a buyer would see it.  The seller’s viewpoint is obviously biased, but rightfully so since he/she has large sums of money invested in the property.  Oftentimes valuations of a home are inflated due to upgrades the seller has performed.  Sadly, buyers tend to not see the value in these upgrades, opting instead to modify the home themselves and therefore considering any upgrades the current owner has performed nothing more than the offering that’s on the table.  Overpricing your listing based on current homeowner upgrades has the potential to lead to the unpleasant situation where the homeowner realizes that they spent more money on upgrades than they will ever see at the time of closing.

 

Unethical agents will sometimes attempt what is called “buying the listing”.  This happens when the agent enters into a listing presentation with a purposefully over-inflated CMA.  Of course, since homeowners oftentimes (through no fault of their own) have inflated valuations of their property, the ‘shady’ CMA aligns with the seller’s wishes and the agent has effectively bought himself a client by knowingly catering to their unawareness. Sometimes agents enter into these situations with the intention of talking down the seller at a later date; this, also, is not a good idea since your initially over-inflated price will undermine any chance the agent has of cashing in on the “New Listing Hype”.

 

You will get no argument from me that this is a touchy situation.  No agent has ever won a listing by strong-arming their clients and ordering them around like green recruits.  But, the question becomes: at what point are you catering too much to the seller that you are, in fact, sabotaging the transaction?  It is the responsibility of the agent to draw on their industry expertise to protect their clients from low-ball offers, high-priced listings, and any physical harm incurred at the negotiation table. They are not only investing in your expertise, but ultimately placing their future in your hands.  It is the duty of the agent to live up to those expectations.

I am in no position to stand on a soapbox and preach a “How To” on revitalizing the real estate market. I can however let you in on today’s most un-secretive, yet still ambiguous headline that stands to be one of your greatest selling tools for 2009: The $8,000 1st Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit.

With more than 300,000 buyers ‘coming off the fences’, one could attribute the recent industry uptick to several factors: a reduced inventory of agents which means a higher quality offering from those that remain; constant technological innovations serving to assist agents and streamline the closing process; the ‘21st Century brokerage model’, changing the game for both agents and clients; Zillow and Trulia; NAR/DOJ outcome; the list goes on and is highly debatable.

What we can all agree upon are the undeniable, long-awaited benefits of the $8,000 Tax Credit. A near-clone of the $7,500 Credit of 2008 (which was more of a low-interest loan, than anything), the $8,000 Credit is different in that it does not have to be repaid. Quick, read this article.

As you can see, I dare not exaggerate. The skinny on the $8,000 Tax Credit:

- $8,000 tax credit/refund available to first-time homebuyers (anyone who has not owned a principal residence in the last three years, and/or has/will purchase/d a home between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009.)
- Not to be repaid, unless taxpayer vacates residence within three years of purchase
- Taxpayer must make under $75,000 annually if filing alone; $150,000 annually if filing jointly with a spouse

Tax Credit cannot be used if:

- The home you purchased/received was purchased/received from a close family member
- Your gross income is above $75,000 if alone; $150,000 if filing jointly
- You have been in possession of a principal residence sometime on the previous three years
- The property you are looking to acquire will not serve as your principal residence

Those are just some high-level bullets as to the stipulations concerning the $8,000 Tax Credit. As you can see, it is fairly easy to attain, and applies to a large portion of America’s home buyers. The goal of the government in signing off on this Credit was to breathe some life back into the pocketbooks of our country’s consumers. Sale rates that have been free-falling since 2008 have since leveled off, and many buyers are now warming up their check-writing hands, looking for the next great deal.

Missy Caulk’s team had the right idea. The day that the false HUD comment was made (read this if you are unfamiliar with this event), one of Caulk’s team members decided to forward the information, along with info on the Tax Credit, to all of her home-searching contacts. Getting this Credit info in front of the eyes of home buyers is critical, and that’s where REALTORs come in.

The public needs to be aware and needs to be educated on the nuances of the 1st Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit. Implemented wisely, this credit could be the deciding factor on whether or not some of 2009’s buyers will acquire a home this year. In many cases, the Tax Credit is equal or close to the full amount of a down payment. So, while the Credit cannot actually be used for down payments, it has served in many cases as a refund to the down payment. I’m saddened, actually, by the fact that I will not be able to take part in this great opportunity. Since I will not be buying a home before December 1st, 2009, I will not be eligible to receive a cool $8,000 from Capitol Hill. So sad…

However, do not let my missed opportunity be your clients’ as well. Get out there and get this info in front of them…the time to buy is now.

Last week, a correspondent from one of the local news channels, KECI 13, stopped by our office. He shot some video around the place and concluded by interviewing our CEO/Founder Mike Sparr. For the full blurb, view the video below:

A recent sign order resulted in our supplier mistakenly printing over 30 extra sign riders.

Acknowledging the mistake, our supplier offered to dispose of them at no charge, a courteous gesture…

…but in today’s economic and environmental climate…

…how could we just throw away 30ish perfectly good signs?  Instead, we returned the signs, and asked our provider to simply re-label them when the time comes for the next order.

Fantastic!  An environmentally-friendly, all-around ‘green’ solution to a potentially wasteful problem!  Goomzee also reduces paper waste by delivering listing information to homebuyers via text message.  In fact, I even get ‘THE LOOK’ from co-workers when I print something onto hardcopy.  It’s exciting to work for a company that does its part for the environment.

In what areas are you taking steps to ‘Go Green’?

MISSOULA, MT May 11, 2009 – Mobile technology startup, Goomzee, introduced a new innovation to its text message marketing platform to further reduce lost sale opportunities. The new innovation, rightfully called InterAct, enables a text message chat conversation between potential buyer and seller.

During the Autumn of 2008, Goomzee introduced an innovation called Auto Responder which simulated a timely follow up from a seller. Approximately 5 minutes after a potential buyer receives information and photos on their cell phone, a personalized text message is received prompting follow up and keeping the lead “warm”. This was designed based on client testimonials of closing home sales due to timely follow up via text message. Much to Goomzee’s surprise, this feature worked so well that they recently noticed potential buyers responding to these messages and requesting access to the property or trying to schedule meetings. It didn’t take long to invent yet another first in the industry and InterAct was born.

When enabled, the InterAct feature will record additional text messages received during a specific time period and link them to the initial buyer request. The seller is alerted of the additional messages either via email, online or as a text message. This ensures they do not miss valuable requests and can convert more leads into sales. The entire history of messages and even lead status is quickly accessible within the Realty Connect management website.

“When most companies are cutting back, we know this is the time to invest into continuous innovation, making sure our solution best meets the needs of our clients and the majority of the market. We introduced over a dozen new innovations in the first quarter of this year and our industry-leading mobile marketing platform is the most thought out system in the industry,” claims Mike Sparr, Goomzee’s CEO and Founder. “Just last Tuesday we were meeting with one of the largest REALTOR organizations in America and one of their members asked whether a feature existed; it did not. It was such a great idea I challenged our engineers to include that feature in our upcoming release. The very next day they had a prototype and it was fully tested and in our next week’s release. Very few companies, of any kind, can remain that responsive to the market and maintain the discipline and stability of an enterprise-grade software engineering firm.”

Goomzee is headquartered in Missoula Montana yet benefits from a global engineering team spanning three continents. One might expect such an innovative and rapidly-growing company in the Bay Area or another metro market. For over 6 years, Goomzee has been helping connect buyers and sellers with innovative software solutions. For more information about Goomzee and their technology solutions, visit www.goomzee.com.

About Goomzee
Goomzee Corporation provides a mobile marketing technology platform that connects buyers and sellers at the point-of-interest. Goomzee’s flagship product, Realty Connect, and now Mobile Virtual Tours, specifically assists real estate professionals to win more listings, acquire more leads and close more sales. The Company was established in 2003 offering hosted online storefronts to small businesses as well as consulting for some of the world’s largest companies and brands. Goomzee is an industry leader in text message marketing and continues to innovate from a client first perspective. We connect buyers and sellers at the point-of-interest. To learn more, visit us online at http://www.goomzee.com or contact us at (866) 472 – 6062

It seems today that many vendors are enticed by the perceived ’sexiness’ of mobile applications.

“A mini-program I can access on-the-go, and it only costs $4.00? Sign me up!”

Or perhaps vendors are lured not by the app’s sexiness, instead drawn to the mobile platform after hearing consumer raves like the one above. Sadly, while the ‘quote’ may indeed reflect the way most Americans approach their cell phone, the facts don’t lie; and the facts are telling us that mobile apps have a market reach of 13%.

You’ll get no argument from me that mobile apps are appealing and convenient. But getting your ducks in a row to facilitate access to such applications is the hardest part and the reason why their market relevance is so dad-burned small.

Smart phone sales are on the rise, fueled by iPhone’s upcoming 3.0 release and BlackBerry’s constant innovation, most recently the inclusion of a BB app store. That said, smart phone users only account for 12-14% of the United State’s mobile subscribers. To put this in perspective, SMS capability is activated and actively used by over 80.3% of U.S. subscribers. One can easily deduce from here that mobile apps still have quite a ways to go before they will be as effective as SMS marketing in terms of market relevance.

Beyond possible market reach, another hindrance in the way of mobile app relevance is the cost involved. Smart phones themselves cost a pretty penny, discounts being leveraged only when consumers sign or renew their carrier contract. To use most apps, one must also enable his smart phone to access the mobile web, most often a $40.00/month fee. After that, a lot of home search apps require GPS functionality, an additional $10.00/month fee. Some carriers include unlimited data sharing allowances in the mobile web upgrade; others do not, an additional $5-10.00/month. On top of all that, of course, there is the cost of the actual mobile application to consider. Most people I talk to with this sort of plan setup are paying a monthly cell phone bill of approximately $150.00 - $170.00/month. Personally, I pay just $75.00/month for my LG Chocolate, equipped with Mobile Web and unlimited data sharing. Even when I neglect my bill for a month or two and wait for Financial Services to call me, I still don’t pay as much as a smart phone subscriber.

Pinch Media syndicated an interesting set of statistics a couple months ago. In light of the ‘app store’ innovations as of late, it has been shown that only 20% of users return to an application the day after downloading it. This stat holds true for both paid and free apps, and sheds light on the sad state of mobile app relevance. It’s no secret that the timing is just not right for widespread mobile app adoption. Perhaps a few years down the road things will change; but until then SMS remains the medium of choice by today’s homebuyers.

“I question the validity of a practice that allows you to be paid when you didn’t do the job you’re getting paid for.” - Brenda Florida, Century 21 Alliance of Lansdale, PA

“Procuring Cause should simply go away. It’s an antiquated system.” - Tom Early, President of National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents

Procuring cause. It pains me just to type the phrase; like the words “Root Canal” or “Pepto-Bismol”, ‘procuring cause’ packs around negative connotations like they’re a new-born litter of possums. What most agents don’t know is that while procuring cause may be a danger, it is in fact a two-way street that has the capability to benefit both listing and selling agents.

Verily, hast thine gotten ahead of thineself? Thou hast! Forgive me; for all you readers out there that are still in the dark as to what procuring cause actually means, let me explain. Procuring cause disagreements arise when a prospective homebuyer expresses interest in a property and is, in some way, introduced to the property by a licensed real estate agent. The introduction could take place at a showing, open house, or in the agent’s office over a cup of coffee and a stack of photos. After this meeting, the buyer drops off the face of the earth, only to re-appear a few months and a few different showings later with another agent. The buyer, along with Agent #2, then expresses interest in the house introduced by the first agent, and suddenly #2’s commission is in danger. Disagreements arise because Agent #1 feels like it is his client since he struck up the relationship and showed the buyer the house he wants. Agent #2 thinks it is his sale because he has taken the buyer to several other houses and was unaware of Agent #1. Who gets the commission?

As you can see, procuring cause cases get pretty nasty, pretty quick. The beauty of procuring cause is that the outcome, most often decided by a mediator or arbitration panel, is entirely situation-specific, or ‘property-specific’. Panels will award procuring cause to he who has the following legitimate claim: the ability to define that you, as the REALTOR, started the unbroken chain of events that resulted in a transaction. ‘Breaking’ the chain of events is often defined as either ‘abandonment’ or ‘estrangement’.

NAR’s Arbitration Manual proffers the following definitions of ‘abandonment’ and ‘estrangement’: ·

• Abandonment – when the broker’s inactivity, or perceived inactivity, may have caused the purchaser to reasonably conclude that the broker had lost interest or disengaged from the transaction. ·

• Estrangement - the broker engaged in conduct which caused the purchaser to terminate the relationship, either via words or actions.

In other words, when you put off calling a client because you’re busy playing Bejeweled, you have no case upon which you can claim procuring cause. Also, if you perhaps decide to replace a stripe of your client’s cherry-red painted Porsche with the champagne color of your Yukon on the way out of the office lot and then subsequently blame it on your shotgun-riding client, you have no case upon which you can claim procuring cause. Sad, I know, but painfully true.

We already know what Mrs. Florida and Mr. Early have to say on the subject; but what about you? Have you ever estranged a buyer and squandered a sale? Or have you taken pains to place all your ducks in a row, which in turn has awarded you with procuring cause and a cut of a nearly-lost commission? What steps have you taken in the past to avoid procuring cause disputes?

Even though Goomzee’s RIS featured press release was good news, we were even more pleased to see that Kay Baker locked up the top spot on the real estate information publisher’s homepage. Kay’s #1 ranked North Carolina real estate website was showcased on the front page of RIS Media this morning, viewable here. Congratulations Kay, it’s great to see a Goomzee client get such an honor!

Missoula, Montana, March 31, 2009 – Goomzee Corporation announced today that they’ve been featured in the third edition of a college textbook on high technology marketing and innovation used nationwide.

The book “Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations (3rd Edition),” by Mohr, Sengupta and Slater has been cited on Amazon.com as a good overview of industry practice, mixed with theory on marketing and the diffusion of innovations. It provides tools and frameworks to develop effective marketing strategies in high-technology environments. As an innovator in mobile marketing, Goomzee was selected given its blend of traditional marketing best practices and use of cutting edge technology.

Mike Sparr, CEO of Goomzee said, “Goomzee takes great pride in being recognized and studied by top minds and blossoming future entrepreneurs. When approached by the authors regarding the project, I was honored to see our company recognized amongst other global brands like Apple, Cisco Systems, Skype and more. We are pleased to share insights that may help others achieve success in high-tech marketing.”

“Clearly the most effective academic book on the market for teaching marketing strategies that are unique to organizations that are substantially impacted by technology,” states Jim Simpson of University of Alabama Huntsville.

“Provides excellent examples and cases which illustrates concepts and theories in the text,” adds Raj Rakhra of University of Washington Business School

“A very good book with a tremendous depth of reference,” notes Dan Maher, ACT Venture Capital.

According to the authors, high-technology products are introduced in turbulent, chaotic environments where the odds of success are often low. As a result, the marketing strategies for high-tech products must be optimized to enhance the odds of success.

About Goomzee
Goomzee Corporation provides a mobile marketing technology platform that connects buyers and sellers at the point-of-interest. Goomzee’s flagship product, Realty Connect, and now Mobile Virtual Tours, specifically assists real estate professionals to win more listings, acquire more leads and close more sales. The Company was established in 2003 offering hosted online storefronts to small businesses as well as consulting for some of the world’s largest companies and brands. Goomzee is an industry leader in text message marketing and continues to innovate from a client first perspective. We connect buyers and sellers at the point-of-interest. To learn more, visit us online at http://www.goomzee.com or contact us at (866) 472 - 6062

Below is Part 2 of “Tips for Brokers”.  Part 1 (viewable here) offered up some golden nuggets of brain food by covering Who to Recruit and How to Recruit Them.  We pick up where we left off below by discussing the all-important interview process.  The interview is a face-to-face interaction that can be handled several different ways to achieve successful results.  Unfortunately, the process on the whole is oftentimes overlooked and/or poorly conducted.  Read on to learn how to make the most out of your next series of interviews.

 

What to Do Once You’ve Recruited… 

 

Let’s set up a hypothetical: Broker Bill has fifteen prospects in his lobby.  His end goal: narrow down his findings to three ‘possibles’.  His problem: which way to go about interviewing.  Should Bill conduct his interviews in the traditional manner, i.e. a mano-y-mano grilling of each prospect, ending only when they begin to break into tears?  Or perhaps the Boiler Room route is best, a la Ben Affleck’s “Hitler youth rally”-like group interview that is less of an interview and more of a shock-and-awe presentation of your company’s new-hire philosophy.  Whichever you choose, make sure you have multiple people sit in on the interview process.  It is nigh impossible for an individual to make an objective decision; they will subliminally cater to like-minded prospects, unintentionally closing the door to the other potentials regardless of their merits.  For this reason, include several people in the initial interview/questioning, or set up a tiered interview system that passes off prospects to a different ‘interrogator’ every time.  This will ensure that potential hires will pass through selection based on merits, not likeability. 

 

While in the process of assessing candidates, it’s important to remember to trust your gut.  Resumes will only tell you so much, and oftentimes paint a greatly exaggerated picture of a prospect’s achievements and work habits.  As interviewer it is your responsibility to break through the ‘front’ put on by most potential hires; the facade that has been cultivated and polished to depict a perfect employee, but may not necessarily mirror what is truly on the inside.  The qualities that make up an ideal salesman (quick thinking, confidence, communicates well, works with others, you get the idea.) are indefinable but easily recognizable.  And if not by you, then most definitely by the rest of your team.  Since his potential hires will be working directly with the agents he already has in place, it may be a good idea for Broker Bill to embark on a sort of office-wide field trip.  This would give his ‘Top 3’ a chance to interact with his existing team, which offers the team a chance to evaluate Bill’s prospects; a move that stealthily passes the decision-making onto the agents, since of course Bill is going to ask for their feedback…

 

One final note: Background Checks!  (Click here to view a list of background-checking groups.)  While it may seem like a formality, due diligence is of the utmost importance when it comes to background checks.  A complete check includes reference checks, criminal history checks, and work history checks that produce clear job descriptions and requirements.  Armed with this info, you’ll be able to lay down the hammer when potential hires begin to embellish their former positions. 

 

I hope this post provides you with some ideas to implement when it comes time to hire some fresh meat.  Hiring valuable agents will be an integral facet of the industry’s uphill struggle; if we keep populating the field with under-trained, incompetent bags of air, the market numbers will go nowhere but down.  It should be a no-brainer at this point that a brokerage’s profitability is directly attributed to the style of agents they hire.  For this reason, I encourage you to spend as much productive time as possible when screening new hires; your decision could put the market back on its feet.

As someone who has been helping global technology firms implement their mobile strategies for nearly 10 years, I consider it my duty to educate companies on what truly works, and what does not. Mobile is not as new as you might think; it is now picking up steam in the United States. The reason for this is because it took longer for US carriers to reach market saturation. Thus, until recent years, there were less pressures to promote more data services (high margin) over their networks. Now that we’re reaching new subscriber saturation, you’re seeing competition amongst carriers to poach subscribers and now the incentive to promote data services to increase the ARPU (average revenue per user), a key indicator on Wall Street. This is evident in the “unlimited” plans you see from Sprint that spawned competitive offerings from AT&T, Verizon and now Boost Mobile’s aggressive “un Wrong” push.

Europe and other countries got there much sooner so we can take a few pages from the books of others and not make the same mistakes, or at least minimize them as much as possible. For example, in 2001 I was working in Helsinki Finland and I could send a text message to a short code of the soda vending machine in my office - out came the soda and it would just show up on my mobile bill that month. We still aren’t there in the US (8 years later) but are catching up now in leaps and bounds; you’ll see similar with parking meters sprouting up in some markets.

One thing that readers must consider is the buyer experience (or user experience [UX]) before considering any solution. Many solutions will suffer in consumer (buyer) adoption not because they aren’t cool, but because of how consumers interact with their mobile device and their surroundings. Others simply do not reach critical mass for a consumer-focused solution because they are too platform-specific. Ask yourself if that solution will show up when voting on American Idol or The Apprentice and you’ll have your answer - no. To reach the masses the answer is obvious: it has to work on the most devices, users, and networks. Walk a mile in their shoes is what I tell people, and of course, Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).

Many mobile solutions make the mistake of trying to duplicate the interactive web experience of browsing and searching on the device. This is why uptake and ROI is painfully low for consumer-based marketing campaigns. Instead, keep it simple and take a UX approach to solution design. Buyers are often walking down a sidewalk, at a stoplight, or pulled up to a curb when a sign, billboard, or banner catches their eye. Buyers in these instances are not “surfing” their mobile device; they desire information instantly - we call this point-of-interest marketing.

For over 5 years now, top VC firms in Silicon Valley, Boston, Europe, and Israel have tried to find that killer “mobile search” startup and they’re still floundering. Contrarily, SMS (text) messaging has nearly saturated the global market because it gives consumers what they want - quick, instant results. M:Metrics, the leading provider of global mobile metrics, reported that 13.2% of subscribers used mobile web and of them 6% used mobile search (2008). These numbers continue to creep up. Compare this to a staggering 72% using SMS (text), which has grown exponentially. Do you ignore 85% of potential buyers and only seek out 13-15%?

Location-based tools will flourish in time; they are still years out from reaching enough critical mass to add value to sellers. GPS may solve common issue with search: not knowing the address of where you are standing, stopping or parked, or the time required to browse through various pages of listings on a 2-inch screen. Europe has faced this for years and there are cost, device, and consumer privacy issues that slow adoption considerably. Popular social network tools will smooth over privacy issues, but it will still take considerable time before the market is ready. The key here is to see metrics on the application download rates in a market for such tools, and compare with those that already have built-in apps like SMS (staggering gaps yet again).

I hope at least my insights give “food for thought”, and I’m happy to answer anyone’s questions over the mobile landscape. For many, we’ll see you at the various shows this year. For others, we’re a blog post, tweet, text, email, or call away. The bottom line when considering mobile is User Experience (UX) so walk a mile in their shoes and ask what experience is ideal.

Here’s to a prosperous 2009 everyone!

Mike

–
Mike Sparr, CEO
http://www.Goomzee.com
“Connecting buyers and sellers”