OMS Upgrades – New Leads Management Tool

Several of our franchisees requested the ability to export leads and contacts from the Office Management System. We have just added this functionality to the back-end, in the Reports section.

To access these exports, click on Reports under the Sales tab.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Contact and Lead Management Tools
To access contact and lead export tools, click on Reports on the Sales menu in OMS.

Once you’ve selected either Contact or Lead export, you can choose a specific category to export. In this example, Sellers have been chosen from the Contact category.

Help-U-Sell Contact Export Menu
Choose a specific contact type (or choose all) to export from the OMS.

There are six options for exporting the generated list of contacts or leads, including Acrobat (PDF), Excel 97-2003 and CSV, which will likely be the most useful.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Contact and Lead Export Tool
You can export your contacts and leads in six different formats, including CSV and PDF.

If you have any questions about the new functionality or would like to request additional export or report categories, contact us at support[at]helpusell[dot]com.

Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty’s Matt Kellam Featured on National Real Estate Site

Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty
Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty, is this RealEstate.com's Pro of the Week.

Congratulations to our own Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty in Chambersburg, Penn., for being selected as RealEstate.com’s Pro of the Week.

In the 900-word article, we learn about Kellam’s hometown, previous positions (he once sold computers), favorite sports teams, and why he opened a Help-U-Sell Real Estate franchise.

“It made sense,” he explained. “It was something completely different from traditional real estate. It offered something to the consumer, and it just felt good.”

You can read the article in its entirety on RealEstate.com.

New Marketing Tools for Brand Recognition

As the weather gets warmer in most of the country and you hold more open houses and sell more homes, how will you ensure that you’ll stay top of mind after you close the door or the transaction?

Following up via a drip email campaign, phone calls and requests for testimonials, where appropriate, are a few ways. You can also give out useful items that will remind your open house visitors and clients of Help-U-Sell Real Estate every time they need to jot a few notes or have morning coffee.

Our print-on-demand vendor, Alexander’s Print Advantage, has just added a line of promotional items. The Help-U-Sell Real Estate logo can be placed on all of the items, and magnets can be personalized with your contact information. Notepads will also be available for personalization soon.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate travel mug
Help-U-Sell Real Estate promotional marketing tools include a travel mug.

Some ideas for recipient-item pairings:

    * Buyers – tape measures. Buyers need to make sure their furniture will fit in a home’s rooms.
    * Clients who are closing – wine glasses. Toast to the successful sale or purchase.
    * Agents – travel mugs. We hope your agents are always on the go. Reward them and help them reinforce the brand with logo’d travel mugs.
    * Open house visitors – pens. Inexpensive and useful, pens will keep your brand at hand with open house visitors or office guests.

Alexander’s also offers an array of golf ball brands, tote bags, key chains and bottle openers. If there any other items you would like to put the Help-U-Sell logo on, contact us or speak with Alexander’s directly. You can view the entire selection by going to Alexander’s Help-U-Sell site and clicking on Promotions.

While you’re there, take a look at the Holiday Cards, too. We now have cards for seven holidays available, including Memorial Day.

What is your favorite item to give away?

Flat-fee Versus Commission-based Real Estate Business Models

On April 25, 2013, Help-U-Sell Bay Beach Realty broker/owner Dan Desmond and Scott Einbinder, a veteran real estate salesperson and consultant, in Toms River, N.J., will debate which real estate business model is superior: flat-fee or commission-based. Proceeds from the highly anticipated event will benefit the local Habitat for Humanity chapter.

Dan Desmond, Help-U-Sell Bay Beach Realty
Dan Desmond of Help-U-Sell Bay Beach Realty will debate the merits of the flat-fee business model on April 25, 2013.

While Desmond will be speaking on his own behalf and not as a representative of Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s corporate office, we are looking forward to cheering him on in about two weeks’ time.

Since we began operating in 1976, Help-U-Sell Real Estate has practiced the flat-fee (or set-fee) business model. Our founder, Don Taylor, thought the idea that consumers paid high commissions, based on the sale price of a home and not on the actual cost of marketing the home, could be improved upon.

Our brokers, all members of the National Association of REALTORS, offer the same full service as commission-based brokers, but charge a flat fee instead of a variable percentage. The flat fee is always at a savings for our sellers. However, we are not discount brokers. Our brokers determine their flat fee based on solid business practices (the market conditions, their profit margin and the cost to perform services) and not based on what the broker next door is charging.

Last year, our offices saved sellers $12.5 million in commission fees, when compared to a 6% commission. To us, a flat fee just makes sense for everyone: our sellers, our brokers and our brokers’ agents.

If you would like more information about how Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s set-fee business model works, visit our Franchise Opportunity Center website or contact us.

Top Producers for March 2013

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Just Sold postcard
Help-U-Sell Direct Savings Real Estate is tied for second place in our top producers list for March.
It might still be cold in some parts of the country, but spring arrived early for many of our Help-U-Sell offices.

1) Back on top, Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties closed 14 sides last month. All but one were seller sides.

2) Help-U-Sell Direct Savings Real Estate, in Waynesboro, Va., tied for second place with 12 closed sides. Four were seller sides, two were buyer sides and three were dual-sided transactions.

2) Also with a dozen closed sides, Florence, Ala.’s Help-U-Sell Quad Cities Realty closed seven seller sides, one buyer side and two dual-sided transactions.

3) York, Penn.’s Help-U-Sell Hometown Realty rounds out the top three with 11 closed sides: four seller, three buyer and two dual-sided transactions.

Congratulations to all of our top offices and the ones who almost made our competitive list for March!

[Updated figures as of April 10, 2013.]

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