December 2011 – Help-U-Sell® Connect

Help-U-Sell Successes in 2011

For us at Help-U-Sell Real Estate, 2011 was a fantastic year! We have a lot to celebrate and much to look forward to in 2012.

Our technology rivals that of any of our competitors. We have developed a full slate of tools for our franchisees and their clients, including a new leads management module for our Office Management System, a branded virtual tour service, a QR code generator and back-end systems for buyers and sellers to access listings data and documents. Next month, we proudly debut our mobile web application, which has already received national media coverage.

Help-U-Sell’s look and feel has changed to mirror the new technology we’ve created. A modern, sleek design has been incorporated into everything from banners to business cards. We’ll unveil more collateral boasting this new look in the next few weeks.

Banners for Help-U-Sell brokers — New banners reflect Help-U-Sell Real Estate's new design direction.

The new look also appeared at three conventions we attended this year. We had busy and impressive booths at the California Association of REALTORS, National Association of REALTORS and Triple Play conventions this fall. Our franchisees have spread the word about Help-U-Sell this year by working hard in their own markets and by attending conventions and being ambassadors at our booths.

We couldn’t have been more pleased to see so many Help-U-Sell family members at our Success Summit in Anaheim, Calif. We learned a lot from each other and from our guest speakers, among them finance expert Patricia Boyd and Zillow’s Nick Taylor. We’re looking forward to next year’s summit already. In the meantime, our weekly teleconferences, Tech Time Tuesday and Wonderful Wednesday, will continue to connect us and allow us to share knowledge with each other.

In the next month or so, we’ll also premier the new online coaching program, ProCoach-U. It will use online learning modules combined with one-on-one coaching for new franchisees. You can get a sneak peek on our YouTube channel.

We are proud of our accomplishments in 2011 but even more excited to move forward and keep growing in 2012!

We want to hear your proudest achievement of this year and your goals for next year. Share them with us in the comments!

Order Your Agent Recruitment Signs

Brokers, tomorrow (Wednesday, Dec. 21) is the last day to add your order to the agent recruitment signs print run. One of our new vendors, Alexander’s Print Advantage, is offering to print a batch for us at one time to reduce the cost of individual signs. Below is one of the options for the signs.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Agent Recruitment Sign — This is one of the options for the Help-U-Sell Real Estate agent recruitment signs.

The signs will cost approximately $10 to $12 each if you order during the print run. Individual printings outside of the print run will cost about $20 per sign. You can place your order online at Alexander’s Print Advantage.

Alexander’s also has agent recruitment brochures available to print on demand. We encourage you to order the brochures and at least one sign (they are on offer in two sizes and two color schemes) to assist with your recruitment efforts.

If you have already ordered the signs, please let us know what you think of them and if they’ve garnered any success for you.

Broker Focus: Tammy Whitehead

Tammy Whitehead of Help-U-Sell Riverside Realty

Tammy Whitehead of Help-U-Sell Riverside Realty in California believes you can go home again.

She and her husband, Charlie, owned a Help-U-Sell Real Estate franchise from 2000 until 2007, when they sold it to pursue a building business. The state of the economy forced them to close the business in 2010. Looking for a new opportunity, Whitehead decided to return to her roots. “I ran into [Franchise Opportunities Director] Ron McCoy, and he asked me if I would be interested in coming home to Help-U-Sell,” she said.

Whitehead has had her new Help-U-Sell office since the fall of 2010. While she holds hope for the future of the market, she also holds a practical view of its current state.

“I still see a lot of upheaval in the real estate market,” Whitehead said. “People are not settled yet.”

More optimistically, she added: “I think next year may be a long year, but we will pull through. We must be positive to everyone we meet and give them hope. I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

One way she helps her current and potential clients is simply by being responsive. Like Kimberly Zelena, last month’s Broker Focus subject, Whitehead makes a point of answering the phone, day and night. “That always impresses people,” she said.

Her top achievement this year is hiring an assistant. “She helps so much,” Whitehead said. “I can now take a minute, think clearer and spend more time with my agents training.” Her goal for 2012 is for her office to do 50 transactions outside of her REO account.

She encourages new brokers to hang in there, put their heads down and pull through it.

“We all need a really good dose of the holiday season, I think this year much more than before,” she concluded. “We need love and hope from each other and for everyone to work together.”

Help-U-Sell App Featured on Technology News Site

Help-U-Sell’s new web-based mobile application, set to launch next month, has been featured on technology news site AGBeat. The article previews the app’s functionality and showcases several screenshots.

Read the entire article on AGBeat and let us know what you think (and please comment on the AGBeat article if you like what you see!). You can also look at the overview we published on Connect for more screenshots.

Stay tuned for next month’s app debut!

Top Producers for November 2011

Congratulations to our top producers for November. Competition was fierce last month, with four offices tied for second place, three of them based in Arizona.

1) North Carolina’s Help-U-Sell Triad Realty closed 10 sides to take first place.

2) Help-U-Sell Galleria Realty closed seven sides, part of a four-way tie for second place. The office is in Tucson, Ariz.

2) Help-U-Sell Hometown Realty, out of York, Penn., also closed seven sides.

2) Help-U-Sell Real Estate Specialists, in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., hit lucky number seven, as well.

2) Tucson’s Help-U-Sell Southeast Rita Ranch Realty joined the rest of the second-place finishers with seven sides.

3) Help-U-Sell Central Properties, also in Arizona, closed six sides to tie for third place.

3) Help-U-Sell Select Real Estate, based in Eugene, Ore., rounds out November’s list with six closed sides.

Reminder: Be sure to enter your closed transactions as soon as possible to be considered for the monthly top producers list and our Winter Warm-Up Contest.

[Figures as of Dec. 2, 2011.]