Join us for the REALTORS Expo in Anaheim for free. To register, visit Realtors.org/conference, choose the “Expo-Only” pass and enter the code VIP11A1052. The National Association of Realtors expo runs from Friday, Nov. 11 through Monday, Nov. 14. You can view a full invitation with more details here. Once you’re at the expo, stop by our booth (#519) to see us!
An advocate of technology and social media, Meena Gujral connects with current and potential clients by blogging, responding to questions on real estate forums and posting links to articles on Facebook. She has worked in real estate for 25 years, with Coldwell Banker for 18 of those years, and for the past seven years she has owned Help-U-Sell Achievers Realty in Fremont, Calif.
She explains how technology has changed how she works, for the better.
“I remember the days when we used to find listings from a big thick book that was so difficult to carry around, the days when we had to map out every house, write down directions before taking the buyers in the car,” Gujral says. “The Internet and the GPS (technology) have made things much easier, saving time and energy so we can spend more time doing things we are good at, like building client relations and paying more attention to their needs. My goal has always been to help my buyers achieve their real estate goals.”
One way she uses technology to build client relations is through Trulia. She markets her listings and advertises open houses on the site, but what she uses Trulia the most for is to answer questions from buyers, sellers and agents.
“It is a platform where I get the most visibility. I get at least two to three leads every week from clients who have read my post and consider me the expert in that field or neighborhood,” Gujral says. “I have listed a few properties as a direct result from my Trulia answers. It is very easy to create a profile and get started to show up as the expert in your neighborhood.”
She suggests that Zillow.com is another site where you can set up a profile and start answering questions and advertise your listings and open houses.
Gujral also is active on other social media sites, including LinkedIn and Facebook. She explains that even though she has a separate Facebook page for her Help-U-Sell Real Estate office, she shares a lot of real estate articles and open house information on her personal Facebook page.
“I want all my friends to know me as an agent also, not just a friend,” she says. “I have actually had three friends contact me from my Facebook page and I am currently working on showing two of them homes, and the third one is a seller whose property I recently listed as a short sale.”
In addition to responding to questions on Trulia and posting to Facebook, Gujral also blogs. “I have five different blogging sites,” she says. “I used to blog twice a week, but I have to admit, I don’t do it as much now. I have had many clients tell me they saw my blog on a certain topic and that is why they called me. I just wish I had more time to blog since I do consider it good exposure.”
Another effective outreach technique for Gujral is drip email campaigns, which she has created for buyers and sellers. A drip email campaign sends pre-written messages to leads over a predetermined period of time. Clients have called her a year later after receiving her drip emails. “I am very excited that the Help-U-Sell Real Estate website will also have the drip email feature soon. It really works.”
[Note: Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s email campaign functionality will be live by early 2012.]
Gujral’s commitment to being considered a local expert extends to the new website her son is designing for her. The site offers community-level detail, where she can demonstrate and impart her hyperlocal knowledge, and the site also targets keywords that people searching for real estate in her immediate area would likely use, such as “Fremont Realtor” and “Pleasanton homes.”
“The bottom line is to make a site that both Google loves and customers love,” Gujral says. “We did this by targeting our content specific city-level keywords that we know buyers/sellers are looking for online.”
For new Help-U-Sell Real Estate brokers, she offers the following tips.
I would advise all new agents to get out there with technology, social media and get your name across to as many people as you can. You are fortunate to be in real estate in this technology boom time where you can get so much more exposure without spending too much money at all.
Make sure you ask for referrals from your past clients if you have been in real estate before coming to Help-U-Sell Real Estate.
Get your clients to see you as the expert in the real estate field.
How are you using social media to get the word out about your brokerage?
The upgrades and redesigns never stop here at Help-U-Sell Real Estate! To help you keep track, here’s a summary of what we’ve just completed and what’s ahead.
Continuing our full-featured map upgrades, we have added links to each property’s popup bubble. Now, visitors can opt to view listing details, contact the listing agent and save the listing right from the popup.
The new three links on the map popup bubble.
You may have noticed that a number of MLS listings do not appear on your map. That is because the geocodes, or map coordinates, had not been included with those MLS listings. We are in the process of collecting that information, and within two weeks’ time, we plan to have all of the MLS listings mapped. The other main project that remains for the maps is perfecting functionality where a visitor can drag his mouse across the map and see properties on the newly exposed portion of the map.
Early next week, you will definitely notice a redesign of your listing details pages. We have condensed the information currently displayed on the pages so that less scrolling is required and the page can be easily scanned. A short registration form on the left side of the page will encourage more visitors to turn into leads. We’ve also added a recommendation engine which will suggest similar houses to the one the visitor is viewing.
You can get a sneak peek at the redesign on our Test Office site. Please keep in mind that we are finalizing the design and functionality this week, so this is not the polished and complete version.
Lastly, if you chose one of the background themes for your website, you will notice that we’ve changed the images for Beach, Mountain and Desert.
Please share any feedback or suggestions with us either as a comment on this blog post or via email or a call.
If you attended yesterday’s Tech Time Tuesday call, you’ve already heard about our new Full Map Search page on the Help-U-Sell-provided broker websites. We have upgraded the previous version of this map search feature to include a much larger map, a toggle button to go between map view and list view and other search options.
Help-U-Sell Estate full-featured map search
Viewers can find out about individual properties by clicking on a house icon. A popup bubble will appear with a photo of the property, as well as information, such as the address, number of bedrooms and asking price. The search can be refined directly from the map page to narrow down the results in categories like property type and foreclosures. The city can be changed right from the map screen, as well.
As of now, visitors can choose a satellite view of the map or a hybrid version. We are looking into adding a street view.
If you would like to promote the new full-featured map search on your site, you can place one of two new banners on your home page.
Anyone who has driven through Chino Hills, Calif., probably recognizes Patrick Wood’s name. He’s known for his ubiquitous signage.
“The technique that brought me huge success in my core market was to start branding my name with the Help-U-Sell Office,” says Wood, who has owned Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties since 2003.
All of his staff members have magnets on their cars that have his name and the Help-U-Sell Real Estate name, and his main work vehicle has a wrap that stands out. “The real estate signs and open house signs [also] have resulted in huge recognition, and the community has responded amazingly well,” he adds. “I constantly hear how people see my signs everywhere.”
Of course, there is more to his success than signage. Wood, whose office has closed 54 sides so far this year, emphasizes the importance of offering full service and commission savings in attracting clients. “I found this to be necessary as other agents were trying to compete with my office by suggesting the clients would have to do all the work,” he says. “The full service leaves the client satisfied, which results in referrals, so it has been beneficial.”
For new Help-U-Sell Brokers, he recommends continuing the full-service concept through to the office setup. “[In our office] a team concept has been put in place, and it provides clients with access to licensed assistants seven days a week,” he says. “Service is big, constant contact is big, working together is huge. This is a crazy, intense field and having the support of a team makes it much easier and productive.”
