Following other streamlining changes we’ve been making to the Office Management System, we’ve consolidated the leads management module into one easy-to-use page.
The new Help-U-Sell Real Estate Leads Management Module
You access your new web leads, office leads, and registered website users from this module. You can also manually add office leads. By clicking on the “View Details” button, you can find out what the lead requested information about, define the lead type (Buyer or Seller), and the lead source (options include Internet, ETM, and walk-in). Once you choose Buyer or Seller, you have more options that are tailored to the lead type.
You can access more information about your office leads by clicking on the View Details button.
You can also convert the lead to a contact once the buyer lead has bought a home with you or the seller lead has signed with your office.
You can select the lead type and source, add information about the lead, and convert the lead on the details section.
The registered website users are separated from the other leads because they are “self-serve” leads. You can see their saved listings and what listings were viewed, as well as the leads’ email search parameters.
The contacts module is next to be redesigned, and it will have a sort feature, among other new additions. If you have any questions or feedback about either the leads management module or the contacts module, please let us know in the comments or via email.
Video has been growing in importance as a marketing tool for the past few years, and 2013 promises to make the medium even more vital especially for real estate marketing. How can you take advantage of this trend?
We’ve compiled seven tips on what to do (and what not to do, especially regarding mobile optimization of videos) to create a successful video.
Avoid tiny text.
Use clear audio.
Put links to your website and related sites, such as your blog or a property listing, in the description.
Include keywords in the description.
Use close-up shots of interesting property features, neighborhood sites or interviewees.
Test the video on mobile devices.
Keep it no longer than 3 or 4 minutes, ideally 1 to 2 minutes.
Matt Kellam of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty does a great job with the length, audio and keywords. Watch one of his recent videos of a property tour.
Not sure what to film? Try out this suggested content:
Property tours: If possible, record the sellers’ story of the home and focus on unique details of the property.
Neighborhood overviews: Give viewers a feel for the area and speak with local proprietors and residents about why they love the neighborhood.
Tips for buyers and sellers: Answer your most frequently asked questions (one per video).
Market updates: Share the most recent sales figures or give the latest interest rate information. Use graphs or other visuals to help explain the changes.
Client testimonials: Record your happy sellers’ and buyers’ praising you and your staff.
Do you have any other ideas for video content or tips for successful videos? If so, please share them with us.
[Special thanks to Inman News‘ Mobile Marketing Essentials webinar for a few of these tips.]
During our annual Help-U-Sell Success Summit, several brokers requested we add a Sold and Saved $x,xxx banner to all Sold listings on the broker websites.
Last week, we worked on this feature and launched it over the weekend. You will now have the option to show either a Sold banner on your sold listings, or the Sold and Saved $x,xxx banner.
By request from some of our brokers at this month's Success Summit, we've added Sold and Saved banners to the broker websites.
We calculate the dollar savings by taking the amount you reported on the listing side of the transaction (if you represented the seller only), add 3% for the selling side, then compare the savings to a 6% commission. If you represented both the seller and the buyer, we take what you reported on both the listings and selling sides and compare it to a 6% commission.
We also are aware that in some cases, such as REOs, you may receive a full 6% on the transaction and therefore have $0 savings. To account for this, we will only display the Sold and Saved banner when the savings exceed $1,000. When the savings are below $1,000, we will only display the Sold banner.
We look forward to your feedback on this new feature. We also want to thank the brokers who participated at this year’s Success Summit and came up with this and several other great initiatives.
The highly anticipated drip email module is close to completion. We aim to launch officially next Tuesday, Sept. 4, but it is available now via OMS. You can access it under the Marketing & Content tab.
The module, named Drip Email Setup, has been preloaded with a few drip email campaigns, including ones for newly registered buyers and sellers, and agents you’re recruiting. We will add more in the next few weeks. You can modify all of the existing campaigns to fit your writing style, and we encourage you to localize them to your office and marketplace. We have embedded some automated personalization into the emails. For instance, the signature will include ##OFFICE_NAME##, which will be filled in with your office name when the email is delivered. A cheat sheet containing these personalizations will be accessible in the module soon.
You can also create new emails for the campaigns we’ve created, as well as create whole new campaigns. All of the emails have headers, footers and images that you are free to use for your new emails. The system will allow you to upload your own images, too.
The new Help-U-Sell drip email module enables brokers to edit existing emails, create new ones, schedule messages and make new campaigns.
After you have your campaign messages ready, you can set up the emails to send out automatically on a schedule that you determine. For example, within a campaign, the first email would be indicated as the #1 message with 0 days’ delay. The second email would be named #2 and send out 7 days (or however many days you choose) after the first email is sent, and so on. You will also be able to create and schedule recurring emails. We suggest you use the Test Email button to see how the email will appear to the recipient before you send out the email.
You will set up your campaigns and monitor the results in the Campaign Setup section. The Active Campaigns tab lets you see when campaigns began, their statuses and how many contacts have received each message. Clicking on the View Details button will display when a campaign’s emails were sent (or will be sent), who received them and whether a recipient is active or unsubscribed from your campaigns.
Brokers can view all active email campaigns to see when the emails have been or will be sent out.
The Setup Campaign tab is where you select your contacts to receive each campaign’s emails. You can also change the “from” address (by default it is “noreply@helpusell.com”) and the date your campaign will start.
The Setup Campaign tab is where you choose who receives the emails for each campaign.
The last piece of the puzzle is your contacts. You will want to make sure your office contacts are up-to-date and in good order. This is where the module will obtain the contact lists for your campaigns. You can create new contact lists in My Office Contacts. Some examples of useful contacts lists include past clients, potential agents and seller prospects.
How do you plan to use the drip email module? Tell us your campaign ideas. Also, we encourage you to test out the module this week, and if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us.
The new listing module design is scheduled for completion by the end of the month. We gave a sneak preview to this week’s Tech Time Tuesday attendees. For those of you who couldn’t make it, here are a few screen shots and an overview of the functionality.
The streamlined listing module has five collapsible menus, down from the eight tabs currently in use. The Listings Details menu affords easy access to other functionality in addition to updating the description. A click on the address leads to the listing’s property page on the broker site. Click on the main photo and get a QR code that will direct people who scan it to the property page.
There are three options for printing the listing description: a three-photo brochure, a listings details sheet with a map and a listings details information sheet solely for agents.
The new streamlined listing module design features five collapsible menus, a reduction from the current eight tabs.
The other four menus can be opened by clicking on the plus sign to their right. The Listing History menu shows a graph of listing views and a list of status changes with the dates the status changed. In the Listing Attachments menu, the broker or agent can upload pictures or documents related to the listing and indicate whether the attachment is available for public display. The Open House Schedule menu contains a calendar where open house events can be entered and viewed. The Listing Notes menu enables the broker or agent to read and add internal information about the property.
Another enhancement we’ve created is the ability to add MLS fields to property listing descriptions. As each MLS is incorporated into the new system, brokers and agents will be able to select the fields that show up in the property listing descriptions. The names of the fields can also be edited. In the example below, “Style” has been changed to “Architecture” and “Spa” will show up as “Hottub.” These fields will be added as filters on the broker websites’ property search results page, as well.
With the new functionality, you will be able to control the MLS fields that show up in your listing descriptions.
Let us know what you think of the new listing module and MLS upgrades. If you have any questions, we want to hear them, too.
