Broker Focus: Matt Kellam

Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty
Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty in Chambersburg, Penn.

Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty in Chambersburg, Penn., takes a two-pronged approach to serving his clients and marketing their homes: tried-and-true basics and modern technology.

He opened his office in May 2005 and has learned a lot in the years since. “The basic Help-U-Sell system works,” he says. “Don’t try to fix something that’s not broken.”

One exception: He prefers to host open houses himself in order to capture buyer leads.

Personal contact is important to Kellam. He makes a point of keeping in touch with clients, past, present and future and encourages new Help-U-Sell brokers to do the same. “Be sure to be accessible to buyers and sellers,” he says. One of the benefits of running small office is that people can reach him directly on any given day. He’s also planning to put more energy into staying connected to previous clients and centers of influence this year.

For Kellam, the personal touch leads the way in client relations, but the Internet rules when it comes to property marketing. When he started out, he followed everyone else into print advertising, soon realizing that online was where his office needed to focus. Now, he’s creating video tours to help his sellers attract buyers. Having spent 20 years in radio, he says, “multimedia doesn’t faze me.”

Kellam films each house with a Sony Cyber-shot camera and uses Windows Movie Maker to edit the video. He records the audio separately using a headset and then adds the audio track to the video. He uploads the videos on YouTube and links to them on his site under the Virtual Tours tab on the property pages. One of his recent property videos shows both the exterior and interior and gives information about recent remodeling, last year’s property taxes and room dimensions.

He’s planning to phase out static virtual tours in the near future.

How do you use video in your marketing mix?

Help-U-Sell Cookbook Update

At last year’s Broker Summit, the idea for a Help-U-Sell cookbook germinated. We have since collected recipes from offices throughout the country, from Pennsylvania to California and Minnesota to Texas. Thank you to everyone who submitted a favorite dish! The final cookbook contains almost 50 recipes in four categories: Appetizers and Side Dishes, Soups, Entrees, and Baked Goods and Desserts.

All the offices whose recipes appear in the book have their contact information in a directory toward the back of the cookbook.

It is now in the early stages of being designed. We plan to have a couple of hard copies to each office early next month. Each office will also receive an electronic version that you can have printed by a local vendor. The cover can be personalized for your office.

The cookbooks will make great housewarming gifts for buyers and sellers, thank-you gifts for testimonials or referrals, or holiday gifts for former clients. How will you use your cookbooks in your marketing plan?

Top Producers for March 2012

Our Winter Warm-up Contest really seems to be paying off in the form of closed sides. Our top producing offices for March 2012 closed a combined total of 52 sides. The competition was fierce, too. Quite a few offices just missed the list with eight and seven sides. Great job, everyone!

1) Help-U-Sell Select Services, in Fort Myers, Fla., closed an impressive 14 sides.

2) California’s Help-U-Sell Santa Maria finished second with 11 closed sides.

3) Help-U-Sell Detwiler Realty, out of Carlisle, Penn., is part of a three-way tie for third with nine closed sides.

3) Help-U-Sell  Honolulu Properties closed seven seller sides and two buyer sides.

3) Last but not least, Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty in Chambersburg, Penn., also closed nine sides in March.

This is just the start of the spring selling season. We can’t wait to see what you all turn in for April!

[Figures as of April 3, 2012.]

Facebook Timeline Cover Image

The new Facebook Timeline for business pages will become mandatory on this Friday, March 30. If you haven’t set up your page for the changeover, we can help.

One of the most important and easy ways to prepare your new Timeline is by adding a cover photo. The recommended dimensions are 850 pixels by 315 pixels. We have a cover photo on our Facebook timeline that you are welcome to use until you have your own image. You can access our cover image in the download library. Open the folder named Broker Website Tools, where you’ll find another folder called New Website Artwork. The cover image is in the NewSocialMedia subfolder.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Facebook Timeline Cover Image
Help-U-Sell Real Estate Facebook Timeline cover image

When you are ready to select your own cover image, keep these rules and suggestions in mind.

Facebook does not allow promotional or text-based cover images. You also can’t include pricing or your website URL. Avoid stock images and try to incorporate the Help-U-Sell colors. A couple of ideas: a quality photo of your office building or an image of you and your friendly staff wearing Help-U-Sell shirts.

The new profile picture dimensions are 180 pixels by 180 pixels. You can use a logo or a photo of yourself. The key is to be consistent with your branding and be identifiable.

If you have any questions or want feedback on your Facebook cover image, please contact Kendra or Tony.

New Seller Savings Comparison Calculator

We’re about to unveil a new version of the Seller Savings Comparison chart for the broker websites. The new version will allow you to personalize the chart to show your set fee, and your sellers can enter their home’s value and calculate their potential savings.

We have some design work to complete before we recommend adding the page to your site, but here is a preview of the basic structure. In the example, the seller has entered $200,000 as his home’s value, and the broker has a set fee of $3,690 and a showing fee of $2,000.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Seller Savings Comparison Chart
The new Seller Savings Comparison chart will allow you to enter your office's set fee and your seller to calculate his potential savings.

You can populate the chart with your set fee and showing fee by logging into your OMS, clicking on “Setup” in the drop-down menu and selecting “website” from the submenu. You will add in your set fee and showing fee as shown in the example below.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate set fee and showing fee data fields
This is where you enter your set fee and showing fee in the OMS.

If you have any questions about how to use the chart or how to fill it in with your set fee and showing fee, please contact us. The chart will be ready for you to publish soon. We will keep you updated.

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