Help-U-Sell – Page 45 – Help-U-Sell® Connect

Broker Focus: Patrick Wood

Patrick Wood

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.”

Help-U-Sell Real Estate Success Summit Agenda

It’s still three months away, but we’re already finalizing the agenda for our Success Summit. The theme will be “Taking Charge of Change.”

Held at the Hotel Menage in Anaheim from November 14-16, the summit will be free for Help-U-Sell Brokers. The exact schedule (and a few surprises) has yet to be ironed out. To give you more of an idea of what to expect, here are the topics we have planned to discuss.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s strategic plan for 2012
The state of the industry and emerging opportunities
The Automated Agent: Practical uses of technology in everyday business
Creative financing and deal-doing in today’s market

We’ll also have two star-studded panels and we’ll unveil a new technology feature. We hope you can join us for our educational and camaraderie-filled three days. (The summit will begin at 2 p.m. on Nov. 14 and end at noon Nov. 16.)

If you can, we encourage you to attend at least one day of the REALTORS Conference & Expo beforehand. Those dates are November 10-14. We will have a booth (#519), and the continuing education courses are worth the visit. The early bird deadline is August 15, so register within the next week if you haven’t already. Also, let Lori Warnelo know when you’ve registered. Her email is lwarnelo@helpusell.com.

OMS Upgrades – Leads Management Module Additions and Time Zones

We have been working on building a new Leads Management Module for the past two months, and the last pieces are nearly complete.

Once you’ve claimed a web lead, it moves to your leads section. From there, you can now select if the new lead is a buyer or a seller, and you can manually add other leads that you acquired via phone, walk-in, ETM or other source. If the lead is a seller, you can set an appointment to view the property and include appointment notes. The appointment will then show up on your dashboard calendar.

A seller moves from a lead to a contact when you’ve clicked on “Convert,” or “Confirm Appointment.” You can also opt to delete the lead.

On another note, we’ve added the ability to select your office’s time zone in the OMS so that all of your alerts will be localized for you. It’s easy to change your time zone. On the Setup tab, click on “website.” You’ll see the new drop-down menu called “Set Office Time Zone.” There you can choose from Central, Eastern, Hawaii, Mountain and Pacific.

All changes should be live by the end of the week. Let us know if you have any questions or problems with the system after you’ve tried it out.
If you’d like training on anything during Tech Time Tuesday, leave us a comment. We’ll be covering movie editing in an upcoming webinar by broker request.

Broker Focus: Jack Bailey

Jack Bailey

A Help-U-Sell veteran, Jack Bailey has owned his franchise in Greensboro, N.C., since 1988. He’s seen many changes in real estate since then, from technology to the rise of buyers’ agencies, but his goal remains the same.

“I love exceeding expectations,” he says. “I get a lot of satisfaction from taking a client, listening to their objectives and overcoming obstacles.”

One of his secret weapons is his buyer consultation, which he created more than 20 years ago when he realized his buyers didn’t have knowledge of real estate basics. “You have to become more of an adviser in these tough times than just someone who lists houses,” Bailey says.

To that end, he coaches his potential buyers in the terms and the tricks of the industry that they’ll need to know. “It’s important for buyers to be educated as best they can,” he asserts.

During the consultation, Bailey explains the buying process, negotiating techniques, types of loans and basics like closing costs and escrow accounts. “By the time we’re done, we’ll have a strategy for them,” he says.

Not only does the consultation inform his clients, but it also inspires their confidence in themselves and in him.

On the seller side, Bailey advises that you need to know your statistics and your facts. “Explain what’s going to happen in the market and how [you and the seller] need to strategize,” he suggests.

His techniques and practices come from the heart. “I sincerely want to help people. I put their interest before mine,” he says. “The results always work out for everybody.”

For new brokers, particularly those new to Help-U-Sell, Bailey offers the following advice:

Make sure you pick the best business model for you. Consider your strengths, your objectives and your market before deciding between running your office as a manager with agents and doing it all yourself.
Build a good knowledge base of real estate and be constantly aware of what’s happening and what is projected to happen.
Market very smartly, especially to your Centers of Influence.
Focus on profitability, not just closings.

Top Producers for June 2011

We’re pleased to announce and congratulate Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s Top Producers for June 2011.

1) Galleria Realty had a repeat of May and closed another 12 sides in June to clinch first place.

1) Tied for the top position, Help-U-Sell Select Services moved up from last month’s #3 spot.

2) Prestige Properties remained at #2, closing 11 sides.

3) Honolulu Properties made the top 3 again with 10 closed sides in June.

[Figures are as of July 11, 2011.]