marketing – Page 10 – Help-U-Sell® Connect

Broker Focus: Tiffany Bullaj

Tiffany Bullaj of Help-U-Sell Hometown Realty

Marketing relies on visibility, and Tiffany Bullaj of Help-U-Sell Hometown Realty in York, Penn., makes sure her office and its listings are not only seen but seen in the best light.

She recently upgraded the office’s camera and software to HDR quality to create great photos and virtual tours. “We find that it really puts us over the top from many of our competitors who still use property photos that look unprofessional,” Bullaj says.

As another nod to the future, the office has built up its online presence and does no print advertising. Google AdWords is a solid source of Hometown Realty’s leads, along with old-fashioned referrals, which still dominate.

While many agents have pulled the plug on open houses, Bullaj encourages her agents to hold as many as possible. She believes in the opportunities open houses afford agents to meet potential clients – sellers and buyers – and tell them how Help-U-Sell can save them money while getting full-service professional Realtors. Hometown Realty also uses directional signs to increase brand awareness.

Bullaj says her office actively markets to buyers, which helped it finish June with the most closed buyer sides of any franchise office. “It was apparent to us three to five years ago that our business needed to shift from being solely dependent on listing sales into a company that works the buyer side aggressively,” she says. “Since the name “Help-U-Sell” seemed to stigmatize us by creating the thought that we only help sellers, we worked hard to counteract that by going above board to make it known to the public that we work with buyers as well, and also save them money through our “Smart Buy” program.”

The “Smart Buy” program offers buyers $1,000 off the list fee when they buy an MLS-listed property through Hometown Realty’s listing agent. To qualify, the commission must be 3 percent and the closing must take place within 60 days of listing closed. She says, “This seems to create a relationship that goes the distance. We will soon be promoting Smart Buy as a rebate option to all buyers in the area.”

How are you attracting and retaining your target markets?

New Blitz Signs

Our on-demand print vendor, Alexander’s Print Advantage, has designed two new blitz signs for Help-U-Sell. You can see the designs and order them at www.brandsawonline.com/helpusell.

These signs are simple and affordable, so they’re perfect for blanketing a target neighborhood to build brand recognition or to use in conjunction with open house signs.

Images of the two versions are below.

You can customize the new Help-U-Sell Real Estate blitz sign with your text and phone number.

Send people directly to your site by using the blitz sign with QR code.

Both signs measure 11.5″ x 17.25″ and are made of heavy-stock cardboard that is gloss laminated on both sides. You can order as few as 25 signs for $40, and 100 signs go for $135. On the QR code sign, you can specify the URL that you want the code to link to. You might want to create a URL just for your signs to measure how many responses you signs generate. If you’re targeting a neighborhood, why not link to the search results on your site that feature property listings from that area? If you’re looking for sellers, consider linking the QR code to the Seller Savings Calculator. Get creative with where you send your potential clients and think about what would resonate most with them.

We want to hear your ideas and, if you’ve already used the blitz signs, what your successes were.

Broker Focus: Marc Dosik

Marc Dosik of Help-U-Sell Federal City Realty

For buyers and sellers, real estate might be all about “location, location, location,” but for agents and brokers it’s “referrals, referrals, referrals.” Marc Dosik of Help-U-Sell Federal City Realty in Washington, D.C., actively pursues reviews and referrals as a major marketing tactic.

“I just closed a transaction with a guy in California who read my reviews on Yahoo!,” Dosik says. The buyer called based on the strength of those reviews and asked to speak to a couple of Dosik’s past clients for more feedback. Understanding the power of good testimonials, the new buyer just wrote Dosik a positive review.

As a Premier Agent on Zillow, Dosik solicits happy past customers to post their experiences on the site. He makes it easy for the customers by sending them links to his profile. He also collects reviews for Yelp and Angie’s List and puts them in Redfin.

“You can parlay these [as marketing tools],” Dosik says. He uses the reviews in listing presentations and sends prospective clients a link to his Zillow reviews. “They really help me get the listing,” he says.

Dosik encourages new and veteran brokers to ask for reviews and referrals. “Don’t stop keeping in touch,” he says. He focuses on his customers and always says “yes” to their requests. “Try not to say ‘we don’t do that’ at Help-U-Sell. Go above and beyond. You’re going to get referrals by doing that,” he advises.

Past customers’ reviews and referrals have helped Federal City Realty have a successful spring, and so has Mother Nature. “In February, we had a big increase in transactions,” Dosik says. “Normally, spring starts in March but we had a warm winter, so buyers were out there.” A lack of sellers created pent-up demand. “Since then, it’s been very busy.”

The D.C. Metro area has been steadier than most other markets during the past few years, but the housing market is stronger in some locations within the greater D.C. area than in others. The more affluent cities that are closer to Washington, D.C., such as Chevy Chase, Md., and Arlington, Va., have experienced appreciating home values, while cities that are farther away and that have a lot of new inventory, like Chantilly, Va., and Germantown, Md., are not faring as well. Dosik adds that reurbanization efforts in D.C. combined with a low unemployment rate have young professionals and investors snapping up properties in transitional neighborhoods.

With the overall strength of the D.C. Metro market, Dosik is on his way to reaching his goal of transitioning from being a one-man show to focusing more on marketing-oriented activities. He plans to add another assistant to his staff, as well as hire buyers’ agents.

What are your tips for getting the most out of testimonials?

Changes to Search on the New Corporate Site

Based on input from our franchisees and to streamline the search process for site visitors, we have made a couple of changes to the new corporate site’s search imagery and functionality.

Help-U-Sell Real Estate's Corporate Website Search — Based on input from franchisees, we have changed the image of the person from a man to a woman.

Instead of the man who previously appeared in the search area on the homepage, a woman is now pointing to the search bar. The man remains on the internal pages of the corporate site.

We have also streamlined the search process so that visitors who search for homes go directly to franchisees’ websites to view results. If a visitor searches in a city that more than one Help-U-Sell office serves, the system will direct the visitor to the office that has garnered the least number of leads from the corporate site. This “counter” method will keep track of which office’s site last received a lead and will evenly distribute leads, as opposed to the random, round-robin method currently in use. Visitors will land on search results pages on broker websites that Help-U-Sell built. Franchisees that are using a web solution from a third party will still get leads, but visitors will be taken to the franchise’s home page. The reason being that we cannot control the data that is delivered from a third-party source.

Someone who searches for single-family homes in Tucson from the new corporate site and is directed to Southeast Rita Ranch Realty’s site will see the map view of single-family homes in Tucson on Southeast Rita Ranch Realty’s site, as pictured below.

Help-U-Sell Southeast Rita Ranch Realty search results — Visitors who search for Tucson homes will be taken to the map view on Help-U-Sell broker sites.

The visitor will no longer have to click through from the list of Help-U-Sell listings. Below is the current search results that a visitor who searches for Tucson homes sees.

Help-U-Sell Search Results — The current Help-U-Sell site's search results page looks like this and requires visitors to click to get to a franchisee's site.

We think the new search method will make getting leads easier and will fairly distribute them. If you have any questions about this change or any suggestions about the new website, please let us know.

California Event Next Week

Where will you be next Wednesday, May 23? Our own Ron McCoy and James Dingman will be attending Agent Reboot Orange County, a one-day, tech-oriented event produced by Inman News, and they would love for you to join them.

“In real estate, survival depends on doing large numbers of transactions with fewer people,” says Dingman, Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s Chief Development Officer. “Smart brokers use technology to become more efficient, freeing up time that used to be spent on marketing and administrative tasks, for more important things like making new contacts and putting more transactions together. I know of no better place to get an understanding of the tech tools available and how they function in a real estate operation than Agent Reboot.”

During the fast-paced day, presentations will last no more than 20 minutes and will cover topics ranging from video marketing to generating business on Facebook to nurturing your clients. Inman News’ Chris Smith and Katie Lance will be among the speakers, along with experts like Zillow’s Industry Outreach Manager Brad Andersohn.

Agent Reboot Orange County will take place at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, and it runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If you’re in the area, we encourage you to attend with us. The registration fee is only $49 if you book online. Go to the official site to sign up.

If you’re not based in Southern California, there are other Agent Reboot events scheduled from now through the fall, with stops in Portland, Ore.; Phoenix; Denver; South Florida; and Honolulu, to name a few. You can see the full list of locations on the Agent Reboot site.