What’s Going on?

First of all, AgentOffice: Personal Edition and AgentOffice: Team Editions are not upgrades to older versions of AgentOffice (including the AgentOffice desktop program).  Both editions are completely NEW programs with virtually no relation to the old program. Personal Edition for single-users and Team Edition for larger teams. Think of it as: the new generation of AgentOffice!

The new versions are installed directly onto your computer as an add-on to your Outlook. Neither Editions are web-based, however they give you the option to automatically synch (backup) your data to Emphasys Software’s cloud servers in the event of a computer malfunction. The major benefit is that integrating your AgentOffice data with your smartphone is now a breeze.

Personal vs. Team Editions Explained

AgentOffice: Personal Edition is a single-user program best suited to individual real estate agents. If you have personal assistant, they can share the subscription as well. Subscription cost is $30/month with no contracts to sign. Unlimited support is included as is free upgrades. Available for up to 3 computers.

AgentOffice: Team Edition has been designed for real estate teams in mind. It features a newly integrated dashboard to keep track of reporting and also has customizable privatization capabilities.

Both Editions integrates directly into Settlement Room, real estate’s leading closing management software. SettlementRoom is a web-based platform also powered and supported by Emphasys Software.

So…. what should you do?

Emphasys Software continues to support previous versions of AgentOffice. If you’re looking to upgrade your system, you now have options. We believe that AgentOffice is laying the foundation for a multi-user platform poised to again become the next best thing in real estate. We invite you to sign up for a Free 15 Day Trial and see some of the great features of real estate’s most popular crm software.

We’re here to help so please feel free to contact AgentOffice Support at (888) 661-6600 or join an upcoming webinar to see how this software can help your real estate business grow.

Privatization

First off, privatization is now a feature for AgentOffice: Team Edition (TE) and is no longer a feature for AgentOffice: Personal Edition (PE). We have removed the feature from Personal Edition because it is generally used for one Agent (and possibly an assistant) and all the data in those 3 or 4 registration keys should be shared across all the computers identically.

Privatization was a big highlight for the release of AOTE because now when an item (contact/note/listing etc) is marked with the “Private” category, AgentOffice will verify the owner of that item and leave it on the computer it was originally created on, and removing it from any and all other computers that item may have been sent to via the sync. You may think…. “data is disappearing from my Outlook”. Rest easy that it is not and your data is safe.  This is simply because the item in question was marked as private.

Dashboard

The dashboard is a tool that is activated for every Team Leader upon signup. Team Leaders will be able to view their team’s productivity in detail as a whole or view each individual’s performance.  The team leader also has the ability to view the data in 2 different formats: bar graph or a pie chart. One very important thing to know is that only the team leader will be able to view this dashboard unless it is specially requested to be viewed by another member of the team.

If you aren’t already running AgentOffice: Team Edition, contact your Account Manager or email
realestate@emphasys-softare.com to get setup today.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong with email marketing — broken links, typos, unoptimized images — the list goes on and on. So read carefully, and make sure you avoid these email marketing mistakes next time you’re promoting your real estate or brokerage business to clients or prospects.

1. Database #Fail

Nothing is more painful than opening an email and being greeted by… “Dear <First Name> ”. Oftentimes this puts an emphasis on the lack of authenticity on the sender’s side so make sure you are correctly mapping labels (First Name, Last Name, Company Name) to values. Otherwise, you risk disappointing your community and losing email recipients.

2. Boring Emails

Boring emails trigger readers to quickly hit the delete button. You can still promote data without being boring. Use exciting language and try to pique people’s curiosity with humor or controversy. Be somebody who tells a story and grab the reader’s attention with the very first sentence by referring to something funny or newsworthy.

3. The Hard Sell

So many emails are all about selling. Often, organizations only send email correspondance to promote their products or services. These types of messages get pretty old pretty fast and can turn people off. Instead, make sure your messages deliver value to recipients. It could serve to spread announcements about a new property; help people with a common, real estate specific challenge; or extend new opportunities to an existing community of followers.

4. The Same Ol’ Timing

Test different times and days for sending out emails and, most importantly, do some counter-competitive timing. Sending emails on weekends for example can actually increase readership as people take their time reading emails while enjoying their morning espresso and croissants.

5. No Connection with Readers

When running marketing campaigns, adapt your messaging to fit the needs of different buyer personas (your target audience) in your network. If you’re a Broker/Owner of a real estate brokerage company, for instance, you might have five buyer personas: an independent buyer, a corporate buyer, a buyer with a large family, a buyer looking for a vacation home, and a couple planning to purchase their retirement home.

Interestingly enough, this is true for other aspects of marketing—presentations, blogging, social media updates, etc. For all of them, you have to develop a voice that represents your brand and resonates with readers. Try telling stories about successes or failures in your industry.

What are some of the email marketing mistakes you have learned from? Has the AgentOffice mass mailing feature helped you stay in touch with your networks?

The most overlooked factor of networking is that to really make the most of it, you first have to give. Networking isn’t only about what you get out of the connection, it’s also about what you give. This is one of the biggest reasons why many fail at networking events. If you look at it solely as a quick way to pick up new clients, you are missing out on the bigger picture.

Successful Networking

Successful networking is about meeting new people and offering just as much as you receive. If you constantly try to sell, you’ll be known as as a salesperson and chances are they won’t buy what you’re selling (even if they are in the market somewhere down the line). But if you are known as someone who is constantly giving (information, advice, referrals), you will start to gain a reputation as a trusted source and expert in your industry.

Be aware that we are all networking “at all times”. Look at every social interaction as a way to build your network of contacts and friends. Let this happen naturally: you never know when the person behind you in line at the grocery store is looking to purchase a new condo and looking for a trusty real estate broker to help them navigate the market.

Also, don’t be afraid to add everybody to your list of contacts. It may seem odd to try to add the local gym trainer to your professional network but some day they’ll probably be in the market for a new property. If you’re looking to shed some of that holiday weight or just want to get in shape for the New Year, you’ll be glad you have that person in your network as they may offer you a discount or preferred service. Make sure to have an efficient CRM software that allows you to keep detailed information of your new contacts.  Having the foresight to integrate everybody into your social network is forward thinking for success.

As mentioned before, don’t come on too aggressive when building your circle of influence. Networking should be viewed a social activity and your communication should reflect that. Making a connection should be like talking to an old friend. Trying to manufacture a relationship where one doesn’t exist is a recipe for failure. Creating a new contact is about listening to the other person and hearing what they have to say. They’ll appreciate the fact that you are willing to listen to them.

If you take this approach, building relationships and expanding your sphere of influence through successful networking will become natural. Practice the methods above and act in a professional manner. Keep an eye out for any new connections and relationships you can build and soon you will have a network that any real estate professional would envy.

Tell us your successful networking tips or stories in the comments below.

The reality is that there’s a vast difference between contact organizer software (also referred to as Contact Manager software) and CRM software. For one, contact organizer software is geared towards individuals with features often too limiting to the needs of today’s real estate professionals.

For Small and Growing Businesses

For a small or medium sized team of realtors, or a new real estate brokerage firm, contact organizer software will not be able to handle the needs of your team, including workgroup features, privitazation, storage, workflow, marketing campaign automation, and integration to other products. Some contact manager software is available on the market for small groups of users but why limit yourself to contact manager software when you can achieve so much more with CRM software at a price you can afford?

The key message here is, if you use Microsoft Outlook or other free e-mail systems like Gmail to track information about your contacts and schedules, that alone is not CRM. Yes, it’s better than not having any kind of an electronic system to track client activity but you are way behind in what you can do with an integrated CRM in place- not to mention one designed specifically for your real estate needs.

A true real estate CRM software solution for example, will be able to handle complete front office automation for account and contact management, property sales, marketing, and back office integration.

Tell us what you’re current needs are for keeping track of your leads, prospects, and current clients. What painpoints do you have with the software you’re currently using?

We can select either Residential or Commercial, and for our purposes today I’m going to select Residential. And I’m going to select from an existing contact in my Outlook. Simply by selecting Contact, going to my list of Contacts that I want to use, and I’m going to go ahead and select Carol because she’s asked me to list her property today. You can see I’ve already got her address populated, and I’m going to go ahead and click OK.

Now we need to add some more information. So if we need to add additional Contacts to this transaction, that is done by simply selecting the Change button on the far right corner. So we’ll go ahead a select another Contact to be associated with this transaction and we’ll select Carolyn.

Property Details

There may be some additional information that you want to keep record of. Such as lot size, any nearby amenities. This listing tab is probably the one that you’re going to use most often because this is where we’re going to go in and change the price, change the status, put in the expiration date, original list date, that type of information. As well as you can see down here we have an Activity Report. So any appointments that I create, any notes, any tasks I create in Outlook can also be associated to the listing as well as to the Contact itself. And this is great for later review or if you want to send an Activity Report to your Seller. Of course the room types, the type of property it is, the financing if there is any particular financing, notes can be kept here, showing instructions can be shown.

And then of course we can add additional photos if we want to keep a record and have the photo in our Outlook it’s simply done by clicking add, going into your photo library, and selecting the photo.

So that’s how easy it is to track a listing in AgentOffice: Personal and Team Edition.

“Yes, I do. I use ______________,” or, “No, I don’t use a real estate CRM.” (Occasionally the answer is, “What’s a real estate CRM?” So in case you don’t know, a CRM is customer relationship management software for real estate agents. It helps you manage all your business contacts and your interactions with them.)

What agents sometimes don’t realize is this: Every agent uses something to help with CRM. Hopefully it’s not a pile of Post-It Notes. When agents think they’re not using anything for CRM, they’re often using Microsoft Outlook.

Track Listings in Outlook? Well, no…

Outlook has some built-in features that make it a great contact management system. That’s why so many agents end up using it. But it definitely has some gaps. Most notably, you can’t track your real estate listings in Outlook.

AgentOffice: Turn “No” into “Yes” and Track Listings in Outlook

With AgentOffice: Personal Edition, you can transform Outlook into a full-fledged CRM for real estate agents. It’s already a great contact management system, so AgentOffice fills the gaps. There’s no new software to learn, no learning curve. You don’t need to buy any training materials. You just do what you’re already doing: manage your day in Outlook.

Want to see how easy it is to add a listing to Outlook? This two-and-a-half minute video shows you how. (Read the transcript here.)

Free Trial

Ready to try it for yourself? See how AgentOffice can turn “No” into “Yes” when it comes to your real estate CRM needs. You can sign up for a FREE 15-day trial of AgentOffice right here.
Start My Free Trial

But there’s a downside, and it’s huge: When you use online real estate agent software, you can find yourself in a situation where your contacts and listings aren’t yours anymore. Instead, they are hosted by your software provider, which means that the information is stored someplace else. Your most valuable asset – your contacts – is controlled by someone else.

It’s never an issue until you decide you want to move to another provider. That’s when you discover how hard it is to move your data. You might even find yourself in a position where your software provider is holding your data hostage, which is a place where you never want to be.

Control Your Contacts and Listings

One of the best features of AgentOffice: Personal Edition is that you own your data. Your contacts and listings are stored in your own computer, and they’re easily accessible using Outlook. You’re in charge. No one can ever hold your data hostage because you have it. But what happens when your computer crashes? Do you have a backup?

A survey last year found that only 13% of users back up their computers often enough. And yet, “80% of people have lost information and had to restore it.” This means that people are relying on old backups (or none at all!) and losing information forever.

Don’t let this happen to you. With AgentOffice, you can safely back up all your vital data online. For free. In fact, it happens automatically, every ten minutes. AgentOffice is continually backing up your critical contacts and listings in a secure, online location so that you don’t ever have to worry about it. You have more important things to think about.

Control Your Backups, Too

We recognize that your data belongs to you, but we also know that maybe you’ll feel just a little bit more comfortable knowing that you can do your own backups, too. That’s why AgentOffice lets you back up your contacts and listings to your computer (or better yet, a CD, DVD or flash drive).

Local backups like these are just one extra layer of protection that AgentOffice provides.

Try AgentOffice for Free

With AgentOffice, online and local backups give you security and peace of mind. We know you’ll love it, so you can try AgentOffice today to see if it’s the right real estate agent software for you.

Click Here to Start Your Free Trial

A common part of the real estate business is a thank you to clients that are buying or selling property, especially for clients buying a new home. Koozies and calendars are passé, although they’ll still be used commonly by Realtors.

The article has a couple of interesting ideas, so I decided to get creative and add a few ideas of my own.

Top 3 Guidelines for Real Estate Closing Gifts

When you’re looking for special ideas for closing gifts, keep these three things in mind.

1. Think Local

How about a bottle of wine from a local winery? (I once received a bottle of wine from my agent’s own winery.) You could try a gift basket from a local chocolatier where the delectables are produced in-house. The key is to identify something unique that applies to your area. You specialize in your area, which makes your search easy.

2. Look for Something Personalized

You can always put a nice twist on a gift related to the family’s new address. For instance, a self-inking address stamp doesn’t have to be cheesy. First-time home buyers especially would appreciate a thoughtful item like this stamp from finestationery.com.

The possibilities for personalizing a gift for the new family really are endless. This article suggests a high-quality monogrammed welcome mat.

3. Sometimes Practical Is Best

Let’s face it. If someone just bought a foreclosure with plans to fix it up as a rental unit, he’s not going to be interested in a self-inking address stamp, no matter how elegant. But he’d probably really appreciate a gift card for the hardware store or lumber yard. The point is to choose a gift that fits your client’s needs.

Bottom Line

Saying thank you is an essential element of building referral business. At minimum, send a card to thank each customer for his or her business.

For this article, I asked my mother-in-law if she received a thank you gift at closing when she purchased a home last year, and she said, “No, not even a card thanking me for my business.”

Receiving thank you cards is often unmemorable, which is why you should go the extra mile to give a thoughtful gift. But it’s better to be forgotten after writing a thank you card than to be remembered as the agent who didn’t even bother to send one.

What thank you gifts do you give?

Do you regularly give clients gifts at closing? What are your favorite items to give?

Our informal study mirrors the results of various NAR and industry studies that find approximately 48 percent of agents do not respond to Internet leads—46 percent of our inquiries went unanswered. And, what is perhaps worse, 23 percent of those [who] received call backs received them, on average, 8 hours after the forms were submitted. Today’s Internet consumer is expecting a response certainly within the hour but, more likely, within 15 or 20 minutes.

Are you capitalizing on the leads that your web site generates? Here’s how to make sure you’re not squandering leads.

Three Essential Things to Do to Capitalize on Online Leads

1. Be available.

If you want to capture leads on your web site, you need to give people an easy way to do it. This means that you need to put a form next to every listing. A “Contact Me” button in the corner of the screen won’t cut it.

It’s a buyer’s market, with a surplus of properties available. Potential buyers aren’t going to hunt for ways to contact you. If they don’t readily see how to reach you, they’ll just move to the next property.

Tip: Emphasys offers integrated real estate web site solutions, and yes, there’s a contact form next to each and every listing.

2. Respond quickly.

Notice how a callback after 8 hours is considered possibly worse than no callback at all. Real estate is competitive these days, so if you operate in a competitive market, you need to ensure that leads are sent to an email address that is easily accessible via phone. You don’t go anywhere without your phone, so it’s an essential tool that gives you a leg up in quick-response time.

3. Keep track.

Are your leads scattered in your inbox? Do you have a hard time when it comes to getting them entered into your contact management system?

You already know that you have to be organized in order to compete, but being organized is one of those things that’s easier said than done.

You can make it easier for yourself by investing in a real estate CRM that handles the drudgery for you. AgentOffice: Personal Edition is a real estate solution that imports all your web site leads directly into Outlook. Translation: you don’t have to enter them by hand.

Try AgentOffice for Free

You can try AgentOffice today – completely free – by signing up for a no-obligation trial. Click here to get started.