December 2007 - Posts

Techology Plan
30 December 07 01:31 AM | dickbetts | 2 comment(s)

I get so many emails and information daily I can’t keep track of who sends me what.  Here is something that came in and I quickly copied the numbers and important things for digesting later.  According to Leslie Appleton-Young, Chief Economist and Vice President of California Association of REALTORS, her analysis of the California Real Estate Market for 2006.

92% of internet buyers found their agent online, 63% found them through an internet search engine.  These people did not find their agent through what we call conventional marketing like brochures, yard signs, flyers or stuff mailed to their homes.  Actually they contribute 0% to conventional marketing. 

So this made me think of a few things, first you need a very strong web presence but more importantly we now have a level playing field.  Let’s talk about the level playing field first.  I meet many new agents just getting into the business and they are concerned about the top producer in the office having such a great advantage just due to the fact they have been in business for ever.  So if the agent wants to quickly position themselves to grow their business they just need a little better web presence then the 20 year veteran.  Wow, you can position yourself right there next to the top producers, and you don’t have to wait a year for my conventional advertising to take affect.  Now before you start slamming me for not giving the veterans credit, the veterans can have just as big of a web presence plus they can say “top Producer in my city for the past 20 years”.  Guess what the veteran wins. 

Story for you, I was speaking in Charlotte, NC a few years ago and I had a guy come up and ask me to dinner, he had been to all my sessions in the past, never turn down a free meal.  Anyway we go to dinner and he told me the following story.  “After your last visit I realized I needed to get my act together with technology.  I boosted my website to gain a major web presence and bought a Smartphone because of you.  I started checking my email regularly and one day while my daughter was driving us back to college I checked my email.  I just got an email from a buyer in Denver asking me to contact him, I quickly called and he told me you win!  I said excuse me, he told me he searched the web for an agent and had decided on two of us based on our web presence, so he email both of us at the same time and the first to call him back got his business.  Turns out over a year in amounted to a few million in sales and referrals.”  I didn’t feel bad ordering that second bottle of wine! 

Bottom line he had not only a web presence but had the technology to capture the business.  You need a complete Technology Plan, not just web, not just mobile BUT everything!

*** Betts

National Speaker
New Year's Resolution
28 December 07 10:36 AM | dickbetts | 1 comment(s)
Now is a great time to think about how you can grow your business.  Don’t go out and buy something to help with that task, rather make it as simple as adding 200 to 300 new Primary contacts.  In the world of contact management I teach the need to have two types of contacts, Primary and Secondary.  Primary are the folks that can make you money such as past clients, prospects and others that have a need to list and buy homes.  Secondary contacts are others such as plumbers, bankers, other agents anybody who you need their information to make your life easier.  Adding 200 to 300 Primary contacts is a large task, but one that can be accomplished gradually over the next 12 months.  Think about ways to add just 25 new Primary contacts a month whether it’s prospecting a neighborhood with a mailing, increasing your sphere of influence by attending more civic or community organizations, handing out business cards while standing in lines, starting conversations with folks you cross paths with.  The quickest easiest way to grow your business is to grow your Primary contacts.  So right after you list your normal New Year’s Resolutions of lose weight, quit procrastinating think about adding more Primary contacts!

*** Betts

National Speaker
Detailed Explanation on 3rd Level Domain
27 December 07 04:27 PM | dickbetts | 2 comment(s)

Oh my how we raised questions and comments about 3rd

Level Domain Marketing and it made me do some more research on the subject.  So as promised here we go from the beginning.  Depending on your web hosting company this might be a free or you might need to upgrade, most are free.  Many of you currently have a website and you can put pages off the main page, I will use mine as an example http://www.dickbetts.com/ brings you to the main page and if you click on one of my tabs it brings you to the next level, example www.DickBetts.com/about.html which would be 2nd Level. 

This brings us to 3rd Level, which you create any name you

like, followed by your website, example http://123mainst.dickbetts.com/ now what you have is a website within a website but you keep your branding.  Most Realtors don't create their own website(s).  Most either use a template site or have a web designer build them a site.  It isn't always cheap or easy to add a page to your website for each individual listing.  You may have to pay your web designer to add this listing page to your site, or you may have to add it on your own-- If you have already had to add your listing to your MLS, creating another listing page may seem like a redundant step.  Creating a third level domain is something that is simple, free (in many cases) and easy to do.  It won't require the help of a programmer and you can send the third level directly to any page on the internet that already has this home listed (perhaps your MLS if they allow public access, or even Zillow.com). 

Next step is to put this web address on your sign in the front yard.  Reason Smartphones are selling 4 to 1 to computers, there are more Smartphones then computers in the world.  So prospective buyers riding past your listing can access a flyer you post.  Now I would suggest you put a listing page on your site with links to the 3rd level domains which will

still drive traffic to your site.

The other option you have which is about the same amount of work is create a 2nd level, example

www.Dickbetts.com/123MainSt.html.  Again it depends on what works best for you.

What I have done is actually create a 3rd level domain

labeled as http://123mainst.dickbetts.com/ .  If you are interested please either go directly there or I am putting a link on my website under the blogging tab.  On that page I will explain what programs you can get for free and explain further how the system works.

With all the comments posted on my blog from "What's a 3rd Level Domain" to more points of views from current users of 3rd level, this should be interesting.

*** Betts

National Speaker
Free Smartphone Update
26 December 07 11:17 AM | dickbetts | 2 comment(s)

As many of you know from my blog or Real Town’s REALTOR Community Bulletin Board we managed to close a deal with Sprint offering the Palm Centro for free and a huge savings on the unlimited data and email package for REALTORS.  I promised myself I was shutting down operations from the afternoon before Christmas until Christmas night which I hope most of you did the same.  So last night I went to my email and had the following message;

 

“I am going to get my Centro from the people on your site and they even suggested a way for me to save 18% on my bill through RE/MAX.  It’s nice having somebody look out for our best interest and keep up the great work.  Thanks to you Santa brought me a $400 savings on my phone bill over the next 24 months.”

 

My goal is to save agents money, we are attempting to package your needs into a buying block benefiting everyone.  So far the Smartphone packages are working great and have closed a deal with a web hosting company to save agents money on your website.  I have posted a link on my website www.DickBetts.com for Network Solutions a 25 year old company that has hosted my site since 2002.  Check it out and please tell your friends I am a blog site that wants to keep money in your wallet.

*** Betts
National Speaker

Holiday Wishes
24 December 07 04:34 PM | dickbetts | 1 comment(s)

I am going to break one of my speaking rules, or maybe several.  When I give my “Newest, Latest, Greatest Technology Out There” seminar I always cover blogging and NOT to talk about boring stuff like your cats and dogs.  Make it business related, drive people to your site, well not today.  It’s Christmas Eve and I am home and want to thank a whole bunch of people. 

 First my wife Shelby who is married to a crazy man, with me speaking over 150 days a year somewhere in North America that means I am not home about 200 days a year.  The trooper she is to make sure our home operates even when outside water pipes break, lightning hits the house and many more duties she assumes as the man of the house.  Besides her role as grounds keeper she has to put up with me saying quick find me another gig in Texas, call Omaha and see if they can move their date and find me work in Alberta.

 Next are my sons, Brandon and Jeremy.  As grown men I could not be more proud of you guys.  Thanks for letting me crash at your places when I am in Philly or DC.

 To Jerry Rossi, since I have teamed up with you my life has changed for the better.  I only hope I can give you back what you have given me, and thank you for being a friend.

 To the folks who attend my sessions, wow what a warm feeling you guys give me.  Badgering local staff at MLS and Associations to bring me back, sending me emails with heart warming stories.  If the speaker speaks and nobody is there to listen does he speak?  Answer is NO!  So many of you mean so much to me as you embrace what I teach and share your stories.

 Recently I had dinner with Alyssa and her husband John in Bakersfield, CA and she said what a lucky guy I was to have so many friends across the country.  It really made me think and I realized just how lucky I am.  I can almost name somebody in every state that has touched my life or I have touched theirs, oh and let me not forget my Canadian friends.

 From Susan in Tallahassee to Gina in Sacramento, from Beth in Austin to Jerry in Edmonton, Dawn in CT to Tony in Laguna, even people who moved from CA to NC, Joe.

 Thanks to all my supporters, you have made a huge difference in my life and I hope that 2008 and brings us together many times.

3rd Level Domains
21 December 07 12:09 AM | dickbetts | 5 comment(s)

I got the following question and decided to turn it into a blog.

Hi *** -

I'm curious, how do you see third level domain names playing a role in someone's technology plan?

Happy holidays,
- Brian

Well Brian and everybody else I see 3rd level domain becoming a standard for the real estate industry.  First your website, by having the ability to direct to a 3rd level you can place anything on that site.  It's almost like having a seperate website connected to your main site.  On my site so far I have build 6 3rd level domains to promote products or services which is like a landing page before I send them on outside my site.  If I were a REALTOR I would have a 3rd level for every listing where I would post a flyer about the listing, including a photo array of the inside of the house.

The other reason is the big one, Smartphones are selling 4 to 1 to computers, there are more Smartphones in the world then computers.  On each one of my listing I would have something like http://123mainstreet.DickBetts.comon the sign in the front yard.  All the folks with Smartphones could sit in front of my listing and pull up the flyer about the house and view the photo array.  Once the house is sold I could hang a sold sign and change my 3rd level to give more information about the sale.

My hosting company gives me the ability to track the number of hits per page, so I could feed this information to the seller and also see if my advertising efforts and cost are paying off.  If I just had a listing page then I could not tell which house they were looking at.

Going along with the 3rd level domain is an email address like 123mainstreet@DickBetts.com which I would color code in Outlook to easily track that listing.

There is so much we can do with 3rd level domain, this is only a taste of how I think we all will be using it.

*** Betts

National Speaker

Web Building
19 December 07 10:43 PM | dickbetts | 1 comment(s)
Every year around the holidays I come off the road for some much needed time at home.  I always have a plan on what I need to do with these weeks of actually being in my office.  Last year it was to rewrite many of my classes, this year was to tackle my 5 year old website.  I decided it was rusty and needed a major tune up, so I called my friends at Network Solutions and asked what I needed, to my suprise they lowered my fee about 75 bucks and gave me a heck of a package.  For $120 a year I have a 1,000 page website, 20 3rd level domain names and 50 email accounts. 

So Monday I rolled up my sleeves and started building, wow have I learned a lot.  Remember I am a Palm/Windows Mobile geek not a web designer.  After 12 phone calls to customer service I have it nailed, watch out I am a webbing fool.

In all seriousness each one of you need to be looking at your Technology Plan which consist of Web Presence, Domain Marketing, Email hosting and Marketing, 3rd level domains and develop a plan of action.

Check out my site and pardon my dust as I am still involved with this project.  If your looking for a web hosting company please check out the link I have installed on my website.

*** Betts
National Speaker
Tip for Windows Mobile
16 December 07 05:10 PM | dickbetts | 1 comment(s)

Shut Down Programs Running in Background

Windows Mobile will keep programs running in the background which can lead to sluggish operation.  Get in the habit of shutting them down to add speed to your device.  Go to "Settings" then "System" and find "Memory".  Once in "Memory" find "Running Programs".  You will see "Stop All", tap on the tab and all your currently open programs will stop running and you can start over again with more speed on your device.

 

A tip from Lynn Levine of RE/MAX of New Jersey, with the Windows operating Treo, hold down the “OK” button and it takes you directly to “Running Programs”.  If you have a different Windows Mobile device give it a try.

 

Go to my website www.DickBetts.com where you will find more tips and tricks for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile

 

*** Betts

National Speaker

More info on Free Smartphones
15 December 07 01:36 AM | dickbetts | with no comments

I am getting tons of questions about the offer for free Smartphones.  Let me give you some more information.  I did not set out to get into the phone sales business – my mission was to find a way to make it easier and cheaper for agents to get their hands on a Smartphone. 

I am amazed at the stories as I travel around asking where people got their devices and how much they paid.  I will have two agents in the same room, going to the same store walk away with the same device and different price tags!

I have been on a scavenger hunt this year to find deals, discounts and bargains for agents to take advantage of.  Hundreds of agents have contacted me looking for advice on what to purchase – they are scared to buy a device because it has become such a large investment and it’s too confusing to figure out which one to get.  The salesmen in the local retail store usually have no clue on what the Smartphone does, nor do they care what an agents needs are.  It has gotten too confusing and agents are walking away frustrated or worse, with the wrong device.

I think I have found a great group to work with that understands a REALTOR’s needs and is willing to provide it in a simple format at a great price!  Let’s keep it simple folks!  This business is hard enough!

Now this promotion is highlighting the Palm Centro but they carry other devices and will offer them at a discount to us.   Example, the 755p using Sprint $149, next week Verizon will be rolling out the exact same 755p which I think they will be selling for $399.  The best part of my negotiations isn’t just the phones at a discounted rate – I have worked out special pricing on the unlimited data & email package.  Only 15 bucks a month for agents!  Looking at a 2 year contract with the same phone with unlimited data and email, not adding in a minute package, Sprint $329 - Verizon $939 saving the agent $610.

Just for the record, I carry a Treo 680 using AT&T.  I am not endorsing Sprint, AT&T, Verizon or any other carrier.  You need to pick the carrier and device that serves you best and am not entering a debate about who is best.  We are making progress on getting this offer extended to other carriers as well and will update our website as soon as we are able to get the details ironed out.

For now, this group needs to know you are working thru me to be able to take advantage of these great offers.  Please email your carrier, expiration date and contact info to Scheduling@DickBetts.com Within the week we should have our website set up with an easy enrollment link but didn’t see the need to hold off on sharing this great news!
Free Smartphones
14 December 07 02:35 AM | dickbetts | 4 comment(s)

I am happy to announce a MAJOR deal I have negotiated with Sprint!

Get a new Palm Centro Smartphone – FREE!

Available to all REALTORS with new 2 year activation

Send us an email Scheduling@DickBetts.com

with your current carrier, current contract expiration & your contact information.

Sending us an email for the details does NOT obligate you!

 

This is something I have been working on for months, the cell carriers need to know just how big of a purchasing block Real Estate Professional really are.  I am working with all the major carriers to offer special deals and will be posting more information on my website next week.

*** Betts
National Speaker
Google Maps on your Smartphone
11 December 07 05:41 PM | dickbetts | 4 comment(s)

Love my Google Maps on my Smartphone.  Doesn’t matter if your running Palm OS or Windows you need to load up Google maps.  There are so many functions on this mapping software you can spend a day just learning what it can do for you.  Here are quotes from Google:

Real-time traffic — See where the congestion is, and estimate delays in over 30 major US metropolitan areas.

Detailed directions — Whether you plan to walk or drive, your route is displayed on the map itself, together with step-by-step directions.

Integrated search results — Local business locations and contact information appear all in one place, integrated on your map.

Easily movable maps — Interactive maps let you zoom in or out, and move in all directions so you can orient yourself visually.

Satellite imagery — Get a bird's eye view of your desired location. (It's like you're there, we swear.)

Another feature they don’t even mention which I love, if you go to find location which is a drop command, you can tap on the box on the bottom right and go to your contacts on your Smartphone and find them on map.

It’s FREE, but be sure you have unlimited data service, which if you have ever attended one of my sessions you know you need.  Using your Smartphone enter

www.Google.com/gmm

and Google takes you from there.  A special thank you to Bill Walsh, from Anderson, SC for his input.

*** Betts

National Speaker