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Vern
and Audrey English have really impressed the real estate industry
with two dynamic awards for their website in the past few months!
First they were awarded the top agent website for all of Florida
(60,000+ agents!) by Florida Realtor magazine in 2000. Then this
past April, Realtor Magazine awarded 10 agents with the Best Website
in 10 different categories. Vern and Audrey won for "Best Use of
a Template Website". You can see their award winning website at
www.tampabayarearealestate.com
As
an avid VisualTour.com client, we asked Vern to share some of his
industry leading thoughts with you on what keeps his e-marketing
at the forefront of the real estate industry. Part I of Vern's interview is covered in last week's newsletter. This is the Part II conclusion...
VT:
In the Realtor magazine article, you mentioned that you spend about two hours per day maintaining your website. Isn't that time better spent by a techie assistant so you have more face to face time with sellers and buyers?
VE:
When you boil it all down, there are really only five dollar producing
activities a Realtor can do. Number 1 is going to a closing. Number
2 is prospecting. That's what this time spent on our website is
- prospecting. It's mostly time personally reviewing information
from visitors who filled out our guestbook and want a more personal
and direct response.
I've
taken the ePro course and have learned how to deal with today's
Internet Empowered Consumer. They want to work with web savvy Realtors
but at their own pace. They don't respond to an agent pressing them
for too many details up front or trying to contact them more often
than they want to be contacted. So I let our relationship develop
at their pace and on their terms. About one-third of my visitors
simply won't fill out the guestbook. Fine, no need to waste time
trying to convince them to work with me. And another 10 percent
fill out the guestbook with false information, but those are easy
to spot. The remaining guestbook leads are serious about their questions
and appreciate my concern for their privacy.
I
send a semi-custom email response to everyone that lets them know
I'm available for them when they need me, but I won't inundate them
with calls or letters. So when a lead tells me in the guestbook
that they are in a hurry or want specific information, I make sure
that I provide a personalized response and quickly. For the others
I ask them if they would like me to add them to my automated newsletter
which enables me to send them customized information on a weekly
basis. I keep this up for six to eight weeks, then they either become
more serious or I drop them from my regular follow up list.
I
spend some of this time keeping my content up to date, posting my
VisualTours®,
and developing new ideas. I used to spend more time than that creating
print ads. And spending this time creates the discipline of forcing
me to prospect every day.
VT:
Tell us about how you use your virtual tours as an effective listing
or marketing tool. What success stories can you share about buyers
or sellers who've used your VisualTours®?
VE:
Everybody loves it! When I can turn on a seller's PC and show them
what my current virtual tours do to showcase current listings they
see an immediate advantage in working with me. Then when I promise
them their home tour will be on the web by tomorrow, it's a done
deal. While I've done iPIX tours at times in huge expensive homes
with intricate 20 foot ceilings, my VisualTours®
are much more effective to showcase and market the vast majority
of homes on the market.
VT:
Vern, your website won the top spot in Florida Realtor magazine and the top template site in Realtor magazine in the last year. What's in your plans this year to keep your website drawing rave reviews and generating business for you?
VE:
It's driving me nuts right now! I don't expect the awards to repeat,
as I'm sure the magazines would prefer to pick new winners each
year, but I do want to make sure my site is fresh, has the latest
information and technology to make my job of marketing and communicating
as effective and efficient as possible. I plan to add some flash
presentations for a little glitter, and add some doorway websites
to build more traffic to my main website.
Vern's
award winning template website is designed and hosted by Advanced
Access. www.AdvancedAccess.com
For
a look at one of Vern's VisualTours®,
CLICK HERE
In future e-marketing newsletters we'll cover other marketing and photographic tips. Stay tuned!
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