Agents, Brokers & Teams

Open Houses are old school. …Or are they?

Open Houses are old school…Or ARE they?

Online viewing of listings has completely changed the game in the past 15 years. Hosting an open house probably won’t result in the sale of that home the day you host an open house. Why is it important anyway? Buyers who are looking at multiple houses can decide whether they want to schedule a showing through their real estate agent.

Why have an open house?

  • Build traffic
  • Buyers are more relaxed
  • Prospect for new clients (LEADS!)
  • Meet the neighbors (FUTURE LEADS!)

With VoicePad’s Open House Every Day service, you can meet your clients’ desires for either in-person or virtual showing. On-demand. Or, at least the appearance of it!

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Agents, Brokers & Teams, Telecommunications

World’s largest Century 21 office uses VoicePad phone automation.

Whether it’s after-hours, an absence, a weather event…or even a pandemic, VoicePad On-Demand Reception can route calls to your agents and staff with just their spoken name…24 hours a day.

RISMedia highlights VoicePad’s innovative On-demand reception services in this informative article.

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Agents, Brokers & Teams, Mortgage

42 Percent: The Scariest Number in Real Estate

42 Percent: The Scariest Number in Real Estate

By Maria Patterson

Real Estate remains a very call-centric business, but millions of leads are being left at the curb-literally.  Randall Standard, CEO of VoicePad, a 30-year mobile industry veteran, examines how this problem can be solved.

Maria Patterson: You have said, “42 percent is the scariest number in real estate.”  What do you mean by this?

Randall Standard: What’s scary is that 42 percent of the hottest leads in real estate – property inquiries from yard signs – go directly to voice mail.

MP: Agents are cell phone-centric, so you would think that has allowed them to be more responsive to their clients, right?

RS: You might think that, but you would be dead wrong.  With all the functionally that’s baked into a smartphone, agent responsiveness should be instantaneous, but it’s not, because, as humans, we can still only handle one live conversation at a time.  It’s not the agent’s fault.

Still, these missed opportunities have a direct impact on an agent’s income, reputation and the reputation of the brokerage.  A potential buyer may wonder, “What good are they if they don’t answer my call?”

MP: If an agent is busy with another client, is it a bad thing that a call from a new lead goes to voice mail?

RS: Yes, because it can be avoided.  The dynamics of an incoming call from a buyer are very different than following up with a buyer.  Our industry focuses on response times to leads:  The sooner the agent responds, the better.

But this strategy misses the point: These calls need to be answered the moment they arrive, even when an agent is busy.  That’s because potential buyers don’t care why the agent was unavailable; all they know is that they weren’t available when they needed them the most.

MP: Forty-two percent is a pretty precise number.  How did you arrive at it?

RS: In addition to IDX-based text and GPS mobile site products, VoicePad processes (and counts) yard signage inquiries in over 300 U.S. markets.  We’ve processed 6.2 million property inquiries by phone in the last three years, with 17 percent requesting a transfer to the listing agent.  That’s approximately a million live call transfers from the curb.  VoicePad employs “call supervision” on transferred calls:  42 percent of theses transferred calls terminated in a voicemail system.

MP: Can the 42 percent problem be solved?

RS: Absolutely, and that’s been our focus at VoicePad.  We are a unique solutions provider that now employs the following four types of technologies to make sure a curb call is answered immediately, or that the information the buyer requested is delivered in an automated format (voice or text):

  • Identifiable buyer ringtone: Agents can set a unique ring tone to alert the agent to an incoming “money call”.
  • Simultaneous ring technology: Agents, Teams or brokerages can have multiple phone numbers all ring at the same time when a money call comes in.
  • MLS speech technology: VoicePad can deliver up-to-date audio information, in English and Spanish, about the listing extracted from the MLS while the buyer is on the call.
  • Auto-response: In the event that the call is not answered, VoicePad automatically text the buyer’s cellphone with the agent’s name and contact info including a tracking link to the property being requested.

These are proven technologies:  VoicePad serves many of the most well-respected real estate brands in the U.S. and Canada.  For many firms, the overhead savings are dramatic, as the alternative is to hire more administrative support and receptionists to handle call volume.

Click here for more information on VoicePad Solutions.

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Agents, Brokers & Teams

Top Real Estate Team Leader Knows How to Capture the Hottest Leads

Top Real Estate Team Leader Knows How to Capture the Hottest Leads

THE COMPANY

MARK Z., Associate Broker and team leader of MARK Z. Home Selling Team Inc. and JMZ Property Management, all working out of Keller Williams Realty serving the Detroit metro area, heads one of America’s top producing teams.  His team closes an average of more than 9 transactions per week and is on target to book more than 500 closed transactions.

THE CHALLENGE

The Mark Z. Home Selling Team works with a wide range of “personality types,” says Mark Z. “And, we wanted a way to accommodate every type.”  He explains that when a prospective buyer pulls up to a For Sale sign, each buyer has a distinct communication preference.  “Some people don’t want to talk to anybody, some people are looking to talk to somebody immediately and some people want a text,” he said, adding, “We didn’t want to lose a potential buyer because we couldn’t provide them with the right form of communication.”

“We couldn’t run our business at the level we do without VoicePad.”   Mark Z., Mark Z Home Selling Team

THE SOLUTION

Mark Z. deployed VoicePad mobile technology to enable his team to dramatically improve its ability to capture the hottest leads to grow its business.  “Calls from the curb are some of the hottest leads in the business,” he explains.  While some agents may take the yard sign for granted, Mark Z. does not.  “It’s the most important piece when it comes to marketing properties,” he said, adding, “You know the biggest problem in this industry is getting people on the phone, actually making that one-to-one contact. That’s what VoicePad does.  It gets people on the phone, so 80% of the problem is solved.”  Mark Z. notes that with web-based generated lead conversion, the greatest challenge is simply trying to get in touch with the person.  “With a VoicePad lead, the person is on the phone and they want to talk to you,” he said, adding, “Once you get someone on the phone, the ability to convert them from a lead to a customer increases dramatically.”  Mark Z. says that once he solved this problem, the results for his team have been huge.  “We couldn’t run our business at the level that we do – 472 transactions – without VoicePad.

THE RESULTS

MARK Z. Home Selling Team Inc. sees VoicePad as a core technology that gives his team an ability to scale its business and increase its annual production year after year.  In just the last seven years, the Mark Z. team has increased its transaction volume in the Detroit metro area nearly 600%, generating $10 million in sales and over $59 million last year.  Mark Z. and his team of 17 stick to their knitting: Staying laser-focused on their core business: Providing the best customer experience.  “The real estate industry chases shiny objects all day long, but at the end of the day, it’s just a shiny object.  It all comes back to focusing on what works: And that’s getting on the phone and talking to people,” he said.

 

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Agents, Brokers & Teams, Mortgage

Why Mobile is a Must

Recently Google announced for the first time that the number of mobile searches has exceeded desktop searches. Mobile hasn’t just arrived – it’s taking over.

Mobile in real estate is must because today’s homebuyers are on the go and they know what they want, and they want it in the palm of their hand.

Consumers crave the most current data available, and if you are not providing a real-time mobile solution to connect consumers and your agents, you’re going to lose a lot of leads.

The “mobile first” mission at VoicePad has delivered an integrated mobile technology that eliminates the need for multiple mobile vendors: From a tracking-enabled mobile website to offering simultaneous text and call lead capture, VoicePad equips agents with everything they need to land the lead.

For prospects, VoicePad puts consumers in control, as it allows the potential buyer to determine when and where they want to receive information, however they’d like.

At Comey & Shepherd REALTORS® in Cincinnati, Ohio, VoicePad has been a vital lead generation tool there for the last seven years.

As Tracy Wieland, USA director of marketing explains, “We onboarded the software system, starting with the signage and 24/7 rider. Consumers could drive by and receive an audio presentation if they wanted,” says Wieland.

Today Comey & Shepard uses one easy phone number posted on signage, print advertising or all other marketing material, allowing consumers to receive information 24/7 by calling or texting for information on any home in the MLS, or by visiting their agent’s branded, mobile website.

VoicePad has perfected automatically creating and narrating Virtual Tours, featuring photos and property details, in both English and Spanish. Everything is directly pulled from MLS data or the broker’s data. The agents and brokers do not have to do a thing. Whenever vital information is changed, the tour is updated, automatically. Agents can even edit or enhance the presentation on their own.

For Comey & Shepherd a VoicePad Virtual Tour has become an essential tool, with an adoption rate exceeding 70 percent. Wieland also finds it has become a powerful recruiting tool as well, as it helps her team make an impressive impact in a market with strong legacy players.

The key to mobile success is to deliver to the consumer the immediate information they are seeking when they are standing at the curb. When buyers are standing in front of a listing and want information on a particular house, they can call and get the listing agent, or they can text and receive a link to information about that specific property they are interested in seeing, right to the smartphone in the palm of their hand!

As more people than ever search on mobile devices for everything, including homes, it’s no longer enough to have a mobile app or provide a mobile-friendly website. You must have a complete mobile solution or your leads are going to head over to a competitor that makes mobile search easy.

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