I have been asked so many times "Why should I hire a Virtual Assistant instead of someone who sits in my office?" Truthfully, the choice is yours. Virtual Assistants, however, are generally specialized in their fields, cost less in the long run, and can get more done in less time.
Real Estate is a perfect example. A Real Estate VA (Virtual Assistant) specializes in helping Realtors with their business. We take care of all the things that you don't need to be bothered with. Examples include: uploading listings to your website, creating virtual tours, creating flyers, writing ad copy, and transaction coordination.
Wouldn't it be nice to send someone all your listing paperwork and have everything taken care of for you? Your property would be active on the MLS, virtual tour completed, flyer in your inbox ready for printing, and the list goes on.... Your clients would appreciate the fact that you do what you say you are going to do, when you say you will do it. No more staying up until all hours to finish listing a client's property!
"But VA's are so expensive!" When you truly look at the cost breakdown of what a VA costs you vs what you would pay an assistant sitting in your office, the difference is HUGE! Since a VA is an independent contractor, she would pay her own income taxes, has her own equipment, doesn't require additional office space, and because your business is what they do all day they can get more done in less time! A typical VA can get 8 hours worth of work done in 4! Less time spent chatting, taking lunches, answering the phone, etc means more productivity for you.
Click here for an interesting article on my website with hard facts about how much a VA can save you! What are you waiting for? Give me a call or send me an email and let me know how I can help save you time and money!
If you have comments or questions, please feel free to leave them here or contact me directly. I'd love to hear from you!
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
--Jim Rohn
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Website Tips for Realtors!
Many people have asked me, "Do I really need a website?" The answer is ABSOLUTELY! Especially in the Real Estate industry. NAR statistics state that approximately 85% of all buyers start their home search online.
A key question to ask yourself is "What do you want to achieve with your website?" Some of the potential answers are: customer service, lead generation, informational, etc. How are you going to promote your website? Some common ways are: your signature line in your emails, your letterhead, your newsletter, and any postcards you mail.
As a Real Estate Professional, you need to hire someone who clearly understands Real Estate to build your site. There are several companys who specialize in building sites for Realtors. Z57.com, TopProducer.com, and AgentImage.com are a few. You can build a "template" site, semi-custom, or completely custom depending on how much you want to spend.
The best Realtor websites have the following items:
A key question to ask yourself is "What do you want to achieve with your website?" Some of the potential answers are: customer service, lead generation, informational, etc. How are you going to promote your website? Some common ways are: your signature line in your emails, your letterhead, your newsletter, and any postcards you mail.
As a Real Estate Professional, you need to hire someone who clearly understands Real Estate to build your site. There are several companys who specialize in building sites for Realtors. Z57.com, TopProducer.com, and AgentImage.com are a few. You can build a "template" site, semi-custom, or completely custom depending on how much you want to spend.
The best Realtor websites have the following items:
- Search capability--no one will visit if they can't search for homes, after all isn't that what they are looking for in the first place?
- Mortgage calculator--you don't want them to leave your site to find a calculator to determine what their payments would be
- List of your services--you can compare your services to other company's services
- Area links and resources--by having area information available, you are setting yourself up as a neighborhood resource
- Your area of expertise--state your "niche". What do you specialize in?
- Meta Tags--these keywords get your website into the top of the search engines. You may consider hiring someone to do this for you. It is a time consuming process and one that is best handled by someone who does this for a living!
- Design--if your website doesn't look great, prospective clients won't stay on your site. Look at some other agent sites and determine what you like and don't like. Use some creativity.
- Navigation--enable your clients to get around your site quickly and easily. Don't use a lot of links that take you outside your site.
- Easy contact forms--don't make visitors provide too much information to get connected to you. Name and email are usually enough.
- Less flash--flash animation should be kept to a minimum, it can detract from your content
- Content-rich--give visitors what they are looking for. Provide articles, research, links, mortgage information. This way, visitors don't have to go anywhere else to get information.
- Statistics & research--visitors are always looking for statistics regarding everything from market trends to sales information.
- Photography--use photos that are vibrant, colorful, and relevant to your content. Be aware of copyright infringement.
- A welcoming feel--you want visitors to be attracted to your site. Don't be high pressure, be personal.
- Regular updates!--update content at least once per month. People need to know you are in business.
Ask your clients and friends what they think of your website...and then listen to the feedback. It will help you build a site that is purposeful and useful.
The best advice is to hire a professional to make you stand out from the rest, and to advertise your site every chance you get. Your website is an extension of you...make it special! On that note, visit my website www.JLAssists.com and let me know what YOU think.
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." ----Thomas Edison
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Who Knew?
Today I venture into the "virtual" world once again and decide to try Blogging. Seems logical for someone who makes a living in the virtual world that I not let the technology pass me by!
I am always looking for new and innovative ways to help me and my clients be more productive. Working in the Real Estate industry has always had its challenges, but now more than ever agents and their staff need to be creative and find new ways to impress clients. One great program that not only saves time, but gives your clients consistent feedback on their property is HomeFeedback.com. I recently helped a large office (approximately 50 agents) get their company account up and running. This program allows agents to send an email to other agents who have shown their listings to obtain feedback. No more calling and leaving messages to get some small tidbit of information for the seller--if they ever return your call in the first place. As soon as the agent responds to the email, a notice is sent directly to the seller where they can see exactly what the showing agent thought of their home. All of this can be automated through HomeFeedback's beta program Showing Sync. Once you set up Showing Sync, all showings will be automatically pulled from the lockbox on the property and sent for feedback. How about that, your client got feedback and you didn't have to do anything except spend 5 minutes setting the listing up (a great way to use a Virtual Assistant if you ask me)!! Visit their website for more information www.homefeedback.com.
Another one of my favorite programs is Top Producer. By far, a program no agent should be without! It allows agents to keep track of EVERYTHING including conversations with clients, birthdays/anniversaries, listings/closings, and create action plans for everything. There are so many more capabilities, but these are just the "bones" of the program. How would it feel to know that every time you have a closing, there is an action plan in place that will tell you exactly what you need to do and when you should do it?? Granted, it takes a little time in the beginning to set everything up, but once it's done...it's automatic after that! This is easily something a Virtual Assistant (see how I got that plug in there--smile) could help you set up. Visit their website at www.topproducer.com and see how they can help keep you on the track to success.
How are you going to be more productive and offer more to your clients?? I'd love to hear your thoughts and know what works for you. As most people say, "there just isn't enough time in the day!" Instead of hiring an assistant to sit in your office, hire a virtual assistant to help when the business gets to be too much for you to handle. Back office items are not your Dollar Productive Activities. You need to be out with the clients showing property and making contacts. Contact me today to see how I can help you be more productive and make more money!
I leave you with a quote, until next week:
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
--Aristotle
I am always looking for new and innovative ways to help me and my clients be more productive. Working in the Real Estate industry has always had its challenges, but now more than ever agents and their staff need to be creative and find new ways to impress clients. One great program that not only saves time, but gives your clients consistent feedback on their property is HomeFeedback.com. I recently helped a large office (approximately 50 agents) get their company account up and running. This program allows agents to send an email to other agents who have shown their listings to obtain feedback. No more calling and leaving messages to get some small tidbit of information for the seller--if they ever return your call in the first place. As soon as the agent responds to the email, a notice is sent directly to the seller where they can see exactly what the showing agent thought of their home. All of this can be automated through HomeFeedback's beta program Showing Sync. Once you set up Showing Sync, all showings will be automatically pulled from the lockbox on the property and sent for feedback. How about that, your client got feedback and you didn't have to do anything except spend 5 minutes setting the listing up (a great way to use a Virtual Assistant if you ask me)!! Visit their website for more information www.homefeedback.com.
Another one of my favorite programs is Top Producer. By far, a program no agent should be without! It allows agents to keep track of EVERYTHING including conversations with clients, birthdays/anniversaries, listings/closings, and create action plans for everything. There are so many more capabilities, but these are just the "bones" of the program. How would it feel to know that every time you have a closing, there is an action plan in place that will tell you exactly what you need to do and when you should do it?? Granted, it takes a little time in the beginning to set everything up, but once it's done...it's automatic after that! This is easily something a Virtual Assistant (see how I got that plug in there--smile) could help you set up. Visit their website at www.topproducer.com and see how they can help keep you on the track to success.
How are you going to be more productive and offer more to your clients?? I'd love to hear your thoughts and know what works for you. As most people say, "there just isn't enough time in the day!" Instead of hiring an assistant to sit in your office, hire a virtual assistant to help when the business gets to be too much for you to handle. Back office items are not your Dollar Productive Activities. You need to be out with the clients showing property and making contacts. Contact me today to see how I can help you be more productive and make more money!
I leave you with a quote, until next week:
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
--Aristotle
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