Consider Using A Local Vendor For Your IDX
Written by Mandy Reutter
Choosing an IDX vendor for your property search should be like buying your produce at the local farmer's market. Being able to ask the farmer what kind of soil they used to grow the tomato I just bought gives me a certain ease. Shouldn't your real estate technology give you that same confidence?
Imagine being able to call your personal sales representative, with a (919) area code, and have them walk through your door within 24 hours. You can't find that kind of service using a California-based company, a company with automated answering services and a 3 hour time zone difference.
Call me crazy, but I think we have something special going on here at CONNECT. We are all local to Raleigh and North Carolina. As licensed realtors and members of the TMLS, we have first hand experience representing buyers and sellers in this marketplace. Our experience has brought a unique perspective to building our search software and it has allowed for a better relationship with our customers.
What you may not see from the outside that makes us a little unique is our commitment to the local real estate community. CONNECT has fostered a working relationship with the TMLS. We demo all our products for compliance prior to releasing into the marketplace. When you choose to work with us, in essence, you are gaining a personal advocate. We listen to your needs and incorporate those goals into a better servicing property search tool.
If you didn't get a chance to read our article or see our full page ad in the November Realtor Review, check it out now. This is the kind of commitment we are talking about. Sharing our knowledge of the industry with our local agents to help make you more successful is a goal we constantly strive to achieve.
Product Update - February 4, 2010
Product Release Update for CONNECT 1.05 & 1.06
Big things have been happening in the past two months for Connect. At the beginning of January, our entire staff (sales, marketing, development and management) got together to figure out how we can improve our CONNECT products for both local agents and their customers. We would like to, again, thank you for your continued suggestions and feedback. Your comments are always noted and discussed in our team meetings. And as a reminder, all our product improvements have been updated on your websites, seamlessly and FREE!
Since our company workshop, we have been working hard to improve on our products and their features. Below you will find a list of updates we released February 1st.
Added Products:
- Carolina Data Share – After a product demo for the Triangle MLS, we have received their stamp of approval. It is very important for us to work closely with the TMLS to assure that our products are compliant at all times. You should have all received a call by now regarding the CONNECT CDS release. For those of you who need a refresher, CDS allows buyers and sellers to search through listings from the 6 largest MLSs in North Carolina on YOUR website. If you have more questions regarding CDS, feel free to give us a call (919-521-4131) or check out our website for more information: http://vowconnect.com/carolina-data-share.
Added Performance:
- Speed – We are now running on new, Quad core, 64-bit servers. This allows for an even faster search! I know you are thinking “Is it possible?” Yes it is! Search through your site and see for yourself.
Added Features:
- Search Returns No Results - If a search returns no results, user now has the option to "revise search" with the click of a button
- Price Fields - No matter how you write it, the price fields will recognize a user's price value and auto-correct
Reminder:
Please join us at the RRAR 2010 Technology Fair and Expo on March 11th. We have some really exciting enhancements and features in the works.
Sincerely,
The CONNECT Team
(919) 521-4131
www.vowconnect.com
Realtors Need A Marketing Plan Too
Written by Mandy Reutter
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
A lot can be said about this analogy as it relates to real estate marketing. It's no big secret that the housing industry is still in recovery mode. I often hear Realtors say that if they can get a few buyers or close a few deals then they could afford to update their technology or invest in a new website. My response is..."If you're not on the web how do you expect to get those buyers?"
Maybe you work for a large broker office that has been around town for 20 + years. The company has name recognition and a team of agents, 400 deep. If you work phone detail at one of these companies, maybe you'll luck out and there is a ready, willing and able buyer on the other end. But beyond that, what are you proactively doing to build your brand and your name recognition on the web?
There is a huge marketplace of buyers and sellers online. If you aren't tapping into them, someone else is. Building your individual, branded website is the bridge to those consumers. How do you do that? Figure out what you want to make this year and create a budget. Find a company, preferably with real estate and web knowledge to build your web presence while maximizing your budget. Face it, if you aren't online these days, you aren't doing business!
- Leads are captured and sent directly to you, no one else.
- Market to a specific consumer based on your niche.
- Create a relationship with interactive profile information.
- Access to the most up to date property search software (since you always have the option of choosing which vendor to use).
- Use the web to freely advertise and direct traffic to your personalized website.
To put it into perspective, most of us have cable or satellite. For the same amount that you spend on your television bills a month, you could have a fully branded web presence. It really boils down to priorities. Being a Realtor is a commitment and at times a labor of love. Payday only comes after the job is done.
And at the end of the day, technology should be working for you. Your return should far out-weigh the investment.
2010 CONNECT Workshop & Team Building
Written by Mandy Reutter
This past weekend was our 2010 company kickoff, a collaboration of great minds if you will…which consisted of a CONNECT workshop and a weekend full of team-building activities.
CONNECT has a great collection of customers whose opinions we greatly value. And that’s exactly what we have been doing since our initial software launch in September of 2009. We took the suggestions of our customers and compiled a list of valuable features to integrate into our bigger and better version, CONNECT 1.1.
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