Have you checked out GoToMeeting®? It’s great for brokers trying to save money and switching to a virtual office environment…now you can have your office meetings and be more productive than you ever were! It’s also great for agents looking to do interactive webinars with a small number of clients.
How many of you are using DocuSign? AMAZING! Need I say more…gone are the days of driving to meet your clients to pick up documents. No more printing and faxing of the contracts. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s life changing. It will save you time, thus make you more money!
Think brand new luxury car with built in Blue Tooth. You know the kind I’m referring to, the one that the sound comes across on your stereo speakers. It’s loud and clear right? Even better it’s hands free.
Now how many of us have such a car? If you do, I’m envious. I don’t have that feature, so I use the next best thing- Motorola t505. It’s a really cool gadget that looks like a radar detector but emulates the brand new car’s Bluetooth system.
It can work two ways:
1) You can hear and talk through the device itself – which you typically attach to your visor.
2) 2) Or it gives you a radio station to tune into, all your calls will come through this station.
What’s cool about the later option is you can also stream Pandora or Slacker into your car. So imagine controlling the music while you’re showing houses- studies show that different types of music put people in the mood to “buy.”
If you’re in your car on a daily basis, and use your cell phone to conduct business you have to check this out. It runs about $100 at Best Buy.
I’m super excited about the launch of my new book! In it I share how to set up your office to be more of a virtual office so you can access all your documents and transactions from any where at any time. I discuss virtual assistants, cloud computing, electronic signatures and paperless transactions. There’s an entire section dedicated to marketing using inexpensive ways to get your brand noticed using technology, social media and video! And my favorite, a Mobile Apps section – where you’ll find a robust description of the tools you need to transform into a truly mobile agent- it’s like turning your car into your office! Overall, there are 101 tools you can implement into your business to help you become more productive, profitable and efficient. Hope you enjoy!
I’ve been forced to use the iPad as my main source of doing business for an entire week. Not by choice, but rather technological failures. Yes, my computer crashed (right before presenting at the Florida Convention none the less.)
No fear I thought- I have an iPad- I can survive!! And Survive I did- but that’s about it. I realized just how important a computer is to conduct business- and how the iPad complements your computer. ”Complements” being the key word there- it’s just a side, a really cool toy to have- but not vital.
In a nut shell, you can’t sell real estate on an iPad alone. For starters- you can’t really create documents or save them on iPad- you can’t download programs you need to run your business like MLS, Zipforms- nor can you watch any videos and you really can’t update much more than your Facebook Status- forget your blog.
Ok, so watching videos isn’t part of the MUST haves to sell Real Estate, but it’s amazing how many videos are out there and with just the iPad, you’re out of luck. It’s not Flash compatible- so any videos on Facebook, You Tube, or websites are pointless on an iPad.
As for the Facebook and Blog updates- I found that I couldn’t update my Facebook Fan Pages in the notes section like I typically do. Instead I had to update through the status section which is fine, but not preferable. WordPress gave me an issue on the ipad- it was impossible to actually write a blog. I could login to WordPress and start a new post with a title, but the actual field where you write- I couldn’t tap on the screen to activate it.
Don’t fret though, I’m not saying don’t get an ipad. I quite like my iPad, and am so thankful I had to it to stay in touch with the world while my computer was out of commission.
iPads are perfect communication tools, especially if you by the nifty $69 keyboard- it makes e-mail and basic social media updates on the go a cinch.
iPad applications are out there to make the ipad more usable- like keynote for presentations, and dropbox for file storage. But these apps really just make the ipad more compatible to your computer- they don’t make the iPad a stand alone tool for doing business.
So if you’re looking for a replacement computer- it’s not the iPad. But if you’re looking for a smaller device to carry around for a one day business trip, or conducting business via e-mail, connecting with friends on facebook/twitter and the added bonus of looking cool then I suggest you go get one!
I do love my iPad- but it’s not a computer!
So this week I had several people mention the iPhone App- Zosh. Have you guys seen this? It looks really cool. Basically it’s an app that allows you to sign documents using your finger on the touch screen of your iPhone. You can insert text, dates, images too. Once you’re done signing you can send the document off- it send in a PDF file.
It’s a really cool app for your clients who want to feel like they are “signing” something instead of using docusign. It’s also great on the go.
Check it out and let me know what you think!
Have you ever tried to send a large file but your server or e-mail system wouldn’t send it. Maybe it would send it, but it took forever to upload, and send.
When you have a large file, like a video or pictures- check out YouSendIt.com. It’s a free large file delivery service. You upload grab the link, then e-mail the link to the person you wanted to send the file to. They open the link and can download safely from YouSendIt.com.
Do you have a website or a blog? I find most agents still have a website. I also find that most agents don’t plan on switching platforms anytime soon.
So if you’re a website user- do you know how to update all the information on your site with in seconds? Without knowing HTML, I bet the answer is no.
I found this really cools site that helps with that problem. Edit.com for about a thousand dollars can go in and make your site editable. While they’re at it they can help optimize it for search engines.
Now there are a bunch of people out there that think if you’re going to spend a thousand bucks you should upgrade to a blog. But for those of you who like your website, check out Edit.com
Have you ever tried to schedule a meeting with multiple people and had to send numerous e-mails back and forth before everyone settled on the same date and time? Have you ever had clients in two different cities, so it’s up to you to figure out how your three-way works? Timebridge.com is a great technology that will help alleviate multiple e-mails and three-way.
With Timebridge.com you go in and propose up to 5 meeting dates and times and e-mail it to all parties at once- it’s especially great if you’re organizing a group. Each person responds online what time works best. You as the organizer can see everyone’s responses and go with the time that works best for everyone.
Once you decide on the time, an automatic e-mail is sent to the parties notifying them. Everyone can sync TimeBridge to their calendars. Best part is, you can set it up as a FREE conference call. So the e-mail will have the date/time/number for you to call in to.
You can get creative with how you use the conference call. Brokers, think about having your agents who can’t make sales meetings call in on one line to listen to the meeting.
If you want to pay for an upgrade you can use TimeBridge.com to schedule webinars- it’s a pretty robust system, and really is a time saver. Anyone who organizes groups, or has the need for a conference call should check this out!
One of the biggest time savers I’ve discovered is having my voicemail converted to a text message and e-mail with an audio file. I use a service call Phonetag.com. There are several services out there that do this, as well as Google Voice. Check them all out before you settle on one.
Regardless of who you use, I think everybody can benefit from this. Think about how much money you make an hour… Is it a $50, $100 or $200/hour? (Do you even know? That’s another post all together)
Now think about how many messages you get in one day? Typically you’ll get at least 10- but more likely 20 right? How long does it take to listen to the messages, right down the numbers and call them back? My research is about 20-30 mins a day.
In today’s time crunched world imagine having an extra 3 hours a week. Think of all you could accomplish! With your voicemails being converted to text messages, you don’t have to waste time listening anymore. You can read the message and then text the answers back. (not having to talk to them saves you time too… good idea if it’s a quickie question your client has)
The message is not only texted, but it’s e-mailed as well with an audio file- this is great for CYA. If it’s a controversial voicemail, or an important one to your transaction you can save it for the future… You know just in case.
I can’t imagine doing business without this feature. It’s fantastic! By the way I use www.Phonetag.com for my service.