Realtors: You KNOW You Need Video!!

May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There is no doubt whatsoever that when it comes to the various different types of media online, video has become the undoubted favorite.  Why would a prospective home buyer read the listing description when they can tour the home from the comfort of their own?

It shouldn’t come as a complete shock to us as almost everyone prefers to watch a moving image rather than read something else in order to pick up the same information. Both video and audio represent dynamic media options as they are now available and accessible to everyone and anyone who wants to be seen online. There is quite a lot to appreciate technically; however, your Real Estate Virtual Assistant knows exactly what to do.

  1. Video Creation:  Based on the fact that as a real estate agent you have a story to tell – or rather a multitude of stories to tell – you can repurpose the content and promote it in the form of a video. Your virtual assistant can help you to create a video, with audio overlay based on voice or music. These videos can be based on a slideshow format or they can be a lot more sophisticated. Today, due to technology, there are many options available when it comes to displaying the video, so that is not an issue anymore. Outsource the design work associated with creating the video to your virtual assistant to start with.
  2. Video Imagery:  No longer does the agent have to play second fiddle to any larger broker when it comes to the sheer impact of the video imagery associated with the company. Your virtual assistant can be responsible for creating a truly professional, dynamic and hard-hitting “intro” that can in turn be used whenever an informational video of yours is displayed to a prospect online. Never underestimate the importance of portraying your organization, no matter how small, in a very powerful light using a variety of special effects and audio.
  3. Video Hosting:  Not too long ago video files used to represent quite a problem for webmasters as they were very large and would use a lot of bandwidth. This could represent issues in terms of the cost associated with bandwidth but also limitations imposed by some web hosting companies. Now, there are options available “in the cloud” and many different ways now available when it comes to rendering the actual video file itself. Your virtual assistant can ensure that there are no hurdles associated with the display of your video, without interruption, buffering and so on, to whoever wants to see it.
  4. Video Marketing:  Just as it is important to distribute articles to top line directories and other authority sites online, it is important to market the videos that your VA produces so that they are seen and can be found through various dedicated search engines. You will often notice that videos are displayed as an option in the Google search engine whenever you’re looking for information about a particular topic. When your virtual assistant is in charge of your video marketing this can give you added flexibility in terms of your overall business exposure. Your VA can even develop and manage your own YouTube business channel.

Ready to incorporate video into your marketing?  You should be!  I have recently partnered with an AMAZING video SEO company who is giving my clients a great discount.  Complete my Work With Me questionnaire for more information.

 

Filed Under: Coffee with a VA, Ditch Your Desk, Real Estate S & M Tagged With: ,

15 Ways to Repurpose Content and Add More Value

April 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Fabienne Fredrickson

As a busy entrepreneur, you are probably creating articles, programs and teleclasses to provide value and attract more clients.But did you know your materials have more life to them than a one-time use?

To make the most of your productivity, you want to find ways to leverage these creations to get even more out of them. I’m going to share a number of the ways you can repurpose your materials to make them work harder for you.

  1. Combine blog posts to create an ebook
  2. Record yourself reading your ebook to make an audio product
  3. Have your recorded teleclass transcribed into an ebook
  4. Record yourself reading a blog post and post the audio to iTunes
  5. Convert your ebook into a Kindle or Nook ebook
  6. Write a series of articles for your blog, and then create a home study course out of them
  7. Record a teleclass to promote a new program and then have it edited to be a bonus recording for another program
  8. Convert a teleclass series into a home study course
  9. Videotape a live workshop and sell it as a new product for those who couldn’t make the live event
  10. Keep copies of your recorded interviews and create a resource library for a membership site
  11. Create a video series for YouTube from a series of articles that were first on your blog
  12. Add your video series to the library on your membership site
  13. Start recording video ezines and then add those videos to your membership site as well
  14. Run a Q&A teleclass and let each segment inspire you to write an article for your blog
  15. Write articles to post on article directories and reuse them for guest blog posts on other bloggers’ sites

This is really the tip of the iceberg in terms of repurposing your materials. I’m sure you can think of many more. Why work hard when you can leverage what you have already created? Be smart to make the most of your time.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

What materials do you already have completed? Now think of five different ways you could use them again to stretch their value and leverage your efforts.

Now, if you’re just starting out and trying to fill your practice in the FIRST place, then follow a step-by-step system that feels easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

Filed Under: Ditch Your Desk, Escape the Paper

Help, I Don’t Have Any Listings!

March 14, 2012 By 2 Comments

Today I want to talk to you about listings.  Since I do a lot of online marketing for listings, I work with a lot of Listing Agents, so a lot of my content is written for them.  If you’re not a Listing Agent, that’s okay, I have plenty of information for you too!

But today is about listings.  In speaking with my clients all over the country, one thing seems to ring true no matter where you’re from:  nobody ever has enough listings.  They always want more.  And that’s great!  Home sellers have a lot of choices to make when it comes to finding the right listing agent, so successful agents have found a way to stand up and be seen in the crowd.  How do they do this, you ask?

First, let’s look at what they don’t do.  They don’t do work that gets in the way of being successful.  Did you know that, according to a study done by Active Rain, agents who make more money are 153% more likely to use an assistant to help with their advertising efforts?

Let’s take that a step further.  I constantly read in the various Real Estate groups and on blogs about an agent being stuck building their website.  About an agent trying to troubleshoot yet another new program.  An agent desperately trying to get her newsletter out, but the formatting is wrong.  Spending money on this or that, inserting this AwesomeNewFantasticGottaHaveItCauseAGuruSaidIDid plugin.  Whatever it is, what you should be doing instead is getting out in front of your market in a really big way.

What you should be doing to get listings is following up with every lead that comes in.  Talking to people (FACE TO FACE) whose listing has just expired.  Build relationships within your community so that when the time comes for someone to sell their house, they think of you.

It’s all been said before.  Of course it’s been said before; it works!  It’s effective!  Most importantly, it can’t be done by anyone but you.  That’s what makes it important, and that’s what makes it your purpose in the real estate world.  Everything else can be delegated to your Real Estate Virtual Assistant (and hopefully that’s us) but you need to hone your purpose and be amazing at it.

One of the most important things we do with our clients when we first start working with them, is we create an action plan.  An action plan is a process of steps from point A to point B with a “who does what” twist at the end.  If you don’t have action plans in your business, then you’re not leveraging your time or your support system the best that you can.

If you need an action plan, fill out my Work With Me form and we’ll schedule some time together to put in place the one tool that makes partnering with a REVA a no-brainer.

 

Filed Under: Ditch Your Desk, Escape the Paper, Real Estate Info Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Virtual Tour Created For Client Using Listings To Leads

March 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Just created this fabulous virtual tour for my client Doug Wathen of WathenRealtyGroup.com that I’m very excited about.  I just need to set it to music.  Thanks to ListingsToLeads.com for making it simple!

If you would like virtual tours uploaded for you on You Tube, please use the Work With Me form and we’ll create a plan!

Filed Under: Client Creations, Ditch Your Desk Tagged With: , , , , ,

Making the Project Management Switch

November 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I wrote a review a while back on My Intervals, the project management system I had been using since the beginning of 2011.  In that review, I wrote about all the really, really great things about it (ease of use, charts & graphs galore, super organized) and some not so great things (inability to work with Paypal, invoicing sucks, lots of double entry).

The time has come that I decided that the issues that I didn’t like about Intervals was costing me too much money each month in lost invoices so I’ve made the switch to Mavenlink.

Technically I’m still switching, but I’ve made the decision and am slowly moving over existing clients and all new clients will start there.  Watch the blog in the next few weeks on my updates regarding Mavenlink and my entire switch over to Google Apps.

Have a great week!

Filed Under: Coffee with a VA, Ditch Your Desk, Escape the Paper

Are You Ready to Delegate?

October 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Never fear, the chicks are here!  Delegate everything that isn’t your “Unique Brilliance”!

Filed Under: Ditch Your Desk, Escape the Paper, Real Estate Info, Real Estate S & M

75% of Agents Claim they are Buried Under Paperwork!

October 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Learn how to dig yourself out from under and Ditch Your Desk!

 

Filed Under: Ditch Your Desk, Escape the Paper

Our Services

June 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Real Estate Virtual Assistant Chick Services

Visit our new Services page which will walk you through most of the services that we offer.  Can’t decide or don’t see exactly what you’re looking for?  Contact April directly from the Work with Me page!

Filed Under: Coffee with a VA, Ditch Your Desk, Escape the Paper, Real Estate S & M, Transaction Management

How to Tame Your Email

June 16, 2011 By 3 Comments

I get around 500 emails per day.  Some are from clients, some are from potential clients, VA’s who have questions, the VA’s who do work for me, various newsletters that I subscribe to, a bunch of spam and other “junk”.  I usually do a very good job of keeping it under control, and I’d like to teach you as well.

First of all, let me warn you that I am a Gmail snob.  Just like every Mac owner will tell you how special their “baby” is when given a chance, I’ll almost do the same with Gmail.  My husband still uses Outlook half the time (I’ve only been able to partially convert him) and I smack him around every chance I get.

Anyway, back to taming your Gmail inbox.  First thing you’ll want to do is enable Nested Labels under settings –> labs.  This is crucial, especially to those who are transitioning to Gmail from Outlook.  My main Labels are:

  • Clients
  • Inactive Clients
  • VA Work
  • Subcontractors
  • Vendors
  • Leads
  • My Mentors
  • Webinar Replays
  • Social Media
  1. Color-code each main label.  Clients are a deep red, Subcontractors are turquoise, leads are purple, vendors blue, etc.
  2. Make a nested label for each Active Client by name or even by property (but it’s easier by name).  So ALL of my active clients are the same deep red color.  When something pops up in my inbox, I know just by glancing that it’s from an active client and needs my attention.
  3. Once you’ve done this for all of your clients, leads, inactive clients, etc. create some filters.
  4. Start with your first client, select an email from her and click to create a filter.  For clients, I use these filters:  From, Star It, Apply the Label Clients/DougWathen, Always Mark it Important

Go through all of your clients, then inactive  clients, then leads, etc. in this fashion.

For Social Media, webinar replays and anything else I don’t want to see on a daily basis I use these filters:  From, Skip the Inbox, Apply the Label Social Media, Never Mark it Important

I am especially diligent at adding more than one label per email if necessary.  For example, if Dawn is designing a flyer for Doug, I will add labels for both Dawn and Doug to each email.  Sometimes it takes a little extra work, but it has saved me so many headaches when I need to go back and find something later on.

How do you tame your email?

 

Filed Under: Coffee with a VA, Ditch Your Desk, Escape the Paper, Real Estate Info, Transaction Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Delegation Action Item #2 – Prospect Follow Up Printable

June 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’ll admit it:  I totally hate following up.  If you’ve ever called me about us working together you know just how true this is.  I don’t send thank-you cards, I won’t send you my brochure (and that’s because I don’t even have one), and even though I schedule a follow up in my calendar for 5 business days, I usually ignore that annoying little pop-up message 10 minutes before it starts.

Please don’t ask me why I’m like this, because I have no idea.  I just am, and I have to believe that there are others out there who are like me as well.

I did come up with something that works for me though.  I have a “Low Hanging Fruit” spreadsheet that I’ll pull out once a month where I add the leads that haven’t yet become clients.  I keep them all properly labeled in Gmail as prospects until the contract is signed, so all I have to do is open that file and copy/paste them to my Low Hanging Fruit spreadsheet.  Each month, I make sure that I contact the lead at least once, stopping at 3 times.  I also make sure that they get added to my newsletter list so that I can automatically follow up with them later on.

When I am ready to follow up, I will block off an hour or two and go down the list and follow up with each one either via phone or email.  Batching my time like this makes me more productive since I’m using the same tools for each call, my contracts are ready to go and I’m not bouncing from one task to another.

Is this perfect?  That’s a big NO, but it does work.  And for someone like me who can’t stand anything too repetitive, it works out just fine.  I’ve even heard from a few people that they were glad that I didn’t hound them like a desperate sales person ; )

I’m including 2 versions of this printable.  1 is the Excel spreadsheet that you can fill in on your computer, and the other is a pdf that you can post above your phone or computer and fill in when you need to.  Both are awesome.

Virtual Assistant Delegation Tip:  Have your VA schedule this in your shared calendar weekly, bi-monthly or monthly (whichever works best for you) and have them pull your leads and add them to the list for you.  If you have an email template set up for prospect follow up, your VA can email them out for you as well.

Low Hanging Fruit PDF

Low Hanging Fruit Excel Spreadsheet

*The editable version is not working properly; Email me at VAWork@VirtualAssistantChick.com and I’ll gladly email it to you.

As before, since I’m not asking for your email address in return for these printables, a nice “Thank You” in the comments below is appreciated!

Filed Under: Coffee with a VA, Ditch Your Desk, Real Estate Info, Templates Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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