Have you taken your business mobile? If not, it’s time to get on the train! Attendees of Mega Technology Camp were treated to a smorgasbord of tips and tricks for leveraging the latest trends in technology meet the demands of the highly mobile consumer population, and ultimately to generate more business.

Clad in a “Geeky Girl” t-shirt, Dianna Kokoszka, President of KW MAPS Coaching, kicked off this session and insisted that attendees leave with at least three ideas to incorporate into their businesses. Among the presenters were three of Inman’s 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in 2011—Cary Sylvester, Executive Director of Technology, KWRI, Ben Kinney, CEO and President of Home4Investment, Chris Smith of Inman Next and Sue Adler, CEO of the Sue Adler Team.

Cary and Ben revealed that today’s consumers browse on their mobile devices at home as much as “on the go.” More and more, we are using our smartphones in place of our desktops. We use our phones and tablets to watch TV, browse the web, play games, read books, listen to music, send emails and texts, pay bills, so it’s only logical that consumers would expect to conduct real estate business the same way.

So, what does it mean to take one’s business mobile? Largely, it’s about responsive design—ensuring your website is designed to adapt to the user’s mobile device in terms of screen size, platform, and orientation.

A parade of the savviest of the tech-savvy proceeded to educate and amaze attendees with best practices in leveraging technology in real estate. Some highlights include:

• Matt Fetick, Mega Agent and KWU International Master Faculty, decided six years ago that on weekends, his deals would be conducted from the beach, and today, he has truly taken his business mobile. Some of Matt’s favorite resources: virtual assistants, VoIP,  Dropbox, Shoebox, and Dragon Dictation.
• Chris Smith, Chief Evangelist, Inman News, delivered his presentation on his iPad and highly recommended Sliderocket for presentations and Roambi for interactive graphs. Get his entire presentation here: http://bit.ly/mobile-tools-inman-next
• Seychelle Van Poole, Team Leader of Van Poole Properties, shared 5 Tips to Rock Referrals. Among these were using LinkedIn to build relationships with companies and joining national referral groups on Facebook, such as the KW Referral Group.
• Jonathan Osman, Tech Coordinator at Charlotte-South Park and Team Leader of the Charlotte House Hunter Group, presented 5 Tips for Engaging Website Visitors. His overarching message—give users what they want. Ensure your website provides content that is specific and relevant to your expertise and allow visitors a test drive—access to view one property before requiring registration.
• Ron Armstrong, Tech Coordinator and Luxury Agent at Asheville, shared 5 Tips for Marketing Your Luxury Listing. Among these tips is to know thy story: get the demographics on the buyers that have seen the house and compare to studies from the Center for Affluence. Then, map them and reach out to those markets and agents.
• Sue Adler, presented 5 Tips to Creating a Great Online Consumer Experience. One tip for marketing listings is to showcase the community as much as the house and to stay in touch after the sale—people don’t want to feel as though they were nothing more than a transaction.
• Adam Hergenrother, CEO of The Hergenrother Team, shared 5 Tips for Teams, which includes getting on TV and radio and turning your shoulds into musts.

Download the entire Mega Technology Camp presentation from familyreunion.kw.com/downloads and then tell us—what three ideas will YOU implement in your business?

Sounds ludicrous, right?

Actually, it’s spot on. Today, eBay is a $35 billion company with over 235 million registered users, engaged in over one million transactions a day. And, according to Stephen M.R. Covey and Greg Link, authors of the new book Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World, it’s because when you really look at the company and its founder Pierre Omidyar’s business plan, trust is at the helm.

“People everywhere are basically good,” states former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. “We provided the tools and reinforced the values, but our users built eBay. Our community’s willingness to trust eBay—and each other—was the foundation of eBay’s success.”

After reading an advanced copy of Covey and Link’s book, it’s easy to see how revisiting the idea that people are inherently good, holds some clout. Trust still works. And, even better, smart trust—not blind trust—means smart business.

Covey and Link are not touting naiveté —wear your heart on your sleeve; arms wide open, eyes closed shut, trust. Rather, the book challenges readers to be aware of the vast possibilities afforded when trust is reintroduced into business.

“A fundamental element of eBay’s approach is self-policing, much like that engaged in by the Maghribi Traders in the 10^th Century Mideast,” write Covey and Link. “eBay buyers and sellers do business in a highly transparent way…creating a reputation for each trader, which affects his/her credibility.”

NAR research has long shown that real estate professionals work in a high-trust industry. The most important factor by far according to the NAR 2011 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers when choosing an agent is honesty and trust. In fact, trustworthiness has held its place at No. 1 since 2006, and prior to that, can be argued to have been lumped in with reputation for over a decade.

Colloquially, this is often summed up as, “People want to do business with people they know, like and trust.” Trust can power any company to the top no matter what industry you’re in.

So, what’s the No. 1 thing you do to build trust with your customers?

Welcome to 2012! As we kick off a New Year, all of our contributing writers are excited to bring you brand new content. You’ll find smart strategies to keep your day-to-day business firing away, inspirational messages to get you in the right mindset to reach your biggest goals, weekly updates on news-worthy happenings coming from your markets, and the latest breaking news from Keller Williams Realty International. We hope you’ll join us in ringing in 2012 in a big way, visit often and share with everyone you know!

Here’s a look at the news-worthy items this week:

Diane Gross, associate at the Newport Beach, Calif. Market Center blogs about Why she Moved to Keller Williams Realty: http://inside-real-estate.com/dianegross/2011/12/28/why-i-moved-to-keller-williams-realty/

Keller Williams Coastal Area Partners in Savannah, Ga. dubbed“Comeback Business of the Year.”: http://bit.ly/wgMab0

The Keller Williams Realty International Support Center Released the 4th Quarter Issue of OutFront, its company-wide publication: http://www.kw.com/kw/outfront.html

The first 100 Family Reunion 2012 Breakout  Sessions were released: http://familyreunion.kw.com/breakouts

Inman News announced it’s 100 Most Influential in Real Estate and Keller Williams Realty’s own Gary Keller, Cary Sylvester, Ben Kinney and Sue Adler made the list: http://www.inman.com/inman100

Dear Associates,

Our company’s success is rooted in our ability to believe. We believe that Keller Williams Realty is built by you and for you and that your brand matters most.

We trust in our value proposition and in our dedication to building careers worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living. We believe in these pillars, simply because they are true!

Last February at our Family Reunion, we celebrated becoming the second-largest real estate company in the United States – an incredible accomplishment that is entirely yours. Now, as we look forward to 2012, we’re ready for the next step. To put it into perspective, let’s look at where we stand in the competitive landscape.

It thrills us to say that while other companies have gone down in size by nearly half since 2005, Keller Williams Realty has grown from 57,600 to 77,672 associates during the same time period – an increase of almost 35 percent! To use Gary Keller’s words, we know how fortunate we are to be standing on the shoulders of giants. And those giants are you! Our biggest asset as a company is that we are long-term thinkers. We set the bar high, and while reaching the No. 1 spot in our industry is absolutely our destiny, it’s about becoming the real estate company of choice for the long haul.

What this means for us is that our trajectory is clear and we are going to remain steadfast on our journey to become the No. 1 real estate company in North America. Make no mistake; we understand this is a huge under – taking. We also know that there is no better time than now to seize every opportunity. It is that unstoppable passion which brings us to our next objective: to never have a single agent go backward. Simply put, your success is our goal.

Our focus has and always will be on providing the very best education, training and coaching, so that you stay on a forward trajectory in your career and your life. This year, that includes Ignite. Replacing CAMP 4:4:3, we know the contents of this amazing class will spark your career and absolutely unleash your potential, getting you into production now. (See page 22 to read how it’s already changing businesses.)

Profit sharing is the ultimate manifestation of our philosophy of succeeding through others, and it is an absolute promise we’ve made to you. As of December 2011, we’ve shared $36 million with you! We know that number is entirely possible because of your ingenuity, ambition and your talent in your local markets. As you read through the pages of this issue, you’ll see what we mean. And by the way, let’s remember that our company’s entire belief system is centered on our extraordinary culture. We’ve said it before: we’d rather build a company of good citizens first, and then a company of top producers. We’re lucky that our culture fosters both.

You hold the future of our company in your hands, and we are absolutely thrilled to serve as stakeholders with you on our way to the top. We want you to know that we’re going to continue believing in YOU. We trust that you’ll keep on believing in yourself and in Keller Williams Realty.

Keep on Bel1eving!

Mark Willis, CEO,

Keller Williams Realty