As eEdge approaches its one-year birthday, close to 1,000 Family Reunion attendees gathered to celebrate the impact of this award-winning, innovative, and powerful system that changed the game of real estate forever. Not only has the leverage that eEdge provides saved associates countless hours and dollars spent on administrative tasks, but agents have reported an 84% increase in leads since eEdge launched at Family Reunion 2011!

Key representatives of KWRI’s IT and Marketing teams led the “What’s New with eEdge” breakout session to show how eEdge has evolved since its launch, and to give a sneak peek at some exciting new features that are coming soon.

• Mike Malinowski, Product Management Team Lead, opened the session by highlighting the enhancements made to the eEdge myLeads and myContacts components over the past year, including easier contact importing, full IDX feeds to eEdge websites (where available), and shared access for teams. Mike previewed the soon-to-be-available action plans, which will put critical to-do tasks front and center on associates’ KW dashboards.

• Ellen Marks, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, presented the myMarketing component, which launched with all the MREA campaigns and was expanded to include campaigns for KW Commercial associates as well as leadership. At last count, 67,000 KW associates have activated their eEdge accounts and are running 28,384 automated marketing campaigns, reaching 2,529,456 consumers! Ellen reported that agents running an eEdge 33 Touch to their database averaged a 71 percent increase in units closed, a 117 percent increase in volume and an incredible 67 percent increase in gross commission income. Finally, Ellen unveiled a sneak peek at the new myMarketing platform to be released next month, which features streamlined navigation, video marketing campaigns, and a WYSIWYG editor—all part of KW’s goal to provide agents with a highly customizable system that allows them to brand themselves and target their markets.
• Continue reading ‘KW Technology Breakout Session: What’s New with eEdge’

A 7:45 a.m. session didn’t faze any of the attendees at the Win More Listings with a Pre-Listing Packet that Packs a Punch Breakout Session on Sunday.  And their first stop: A Family Reunion breakout session covering powerful sessions agents can implement to position themselves as knowledgeable experts who are prepared to earn their clients trust and WIN MORE BUSINESS.

“Don’t be afraid of the competition,” says one panelist. “Most will not be as prepared as you are. Be confident; and remember, you are the expert.”

Based on Ignite, Keller Williams University’s latest course, the session broke down into three parts: Preparedness, Knowledge & Rapport and the components of the Pre-List Package.

What do you do to prepare?

Start gathering knowledge about the client and their home from the initial discussion. Build rapport with the client from the initial discussion. Don’t be afraid to ask questions during the initial discussion. Confirm that all of the owners will be present for your CMA presentation.

What is your knowledge of the neighborhood?

• Inspect all active listings that are in direct competition for the client’s home before your appointment.
• Make sure that you have a general understanding of recent sales activity in the neighborhood.
• Make sure that you know the schools, parks, builders, builder models, community centers, and general amenities in the neighborhood.

What do you know about the potential client?

Continue reading ‘Hot Breakout: Win More Listings with a Pre-Listing Packet that packs a punch’

To an outside observer, nearly two decades of teaching the same course may seem monotonous or even cliché. But, those who have heard Gary Keller teach Quantum Leap just keep coming back for more year after year.

So, why can’t we get enough?

Because Quantum Leap, like its teachers and attendees, continues to evolve. As Gary’s life moves forward, he has more to share—both insights and AHAs. And, regardless of Gary’s growth, attendees hear and learn new things based on where they are. It’s literally a lesson on life—which we are never finished learning.

It’s both funny and enlightening to see Quantum Leap a handful of times and walk out realizing the material hadn’t so much changed, as you did. But, it’s Quantum Leap that’s made you step back and gain new perspective—a feat many rarely, if ever, accomplish.

Thankfully, we got to attend Quantum Leap again on Saturday, and, as to be expected we had some great new AHAs.

“Every minute you live, you’re betting your life on your decisions,” Gary said to thousands from stage at KW’s Family Reunion 2012. “Life is an inside (to the outside) job. If you want the best life experience, put yourself together first.”

Yes, we all have our issues and our challenges, but we also have power over our lives’ trajectories. “You tend to go wherever you aim,” Gary teaches. So, why not aim high? Why not take the time to step back, and take charge of your life’s outcome?

Continue reading ‘Bet your life on your decisions’

Does video marketing generate actual leads? As marketing budgets decrease, and easy-to-use video editing tools pop up, it’s a question many agents are asking. Tackling that topic early Sunday morning was Adam Hergenrother, associate with the Green Mountain (Vt.) market center, Kevin Kauffman, associate with the Tempe – Scottsdale market center and Seychelle Van Poole, associate with the Dallas Preston Road market center, who all agree that video is worth the time and small upfront investment.

“The results are impressive,” says Kauffman, who’s been blogging with his 46:10 business partner Fred Weaver since 2009. “The system we’ve set up has paid for itself over and over again.” Here are their top tips for using video to generate a solid pipeline of business.

Set Goals

Kauffman: Our goal is a fairly simple. We collaborate with our marketing firm to define a variety of mediums to attract short sale sellers to our videos. Then, we identify with the viewer and demonstrate to them why we are short sale experts and finish with a strong call to action, trading information that the seller values for their contact information. Currently, our Short or Stay calculator is the strongest call to action we have. That has basically turned our video blogging from a good source of seller leads to a good source of motivated seller leads that are HOT.

Hergenrother: Our lead generation systems with video encompass everything. We use video for informational services to blast to larger audiences on social media, news, YouTube and site we can attach our content. We send a pre-listing video to every client prior to them coming into the office. We use video to fully leverage our listing and buyer video’s to ensure every buyer/seller understand the full services of our team. This can also be emailed/drop box to clients outside of the state which is extremely helpful. We use video for price reductions, FSBO and expired campaigns. It’s the best leverage tool.

Leverage yourself

Hergenrother: We use Animoto for quick videos, professional editing for anything that will be mass produced, Window’s Movie Maker, and Comf5. Many of my videos, however, are shot without editing on a Logitech HD camera.

Kauffman: We just do the “turn on camera, talk, turn off camera” part (learned this from Gary Vaynerchuck in the book Crush it) and hand the video off our marketing firm. Our time is better spent on other tasks once the video has been shot and Direct Business Marketing is better at the techy stuff than us. We have an agreement with them. We won’t tinker with the websites and the videos if they promise not to negotiate short sales. It’s a good task to delegate to someone else.

Van Poole gave three simple tips for making sure your videos generate action from your clients. We got her on video!
Continue reading ‘HOT Breakout: Using Video to Generate Leads’