Technology For Agents

To all of my vista agents: Windows Vista SP1 was released recently, and you should be sure to update your computer as soon as possible. Having the latest editions of your software is always a good thing.

With this release, Windows hopes to fix a boat load of bugs and to tweak their software for better performance all-around.

Windows Vista SP1 is an update to Windows Vista that, along with improvements delivered via these other channels, addresses feedback from our customers and partners. By providing these fixes integrated into a single service pack which will be thoroughly tested by Microsoft and by industry partners and customers during the beta cycle, Microsoft provides a single high quality update that minimizes deployment and testing complexity for customers.

Updating your computer is as simply as starting the update program found by left-clicking on the Windows Logo on the bottom left hand side of your desktop,  then searching for “Windows Update”.

A program named “Windows Update” should be found.  Simply left click on it to begin the updating process.  As always, make sure you save all documents and can devote at least an hour to updating your computer.

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I’ve stumbled across a really neat tool that you can show to your clients that are looking to buy a home, or to a seller that needs a few tips on how to rearrange their home.

Created by a company named, Suite75, floorplanner is built in full flash technology and feature the ability to drag and drop furniture, walls and fixtures just like you’d expect. It’s a WYSIWYG of floor plan design!

Floorplanner is the easiest, quickest, and best looking way to create and share interactive floorplans. Using point-and-click, drag-and-drop tools, you can make your floor plan in minutes, and rearrange it as often as you want. Then you can save, send, and print your designs to share them, or place them on your own website.

You can try it out using a pre-built floorplan without having to register, but they do feature two pricing plans; personal and professional. The free personal plan will allow you to:

• 1 Floor plan
• Save up to 5 design variations
• Decorate your plans with over 500 items
• Share your plans by email, link or widget

Learn more about floorplanner and get the latest pricing information. I’ve played with their free software and it’s really easy and simple to use! Anything more complicated than what they’ve provided would, in my opinion, be overkill.

When you design your own floorplan, post a link in the comments section of this post so everyone can have a look!

Update: In about 10 minutes, I built out my office. Yes, I know it’s rather plain!

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I’m going to be performing some updates and maintenance to TechForAgents.com today, so you might see some funky screens and errors while visiting. I apologize for that!

The upgrade should be complete this morning with everything working like a charm this afternoon. It should work great; let’s hope I don’t break anything!

For those of you out there that have your own blogs, when do you usually begin to update; the moment a new version of your software comes out? Do you upgrade your blogs yourself or hire someone to do it for you?

Update: As of 10:23AM (Central), the upgrading is complete.  Please contact me if you notice something is broken! 

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A nifty tool from Top Producer was announced at the Keller Williams family reunion this year called Live Post. Essentially, it’s a way for agents to print single postcards, letters, and flyers straight from the 8i dashboard. The cards go to a printing company and are created, stamped, and mailed for you.

Not only does this save you time (and therefore money), but you’re also able to keep all of your systems integrated into Top Producer 8i and not among multiple vendors websites and databases.

• Live Post Product Information
• Live Post Pricing and Postage

Powered by PostNexus, Top Producer LivePost lets you professionally print letters, postcards and flyers, and send them by US Postal service, directly within Top Producer 8i Keller Williams® Realty Edition. With LivePost, you can customize Top Producer 8i mail templates with your own personal message, and distribute them to any of your Top Producer 8i contacts. And, no matter how many pieces you send, you’ll always receive the same per-piece rate.

This sounds like a cool deal for new agents wanting to get more into marketing, but I’d imagine you’d eventually save money with bulk mailing your own marketing pieces. I’ll be giving Live Post a shot soon and blogging my experiences.

Update: As of the date of this post, the setup fee for Live Post is $99. Printing and postage fees (see link above) are additional.

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Take the internet lead: this type of consumer is quick to browse websites, makes decisions to stay or go in the matter of seconds, and many times is more educated about the real estate process than the average consumer.

If one of your sources to tap is in the realm of online lead generation, mastering the lead conversion process is one of the best “art forms” you can choose to focus in on.

I say “art form” because I truly feel that converting online leads takes talent. This talent could be found in you, or if your business is at a higher level, someone that you hire.

You should not only possess natural rapport building skills, but should also have the motivation to master your scripts when in dialogue with all of your online leads. You should also be someone that can take a phone conversation with someone and naturally convey the sincere desire to help without sounding cheesy. It’s not easy, but then again it’s not impossible to learn what it takes to convert more online leads.

Three Factors

Quick: A lead has contacted you online requesting more help about the real estate process. What do you do? Your ability to convert an online lead will be in direct proportion to your level of mastery with the following three areas.

• Timing
• Scripts
• Follow Up

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