"Web Site Customer Magic"
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12/2/05 Interview with Judy McCutchin Re/Max Premier 15150 Preston Rd., Suite 110 Dallas, TX 75248  Biography |
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Her Real Estate Business Organization
- McCutchin organizes her business around a team of six assistants who support her personal sales efforts; the team manager is a full-time, in-house person whose job is to keep everyone coordinated.
- Five other virtual assistants are strung out across the country, the creative director handles advertising; the marketing coordinator keeps the web site up to date; the e-marketing specialist handles electronic contacts; two leads managers work the leads on the web site.
- Once a week, the team meets virtually, using a variety of collaboration software, a favorite is WebTrain; everyone gets on the phone with a webcam; goals for the coming and past weeks are discussed; the team manager makes sure that the team stays on track for its goals.
- The e-marketing specialist does a lot of personalized marketing, targeting specific neighborhoods and past clients; she also markets new listings to an agent database; some of the specifics she sends include newsletters and postcards.
- McCutchin does all the sales work herself because she has not had good luck in working with buyer assistants; however, a few agents in her Re/Max office show houses for her for a small hourly fee.
- Because of the support of her staff, McCutchin is able to travel three to four months a year; McCutchin stays in touch by way of her laptop.
- The only three tasks that McCutchin does are listing presentations, taking buyers around and negotiating contracts; she can do listing presentations virtually and has sold many homes while she is out of town, not seeing the seller until closing.
- The weekly meetings and seeing one another on the webcam help to make the team cohesive; the meetings are tightly structured with an agenda; the webcams are a simple, low-cost tool; each person also has a microphone and speakers on her computer.
- Yearly retreats give the team members a chance to know one another personally; some work is accomplished, but the emphasis is on fun.
- For the weekly meetings, everyone dials into WebTrain; every person has the ability to display anything on her computer to everyone else.
- Her GPS system saves her from her terrible sense of direction and allows her to take buyers to places she is not familiar with.
- The single tool she could not do without is her highly portable, lightweight, tablet PC; the kind she has is a slate, a small monitor with all the electronics built into it; it is large enough to use as a laptop.
- A bonus with the tablet PC is that she can write on it in handwriting with a special pen; voice recognition lets her record even while driving; a Verizon card allows her to always be online.
- The tablet PC is a WOW factor for clients; whereas laptops can be awkward to set up and use for listings, the tablet can be held in the hand and easily shown; clients are not used to seeing a tablet PC from other agents.
- Numerous productivity software packages are available for the tablet; e.g., Sticky Notes allows you to handwrite a note and keep it visible.
- Microsoft OneNote works on any PC but is especially good for a tablet; use it to capture, organize and reuse notes; it is a powerful tool for accessing information entered in handwriting or text.
- The Real Estate Dashboard allows documents to be filled out and signed right on the tablet screen; a contract can be submitted within minutes; the software can send any PDF file more quickly and easily than by email.
- McCutchin finds rapport easier to establish with Internet-empowered consumers than with consumers she just meets and takes out because the online connection is a long courtship that gets them ready to buy.
- Working with someone online first builds trust; confidence grows as consumers see how McCutchin works.
- McCutchin does a strong pre-listing presentation that begins to close clients even before they meet her; the presentation can be emailed or hand delivered (rarely necessary).
- It asks clients to have certain things ready (keys, mortgage information and a completed survey), and it introduces the team and how it works.
- McCutchin's strong listing presentation is left with clients in a bound leather book embossed with her logo; people have a hard time saying no.
- Knowing facts and reciting statistics are important for a listing presentation.
- McCutchin has worked with a programmer to customize Lotus Notes for synchronizing and monitoring team efforts; now an easier solution is Intranets.com.
- E-Lance is a resource to find people from around the world for many kinds of projects.
- Mangomind continues to be useful for sharing folders and files; FolderShare is a newer service that does the same thing.
- McCutchin uses the Society's CyberSpace Alert to help her stay abreast of what technology is new and useful; she also finds the Society's annual online convention to be a remarkable resource.
- Find a top-producer to shadow and see how that professional does things.
- Seize every opportunity to expand your learning; attend seminars, listen to industry gurus, get as much education and experience as possible.
(v) 972-931-9903
(f) 972-931-8590
(e) judy@dallashomes.com
(w)www.dallashomes.com
Real Estate Sites & Tools in this Briefing:
Judy McCutchin's web site: www.dallashomes.com
WebTrain: www.webtrain.com
Team tools: computer, webcam, microphone, speakers
Favorite tech tools: GPS system; tablet PC
StickyNotes: www.tabletpc.com
OneNote: www.microsoft.com
Real Estate Dashboard: www.vreo.com
Team synchronization tools: Lotus Notes (customized)
www.Intranets.com
Elance: www.elance.com
Online collaboration tools: www.mangomind.com www.foldershare.com