These innovative tools were developed as a result of the modern consumer’s expectations. Today’s real estate customer is more tech-savvy and has access to a plethora of information online – and they expect their agents to be more knowledgeable as well. Preparing your agents for these inevitable changes is crucial to your future success as a highly-regarded brokerage.

With technology constantly evolving, it can be overwhelming for a real estate agent to stay up-to-date on these latest trends. By providing your agents with cutting-edge technology, you are one step closer to exceeding customer expectations and associating a positive experience with your brand. However, keep in mind that no matter how many tools and technologies are developed, they will be worth nothing without proper training.

So the real question is: In these changing times, will your agents be able to keep up

At our 2011 conference, we highlighted how agents are still fearful of technology and hesitant to step out of their comfort zone, which has resulted in a low adoption rate of new technologies. Understanding this, the conference session took an in-depth look at how to bridge this gap through established training programs.  In order to cultivate a new breed of agent that is more knowledgeable and easily accessible to their customers, try to focus your training efforts on the latest technology including:

• Web tools
• Marketing
• Blogging
• Social Media

Training on new technologies will provide a sense of confidence for your agents while giving them a competitive advantage in their marketplace as well.

Not only will training provide your individual agents gain a competitive advantage, but it’s also an advantage for you brokerage as a whole.

The simple truth is that if you don’t adopt new innovation, you can bet that your competitors will. By having a proper training program in place, you can increase your technology adoption and improve your productivity – which over time will help with recruiting and retaining agents.

With that said, The Active Enterprise Network has worked hard to ensure our platform is user-friendly, no matter the skill level of our agents. We also recognize the need for training and as part of our 2012 plan, we have built in several new initiatives including:

• New Media Department Training Video Tutorials
• eLearning Center
• Training Department
• And more

For members interested in learning more, please contact your project manager. (Tweet This Article!)

By Dyana Gutierrez

The Vision 2030 Project was developed to answer this question by reaching out to sales partners at The Group Inc., local developers and other agents in the community. Based on his extensive research and feedback from innovative thinkers in the industry, Eric shared his findings with The Active Enterprise Network in order to set the stage for further growth among members.

But what does the future of real estate look like?

With more and more people beginning their home search online, the roles have changed – and will continue to evolve over the next few years.

In 2000, 48% of people found their home through a realtor and only 8% found their home online. Fast forward 10 years and we find that only 38% found their home through a realtor in 2010 while 37% found their home online. The percentage of homebuyers who find their home online will only increase by 2030. Why is this?

Agents are no longer the keepers of the information. With the rise of technology and the online world, customers have more information at their fingertips than ever before. Customers are doing their research and won’t contact an agent until they’re ready and prepared to continue down the path of home ownership.

It won’t be long before customers can access even more information pertaining to a home – whether that’s sales history, liens, how much is still owed on a home and much more. With the steady growth in mobile technology, users will be able to take their “virtual agent” out on the road with them.

Additionally, they’re going to be able to quickly find information about an agent’s track record including sales history, customer service ratings and their success rate for pricing homes. Agents will need to adjust their position and provide the expected high level of service, backed by a high level of understanding to be able to thrive.

If consumers can find the information without an agent, what will we bring to the table?

As our industry becomes more and more transparent, it’s up to us to adapt to meet the needs of this new age consumer. While we don’t believe the need for agents will decline, we do see a shift in the way they conduct business. Communication between an agent and consumer won’t change, but how we communicate with one another will.

Consumers will still rely on agents to help them find their next home as it is a big decision and a complex process. However, the agent’s role will be to help these consumers make sense of the data already available to them, and as such will require a high level of knowledge.

In addition to being well-informed on the Real Estate Industry, the new, younger wave of buyers will expect a certain level of tech-savvy-ness when working with an agent as well. By utilizing cutting-edge technology and personalizing the online experience that customers have come to expect, you will be better able to market your brand online.

What can we do today to prepare for tomorrow?

As we mentioned earlier, the need for professional guidance will increase over time, so having a trained, educated and knowledgeable agent will need to increase over time as well. Establishing a strong training program will help increase the adoption of new technologies so your agents don’t fall behind the curve.

Obviously being the first in your market to implement the latest functionality on your site will help you win business. However, with the gap between new advances in technology getting smaller, it now comes down to who implements it better and focuses more on usability and consumer engagement.

The sales process is becoming more about engaging and building relationships with the local community. Customers want to interact with your brand and will likely choose a company that shares similar values. By engaging with your customers and humanizing your brand, your brokerage will be associated with a positive experience and increase the chances a customer will continue the home buying process with you. (Tweet this article!)

Active → Broker

New Releases on The Active Enterprise Platform: Putting Innovation to Work
2011 has proven to be successful for The Active Enterprise Network and we are proud of the progress we have made already this year. With technology constantly evolving, it is our goal to keep members on the cutting-edge of innovation in order to maintain their position as market leaders. During this session, Senior Programmer at Active Website, Conar Welsh, will give an overview of the technologies released in 2011 and what’s to come.

Speaker:
Conar Welsh
Senior Programmer
Active Website, LLC

Implementation & Adoption of Quarterly Releases: Securing Your Position as Market Leaders
As a member of The Active Enterprise Network, you’ve made the commitment to push innovation forward in order to remain on the cutting edge of real estate technology. To do, new releases are produced quarterly on ensure that you are the first in your market to implement the latest technology. Ori Staub, Managing Partner of Active Website, will discuss why implementing these features are crucial to the success of your brokerage.

Speaker:
Ori Staub
Managing Partner
Active Website, LLC

Training on The Active Enterprise Platform: Expanding Our Training and Education Initiatives
As a member of The Active Enterprise Network, you are given access to a wide variety of tools for increasing productivity and your bottom line. However, without proper training it can be difficult for agents and staff to know what is available and how to best utilize these technologies. Michelle Hendrickson, Project Manager at Active Website, will discuss Active’s plan for expanding our training program through video, on-site training and more.

Speaker:
Michelle Hendrickson
Project Manager
Active Website, LLC

ROI Management: Getting the Most From Your Enterprise Network Membership
In order to manage each member’s return on investment, Active Website appointed a ROI & LifeCycle Manager in 2011. During this presentation, Stephanie Streeter will discuss the department’s progress and how to get the most out of your Enterprise Network partnership through ROI reporting, The Active Partner Program and more.

Speaker:
Stephanie Streeter
LifeCycle and ROI Manager
Active Website, LLC

Related Posts:

• 2011 Active Enterprise Network Annual Conference: Briding the Gap Between Agent and Customer
• 2011 Active Enterprise Network Annual Conference: Bridging the Gap Between Broker and Agent
• 2011 Active Enterprise Network Annual Conference: Bridging the Gap Between Broker and Customer
• The Active Enterprise Network Gears Up for 2011 Annual Conference

Agent → Customer

Agent LifeCycle CRM: Tools for Connecting With Your Customers
Stephanie Streeter, Active Website’s ROI and LifeCycle Manager, will discuss best practices for utilizing Agent LifeCycle CRM during this session. In addition, Stephanie will reveal important tools on The Active Enterprise Platform that help to ensure customers are being taken care of and agents are converting as many leads as possible.

Speaker:
Stephanie Streeter
ROI and LifeCycle Manager
Active Website, LLC

Best Practices for Listing Presentations: Utilizing The Active Enterprise Platform to Gain More Business
Through The Active Enterprise Network Platform, members are supplied with an arsenal of technology that help agents sell properties faster and more efficiently. To re-assure customers they’re going with the best agent possible, Meaghan Mulcahy will show you how to best position our technology in a listing presentation to help gain more business and exposure.

Speaker:
Meaghan Mulcahy
Project Manager
Active Website, LLC

Agent Success Stories: How Agents are Implementing Technology Successfully
In an effort to give your agents real life examples for implementation, we sent cameras to brokerages across the nation to hear directly from agents on how they’re using our technology successfully. This video will demonstrate how agents in The Network are implementing the technology provided on The Active Enterprise Platform and achieving impressive results.

Related Posts:

• 2011 Active Enterprise Network Annual Conference: Bridging the Gap Between Broker and Agent
• 2011 Active Enterprise Network Annual Conference: Bridging the Gap Between Broker and Customer
• The Active Enterprise Network Gears Up for 2011 Annual Conference

Broker → Agent

Agent Productivity Tools: Empowering Agents and Streamlining the Business Model
During this session, John Sable, Managing Partner at Active Website, will discuss the latest agent productivity tools available on The Active Enterprise Platform. Through these tools, brokers can provide agents with the tools needed to bridge the online communication gap with customers and create a more personalized experience. Joining John during this discussion, a guest speaker will discuss their scalable model for getting agents to adapt to the tools available to them.

Speaker:
John Sable
Managing Partner
Active Website, LLC

New Realtor Orientation:Training New Recruits for Increased Adoption of Technology
The Group, Inc. Real Estate has implemented a training program for new agents in order to increase the adoption of the technology available through The Active Enterprise Platform. The Group’s Marketing Director, Helen Gray, explains why the program was created, the training required by each new agent and why it matters.

Speaker:
Helen Gray
Marketing Director
The Group, Inc. Real Estate

The Power of Attraction: Effective Recruiting Strategies for Continued Growth
Instead of just pursuing agents, you need to develop a recruiting plan that makes your brokerage stand out from the crowd. By using your website as part of your recruiting initiatives, potential recruits can gain a better understanding of your culture – and most importantly what makes you different than the competition. In this session, John Turpin will discuss Turpin Realtors’ strategy for attracting new agents.

Speaker:
John Turpin
President
Turpin Real Estate

The Changing Workplace: Rethinking the Traditional Office Space
The mobile life of an agent has a huge impact on the changing workplace. With agents constantly on-the-go, we’re now able to create a workplace that is flexible and accommodating to these needs. Steve Studley from Hasson Company Realtors and a guest speaker will discuss the evolution of their new workplaces and their strategy behind it.

Speaker:
Steve Studley
VP of Marketing and Business Development
The Hasson Company

Related Posts:

• 2011 Active Enterprise Network Annual Conference: Bridging the Gap Between Broker and Customer
• The Active Enterprise Network Gears Up for 2011 Annual Conference

By Amanda Stephan

What’s important about this change? It will lead to better ad positioning and increased exposure.  Facebook ads will have longer face time with the user since the ads will follow them as they scroll down the page. It will also limit the amount of advertisements on each page giving your Facebook ad more prominence. This new functionality may mean that Facebook can charge more for these ads, but you can enjoy a higher click-through rate as a result.

As brokerages, this could have a positive influence on your online marketing efforts. Facebook ads already allow you to narrow your target audience by location, demographics, interests and more. Once these new changes occur, you’re able to reach these same users, but for a longer period of time. This increase in exposure will hopefully increase your online leads as well.

There are over 500 million users globally of which 50% login to Facebook on a daily basis. This combined with their ability to create highly targeted ads give you the opportunity to reach mass audiences. By shifting your marketing budget to include Facebook ads, you can increase exposure for your brand on a platform consumers are visiting regularly, helping make your brand the default destination for real estate in your region.

Further Reading on the upcoming Facebook Redesign:

• Facebook Is Quietly Testing First Major Redesign in Over a Year
• New Facebook design keeps ads and menus visible when scrolling
• Have You Heard About Facebook’s Redesign?

By Dyana Gutierrez

This department aims to increase adoption rates of new features and promote conversation, ideas and innovation to all Enterprise Network members through training documentation and videos.

Video categories include:

• Tutorials
• Active Community
• Implementation
• Product Showcase

In addition to these four main categories, custom client videos are available to members as well. For more details about the information covered in our videos, watch the following Active Community video that introduces our New Media Department.

By Amanda Stephan

So, here’s the problem; often times, syndication sites like Trulia and Zillow are beating you on Google search results for your long tail terms (long tail terms typically refer to specific property addresses and on average account for 65% of traffic to your site). In addition, these Black Hat syndication sites are redirecting Google to their site instead of yours through no follow links. The result? These sites are telling Google they are the original source for your content and establishing themselves as the authority on that listing.

Don’t get us wrong, we’re not saying all syndication outlets are this way. In fact, there are several White Hat syndication outlets that help boost your SEO rankings, but we wanted to bring this issue to your attention in order to resolve the problem at hand.

Fixing the Black Hat syndication problem may not be as simple as just stopping syndication to these sites altogether. We’re caught in a catch 22 because our sellers and agents like the extra exposure they gain through these outlets. It will be difficult to explain to a seller why it’s better to not syndicate to these sites when your competition is listing to these sites and generating additional exposure.

Today, users begin their search for a property on search engines and social networking sites. After entering a specific address into their search field, syndication sites are appearing at the top of page one. It’s only a matter of time until buyers skip this step and go straight to Trulia or Zillow to find their next home. At this point, it will not just be sellers and agents demanding more exposure on these sites – it will become necessary to syndicate to these sites because that is where buyers are going to view your listings.

The solution really lies in education. Through educating our brokerages and agents, we can eliminate the unnecessary middle step of syndication outlets. After all, brokers and agents are the ones with the data and information – without us, syndication sites wouldn’t exist. By redistributing our budget to Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Facebook Ads and by focusing on writing unique content on our blogs, Individual Property Websites (IPWs) and property details pages, we can eliminate the need for syndication outlets.

For example, Enterprise Network member, Turpin Real Estate, has implemented a content strategy for their listings and has seen impressive results. By writing unique content for each listing on their blog, property details page and IPW, they are taking over the top positions on Google for long tail searches. Below is an example of a Google search results page for a Turpin listing in Far Hills, NJ at the time of our conference. As you can see, the IPW, property details page and blog post for this property were dominating page one.

Writing unique content is a great way to get higher short term rankings because the content is new and fresh to Google. However, we need to remember that our efforts to gain top page rankings on Google doesn’t stop once the blog has been posted. To keep your position long term for that property, you need to continue writing content with links back to that listing in order to keep the content fresh. Comment marketing is another important key in maintaining your position. An increase in comment marketing helps increase your site’s relevancy to Google. (Check back with us next week as we discuss this in more detail.)

While the best scenario would be to stop syndicating to these sites altogether, we know it may not be a reality for all of you. So, in an effort to decrease the negative effects of syndication, Active Website has created guidelines and best practices for your listings if you choose to continue syndicating to these sites. First and foremost, we need to limit the amount of content we give the syndication outlets. By giving them a small teaser of the property, you’ll drive customers back to your site and increase the likeliness that Google will still recognize you as the authoritative source. In addition, Active will provide consulting, web class training and on-site training to Enterprise Network members if desired.

Black Hat syndication sites are slowly amassing loyal visitors, so it’s up to you to ensure you remain the real estate authority. By bringing awareness to this issue, we plan to work with all members in the future to make sure your brand is the default destination for real estate in your region.

Related Posts:

Active Website Hosts Active Enterprise Network Annual Conference

By Amanda Stephan

By enforcing business rules and having a dedicated eBusiness department and eTeam that understands the needs of the modern consumer, you can make sure your online customers are taken care of properly. The future of real estate is eBusiness and we need to have the right processes in place for converting these leads into sales.  Watch our video and find out more.

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Related Post:

Four Questions on eBusiness

By John Sable

Agents and managers alike came prepared with quality questions. As I stood there surveying the crowd, I noticed a room full of engaged realtors no longer struggling with the fact that traditional marketing has changed. Instead, this group of professionals came prepared to embrace the future with a new set of web tools.  Terms such as advanced mapping, individual property websites, video streaming, unique content and viral marketing did not fall on deaf ears.

I thought to myself, they are honestly getting it!

As I went from meeting to meeting, it became even more obvious that the culture is changing and the world we live in as developers and technologists is starting to be shared by the masses. In the end, out of 100 agents in attendance, we had 60 sign up for the advanced marketing plan for 2010 – a plan that included an agent website and two individual property websites per month.

Milestone agents are now equipped with all the necessary tools to be successful. By being prepared to take what they’ve learned and start writing unique content about the areas they farm, Milestone is looking ahead at new ways to position themselves in 2010 and beyond.

So, as I jumped a plane back home, I asked myself a question. Have we reached a tipping point?  Will 2010 be more about the customer and less about resisting change? I can’t fully answer these questions, but it did make me realize there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

And for everyone else out there, I encourage each of you to approach 2010 with a new sense of optimism. Don’t be afraid to talk openly with agents and managers about change; you may be surprised to find they are more accepting than you realize.

And please, do me a favor and visit the new Milestone site and give us some feedback. There has been a lot of hard work and late nights, so we welcome your comments.  At Active Website, we are proud of the achievements Enterprise Network Members have made over the years and feel fortunate to have fifteen great clients up and running on the platform.

Wow, fifteen! It seems like just yesterday the Network started. It makes me realize how far we have come, but also how far we have to go. For now though, I am going to enjoy this successful launch and carry it with me into 2010.