I talked to a colleague who relies on the RedX Real Estate Lead System the other day and he told me that in general he expects, and gets an offer within 30 days of listing a short sale. In fact he is so confident in those results that he makes it part of his listing presentation. So after hearing that statement, I had to learn more.

Here is how he does it…

First and foremost he explains that because the owner is taking a bath on the property and that the bank will do their due diligence when an offer is received, it is best practice to price the property at and just below market comps.

After getting the owners agreement, he goes about listing the property on numerous online sites. He posts the property on Zillow, Trulia and even lists issues a dedicated URL through Listing Producer. The benefit of the dedicated URL is that he minimizes the nosy neighbors who generally can just go online to snoop. Here is an example of one of his recent listings: http://www.1059greenway.com/

Next he schedules an open house, always a great way to farm an area and expand your listing base. I think he has added six listings in that neighborhood in the past month.

Finally, as part of his approach, if after the first three weeks there has been no activity, he convinces the homeowner to reduce the listing price by $10,000. This is done every two to three weeks until a magic price and buyer is found.

Obviously with a short sale getting the offer is just the beginning of the process. However you can’t argue with getting an offer that may be accepted by the banks within 30 days of every short sale listing.

I was working with a colleague the other day and he showed me one of his new flyers. What was weird was that he had a two dimensional bar code printed next to his name. Being the technophile that I am, I grabbed my Iphone and scanned the code. Where I ended up was a great video of him introducing his services, the benefits that he offers and an exclusive invitation to join in one of his weekly conference calls. The video was an apple compatible .mov file so it was compatible with my phone.

Well, I have to tell you that I was blown away. What a great way to instantly create a personal relationship with prospective customers. Not only that, but by inviting them to call into an exclusive weekly event, prospects get engaged without feeling pressured to list or sell.

Apparently I was not the only one that was impressed. My colleague mentioned that his listings have doubled since he started putting this bar code on his cards and flyers.

This approach leverages new and novel technology to get prospective customers engaged with a REALTOR’s personal brand. Although the technology is relatively new, it is becoming more and more widely used which means more and more customers are turning to use it.

It will likely never replace real time listing lead services such as the RedX FSBO and Expired service, but it may be a great marketing tool to increase your reach and grow your number of active listings.

If you cold call as part of your sales process, especially if you are in real estate, you have to be conscious of, and in compliance with, the national Do Not Call registry. This registry was produced to care for consumers from aggressive telemarketers and sales people, and much like the CanSpam act, it has done its job plausibly well. However, for small business people such as REALTORS, and real estate brokers, persistently read-through this registry previous to making a telephone call costs time, money and assets that are in rare supply.

In spite of the cost, real estate pros must adhere to this law. Aside from being the ethical thing to do, violations of the do not call registry can result in swift and heavy fines as well as large lost business.

Luckily, for real estate broker that actively prospect on the phone, there is a simple solution. Real estate lead generation services such as the (Real Estate Data Exchange) include DNC verification as a fundamental part of their service offering. Services like the automatically scrub their listings against the countrywide Do Not Call registry before providing the information to the real estate agent. This added service protects the REALTOR from accidentally violating the registry and allows them to cold call prospective clients with the assurance that they are in full compliance with this law.

It is important to note that the RedX is only one numerous tools that include a DNC verification as a fundamental part of their service. Services vary and the quality of the various marketing and lead generation services are widely different. Therefore, as a real estate agent or small business professional, you should always look for services that include automated processes that address the legal limitation of prospecting such as the DNC registry or the CanSpam act.

The onus of compliance is on you, and the consequences of violating the law can be severe.

If you are a REALTOR and looking for a way to repeatedly enlarge your client list, then visit RedX realty. This great software provides you with the resources to beat out your competition. Have more leads, more listings and more free time with the Real Estate Data Exchange now.

As a thank you for all of your support this holiday season, I would like to offer each of you a complimentary copy of my Residential and Retail-Commercial Investment Analysis Software. This software has been a great asset over the past few years and normally retails for $149.99. It is now my gift to you.

My friends at the RedX are also in a giving mood and wanted me to remind you all that their double discount special will only be going on for a few more days. Their Double Discount is an up-front $149.00 discount as well as a 15% discount off of the first three months of service. Overall, it is about a $185 savings. Here is the link to their offer: http://www.theredx.net

Here is the download link to the software: http://www.freetrainer.com/tem/IPWare.exe

Have a very happy holiday season.

I have been busy over the past few weeks looking at different marketing automation software program. As such, I forgot to let everybody know that the Real Estate Data Exchange (RedX) has EXTENDED THEIR DOUBLE HOLIDAY DISCOUT (15% off the first three months along with waiving the $149.00 start up fee) until December 31.

If you have read my previous posts, you know I hold their listing lead and FSBO products in the highest regard and am happy that they have chosen to maintain a commercial relationship with me. With that in mind, here is the link to their DOUBLE DISCOUNT PROMOTION: http://www.theredx.net

Now, the Real Estate Data Exchange aside, I have been fascinated by the potential application of some of these marketing automation programs for automating all of your lead generation and prospecting activities. Currently I have narrowed my evaluation down to two programs, InfusionSoft and Active Conversion. So far, InfusionSoft is in the lead simply because it is more applicable to BtoC marketing (as in Realtor to Client) and has a number of pre-designed forms that eliminate a lot of the design work that would otherwise be required.

So what does a marketing automation software do? Well, it allows you to create a long term relationship with a prospect or client without having to continually and personally follow up with a client. To give you an example, say you had a lead capture form on your website. Without a marketing automation and lead scoring system, you would typically just follow up with a call. Now, you may still choose to do that, but what if instead, the prospect received a personalized email from you during business hours within 20 minutes of them filling out the form?

Okay, that sounds like an autoresponder. However, what if your marketing automation system also automatically left a voicemail, sent an SMS text, or mailed out a hard copy of an appropriate market report. Now, what if you call the prospect and they say they are just keeping tabs on the market? Well, your automated marketing system can be set up so that once in a while it sends a personal email to “just check in” periodically invites your prospect to a seminar, webinar, or video that you are hosting. Essentially, the marketing automation system allows you to continually market to a prospect and warm them to the point that when you make the call, they are ready to give you the listing.

Take a look at InfusionSoft. Currently, they seem to be the best value with the most applicable features. Also, don’t forget to take advantage of the double discount on the listing lead and FSBO lead system from RedX