The ActiveRain Listing-Router

Feature Your Listings, Get More Traffic and Get Paid to Participate.

After a ton of feedback from the network, we have decided to offer our new Listing Router product free for the intial two weeks of launch, until November 10th 2008.

Some of the prevailing factors that led us to this decision:

Test drive before you buy.  Many members would like to set-up their campaigns and test the system, resulting in self-trial clicks that would charge their accounts.  We respect your need to try and test without paying for the privledge.

We tend to fear what we initially don’t understand.  AR wants to allow all members the time to read about, understand, and create campaigns with confidence.   New products and services, change in general, can be uncomfortable at first.  A free trial period should alleviate most members concerns around what we feel is a huge win-win service.

Establishing or refining your IDX sites.  Many members will want to insure their IDX websites are functioning properly and others who don’t have an IDX site will want to shop for and obtain one.  Many larger brokerages offer IDX solutions to their agents for free.  For those who dont and are in the market for one, either ask a trusted member or email me for some reccomendations.  A well thought out and managed IDX solution can be the difference between just traffic and a converted client.

.99 per click??  Thats alot of coin! We’re in the midst of adjusting our pricing tiers that will result in a reduced pay per click (less than .99) in 99% of the markets covered.  We understand that a click to a market like Beverly Hills, CA is worth more than a click to say, Waco, TX.  This is in addition to the discount we’re offering AR members who have achieved substantial point tiers:

• 3% discount for members over 25K points
• 5% discount for members over 50K points
• 10% discount for members over 100K points
• 15% discount for members over 200K points
• 20% discount for members over 300K points

It’s going to take us a couple days to implement the new city by city pay-per-click pricing, so you may want to wait until this is complete before setting up your campaigns, or you’ll have to re-do them to reflect the new pricing.  You should still go ahead and set-up your My Markets section, your traffic routed to your serviceable areas will always be free.  In any case, we’ll release a post when these pricing changes are updated.

Bugs! As with any new product or service release, there are going to be some inherrent glitches and bugs.  Some of the initial issues we’ve discovered include:

Changing credit card information.

Search box semantics…currently you must just enter a city, hit enter and the system will ask which city and state you are looking for…we are changing this to allow one to enter city and state as well as ‘predictive text’ where as you type the city and state, the system will begin to predictively fill in the most likely results.

Site/page errors (arrgh!) and other smaller admin glitches.

When signing up you will still need to enter your credit card information, which will not be charged, only authorized for validity.  At the end of the two week trial period, the pay-per-click charges will be zero’d out, however, you will still receive credits for anyone that used your Listing Router toolbar and was routed to an IDX site out of your area of practice during this time.

Finally, on November 10th the Pay-Per-Click campaigns will begin full tilt and you will begin to be charged for any campaigns you have set-up.

Cheers!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these related posts:

The ActiveRain Listing Router

Listing Router ‘Whiteboard Explanation’

Listing Router - How To Set Up Your Own Click Campaign

Listing Router - How To Setup & Save Your Own Traffic

A Lead vs a Hit………for Listing Router (how to make the most out it)

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As Bob Stewart announced, I formally joined the team at ActiveRain last week.  To say I’m stoked would be an understatement.  The culture is great, working with a core team of talented people in this space has been an aspiration of mine for quite some time.

I was reflecting on this personal desire when Jon Washburn serendipitously called me (very) recently, broached the subject and took my temperature regarding coming to Seattle to work with the AR crew. It didn’t take long (3 days actually) to decide that this would be a great fit for me and hopefully the community as a whole.

As i typically do when making a decision that carries any consequence, I weighed out the pros and cons of coming to work at AR…I’d like to share my top 5 pro’s (Bob and his love for the Seahawks was really the only ‘con’ but I was able to look past that since my Buffalo Bills stomped all over his beloved football team).

5)  I’ve always been interested in Seattle as a city to live in, home to many companies in the ‘Web 2.0′ space.  Living in New York, North Carolina, Texas, and California, Seattle was the logical next stop on my horseshoe tour of thecountry.

4)  Being called a (AR) God has been a secret desire of mine for quite some time ;)  Seriously though, having the ability to make a positive impact on an industry I love via such a diverse and respected community like ActiveRain has me floating around like an elevated spirit

3)  The Opportunity.  While I can’t discuss whats ‘coming down the pipe’ at AR, Localism etc (Jon has a gag order on me) to say that the collective vision of where this company is going is ‘exciting’, doesn’t do it justice.

2)  The Community.  I joined AR as a member over two years ago and the community really taught me how to blog, find my voice and otherwise advance the relative skills to do well in this space.  I indirectly (and now directly) attribute much of the success I’ve had to the great people I’ve met via AR.  To now be part of this community, internally as well as a member, is pretty surreal.  ‘Pay it forward’ is the appropriate colloquialism here…

1)  The Team.  From the top down, Jon the CEO to Bob the Janitor (j/k, Bob knows this), the individuals who are part of this company are brilliant, progressive thought leaders and genuinely good people.  Being part of a greater team rather than a lone wolf is the number one reason I took this wonderful opportunity.

Anywhoo…I look forward to fostering and furthering the evolution of this company in my roles of business development and operations.  The sky really isn’t the limit here, its just thebeginning.

P.S. Hopefully the mortgage contingency here on AR doesn’t revolt, rebel, torch the palce and leave…I’m a pretty reasonable guy who just happens to be passionate about what he’s involved with, that now continues withActiveRain

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One of the common misconceptions that most real estate agents in today’s market have is that they are there to please people and appear to be committed to that very detail.  But, the truth of the matter is, by “pleasing people” instead of “helping people”, they are actually setting themselves up for failure, whether that be consciously or unconsciously. ;

Bottom line You are not in this business to “please” people. ; You are here to “help” people. ;

It’s easy too!

You work with your client to build a rapport…spend hours working on their listing or providing property after property to them…helping with credit issues…and working tirelessly to get them to the point of “being pleased” with your efforts and being able to move forward. ; At this point, this can go two ways.

#1. The client is satisfied with your efforts and is willing to commit to the purchase/sale of a home with you and moves into negotiations with a buyer/seller.

Or…

#2. The client can start to take advantage of an unsuspecting agent by coming up with more and more things that need “fixed” that aren’t important…and probably aren’t even a real concern simply because they need someone to “please” them again.

Now, that is just one example. ; I’m sure I could come up with a host of examples ranging from family members to co-workers and so on…but, I think you get the point.

You see…people are not thinking machines. ; People are EMOTIONAL machines that can THINK also. ; You would never have to prepare yourself for the possibility if being taken advantage of by a thinking machine. ; But, an emotional one…now THAT’S another story. ; And, being another emotional machine like you are (and face it, you are one whether you like it or not) you can fall victim to those emotional needs in others because you suddenly feel the need to “please” them rather than actually “help” them.

So, having said all of that…below you will find a short list of things that you should watch out for when dealing with people to help ensure that you don’t fall into the career killing trap of “pleasing” a client rather than helping them stay on level ground. ; Keep in mind that this list is by no means a list of rules…more like guidelines. ;

• Your clients are running you around constantly. ; You adhere to THEIR schedules and not your own and you don’t think that you are in charge any more.  ;(Set some boundaries. ; And adhere to them!)
  
• You find yourself wasting time with what you thought was a “prospective client” only to find out that they have no intention of being committed to working with you. ; Yet, you still to please them enough to want to work with you. ; (Don’t be afraid to jettison this type of emotional baggage. ; Cutting ties with “clients” like this will free up more time to help your real clients.)
  
• You want your clients to like you so much that you bend over backwards to meet their needs. ; (I read a story about an agent that took on the job of babysitting a client’s kids in order to push them into working with her. ; ;Yes….really.)
  
• You let your colleagues monopolize your time. ; Chit chat is a killer. ; And, the more time you spend “chit chatting” with other agents that apparently don’t have enough to do, the less time you have to spend helping your clients. ; (Start setting some boundaries. ; Don’t be afraid to say “Sorry, I’m busy.”)
  
• You would rather not call people and have your lead generation efforts suffer than to “bother someone” by calling. ; (Whether that be your sphere of influence, cold calls, expired listings, whatever…if you think that by calling someone you are going to “bother” them, you have lost it completely. ; And, you need to turn around quickly before you fail completely as well.)

• You take on clients that any normal person wouldn’t. ; You don’t see the red flags in front of your face because you would rather be nice to them than tell them that they will not be working with you because you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. ; (Again, if you let your emotions run the show, logic is thrown out the window. ; You have to have logical control of the situation and then allow your emotions to assist. ; Not the other way around.)
  
• You find it hard to tell your clients the truth. ; You find it hard to explain how to price their listing…or you are having issues with getting a buyer to sign a buyer’s agreement with you because you don’t want to offend them. ; (Again, this is a business. ; And, by being such, you have to treat it as such. ; Take control logically and emotionally before you are taken advantage of…)

I have written numerous times that real estate is a PEOPLE game, not a numbers game. ; Yes, you need to keep track of the numbers. ; I am not saying that those are not important. ; But, it is the people that you are here to assist that are of the most importance. ; The real key to “helping” your clients is to avoid the pitfalls of wanting to “please” your clients along the way.

You can not please someone and then expect a reward in return. ; There is no incentive for them to offer one because they have already received what they wanted out of the deal. ; “Pleasing” someone comes as a reward of effort. ; So, if you do your job as an agent and HELP your clients get into a new home or HELP them sell their home to the best of your ability, they will be “pleased”! ; Remember that.

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