The BVAS Connection

Las Vegas real estate agent, and friend to many in the real estate community has been diagnosed with Guillian-Barre Syndrome and is in the ICU at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. It is a very rare neurological condition that causes paralysis and muscle weakness. The good news is that it is usually a temporary condition with a 95% full recovery rate, but the recovery and rehab can be a very long process.

Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is something that me and my husband’s family is all too familiar with.  In the beginning of last March 2007, my Father-in-law noticed some tingling and numbness starting in his hands and feet. That tingling and numbness traveled up is limbs and withing 5 days, he went from walking normally, to barely being able to crawl on the ground unable to walk.  He was then diagnosed with GBS and hospitalized for weeks. He spent about 2 months in hospitals/rehab facilities, and then spent many months more in physical therapy and undergoing 2 more treatments until they found something that worked. It was a very difficult recovery process not only for him, but it tool a great toll on my mother-in-law.

Like Charles Richey, my father-in-law is self employed and was unable to work for many months. Unlike Charles, my father-in-law was fortunate enough to have health insurance to help cover the incredibly high medical bills. This is where Mr. Richey and his wife really need our help. He not only will be out of work for several months to come (as well as his Realtor wife who will need to be at his side), they do not have medical insurance. There is a fundraising effort set up for Charles and his wife to be able to help them cover costs, and the need is high. You can go here: http://www.ibsteam.net/blog/blogging/charles-richey-fundraise to find more information about donation, and a way to add a button to your websites, blogs, etc to request donations.

There is a light at the end of the GBS tunnel. The good news with my father-in-law is by last August, they had found a treatment that helped reverse his GBS. And in October he was able to take their yearly vacation to Cancun, walking mostly though sometimes using a wheelchair. And today, my Father-in-law is almost completely recovered and back to his regular jogging and humorous self.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Richey family.

Donate to the Charles Richey Fund

Friend, husband and fellow REALTOR® was unexpectedly hospitalized read more

This great articlefrom SitePro news popped up in my inbox today and it got me thinking…

Over the last year I’ve wondered what was the value of LinkedIn or Facebook for my business. Why was it generating all this buzz in my industry and others?  I joined both networks ages ago, but just wasn’t sure what the point of it was, other than to connect socially with friends and family on Facebook, or connect with my peers in my industry on LinkedIn. I understood the value of social networking to a degree, but these sites seemed to limited to me, not quite as valuable as something like Active Rain where I can blog and market directly to my audience (REALTORS).

Well it looks like I underestimated them. I am finding with more participation and more activity, I am actually getting noticed and have received viable leads from both places.  Goes to show me that I should never rule out the power of these social networking sites and the possibilities they can bring.

Real Estate professionals especially should not underestimate the value of places such as LinkedIn and Facebook. ANYONE can potentially be your client, and what a way to reach consumers, market to them, and show them your knowledge & experience.  Places like Facebook are no longer just for the kids anymore. Business and marketing is making up a big chunk of what is going on Facebook now.

For the blog behind the book, I’m On LinkedIn — Now What?, here are some good tips on how to utilize LinkedIn to work for you : http://imonlinkedinnowwhat.com/

As you may have noticed, there have been a few changes here at the BVAS Connection recently. Last week I had made the recommended update from Wordpress for this blog, then all of the sudden, *poof*, my blog was gone…. Well, almost gone.  My header was there, but the rest of the blog disappeared behind some ugly error message.

So I spent a couple days trying to see if I can fix it myself with my amateur web skills, but to no avail. I realized this was a job for someone that had more advanced skills in this web design stuff. So I called upon some of networking groups to see if anyone knew the solution to my problem. Thank goodness for networking!

Thanks to another wonderful Virtual Assistant, Cyndi Papia of Office To-Go, I got my blog back! Out of the kindness of her heart, she looked over my code and then discovered that it was the theme I was using that was causing the problem since the update. We now have the blog up and running with a theme that I’ll keep temporarily until I have my new customized design ready. 

This goes to show me two lessons:

1. I am not an expert in EVERYTHING and so to save me time and anguish, I should leave some things to the real experts. (this is what Virtual Assistants are for!)
2. Online networking groups are extremely valuable, especially when you need help with a problem or an answer to a question.

Again, I want to thank Cyndi Papia for helping me out and getting this blog going again.  You can check out her website at www.officeto-go.com or her blog at http://officeto-go.com/blog.

Feel like you have too many plates spinning at once? Having a hard time remembering birthdays, appointments or other important dates? Do you have piles of clutter around your home, work and other spaces that seem like they’ll never go away?  Are you being easily distracted by “time wasters”?

When your home life and work life are unorganized, your productivity can drop dramatically.  I understand the life of a busy real estate professional and know how easily one can fall into a slump due to disorganization and bad time management. In 2008 I am going to share a few new items each week to help increase your personal and professional productivity which will improve your life and your business.

Tip #1: Take care of clutter in baby steps

Got piles and piles of paperwork or mail cluttering your desk, your floor, your car, your kitchen counters?  Don’t fret!  It may seem very overwhelming at first, but it does not have to be. It didn’t get there all at once, and it doesn’t have to be taken care of all at once.

Take care of it in baby steps by focusing on one pile in one area for 15 minutes at a time each day. Set a timer for 15 minutes and start going through your piles, throwing out what is not needed and filing (in your labeled file folders of course) the papers you need to keep. When your time is up, stop what you are doing, making sure you can mark where you left off, and come back to it the next day for 15 minutes. Any new mail or papers that come to you in this time, automatically file away as you get them. Do this for 21 days (it takes 21 days to make something a habit right?) and see where this takes you. Little by little you will purge and file all the cluttering paperwork you have laying about and before you know it, you have trained yourself into being nearly organized!

For Immediate Release

Vineland, New Jersey. Megan Barber has successfully completed the REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER^TMcertification to join an elite group of real estate professionals who have earned the prestigious certification offered through the National Institute of Webographers, LLC (http://www.webographers.com/). Megan has successfully completed 12 short courses which include: Online Business Strategy, Agent Websites, Single-property Websites, Lead Generation and Management, Virtual Tours, CMA and AVM technology, Neighborhood Search, Online Transaction Management, Electronic Forms, Virtual Assistants, Mobile Technologies and Blogs.

The REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER^TM certification teaches real estate professionals how to develop and maintain an effective online business strategy in a web-based environment. Candidates learn how to establish an effective consumer-facing, all-inclusive web presence; while increasing their knowledge on real estate technologies and strategies clients expect. The program helps real estate agents and affiliates increase marketability by aiding them in determining where they should invest their resources to generate leads, acquire new clients, advertise and facilitate closings.

About Megan Barber
Megan Barber, owner & CEO of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant and a REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER^TM professional. She specializes in providing high quality support services to real estate professionals knows how to assist her clients in winning more listings, attract buyers by turning a listing process into a marketing process. For more information about the valuable services that Megan provides to her clients and web-savvy consumers, please feel free to make contact with:

Megan Barber
http://www.barbervasolutions.com/
Megan@BarberVASolutions.com

About National Institute of Webographers, LLC
Since 2004, The National Institute of Webographers, LLC has specialized in the education, training, assessment and certification of web-based technologies for the Real Estate industry. The REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER^TM Certification (REW^TM) provides consumer-facing solutions, education and training through a series of interactive online courses. Certification, online modules for REALTORS® and Assistants include Agent Websites, Single-property Websites, Lead Generation and Management, Virtual Tours, CMA and AVM technology, Neighborhood Search, Online Transaction Management, Electronic Forms, Blogs, Mobile Technologies, Virtual Assistants, and the Learning Laboratory^TM, where Certificants can access an array of showcased technologies for hands on learning. Available 24/7/365, these courses provide the opportunity for working professionals to learn at their own pace while enhancing the skill sets necessary to compete and excel with today’s web savvy consumers. REW^TMprofessionals provide consumers with a positive and profitable Real Estate experience. For more information regarding the National Institute of Webographers, please visit http://www.webographers.com/or contact Scott Lau at ScottLau@Webographers.com.

I just found out and I am pleased to announce that our BVAS Connection blog has been selected as th Virtual Assistant Networking Association’s (VANA) Blog of the Week!

VANAis one of the largest and most wonderful networking organizations in the Virtual Assistant industry. It is a place for aspiring and “veteran” VA’s to come together to share, learn and succeed! I have received so much help and support from their forum over the last 3 years I have been in business and I believe it to be a valuable resource to all VA’s.

I honored to have my blog recognized and I am so proud to be a part of such a wonderful organization.  Thanks VANA!

Last week I spoke about a couple solutions for real estate contact management or CRM (MS Outlook and Top Producer) and this week I will cover another option: The Wise Agent.

At the NAR conference, I had the pleasure of meeting the energetic people at The Wise Agent booth. Wise Agent is a web based CRM much like Top Producer 7i with many similar features. The Wise Agent’s system includes the following essential items:

• Time Tracking to manage your calendar, to-do lists and appointments;
• Contact Management to organize your clients and vendors, track notes & communication, birthdays & anniversaries, and create labels & envelopes;
• Marketing tools where you can create custom marketing plans including letters, flyers, emails, newsletters and calendar reminders to implement the plans;
• Transaction Management where you use customized action plans or checklists for tracking activities in your sale transactions;
• Online Forms that are integrated into your Wise Agent site that you need for your transactions, including your contracts and disclosures.
• Additional features such as expenses tracking, tax help, lock box tracking, and the sending of greeting cards (through send out cards

The last few weeks I have had the opportunity to test out The Wise Agent and get down to the nitty-gritty of how their system works and how it compares to the top competing CRM platforms. I have to say that in working with with Wise Agent I am really taking a liking to it and it is really climbing to the top of my list of favorite CRM programs for real estate.

What is most remarkable about Wise Agent its ease of use. The main complaint I hear from agents when it comes to other CRM programs (with the initials TP) is that they love all the included features, but they are difficult to understand and learn how to use. Wise Agent has really listened to those complaints and have come up with a great system that anyone can jump in and figure out how to use relatively easily. They also offer free online training classes and offers support 24/7.  I have been really pleased with their service so far and have gone above and beyond to help with account set-up and questions I may have.

Wise Agent also gives you the ability to add your assistants or team members and give them access to your account without having to purchase additional licenses. So you can coordinate tasks and appointments right with your team on your Wise Agent account. You can also have external team members (other Wise Agent users) to coordinate tasks and vendors with (great for transactions).

At the conference they were billing themselves as the alternative to Top Producer. After playing with it for the past couple weeks, though it is not yet as advanced and in-depth as Top Producer, I believe The Wise Agent is really a viable alternative to other top CRM programs and will fit the needs of most agents looking for something easy to use.

Wise Agent is offering a 30 Day Free Trial for agents to test and see if it is a good fit for them. Want a discount? Just for my blog readers and clients, if you use the promo code: barberva , you will receive a 20% discount off of their normal monthly fees. It is definitely worth a try.

I found a new favorite gem of a real estate blog that I go back to for entertainment from time to time. RE Agent in CT, is home to agent Athol Kay and Athol Kay Photography. When I have a free moment, I like to take a glance at his “Bad MLS Photo of the Day” and the comments attached to it for a good chuckle.

I cannot tell you how many times I visit real estate websites and view terribly blurry photos, cluttered or badly staged rooms, and family pets.  I cringe every time I see it and I wonder how on earth a potential buyer must feel when seeing these pictures.  If I am cringing, they must be thinking “NEXT”.

As Athol says, Good Photos Sell Homes.

Awhile back I wrote a post called, Snap Listing Photos Like a Pro. In it I included basic tips you should follow to take great listing photos. Don’t let your photos show up on his blog. Follow the good photo taking guidelines, or if you find it too difficult, hire a professional.

Just say no to bad MLS photos. And get a good laugh out of the blog if you can.

Do you have a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) or some sort of contact management system?  Any small or large business owner (and lets face it, as a Real Estate Professional you are a small business owner) should have some form of a contact management system in place to manage and organize your client contacts, family, friends and general sphere of influence.  In the case of most small business owners, many don’t need anything more than something like Microsoft Outlook. For the Realtor that is looking for a little bit more, there are many popular options out there, and many of them can easily be run by a Real Estate Virtual Assistant.

I often get asked what are the best CRM solutions for a busy real estate professional. The answer really depends on what your needs are. Over the next few weeks I will post about what CRM options are available to Realtors. Today I will examine two options out there for use by the real estate professional.

Microsoft Outlook: While Outlook is sometimes considered “basic” when it compares to other contact management programs used by real estate professionals, it is still a great tool to use to get email, manage appointments, tasks and notes, and keep your contacts organized in one central location.  With more advanced versions, Outlook can easily be synced with handhelds, can be shared, and can easily interface with many other technology products used within the industry.

What the basic Outlook does lack are some of the advanced tools that some agents seek like drip email campaigns, document creation, marketing campaign management, and transaction management. (the newer Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager says it features things such as marketing campaign management, though I do not yet have personal experience to see if it is a right fit for real estate).

Top Producer 7i - Top Producer is one of the most popular products in the real estate industry for contact  and relationship management. The reason may be because they have been so heavily marketed the in past couple years, and there wasn’t much competition.

Top Producer is a powerful web-based CRM with tons of capability including, contact management, listing and transaction management, drip email and letter campaigns, marketing tracking, CMA creation, and more.  And because it is web based, it can do just about everything an agent may possibly need from any computer with an internet connection. You can also add assistants and team members to be able to manage your business together (all at an additional cost per license of course). The included action plans and library of emails and letters are can make prospecting and transactions go on autopilot.  Top Producer has also partnered with many other vendors to help simplify a Realtor’s work-flow by integrating with mobile products, MLS systems, Outlook, many websites, real estate web forms and online transaction programs.

The main problem with Top Producer it is that at first glance, it is not the most user friendly to the non-tech-savvy agent. I have often been approached by an agent who purchased Top Producer and had it for months or even years, but have never even used it. Many were sold the product and then were not aware of where to receive training and support. Others simply didn’t have time to take training to learn to use it and have come to me to use it for them (which I will do gladly). Top Producer does offer live online training classes for $29.95 per class, or free Quick Start classes held in your local areas (must call to request, or check the site for upcoming dates).

When at NAR, excitedly I was told that Top Producer 8i will be coming out in early 2008. First, current subscribers will get to enjoy upgrades at no additional cost. And according to their customer service, 8i has been re-worked from top to bottom to improve many of the functionality and work-flow concerns that have cropped up with the previous version. I am hoping to get a glimpse of it soon.

Be on the lookout for later postings where I will be highlighting other contact management solutions for Realtors, including one viable alternative to the CRM giant Top Producer that I have found… The Wise Agent.

Find out about our contact lead management services  we offer at BVAS along with much more by checking out www.barbervasolutions.com/services.htm.