Virtual Views - The View From Here : March 2008

Awhile back, I scheduled a relaxing three day cruise. I left 24 hours in advance for the trip so I could spend the night at a hotel and avoid a tiring long drive to the docks. As I leisurely drove across the desert, I received a phone call from the couple my husband and I were meeting asking me where we were. Much to my surprise, we were late! The ship was leaving that day, not the next!

Well, so much for leisurely drives and hotel stays. My husband pushed on the gas and turned our car into a jet plane (all within legal speed limits of course).

So what has this got to do with you and your business? If you are not answering your emails promptly, you may miss the boat.

Since you are using the internet to promote your business, I am going to assume you know that over 80% of Internet buyers begin their home buying search on the internet. Did you also know that most of these buyers also chose their agent via the internet? A recent survey reports that 92% of Internet buyers found their agent through a website and 63% by using a search engine. 0% found their agent via traditional marketing such as yard signs or mailers.

A deciding factor for many when choosing their agent was how that agent responded to their emails. Promptness and relevant content are a must if you are not going to miss the boat. The time gap between when an Internet buyer begins their search and the time they are ready to buy is longer; but once they make the decision to buy, the time gap between actively viewing homes on the market and writing a contract is shorter.

Internet presence, Contact Management, Emails - a must for today's real estate professional and just a click away is a virtual assistant waiting to help you with all of them.

    
 

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Pamela Cendejas

Spring is in the air, the sun is shining. Easter is early this year and the eggs are on the lawn, the chocolate bunnies are in the frig. My spring cleaning is done. Life is beautiful!

   UGH! Computer crash! 

Horrible words for a virtual assistant or for anyone who uses computers for their business, which is almost everyone these days.

The mother-board is dead! I want to hit something! No, wait!  Help is on the way. Actually, in this case it was good forward thinking. I  had my laptop on hand which had been synchronized to my desktop,  my  backups were current, my virtual assistants were there to lend a helping hand! So while things were not great, everything was handled  and my clients never knew there was a problem!

So, while doing your spring cleaning and spring planning for the busy days ahead, add a computer checkup to your list and put your backup systems in place so that your clients will never know there was a problem.

To end on a  light note, here are some fun Easter Facts:

>Over 90 million chocolate bunnies will be consumed
>95% of chocolate bunnies are eaten ears first, the remainder are eaten feet first
>16 billion jelly beans will be eaten on Easter
>700 million Peeps bunnies and chicks will be consumed this Easter

    
 

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Pamela Cendejas

A few weeks back I had a real estate agent call me about enhancing their website.

To consult someone on the enhancement of a website, I need to be able to look at it. In order to look at the site, I need to be able to find it. I tried to bring up the site using various search criteria. I put in the city, the agent's name, and even the company name to no avail. Obviously this site needed a lot of enhancement.

The only people who were able to find the website were the people the agent had given her website address to.  Giving out your website address to your clients and those you meet along the way is great; but what about those you have never met. It is more important now than ever to have a strong internet presence.

70 - 75% of sellers are now using the internet when considering selling their home. 80 - 85% of buyers begin looking for homes using the internet. It is no longer enough to impress someone by putting a website address on your business card. If you do not have a site that is easy to find and that gives valuable information, you are going to lose business!

A real estate professional I know of, would close one or two transactions and add several strong prospects (buyers and sellers) to her database every of couple months. Now, that may not sound like much but six - nine transactions a year does add up to a nice chunk of change. Every one of those transactions and additional prospects were a direct result of a quality website. The website contained community information and more importantly to the buyer and seller quality information; including photos on property in her area. However, none of this would have mattered if the search engines had not been able to find her website in the first place.

Most real estate agents do not have the time or the knowledge to maximize their websites.  This is usually a job they prefer to delegate. Many agents use their teen-agers or someone they know that they feel is a "guru". This usually means the person chosen just knows computers a little bit better than the agent and nothing about real estate marketing or search engine optimization.

Let me suggest delegating this task to a professional that knows both real estate and search engine optimization, a Virtual Assistant.

For a private consultation and evaluation of your website, contact me. I will be glad to help.

    
 

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Pamela Cendejas

The real estate agent lives in a highly competitive world and more competition is not something you need.  

You've worked hard weighing the options of possibly hiring someone you know and risking a relationship or hiring a stranger and risking the unknown. You've probably had days of frustration training someone who had no idea how the real estate world really works. You've made room for them in your office. You've bought another computer, office furniture, and more supplies.  

Another all-too-real scenerio - the office is running smoothly when your assistant tells you they are leaving. Another agent has made them an offer or they have gotten their license and will now be your competitor. To add insult to injury, they are using the knowledge that you gave them! Now you are back to square one.  

Here is a solution for you:

• Consider the advantages of hiring someone who is already trained in the real estate industry and can assist you with administrative, marketing, website, search engine optimization and special projects.  Consider a virtual assistant.
• Consider hiring someone who is not socializing on your dime and only pay for the exact hours and services rendered. Consider a virtual assistant.
• Consider someone who will never become your competition. Consider a virtual assistant.  

A virtual assistant is a self-employed individual who has found their niche in giving administrative assistance to those in need of their services and doing it well.  

While your are doing all that "considering", consider Second Self Virtual Assistance, your Certified Real Estate Support Specialist.

    
 

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Pamela Cendejas