Many real estate agents around the United States swear by online advertising.
Even if you've never used an online ad, you're probably familiar with the idea: Set it up correctly and you enjoy "overnight" traffic to your website or listings. An optimized ad provides the opportunity to accelerate interest in your most promising properties and meet qualified buyers sooner.
When you think of online ads, you might think of Google first. For real estate agents, though, the picture is a little bit different. People go on platforms like Facebook and Instagram (also owned by Facebook) to browse aspirational properties, and that's where an effective agent should seek out traffic.
Facebook is also helpful for maintaining connections with leads and past customers.
When it comes to advertising for the first time, most agents have these two questions:
The answer to question #1 is a resounding "yes!" In 2020, it cost under $10 on average for a Facebook ad to be seen 1,000 times. Most businesses spend about 5% to 12% of their revenue on ads, but agents can facilitate thousands of dollars in transactions with much less.
Will ads work for you? Again, the answer is yes.
But it won't work in a vacuum — you need to be ready to service the new traffic you get. There are two main ways to use online advertising to grow your real estate practice:
Drive New Leads Directly to Your Website
Your real estate website is the cornerstone of your digital brand. It's where people go to find out who you are and what you can do for them. Ads that go directly to your website can be helpful for people comparing real estate agents or just getting involved in the early stages of market research.
Ads are particularly effective when you've already published helpful, informative content such as blogs or videos. Content helps your visitors get informed about their options, connect with neighborhoods or listings, and ultimately become leads within your business pipeline.
Show Off Your Best and Brightest Properties
What if your website is new and not fully developed yet? You can direct online traffic to live listings on your MLS. In cases like this, it's essential to be sure any contact forms are set up correctly, so you can use them to capture details directly from interested leads.
You can display live listings directly on your website as well. This can be especially useful since it gives you more data. You'll end up with a granular sense of which listings attract attention, how long each visitor spends on each listing, and what features are most captivating to your audience.
Best Practices to Get the Most from Your Ads
Interested in jumping in with social media ads? You have a huge advantage compared to professionals in many other fields – the potential to move transactions forward with a tiny fraction of the revenue you'll stand to make. Still, you need to lay the right groundwork for success:
Contact us at Delta Media Group to learn more about social media ad success.
A real estate CRM has the potential to transform your business. But there are still many brokerages not using the power of CRM. Likewise, many agents have decided to forgo CRM, not realizing it doesn't take a large team or a big budget to benefit.
As technology evolves, change follows. But even the most sophisticated technology can't replace the most important part of real estate: The human touch. Instead, a CRM is a tool, albeit a versatile and powerful one. It helps you get more done in less time.
That equips you to focus more of your attention on strategic matters that grow your business.
Before you jump into CRM with both feet, though, it's a good idea to know exactly what you're getting into. What is a CRM and what can you expect from it? What is it really all about? And perhaps most importantly, what is the experience of using it actually like?
Let's take a closer look.
Customer Relationship Management Centralizes All Your Data
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and this sums up the main goal in a nutshell. It gives you a centralized database that acts as a single source of truth for all the information about your prospects, leads, and customers. For real estate agents, this is huge.
Not that long ago, agents would devote days every week simply to figuring out where everyone in their network stood on their current or pending transactions. It was difficult to know when to follow up, and options for doing so were limited. Connections would "disappear" off the radar for weeks or months.
With a real estate CRM, this never needs to be the case again.
And here's why...
Customer Relationship Management Helps You Be More Proactive
Your CRM isn't just a collection of information. It serves as a living ecosystem for your most important business data. While there may be some manual data entry in the very beginning, your CRM will soon save you thousands of hours by linking directly up to your website, event registration forms, and more.
Every time someone interacts with your digital brand, your CRM has the opportunity to capture more details about them. An AI-driven CRM then "connects the dots" between the different data points. This allows you to recognize when it's the perfect time to follow up and to do so with confidence.
You won't have to wonder when to follow up, because you'll know, for example:
In the olden days, sales professionals would manually "score" each lead, follow up, and keep their notes as the transaction progressed. This is no longer necessary because your CRM is always there to do the guesswork for you. Machine learning helps it to see patterns that would be invisible otherwise.
What Is Using a CRM Actually Like?
A modern real estate CRM has a variety of features that can all work together, creating a "center of excellence" for your digital marketing. You can keep your experience very simple or you can use each feature, in turn, to get even more value from your CRM.
The core of your CRM is the database of contacts for your business. You'll be able to see at a glance the relationships that matter in reaching your goals — new prospects, leads, and customers. Each entry will offer all of the latest interactions your CRM has picked up from each person.
Event-based triggers bring individuals to your attention whenever it might be a good time to follow up. You can also connect with anyone through email, social media, and other means simply by looking at the contact information your CRM has collected for you.
Marketing Automation Through Your CRM
With DeltaNET®6, you also have a wide variety of options for digital marketing automation.
The power of automation means you can stay in touch and keep your brand "top of mind" with more consistent, higher-quality communications — all while spending less time writing emails or social media posts. You can even source custom content for your blog directly from DeltaNET®6.
Over time, marketing automation has the power to turn your real estate website into a conversion engine that attracts ideal customers to you. That means less time spent "chasing leads" or doing tedious, error-prone tasks — and more time doing what's most important to you.
Contact us at Delta Media Group to learn more about the world's first true real estate CRM.
One of the most powerful digital marketing approaches is also the least expensive.
Once you set it up, email marketing costs only pennies a month. With an all-in-one real estate solution like DeltaNET®6, you automate the process. That leads to a constant flow of targeted emails that deepen relationships with your prospects, leads, and current customers.
Not sure email is right for you? Experts estimate email offers more than $30 of ROI for each dollar spent. With email, you have the power to inspire your potential customers, helping them get off the fence and onto the market.
Some real estate agents worry about rules and regulations that apply to email marketing. Luckily, all the compliance issues are handled by your CRM as long as it's configured correctly. That gives subscribers a one-click solution for unsubscribing, which represents the bulk of your responsibilities.
In exchange for this little bit of digital housekeeping, you can leverage a powerful opportunity to stay in contact with your entire network all at once — providing targeted, valuable content to each individual on your list based on their specific needs and interests.
That helps you transform your brand and position as a true local authority.
What Email Marketing Drip Campaigns Are and Why They Work
When you look at email marketing as part of your overall digital marketing strategy, you will probably see the term "drip campaign" frequently. A drip campaign consists of emails you send on a regular basis, typically once a week, but sometimes every two weeks or once a month.
With a drip campaign, you are consistently staying in touch. Each subscriber gets useful, informative content that helps them make informed decisions. At the same time, they become more familiar with your brand and what you can do for them.
For a drip campaign to be successful, there are some key aspects to be aware of:
Email List Segmentation
Segmentation means creating smaller "sub-lists" within your email marketing list to ensure the right people get the right information every time. One of the most obvious examples is having a segment catering to would-be homebuyers and a separate segment for those who have completed the buy.
With email list segmentation, you can laser-target each person's questions and worries wherever they are in the process. Segmentation enables you to get more repeat business than you otherwise would and centralizes the process of asking for referrals, too.
Email Timing
Most email subscribers are recruited through the content on your website, though some may join your list through a current home listing or after signing up for an open house. Whatever the case, it's crucial to set expectations upfront, so they are opting in with complete consent.
If you promise emails once a week, email only once a week. Change things up only in the most serious of circumstances. When people understand what to expect, they are less likely to unsubscribe since they trust you to do exactly what you said you would do.
Another aspect of timing is sending out your emails when your target audience is most likely to be active. You can optimize these settings directly from your CRM. For most working adults, online activity jolts upward around lunchtime and again in the early evening after work.
Calls to Action
Every piece of content, from your blog posts to your individual emails, is meant to inspire action in some way. Most blogs will direct people to sign up for your social media or email, for example. Your email, in turn, usually focuses on getting people to call you for the first time to set up an appointment.
You make this explicit with a call to action or CTA. A CTA can be very simple — "add to cart" is probably the most common one along with "call us today." Each email should have one CTA, though it can be repeated throughout the text if the message is long. Without it, most people simply will not take action.
Limited Time Offers (LTOs)
Limited time offers (or LTOs) are common in retail and other industries, but they need a special spin to work in real estate. It makes sense when you take a step back and look at it strategically: The point of an LTO is to motivate people by giving them a sense of scarcity. The same can be done with your listings.
When you have a hot listing that you know will stand out, promote it to those in your list you know are looking in the area. You can make it even more effective by using a video walkthrough or virtual tour to help them see for themselves just what makes the property special.
Contact us today to get started with email marketing drip campaigns from digital marketing experts.
Building a Custom CMA Has Never Been Easier Than With Delta Pitch.
On May 30, Delta Media Group® will release Delta Pitch, a Comparative Market Analysis tool that makes it possible to create a CMA in as little as one click.
Building a custom CMA has never been easier. And to top it off, Delta Pitch is integrated with the DeltaNET®, so you don't have to look far for it. This feature goes hand-in-hand with DeltaNET® 7, Delta's next generation of customizable, automated real estate technology releasing this fall.
So, how does it work? It's as simple as entering an address and clicking the link to build a CMA. You have a beautiful, company-branded CMA with comps, recent pending's, and more in just one click. Built on top of an AI platform, it will provide all relevant properties and other important information in an attractive, interactive flipbook. Other features include:
Delta Pitch will also be integrated into our AVM platform. When a customer comes to your website and enters their property address, they automatically get an automated estimate based on the current listings in their area. As an agent, this gives you the opportunity to land a new listing. Making it easy, the system creates a digital CMA, comparable to a flipbook that you can then send to the lead, with little work on your end.
Michael Minard, Owner and CEO of Delta Media Group, says, "Delta Pitch is more than a CMA builder; it's an entire presentation builder."
Join Franklin Stoffer (Vice President of Sales at Delta Media Group) on Wednesday, May 25 at 2:00 p.m. EST to take a first-hand look at the new DeltaNET Pitch. Don't miss this chance to see Delta Pitch first-hand and how it can transform your presentation process.
Click (here) to register for the webinar.
A real estate CRM provides total visibility into your prospects, leads, and current customers. That makes it easier to know precisely when and how to follow up with the people who can advance your business, potentially saving you thousands of hours of work in a year.
That naturally raises the question: Why doesn't everyone use one?
Long before there was a dedicated real estate CRM, the concept was limited to enterprise sales teams in a variety of unrelated industries. Salespeople who were converting to digital for the first time usually had an established style of doing things, which made them less likely to embrace a CRM with gusto.
In some cases, this meant the old-fashioned approach with Post It notes and overstuffed filing cabinets. In others, there was a slew of unrelated apps where data would bounce from one place to another. In either situation, a CRM offered clear benefits — faster, easier, and usually much less expensive.
But thanks to that history, some myths about CRM continue to circulate. Even today, real estate agents might not realize the powerful benefits they have to offer.
Let's take a closer look at some of the biggest CRM myths around:
CRM Technology Isn't Just for Sales Teams Anymore — Now, Real Estate Pros Can Benefit
With DeltaNET 6, your very own real estate CRM, you get AI-driven visibility into your business from the first moment you log in. Not only that, but DeltaNET is packed with features to automate your digital marketing, making it simple to cultivate lasting relationships through email, social media, and more.
It's the key to doing less and achieving more.
Contact us today to find out more or get started with this all-in-one real estate center of excellence.
Virtual showings took the world by storm in the wake of the pandemic. Buyers and sellers alike needed to shift their perspective on virtual technology quickly to adapt to a new world. Agents and brokers had a challenge ahead of them: To learn and implement the new technology.
As the public health situation improves, virtual showings are still going strong.
However, more and more buyers want opportunities to return to the traditional way of seeing a home. In the past, open house events have stood out among the best ways for agents to meet new leads. It is sometimes possible to get an offer from a qualified buyer on a home in just minutes, too.
Although there will always be some people who are just curious, most people who go to a conventional home showing are interested in buying in the very near future. Although these events take planning and foresight, they help the agent connect with the local community in a powerful way.
Unfortunately, many agents had mixed results with their showings in the past. This might leave some under the impression that there's no space for open houses or showings in their marketing mix.
It's understandable showings seem like a tall order, especially at a time like this! But there is a solution: A property showing manager that lets you quickly and efficiently schedule, plan, and scale showings — whether you're doing one a month or several every week.
Enhance Your Showings with a Unique, Independent Local Showing Manager
On paper, the idea of a showing seems simple: Prepare the home, invite guests, and follow through. A quick tour, some questions and answers, and you may be well on your way to fielding qualified offers. In practice, though, there's always a little bit more to it than that!
You want to make the process quick and painless for yourself, your seller, and visitors to the property. At the same time, you also need to make sure the time you invest produces real business value — that means getting information for follow-up from every participant, including the "no shows."
For the first time, you can do it all with Local Showings — an independent solution designed just for you.
Local Showings is Delta Media Group's response to an overwhelming desire among agents and brokers to have a fully integrated solution that works with their technology rather than requiring them to start over with something new. It operates as a standalone product and within your DeltaNET®6 real estate all-in-one solution.
Here's what you can expect when you try it for yourself:
Don't settle for partnering with the competition — use a modern solution from a leading property technology firm. Contact us to learn more or schedule a demo to see how Local Showings will work at your practice.
Email marketing continues to rank near the top of the charts for real estate agents who want to quickly, consistently and effectively reach a large pool of prospects with targeted, relevant content that converts. Whether you're new to email marketing or want to modernize your existing strategy, success starts with having a clear, detailed plan for reaching your goals. Here's how to unlock your email marketing potential, improve conversion rates and save tons of time in the process.
While there are many effective real estate marketing channels, few can boast the wide user base and nearly universal integration of email. No matter the demographic you wish to reach, chances are that they have an email account and check it every day. With the right tactics, you can turn email marketing into a consistent, reliable source of leads and a powerful tool to convert those leads into clients.
Start with a Consistent Schedule for Email Marketing
Email marketing works best when you choose a schedule and send emails regularly. When a new contact joins your email list, that schedule typically starts with a welcome sequence, during which you send a series of automated emails over the course of a few days to introduce yourself. These emails often have some of the highest open rates and are critical to establishing yourself with each contact.
Over time, the emails may become less frequent but should still adhere to a regular schedule. Basically, you don't want to overwhelm your audience, but you don't want them to forget about you, either. Most agents find that scheduling a few emails a week per contact is the best way to strike the right balance.
Segment Your Email List
Unlocking your email marketing potential requires sending the right messages, to the right people, at the right time. That's why it's so important to segment your email list based on the needs of your audience. This might mean segmenting based on whether a prospect is a buyer or seller, as well as whether this is their first time buying/selling a home. You can also segment based on the location where they're shopping, the type of real estate they're searching for, or any other key factor that helps you differentiate your target audience.
Be Informative and Personable
In order to keep your open rates high and have the best chance of converting, you need to provide email content that your audience wants to see. The good news is that if someone has opted into your email marketing, they're clearly seeking information on real estate. Your job is to make your email marketing as informative as possible, based on the needs of each segment of your audience.
Just as importantly, you want your email marketing to be personable and avoid the hard sale. While the ultimate goal of email marketing is to generate new business, your audience wants to be informed rather than pitched. Including a call-to-action at the end of your email is a good thing, but turning the whole email into a call-to-action is a mistake to avoid.
Leverage the Power and Time-Saving Benefits of Automation
We've stressed the importance of keeping a regular email marketing schedule and sending the right content at just the right time. Email drip campaigns make it easy to accomplish both goals while saving time with automation. Set up automated, informative campaigns that help nurture leads over time, tailored to buyers, sellers, first-time buyers, and prospects at every stage of their journey.
Integrate Social Proof
Integrating social proof into your email marketing is a great way to boost conversion rates and show prospects what your current clients have to say about your real estate services. For email, including testimonials is usually the best way to integrate social proof. Ideally, the testimonials that you include will be relevant to the segment of your audience that you're trying to reach.
Don't Forget About Your Clients
Speaking of those current clients, you don't want to forget about them when it comes to email marketing. Following up after a purchase or sale is simply good business and shows clients that you're still there for them after closing day. It's also a great way to generate referrals, as well as social proof that you can integrate into your real estate website, email marketing, and social media marketing.
Take Your Marketing to the Next Level with DeltaNET®6
The right real estate CRM makes it easy to boost your marketing, generate more leads, and save time by automating marketing tasks without sacrificing quality. DeltaNET®6 simplifies email marketing with email drip campaigns, AI-driven email newsletters, bulk email blasts, customizable eCards, and email templates that make it easy to send personalized messages for any occasion.
As a real estate agent, building long-term client relationships is essential to growth. There are two times when having a deep relationship is especially vital.
First comes the initial decision to choose a real estate agent. By sharing helpful, informative content on your real estate website, you can build credibility as a trusted expert. This is important because it might take weeks or even months before someone actually decides to dive into the market.
If you've built a foundation with a potential client, you are more likely to be chosen in the end.
The second time strong relationships come into play is after the initial transaction. No matter whether you work with buyers or sellers, you can expect that they will take 4-7 years on average before needing your services again. But, all the while, they can be providing you with referral business.
In the first year of any agent's career, it's normal to spend most time "chasing down leads." You need to learn the ropes, decide what works for you, and define your ideal customer. Beyond this point, however, it's crucial to start generating leads in a less effort-intensive way, and referral business is a big piece.
Some of the most successful real estate agents in the United States today get the majority of their work from qualified leads through their website, combined with referral business from satisfied customers.
That starts by focusing your attention on long-term customer relationships. And the process is much easier when you have the right technology in hand.
How Your CRM Can Boost Your Long-Term Client Relationships
To cultivate deep relationships, real estate agents need to make the best use of their time. That means cutting down on repetitive tasks and focusing on what moves you forward. Now, more than ever, that's achieved by implementing customer relationship management software for real estate.
Customer relationship management, or CRM, gives you complete visibility into all your relationships, so you never lose track of the people who matter to your business. You can easily see where your leads, prospects, current customers, and past customers stand in relation to their transactions.
An AI-driven CRM becomes a "center of excellence" that connects the dots between thousands of data points to keep you informed. It will clue you in on exactly when and how to follow up to maximize the positive impact you can make on those in your network.
Plus, it means spending less of your energy on time-intensive marketing tasks — those things you know you should do but that often slip down the priority list. Your CRM is a powerful machine learning multi-tool that helps you prioritize and execute in a fraction of the time.
Let's take a closer look at how technology can enhance your relationship-building efforts:
Contact us to find out more about digital marketing for real estate agents.
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a sci-fi fantasy, a dream of data scientists, or a catchy buzzword. The technology for AI has developed so much in recent years that it's quickly making an impact on — and potentially reshaping — nearly every major industry. Real estate is certainly no exception, with AI already making its presence felt in both subtle and obvious ways.
Does that mean that agents will soon be largely replaced by AI, with little work left for humans to do? Fortunately, you can take a deep breath, exhale, and know that your job is not in danger from AI. The truth is that AI in real estate can save you tremendous time on monotonous, repetitive tasks, allowing you to spend more of your working hours on the things that matter most.
Let's start with the basics. When we talk about AI in the present day, we're not talking about an all-seeing, all-knowing computer like you've seen in movies or read about in novels. Today's AI is designed to handle specific tasks in a fast, reliable, consistent way. Here are some of the ways that AI can lighten your workload on repetitive tasks and create more time for you to serve your clients:
How Will You Invest the Time Saved by AI?
The examples above are just a few of the ways that AI can make life easier for real estate agents and dramatically speed up tasks that once took up far too much time. That means less work on the tasks that you probably didn't want to be doing anyway, but not less work overall.
Ultimately, the promise of AI in real estate is that you'll have more time to focus on the work that really matters. Think about every day that you've wished that there were just a few more hours to get done everything you needed to do. AI helps make that dream a reality without compromising on productivity or sacrificing your free time. All you have to decide is how to invest those hours that once went to tasks that can now be handled by AI.
The Future Is Bright for AI in Real Estate
One of the exciting things about AI is that despite the significant progress that's been made, we're still only scratching the surface of what the technology can do. The future is bright for AI integration in real estate, and we'll be sure to continue bringing you the best, most modern tech to help you thrive as a real estate agent.
Successful real estate agents build trust as experts in their local area. To attract the right customers to your practice, your marketing needs to make a human connection before you meet for the first time.
That may seem like a challenge — and it does take some getting used to — but it is the key to lasting real estate success. When you master it, you make the shift from "chasing down leads" to enjoying a steady flow of lead generation through your marketing.
Many real estate agents and brokers find marketing a challenge.
There are three big difficulties real estate pros can have with marketing:
These are understandable worries to have. Often, an agent or broker never says, "I don't want to do marketing and won't do it." Instead, they find other priorities to occupy their day. Weeks and even months go by without ever getting around to those marketing tasks they find intimidating.
Getting through this starts with busting a big myth about real estate marketing.
Your marketing CAN be approachable — and it can reflect your values and personality.
Step into the Age of Real Estate Digital Marketing
Real estate thrives on relationships. Throughout those relationships, there'll be plenty of times when you need to influence the other person to take the right step – whether that means signing up as a customer or doing what they need to do to move their transaction forward.
Nobody wants to be "that guy," the pushy salesman only out to make a sale.
Luckily, you don't have to be. There's been a big pivot in marketing — not only in real estate but in many other spheres — to make it more friendly and accommodating to the potential customer. It starts with sincere respect for the other person's time, attention, and intelligence.
It wasn't long ago when businesses of all kinds were making hundreds of calls a day to look for potential clients. Those days are over. Customers now have all the information they need at their fingertips, and they're less likely to take unsolicited calls.
As a result, real estate experts are shifting their focus to digital marketing.
The heart of good digital marketing is to solve problems and respond to questions your ideal customer already has. Marketing technology doesn't replace the human element but enhances it, ensuring you can consistently deliver valuable communications to clients and leads based on their own interests.
That fosters the all-important trust that enables leads to become customers. And only digital marketing ensures you're there every step of the way, even if takes weeks or months for the customer to dive in.
Let's look at some great ways to make your marketing more humane and approachable:
Contact us to learn more about digital marketing in real estate.
There are so many modern tools to make life easier as a real estate agent, but jumping from platform to platform in order to take advantage of your tech can chip away at your productivity gains while making it harder to find the data you need, when you need it. The solution? A reliable, all-in-one platform that combines all of the tech you need in one convenient hub. Here's how to make your technology work together, and give your productivity a boost in the process.
Making your technology work together starts with embracing an innovative, simple all-in-one solution like DeltaNET®6. With the right real estate CRM, all of your technology and key client data are in the same place, always ready when you need them.
Relationship Management
Building great relationships with clients is at the core of real estate success, and your technology should make it easier to manage relationships effectively. That starts with having the data you need when you need it. With a real estate CRM, you don't have to worry about tracking down client data from notes and disparate sources. You will always have the most up-to-date information on your clients, with the data you need to provide great, personalized service at your fingertips.
Lead Segmentation and Nurturing
Of course, real estate technology isn't just valuable for maintaining relationships with current clients. It's also the key to generating, segmenting, and nurturing leads to help you bring in new business. Automated lead segmentation makes it easy to sort through your leads, determine where each lead is in the purchasing/sales process, and ensure that you reach them with the right message at the right time. You should also have access to lead nurturing tools like email drip campaigns, AI-driven newsletters, eCards & flyers, and email templates.
Marketing Properties and Connecting Clients with Homes
Marketing properties is more complex than ever, with so many different tools available to help you promote your listings and connect buyers with the right home. Start with virtual open houses and showings, which allow buyers to tour a home virtually no matter where they're located. Or spread the word locally with printable listing flyers. You can also keep your clients up to date on the latest happenings in their market with auto-generated My HomeFinder, Market Watch, and Seller Reports. Keep clients informed with the information they need, make it easier for buyers to search for homes, and show sellers all of the modern ways that you promote their listings.
Automation of Key Tasks
Your real estate technology should save you time, not take away valuable time from your busy day. Automating repetitive marketing tasks is one of the best ways to guarantee that you'll save time while ensuring that clients and prospects always get the most timely, relevant content for their needs. We've already covered many of the automation tools that your tech should include, like email drip campaigns, AI-driven newsletters, and auto-generated reports on real estate markets. All of these tools make your life easier and help you maximize your marketing opportunities.
Data and Analytics
In order for your tech to truly work together, you need access to data and analytics that help you make informed decisions. That includes keeping track of your own data on matters like email marketing, but also the data that your clients provide. With IDX search tracking as well as tracking for property searches, saved properties, and views, you can anticipate the needs of clients in order to provide them with the best possible service.
Real Estate Website
Just like you want your tech to work together in order to make your days more efficient, your clients and prospects want a real estate website that works together to provide everything that they need. That starts with IDX listing integration and MLS search to help them find the perfect home. You will also want real estate content, to provide advice, highlight your markets, and tell the story of your business. When your website has all of the features that your audience wants to see, it becomes a constant source of lead generation for your real estate brand.
Ready to Take Your Real Estate Tech to the Next Level?
If you're tired of being pulled in every direction by technology that doesn't work together, there's a better way. DeltaNET®6 makes it easier than ever to market your business, grow your brand, serve your clients, easily integrate with other popular tech platforms, and discover data-based insights that can help you thrive. You shouldn't have to choose between having great tech and having tech that works together. With the right real estate CRM, you get the best of both worlds.
Over the last few years, real estate agents have been looking for new and better ways to save time by incorporating technology. The pandemic accelerated key trends already taking place in real estate. The right technological tools are more important than ever for running your practice efficiently.
One of the most valuable parts of that process is Customer Relationship Management.
Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, was already in use in a wide range of industries before it ever reached real estate. Outside sales teams from coast to coast rely on it to monitor and manage the complex web of relationships that move their efforts forward.
But many real estate agents haven't made the leap yet, in part because a true CRM for real estate was hard to find. With better options than ever before now available, it's time to take a second look at the CRM trend and see exactly what it can do for you.
What Is Customer Relationship Management All About?
Customer Relationship Management is the modern answer to one of the biggest challenges that have always plagued real estate: Keeping track of people. It was not that long ago when the average agent would spend days each week just tracking down prospects, leads, and even their own customers.
The days of the overstuffed filing cabinets are over, however, and there's a better way to do things. A Customer Relationship Management app centralizes all the data on your prospects, leads, and current customers. It gives you complete visibility into relationships and the next steps for everyone you know.
This helps you monitor all your current transactions and determine if leads are standing still or stepping forward on their real estate plans. Using the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning can also make it easier than ever to follow up with each person and inspire action.
In effect, a real estate CRM is a "command center" that brings everything together into one place. This is essential for real estate agents who've found themselves struggling to get results from a hodgepodge of productivity and scheduling apps that don't necessarily work together effectively.
The right CRM has the potential to replace dozens of other applications, including those you may now be paying expensive licensing fees for. Because all of the features are designed to work together, you never need to be concerned some piece of the puzzle won't "integrate" or share data with all the rest.
How Does a Customer Relationship Management Suite Work?
Behind the scenes, there are two key elements to how CRM works. First, it connects to your website and social media, collecting and parsing the information that flows through those channels daily. This allows you to respond instantly when leads signal, through online behavior, that they are ready to act.
Since so much of real estate is done online, most of the data the CRM uses is collected automatically. The second element is data you input manually based on your personal networking and other face-to-face encounters. This puts your entire network "on your radar" as represented by your CRM.
At any time of your choosing, you can get an instant update on any prospect, lead, or customer. You can also look back through your entire history of interactions with someone. This means you will always be ready to provide value to them based on their unique interests.
All in all, it only takes a few minutes a day to get measurable value from your CRM. In the time you save, you have more opportunities to build your business in meaningful ways and boost your relationships. A CRM doesn't replace the human element — it makes that element more consistent and easier to deploy.
Why Is Machine Learning So Important in Customer Relationship Management?
Artificial intelligence and machine learning transform the best real estate CRMs into a reliable "center of excellence" for your whole practice. Since they learn as they go, they can make connections between thousands of data points that even the best human analyst would miss.
This equips a real estate CRM to easily and accurately score your leads based on the behaviors of past leads who became customers. Monitoring data 24 hours a day, your AI-driven CRM suite can signal you when it's the ideal time to follow up with someone, and even suggest how to do it.
Real estate CRMs can also automate social media, email marketing, and more.
These automated workflows may take an hour or so to set up at the very beginning. Like the rest of the CRM suite, though, they then work behind the scenes and report back to you. You can see exactly what results your campaigns are having at a glance.
Contact us to discover the power of DeltaNET®6 real estate CRM for yourself.
Credibility matters in real estate. As a real estate agent, you want to start building trust with your target audience as quickly and effectively as possible. Trust matters to clients who are considering referring you to people within their own network and to prospects who are sorting through their many options to find an agent they can trust with one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. Fortunately, there are more tools for building trust with technology than ever before for real estate agents.
Building Trust with the Right Technology
While there are many good, old-fashioned trust-building tips that still apply now as much as ever, we're going to focus on some of the many modern tools that make it easier to build trust with a tech-savvy audience. Not only can the right technology help you build trust, it can also make your life much easier in the process.
Know Your Clients and Their Needs
Most of our tips will focus on building trust with prospects, but it's wise to remember that the process of building trust with existing clients never really ends. One of the best ways to build strong relationships with clients is to remember who they are, their real estate goals, and the details of any interactions that you've already had with them. The right real estate CRM makes it much easier to keep track of all that data and guarantees that you have it at your fingertips whenever you need it.
Build a Great Real Estate Website
A great real estate website might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of building trust, but it's a critical factor in a number of important ways. First, modern real estate prospects simply expect any agent they're considering to have an appealing, informative, modern website. Most people start their search for an agent online, so they're more likely to choose an agent with a robust, engaging online presence than an agent with a dated website or no website at all.
But it's not just about being seen. As you'll see in the next few tips, your website is also the most reliable place to integrate much of the other trust-building technology on our list. It's where people will consume your content, be persuaded by your social proof, and discover why your brand is the right choice for their real estate needs. So if you don't have a website or your current one is a bit outdated, a fresh investment in your online presence can be a key first step in building trust.
Share Advice and Expertise with Real Estate Content
One of the most straightforward, dependable techniques for building trust and credibility online is to prove to your audience that you know your stuff when it comes to real estate. Creating informative, timely real estate content, whether it's a written blog post, video content created with your phone, or a mix of both, is the perfect way to show your expertise.
Provide real estate advice, analyze market trends, create neighborhood guides, share seasonal home improvement tips — basically, anything that your audience might be interested in learning about regarding real estate. When done right, your content will continue to build trust long after it's first published on your website.
Integrate Reviews and Testimonials
Few things are more trustworthy than a referral, and social proof essentially serves as a referral from an online source. Social proof consists of things like online reviews and client testimonials, which can have a major impact on establishing your trust with an online audience. But even if they're very happy with your services, a client won't necessarily think to leave a review or testimonial unless you ask. Once you have some reviews and especially testimonials, make sure to showcase them prominently on your website.
Build a Strong Social Media Presence
You likely already use your social pages for social media marketing, and that's a great place to start. But are you taking advantage of the other ways that you can build trust through social? As you build your social presence, you will have more and more opportunities to engage with your audience. That engagement is crucial to building individual relationships that can lead to business, and also for proving your real estate expertise to a wider audience.
Build Trust and Save Time by Investing in the Right Real Estate Tech
For building trust with a modern audience, it's only fitting to use the most modern, up-to-date tools. With DeltaNET®6, our digital marketing services, and an excellent, customized real estate website, you can start building trust as soon as a prospect discovers your brand online. Make your life easier and generate more leads by investing in the right real estate tech to build trust with your audience.
If you're in a large agency or brokerage, your branding naturally dovetails with that of the team. Still, no matter if you work independently or within an organization, you should keep an eye on how you present yourself to potential customers — especially online.
Branding may sound complicated, but it's simply the process of communicating in a thoughtful and consistent way to help people understand the three biggest things they need to know about you:
No real estate agent is perfect for everyone, yet newcomers to the field often cast a wide net. They worry that if they get specific about what they do, they will alienate potential customers and get less business. The opposite is true: When your brand is specific, you attract more of your ideal clientele.
In the first year or so, any real estate agent will spend plenty of time learning the ropes. It's not out of the ordinary to be unsure what kind of customers you want to work with or what problems you enjoy solving. After some experience, it's essential to start tackling these big questions.
The sooner you do, the sooner you can go from chasing leads to attracting referrals.
Every interaction you have with the public or customers has the potential to influence their perception of your brand. Of course, we can't control everything and shouldn't try. But understanding your vision for your brand will help ensure you're upholding your values and aspirations.
Here are some ways to come to grips with real estate branding:
Leverage the Right Technology to Make Branding a Natural Part of Your Business Workflow
Branding for real estate is a big topic, but having the right technology on your side can help. When you use a real all-in-one solution like DeltaNET®6 to manage your relationships, you'll spend less time figuring out where people are and more time giving them the value they expect.
Contact us to learn more about how real estate marketing can enhance your brand.
Communication is one of the most important skills for any real estate agent to develop, and there are more ways to communicate digitally today than there have ever been. Effective communication can make all the difference in landing a new client, building trust, and helping your current clients achieve their real estate goals. With young, tech-savvy buyers and sellers making up an ever-growing slice of the real estate market, mastering digital communication is critical. Here's how to communicate with confidence and what tools you'll need for the job.
Before we get into digital communication tactics, it's worth remembering some of the tried and true communication tips that apply to any situation. No matter how you're communicating, it's crucial to put the focus on the person you're communicating with, listen carefully, ask questions, and be responsive to their needs. Always aim to be courteous, punctual, reliable, and considerate of the client's time.
While body language doesn't matter in most forms of digital communication, tone does — especially for text-based conversations. Before you send a message, make sure that you're saying exactly what you're trying to say, and that your tone is appropriate for the situation. By remembering the basics for good communication, you'll be better prepared to master the many channels available for communicating digitally.
Mastering the Many Digital Communication Tools in Your Toolkit
With the basics out of the way, let's dig into some of the key tools that you'll be using to communicate digitally. Remember that it's helpful to make communication as seamless as possible and be available through a variety of digital platforms to suit the varying needs of your clients.
Simplify Communication By Leveraging Real Estate Tech
With so many different ways to communicate digitally, it can be easy to fill a bit overwhelmed with the possibilities. That's why it's so important to have the right real estate tech on your side, to streamline communication and ensure that you have the tools you need to build great relationships with clients. DeltaNET®6 is a real estate all-in-one solution that puts all of the latest tools at your fingertips, making it easier than ever to master digital communication.
Marketing is often a challenge for real estate agents. It's notoriously difficult to be an impartial judge of your own marketing. That's true not only here in real estate but in virtually all industries. It's a problem faced by companies of all sizes, from solo entrepreneurs to Fortune 50 enterprises.
The crux of the matter is that marketing is subjective. You can develop a blog post, a video, or even ads that excite you, but have you stepped into the customer's shoes? Sometimes, even the best efforts can go awry. And that may lead to missing out on the value of a substantial part of your marketing budget.
Luckily, digital marketing can make the whole matter much easier to deal with.
There'll always be an element of "art" to marketing, but digital marketing is more scientific than ever. That's science in the literal sense: You make a prediction, test it, and gather data. There's more data available about the bottom-line impact of your marketing now than there has ever been before.
That has two powerful effects on marketing strategy:
Using Technology to Your Advantage in Real Estate Marketing
Real estate changed more than virtually any other industry at the outset of the pandemic. Professionals from all across the nation had to work together to develop new ways of thinking about and doing their work. It was crucial to protect both their customers and themselves.
At the same time, the way buyers and sellers approach transactions have also changed forever.
It was once unthinkable for someone to buy a home without setting foot in it. Now, these transactions take place routinely, especially when someone is planning a big move from out of state. A fast-growing population of younger buyers and sellers means more people are managing their home search online.
That has huge ramifications for your marketing.
Many of the trends unleashed by the pandemic will never be reversed. Instead, agents and brokers will be expected to adapt and incorporate new technologies in new ways. Technology is a key driver of your marketing success since you can see its results almost right away. By comparison, ad placements and conventional local media often provide no insight into whether or not you're getting ROI.
Let's look at some concrete ways you can boost your marketing results:
Contact us to find out more about digital marketing today. We look forward to helping you soon.
Are you covering all of your bases with real estate lead generation? With so many different ways to generate leads, it can be easy to overlook some of the valuable, reliable tools that can help keep your pipeline stocked to the brim. Diversifying your strategy can help you reach a wider pool of potential clients and give you the confidence that you're leaving no stone unturned when it comes to generating leads. That's why it's so important to understand where most leads come from and how you can ensure that you're maximizing your lead generation opportunities.
Start with Your Real Estate Website
Your real estate website should be one of your best sources for leads online, but simply setting up a website isn't enough to guarantee success. For your website to become a lead-generation machine, it needs to provide a seamless experience with the right features and design elements. This is important both for attracting prospects to visit your website in the first place and turning them into qualified leads once they arrive.
Social Media Marketing and Relationship Building
The biggest social media platforms continue to rank among the best sources of leads online, so it likely comes as no surprise that social media marketing is so popular in real estate. Whether you're showcasing listings on Instagram, building relationships on Facebook, or sharing your best video content on TikTok, building your social presence is a must for generating leads in 2022.
Referrals and Your Personal/Professional Networks
The most highly qualified leads often come from referrals, and referrals are still one of the most dependable sources of leads for your real estate business. For individual agents, those referrals can often come from your personal and professional networks, in addition to your current clients. Building and maintaining great relationships still goes a long way toward generating leads, no matter who you're trying to reach.
Virtual Tours and Open Houses
More than ever, buyers are choosing to tour homes from the comfort of their current location with the help of virtual open houses and showings. Just like their in-person counterparts, these tools are key sources of leads — and not just for buyers! When sellers see that you're promoting listings with the best modern tech, they'll be more likely to choose you as well.
Social Media and Search Engine Advertising
Building your social media presence and boosting the SEO on your real estate website are both well worth the effort. However, it also takes time to see results. Paid advertising on social media and search engines provides more immediate results as a source of leads. Paid advertising is great for boosting visibility while building up your online presence and for supplementing your other lead-generation efforts.
Covering Your Bases for Lead Generation in 2022
Whether you're interested in opening new avenues of lead generation or optimizing your existing strategy, achieving your goals is so much easier when you have the right tools for the job. With our DeltaNET®6 all-in-one real estate solution, all of the tools, tech, and resources you need to generate leads are always at your fingertips.
Every year, billions of dollars are invested around the world in developing new tech that improves the real estate experience for agents, clients, and real estate firms. Millennials are quickly growing into the largest real estate demographic, and catering to a young, tech-savvy clientele will only accelerate the desire for new technology. And it's not as if people under 40 are the only ones glued to their favorite devices.
When new technology emerges, everyone involved in the real estate industry can benefit. Here are some potential tech breakthroughs that could emerge in real estate in the coming years, along with a few recent breakthroughs that are likely to stand the test of time.
The Continued Development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI has already helped the real estate industry accomplish some great things, whether you want to send timely, personalized reports to clients or develop a more accurate analysis of real estate market trends. But in many ways, we're only scratching the surface. The global investment in AI is immense, just like the future potential of the technology.
Consider the benefits of robust virtual assistants that can help guide clients through the process of buying or selling a home, taking some of the workload off of agents while providing a valuable service to clients. Already, some of the biggest real estate websites are also using AI to help match clients with the perfect loan, or the perfect home. Some of the biggest tech breakthroughs in the near future are very likely to involve AI and machine learning.
Streamlined Technology
With so much new tech emerging in recent years, one big breakthrough that we're already beginning to experience is the streamlining of real estate technology. With a real estate all-in-one solution like DeltaNET®6, you have the technology for managing leads, marketing properties, connecting with clients, and analyzing data in one convenient package. Expect the streamlining of real estate tech to continue as new tools are introduced, allowing agents to save time, increase productivity, and focus on what matters most.
Digital Documentation
Clients and agents alike dread the pile of paperwork that comes with closing on a home. Wouldn't it be nice if documents could be securely, reliably read and signed anywhere, from any device? The technology to do so is already emerging and should play a major role in real estate transactions in the coming years.
Taking Advantage of the Latest Tech
Focusing on the future is fun, but not at the expense of the present. Some of the tech that has risen in popularity during the pandemic is likely to remain important and be improved upon for years to come.
Where Will Real Estate Tech Take Us Next?
Just 5 or 10 years ago, it would have been hard to predict all of the game-changing tech that has shaped the real estate industry today. And that's part of the fun! While we can make educated guesses about AI and other new tech, there's always the possibility of a breakthrough that almost nobody saw coming. With such a substantial investment of brainpower and funds in creating breakthroughs, it will be exciting to see where real estate tech takes us next.
We know that sometimes, technology can be a mixed bag.
Your computer's operating system is designed to get you to pay every month for programs that needed a one-time payment a few years ago. Your phone pushes ads anywhere and everywhere, even in severe weather alerts. It can feel like all these tools are constantly out to get you.
When it's time to invest in business solutions, however, you need a higher caliber of solution — designed from the ground up with your needs in mind. That's the kind of technology that works with you to reach your goals, not the goals of the software vendor or hardware maker.
The best technology is truly for you – and it works with you, not against you.
For real estate agents who want to perform at a higher level, that means CRM.
Customer Relationship Management for Real Estate Saves You Hours Every Week
A real estate CRM helps you do more in less time, no matter if you are an independent real estate agent or part of a large brokerage. A reliable, AI-driven all-in-one solution like DeltaNET 6 redefines your workflow by giving you complete visibility into all your prospects, leads, and clients.
With a CRM, you have the power to automate repetitive tasks while making informed decisions that move your strategy in the right direction. By doing more of the right things in less time, you'll avoid burnout, raise your productivity, and create opportunities for a healthy work-life balance.
Let's look at some of the ways a CRM serves you every day:
Bring Your Real Estate Practice to Another Level Without Reinventing the Wheel
Technology is meant to simplify your life, not complicate it. Yet, the pandemic introduced innovation to real estate at a breakneck pace. Many agents and brokers wonder how to catch up as new technology-driven services, like virtual tours and showings, are becoming more crucial.
Instead of looking for a whole universe of different technology tools and trying to make them all work together, start with a CRM for real estate. When you select the right high-performance CRM, you can move with confidence knowing it's your "all-in-one" real estate center of excellence.
Contact us to learn more about capturing value from the latest real estate technology. We look forward to showing you all that it can do for you.
The National Association of REALTORS® reports that 75 percent of buyers say that they would recommend their agent to others. But even though they may have been very happy with the service you provided, their willingness to refer often fades as they move from buying a home into the next phase of their life. That's why it's so important to maintain that connection with past clients over time. Here are some tips to help you maintain relationships with past clients using real estate technology and generate reliable sources of new business in the process.
Staying Connected Starts with Your Real Estate CRM
The right real estate CRM isn't just a great option for generating and nurturing leads. It also provides valuable resources and tools for staying in touch with past clients. All of the information you gather over time can provide insights that make it easier to stay in touch with clients in a personalized way and give them reasons to refer you to others. Your CRM is also where you should find automated tools for staying connected and keeping past clients informed.
Keep Past Clients Informed with Email Newsletters and Content
Few tools are better than email for connecting with past clients. It's something that your clients check multiple times a day, it's unobtrusive, it can be automated, and it's an easy way for you to reach out at any time. There are so many different types of content that you can send via email, whether you're keeping past clients informed or simply finding excuses to say "hello."
For a client who has just purchased a home, you can send content that can help them transition to their new neighborhood and advice that helps them make the most of their new home. Home improvement tips and recommendations for local service providers can help them enjoy their new home. Neighborhood guides, advice on local attractions, schedules for local events, and information on the latest neighborhood happenings can all help them build deeper connections with their community.
By having a plan in advance for how you want to keep in touch with different types of clients, you can automate much of the email outreach process through your real estate CRM. On occasions where automation isn't the perfect fit, email templates make it simple to send personalized, meaningful messages.
Remember Their Special Days
Whether it's a client's birthday, kid's birthday, graduation, anniversary, or "house-aversary," remembering the special days of your clients goes a long way toward maintaining trust and showing them that you care. Your real estate CRM should provide tools for sending customized eCards and flyers, which you can use to celebrate any occasion. Of course, your CRM should also be where information on those special days is stored in the first place, so that you always have an easy way to remember the days that matter most to your clients.
Use Social Media to Build and Maintain Relationships
Social media isn't just for blasting out the latest info on all of your best new listings. It's also a great tool for staying connected with past clients and reminding them why you're the right choice when they're referring an agent to others. As you get to know a client, always look for common ground and keep a record of those commonalities in your CRM. Anything that can provide a starting point for conversation is valuable, whether it's a shared love of a local sports team, involvement in a community organization, or shared excitement about an annual local event. Investing some time each week in staying connected with past clients through social media goes a long way toward earning their referrals.
Remember That a Personal Touch Goes a Long Way
While technology is the main tool for staying in touch with past clients, sometimes a good, old-fashioned personal touch can make a big difference. A hand-written note certainly stands out in this digital age and shows that you have invested time in reaching out to a past client. A small, personalized gift can also be a great reminder for past clients, as long as it fits within ethical guidelines.
Connecting with Past Clients Is Easier with the Right Tools
Staying connected with past clients is important, but that doesn't mean that it has to take too much time from your busy day. The right real estate all-in-one solution, like DeltaNET®6, makes it easy to automate key marketing tasks, keep past clients informed, and remind them why you're the right choice for their (or their friends'!) real estate needs in the future. Mix in modern technology with old-fashioned touches like the occasional hand-written note, and you have a recipe for staying top-of-mind with all of your past clients.
When it comes to training options for real estate technology, there are a few different schools of thought on what works best. Some want videos, others swear by user guides. At Delta Media Group®, we're big on easy, on giving you — the one using all of that tech — the power to transform your training into exactly what you want and need it to be.
That's why we're thrilled to announce the launch of DeltaNET® Academy, available directly within the DeltaNET CRM. With DeltaNET Academy, users have access to slideshow-based training courses that break down Delta Media Group's industry-leading, all-in-one CRM and wealth of features to their basics, making them simpler than ever to understand. Only a few clicks and admins can easily:
Custom course creation also allows admins to set the metaphorical syllabus. Building your own courses is easy: Choose what you want to highlight and assign it to your team. Then, when a course is completed, associates can take a quiz to ensure they've got a handle on all the information. Plus, DeltaNET Academy tracks who's doing what within the system, so you'll know exactly where everyone stands. Consider it a progress report — we're sure everyone will be a pleasure to have in class.
Don't forget our promise of easy, either. DeltaNET Academy provides a user-friendly, intuitive platform that doesn't feel like a hassle or homework. We're still offering videos and guides, but we're also giving our clients more options with hands-on, engaging learning that gives the power of training back to brokerages.
"When building DeltaNET Academy, we weren't looking for a tool that 'checks the boxes' when it comes to its capabilities," Director of Partner Success Harley Wolfarth says. "DeltaNET Academy gives our users control over course content, visibility, assignment, and even tests/quizzes while keeping those controls and settings in places where you expect to find them. We think we've made something that will make your life easier, not just because your agents and staff can be better trained by the courses you create, but because the process to create those courses is clear and easy as well."
Evolution is part of our Delta Media Group-DNA, so you can be sure we're already working on plans to expand the training offerings within DeltaNET Academy as well. And best of all? DeltaNET Academy comes without any extra cost. No hidden fees. No surprises. Just comprehensive training that gives you and your associates the knowledge to make real estate's most powerful CRM and tech tools work for you.
No one wants to get schooled by their tech. So, jump to the head of the class with DeltaNET Academy and learn the ins and outs of Delta Media Group's game-changing features.
"DeltaNET Academy is a platform to not only educate team members with pre-populated real estate CRM and marketing training, but it is also the platform to empower firms with the ability to create their own custom training programs for anything," Delta Media Group CEO/Owner Mike Minard says. "I'm excited to see how DeltaNET Academy transforms how real estate professionals leverage technology further as they are more empowered in their understanding of how much powerful technology is available to them today."
When it comes to success, momentum makes the difference.
Momentum is what turns a long, hard slog into a purpose-driven effort, even an adventure. No matter if you work alone or in a large brokerage, momentum is great for morale and protects against burnout. It provides a sense of direction and helps you deflect distractions.
Unfortunately, momentum can be difficult to build at first. Once you have it, though, it becomes much easier to sustain. In real estate, you have many opportunities to give yourself the tailwind that sets the stage for progress. At any size or scale, technology is the key.
Why Technology Matters in Boosting Your Momentum
Momentum is forward motion. When you need to maintain forward motion over long distances, friction is your worst enemy. You can see examples of this in day-to-day life. For example, it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back on task after a distraction. Every distraction creates more friction.
As long as you're focused, it feels like you can go on forever. When the illusion is broken, not so much.
Luckily, today's best real estate technology is built around the idea of creating a seamless experience for everyone — buyers, sellers, and the professionals who serve them. Technology won't replace you (or the human touch). It simply sets you up to do more of what you do best, faster, and more effectively.
Let's look at some of the ways technology is smoothing the path to successful transactions.
Digital-First Approaches Are Here to Stay in Real Estate
Real estate was already making some promising forays into the digital realm in 2019. Then the pandemic hit. Of all the industries completely transformed by COVID-19, real estate moved the fastest. It had to — there was no other way to protect everyone involved in a transaction.
As it turns out, buyers and sellers alike love virtual tours and virtual open houses. Even as the public health situation changes, these are here to stay. Sellers no longer need to welcome crowds of strangers into a lived-in home. And buyers can expand their search radius without traveling any further.
What does it all mean for the real estate agent? Get comfortable in front of the camera and you can do a full tour more quickly and easily. Connect with the right title company and others and your customers can benefit from a complete digital closing experience. That's increasingly becoming a differentiator as Millennials step up their homebuying activity and Generation Z steps in.
All in all, that leads to seamlessly serving more people faster — and getting better results for everyone.
A Real Estate CRM Suite Gives You a Bird's Eye View of Your Customers and Contacts
Speaking of "seamless," there's nothing less worthy of the name than the old way of managing contacts. Only a few years ago, most real estate agents had filing cabinets stuffed with information on leads and prospects. It would take a day each week to figure out where everyone stood.
"Following up" usually meant calling on the phone, and that wasn't always welcome.
The right technology demystifies your network like never before. Customer Relationship Management for real estate is here. Not only can it centralize the details about everyone on your radar — it serves as an AI-driven center of excellence that scores your leads and cues you when and how to follow up.
The DeltaNET 6 CRM taps directly into your website to keep its finger on the pulse of your business 24 hours a day, whether you're awake or asleep. It can help you orchestrate outreach campaigns, including email marketing, social media, and much more — sending interest-based, event-driven updates to those on your list who want them most. That helps you cultivate your relationships seamlessly.
The Best Technology Is Indistinguishable from Magic – Today's Real Estate Technology Is Pretty Close
Today's buyers are ready to search for, evaluate, and close on a home completely on digital platforms. Sometimes, they do it from thousands of miles away. It's a brave new world out there — and with the right technology in your corner, you can do less and accomplish more.
How's that for momentum?
Today's real estate software has the potential to bridge distances in incredible ways and keep your key relationships humming even when you're otherwise occupied. It ensures you are always moving forward — and you end up with more hours in the day to do what matters most.
That may not be magic, but it's pretty close.
You can incorporate the next generation of real estate marketing automation into your business in as little as a few days and win back dozens of hours within just a few weeks. Contact us at Delta Media Group to find out more or get started.
Staying in touch with clients used to be a full-time job in itself. It meant knowing where current customers stood in their transaction and how leads' decision-making process was unfolding. It often took a day out of each week just to get updated on the latest.
Luckily, today's real estate agents have new opportunities.
The right real estate technology gives you the ability to deliver faster, more personalized experiences to every client. This is true before, during, and after transactions, ensuring a memorable and premium level of service. That can make all the difference in the trajectory of your practice.
It's well known that most people do not go back to their real estate agent three, four, or five years later — even if they were fully satisfied. The reason why is painfully simple: They forget your name. Even if you have delivered stellar customer care from end to end, you are still fighting this basic fact of nature.
The right technology helps you build relationships that are truly unforgettable.
Stay in Touch and Connect with the Best Real Estate Technology
For a modern agent or broker, the cornerstone of staying in touch is having a Customer Relationship Management app for real estate. A CRM helps you — and your customers — by keeping all the data you need centralized in one place. That makes it easy to identify opportunities and follow up effectively.
With your real estate CRM, you'll not only save time — you'll ensure higher quality and more relevant connections. Technology doesn't replace the human element but instead supports you in deepening key relationships in less time per day. That keeps you focused, doing more of what really matters most.
Let's consider some of the ways you can build client relationships with the right technology:
When it comes to full lifecycle support of your customers — the kind of care and attention that creates a life-long business relationship — the best digital technology is indispensable. Contact us to find out more or get started with marketing automation for real estate.
How often do you reach the end of the workday feeling like you accomplished everything that you set out to do when the day began? The life of a real estate agent is filled with surprises and unexpected demands on your time. It's so easy to end the day feeling like you missed opportunities to market properties, promote your business, generate new leads, and nurture existing leads.
But it doesn't have to be that way. With the right real estate technology, you have access to reliable, easy-to-use tools that allow you to automate key tasks, make your day more productive, and free up more time to focus on the things you love most about being a real estate agent.
Email Marketing and Lead Nurturing
Email marketing is one the most important places where automation can increase your productivity. Creating and sending email marketing manually takes so much time, and there are so many tools available to automate the process while still sending effective, appealing email marketing materials.
Lead Segmentation and Tracking
Pursuing dead-end leads is a serious drain on any real estate agent's time, but segmenting leads takes time as well — at least, segmenting leads takes time when you do it yourself. Your real estate CRM should provide automated tools for segmenting leads, so that you know which leads are hot, which ones are cold, and where your leads are in the purchasing/sales process.
In addition to lead segmentation, you should be able to rely on your CRM for tracking lead activity with IDX search tracking, as well as tracking saved properties, property searches, and views. All of this information can save you time and allow you to focus on leads that are ready to convert.
Content Creation for Your Blog and Marketing Materials
At the end of a long day of serving your clients and pursuing new leads, how often do you feel like sitting down to write a blog post for your real estate website? Save time by integrating custom content creation for your real estate blog by professional content creators and taking advantage of automated tools for creating marketing materials. Keep your website stocked with content, your clients/prospects informed, and free up more time for productivity.
Quickly and Easily Promote New Listings
When you have a hot new listing, speed matters. You want to get the word out quickly on multiple channels, reach a wide audience, and start generating interest in the property. Take advantage of automation by automatically creating flyers for your new listings, and automatically promoting new listings to your social media pages. Once the word is out, you can easily let clients tour homes from anywhere with tools like virtual open houses and showings.
Are You Using Real Estate Technology to Become More Productive and Make Life Easier?
If you want to make your life easier and enhance productivity, then you need access to a seamless, high-performance real estate technology platform. In addition to tools for automating tasks, your real estate CRM should also include an extensive suite of tools for making so many other tasks easier to accomplish. Does your real estate CRM provide everything you need to thrive? DeltaNET®6 includes all of the automation features mentioned in this article and so many more tools that can boost your productivity as a real estate agent.
What makes a good lead? Understanding the what, why, and how of lead qualification can save so much time for real estate sales associates, allowing you to focus your energy on leads that are more likely to convert while setting aside dead-end leads. In order to effectively qualify leads, you need to have a reliable process in place to identify promising leads with speed and efficiency.
In short, a good lead is someone who is ready to buy or sell a home. They've likely already put significant thought into the process, have an idea of what they want to accomplish, and are looking for a real estate agent they can trust to get the job done. These are the leads that you want to prioritize over other, less qualified leads who are further from taking real action.
How to Qualify a Lead
In order to identify which leads are good ones and which can be put on the back burner or discarded, you need to ask the right questions. Ideally, you want this to happen as soon as possible when a lead enters your pipeline. That's why it's so important to have a system in place for qualifying leads and to use it consistently.
Use the Right Tools to Turn Qualified Leads into Satisfied Clients
Of course, qualifying leads is just the first, important step in the process, and the right real estate tech can make the next steps in that process so much more efficient. The right real estate all-in-one solution, like DeltaNET®6, offers so many valuable tools for converting leads. Whether you're sending AI-driven newsletters, reaching out with convenient SMS text messaging, helping people tour homes from afar with virtual open houses & showings, taking advantage of integrations with all of the top real estate platforms, or using one of many other tools, DeltaNET®6 provides everything you need to get the job done in one convenient package.
How do you measure success? Every successful real estate firm prioritizes slightly different metrics, which means that there's no one right answer to that question. But with the ability to track so many metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs), it's easy to feel a little overwhelmed by all of the data at your fingertips. The important thing to remember is that metrics are more than just numbers. Tracking results, from lead generation to closings, is one of the most reliable ways to help your team grow and unlock higher levels of performance from your sales associates.
Prospecting and Lead Generation Metrics
Analyzing results and projecting future performance starts with understanding what your sales associates are doing to generate leads. Statistically, luck tends to even out over time, which is one reason why volume is a key factor in many prospecting and lead generation metrics.
Measuring Results and Client Satisfaction
Of course, results matter too! Keeping track of how many leads are converted, how many deals are closed, and how happy clients are with the service they receive can provide important insights into the performance of your team.
Improve Tracking and Success with the Right Real Estate Tech
Is your real estate CRM providing you with all of the data that you need to help your team thrive? With DeltaNET®6 you get more than just a comprehensive suite of tools for lead generation, marketing, and relationship management. You also get more ways to track performance, discover which tactics work best for your team, and analyze results. If you want your team to learn, grow their confidence, and thrive, then it's critical to provide them with the right tools for the job.
I think I am like most entrepreneurs. I'm constantly looking for opportunities to do something new or to improve what is already being done. You are probably a business owner yourself, or you work for someone that is constantly pushing for improvements in technology and marketing to grow the business you are involved in, so you understand.
Because of that mindset, I like to take time at the end of every year to review the past 12 months: What worked, what didn't work, what was learned, and what is the plan for the coming year? So, for my article this issue, I am doing an abbreviated version that I can share with you as it relates to Delta Media Group. Hopefully, it will inspire you to do the same, and hopefully, it will give you more insight into Delta Media Group® as a major provider to the real estate vertical.
What are the Highs of 2021?
Building and Launching Local Showings™
The industry was rocked by the sale of the most widely used property showing management platform this year. The day that the announcement was made, I, with the support of Delta's management team, decided to launch Local Showings with a no-sell guarantee. As I sit here at a local coffee shop thinking about this decision, a short eight months later, we have our first MLS launched with more to follow. This rocked the industry so much that we are actively talking with three-quarters of the industry. Local Showings is a huge success for Delta and the real estate world.
Search Engine Optimization Success
We undoubtedly have the best SEO in the industry, and it got even better in 2021. Our sites are quicker, our blogs are deeply integrated into the property and local market data, and our SEO ranking has improved. In a year full of significant SEO ranking changes, this is a huge win, especially as I see the success of our business partners. This is the result of paying attention to SEO for 20 years, a fantastic platform, and an even more amazing team at Delta.
Buying and Remodeling a new Office Building
Undoubtedly 2020 was a year of change, and it changed how I viewed Delta's workforce and Delta's office space, so it was time for another shift in 2021. I purchased a new office building, completely gutted it, and remodeled it specifically for a telecommuting hybrid workforce. Next month the new office will open complete with a three-thousand square-foot cafe and large outdoor patio. Ten years ago, I would have never imagined having an office with such a large cafe and a large outdoor patio where team members could come and work the entire day in either of those areas. It seems almost bizarre to me, but I consider this a huge quality of life win for Delta's team members for 2021.
Expansion of Deep Integrations and Automations
The Delta team massively expanded our technology platform integrations this past year. For some major industry technology and marketing providers, we have the deepest integrations available right now from anyone in the space. This makes me proud because of how this benefits all the DeltaNET® users.
The Best Support in the Industry
We have the best support in the industry. But, more importantly, the high of 2021 is that the entire Delta team is working hard to make our support much better. The management team is not happy with just being the best when compared to other providers; we want to achieve an even higher level of support satisfaction.
Deploying a New Server and Storage Infrastructure
This past year we deployed a new server and storage infrastructure for the DeltaNET and other platforms. For over five years, we have enjoyed 100% uptime, but we knew we had to make significant changes to support our growth in the future. It is shocking that we currently peak at around 100-million sessions per month, and that is massive. I am proud that our team executed this deployment with minimal hiccups.
Launching Three Technology Advisory Committees
Saying that we listen to our customers is not just marketing, and this year we launched three technology advisory committees composed of dozens of our top partners. As far as I know, we are the only technology company doing this at this scale. We share what we are working on, we listen to their business, technology, and marketing needs, and we respond! But the biggest thing that I have seen come out of these committees is how groups of companies can work together within their advisory committee to benefit and grow their specific technology and marketing eco-system, especially with franchise groups. This is a massive win for 2021 for Delta and our partners.
Implementing EOS at Delta
I was and am hyper-paranoid of continual improvement as Delta experiences massive growth, so in 2020 I introduced EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) to the Delta management team. As I type this, we have EOS fully implemented at Delta. This has benefitted not just Delta but Delta's partners (customers) as well, which is a huge win.
What are the Lows of 2021?
I was reluctant to share some of Delta's lows for 2021, but I think it is good that I am transparent. So as I share the lows, I will come from the perspective of what was learned in the situation.
Not Having an Office Building to Use While We Remodeled it
In hindsight, that was a huge mistake. I, and the management team, assumed too many things with a telecommuting work model, especially when adding so many new team members throughout the year. I will never make this mistake again. We are more intentional on team culture in a telecommuting model and more intentional on team training. Not having an office building to use for six months has been painful, and it had a negative impact on the business.
Creative Studio™ Pains
In 2021 we launched a new marketing platform called Creative Studio, and it was a huge win and a huge failure that we then had to turn back around into a win. Creative Studio made it more complicated for the sales associates to create marketing pieces when it originally launched, and we will work diligently to make sure that mistake never happens again. With the sales associates, we have one opportunity to win them, and we need to execute perfectly from the start. As a result of this failure, we instituted the following changes for all products: An ongoing monthly management team product review cycle; intentional product development with an emphasis on user experience along with technology; intentional product Quality Assurance processes; and earlier involvement from our partners through our monthly technology advisory committee meetings.
Not Meeting our Internal Support Metrics as We Grew
Honestly, this was frustrating and very disruptive to Delta's overall operations. Even though at our lowest, we still had the best support in the industry, our business partners were so accustomed to phenomenal technical support they noticed the decline. This will never happen again. As a result, we had to make the following business improvements: Proactive technical support metrics, so we are proactive in staffing rather than reactive; ongoing platform and career development training with technical support; intentional career development within the technical support team itself, so it is a career path on its own and not just a conduit into other departments.
Having Hiccups as we Deployed our New Server Hardware
Sometimes when you experience success for so long, you get caught off-guard, and that is what happened with our new server hardware deployment that was also a high for 2021. The reason it was a low for 2021 is because while we still met our uptime commitments, we could no longer tout the 100% uptime that we had achieved for the five years before this. In hindsight, we delayed moving to new infrastructure management tools for too long. Unfortunately, we also delayed this upgrade for too long, and this will not happen again. We already have plans for working on our next major upgrade in 2022, so we are no longer caught like this, and we can once again tout 100% uptime.
What are we Doing for 2022?
Note: These are only major highlights that I can share publicly!
Massively Staffing Up and Training Up Our Support Staff
At Delta, we are working to raise the bar even higher for quality of support. We are very focused on this for 2022!
More Search Engine Optimization Improvements
Work is already underway to improve our SEO platform. When you are #1, you can only go down, so we are pushing hard to be even better at SEO.
Solidifying Our Telecommute Work Hybrid Model as We Continue to Grow
Telecommuting is here to stay, and at Delta, we are intentional in making this model work. Our team members love the fact that they can work from anywhere, and I love the freedom it gives them. We will be even more intentional in developing this model to the benefit of our team members, the business, and our partners.
DeltaNET 7
Yep. You heard it here first. DeltaNET 7 is already in the works. While DeltaNET 6 is the most advanced CRM in the market, in my humble opinion, we are working to further the customization of the DeltaNET with version 7 and bring massive simplification to it as well. More will come out soon, but we are already excited about the direction of DeltaNET 7 and what it will do for those using it.
Pushing Open Standards in all Products (DeltaNET, Local Showings)
I have been pushing Delta's integrations since 2015. Right now, we have hundreds of integrations, a flexible SSO platform directly within DeltaNET 6, and very robust APIs for all Delta services. This is why we are the business hub for all of our large clients today. Massive expansions are already in the works, especially in the area of open APIs. They will become much easier to use and manage and more robust in 2022, especially for DeltaNET 6+ and Local Showings.
CMA / Presentation Product Launch
We have been working on a CMA product that, quite honestly, will also double as a presentation product. We took what we learned from the Creative Studio launch, and we have been working on polishing up the product before launch. By the time you read this, it will either be launched or be very close to launching, and we have big plans for this in 2022.
Training and Resources Center
Another new product that is very close to launching is our new Training and Resources Center. This has been in development for quite some time and may also be launched by the time you read this. The most promising part of this platform addition is that it is built in such a way that our business partners can utilize this to power their own unique training and continuing education. We also have big plans for this in 2022.
Work hard, play hard, and give back.
Simple and straight to the point, the words, and the meaning behind them, have served as a guidepost for Coldwell Banker American Homes' company-wide culture — particularly this year. Because before this year, Coldwell Banker American Homes didn't exist. At least not in its current form.
Following two and a half decades of success in the Century 21 system, as Century 21 American Homes, co-brokers and owners Michael Litzner and Thomas Gallagher, in April, announced the acquisition of Coldwell Banker Realty, a residential brokerage in New York owned and operated by Realogy.
Suddenly, two of the top 10 companies in one of the nation's most competitive markets, Long Island and the New York metro area, were one. Coldwell Banker American Homes was born, and with it came plenty of changes. More than just the name. Agent totals nearly doubled, with more offices across Queens, Kings, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties, giving Coldwell Banker American Homes more opportunities than ever to provide clients with the best real estate experience possible.
"We took two of the top companies and put them together, which is no small feat," Litzner says. "We went from 650 agents to [over 1,100] agents in 24 locations overnight. And here we are, learning and growing and continuing our path in real estate."
Through all the headline-making changes, not one of their agents lost sight of the end goal or the simple words defining the company. And it's that mindset that's continuing to inspire the entire Coldwell Banker American Homes family as it settles into its new name and new position in New York real estate. Because culture is still culture, no matter what the name on the office door is.
Even when there are two dozen offices.
"We have a fantastic leadership team, and I think they do a fantastic job of extending those values into the local offices and bringing them down to the agents, the admins, the support staff," Litzner says. "So it's in every fiber of the company. It's okay to have fun while working; as long as you're not so busy having fun, you take your eye off the ball. The work hard always comes first, so we have a culture of hardworking people."
JOINING FORCES
The opportunity to merge two of the most prominent real estate names on Long Island only comes once a certain amount of work has been completed. Decades worth, really. In this case, Coldwell Banker American Homes began when an 18-year-old Litzner started taking classes to obtain his real estate license and, in 1983, began his career at a small independent company in East Meadow, New York.
A short train ride from midtown Manhattan, East Meadow is still suburbia through and through, but it was more than enough for Litzner to get his real estate feet wet. Fast forward a year and a half, and Gallagher joined the company. As time went on, it became clear that the company's owner was looking to retire, and it didn't take long for suggestions to come regarding what should happen next.
"One of the guys said, 'Why don't [you and Gallagher] buy the office?'" Litzner recalls. "That's how it started. We bought the first office in East Meadow, New York. I was 23. And we were learning the business, and we were pretty good producers, still growing into our roles and were now office owners."
From there, the partners continued to hit their stride, buying a second office that Litzner calls "the big pivot" in their careers.
"As we continued to find our legs and work our way through," Litzner says, "we started to generate a certain level of activity that caught the attention of a lot of the brands."
One of those brands was Century 21. At the time, the company had been part of "a loose affiliation of brokers under this banner called Home America," but the chance to join their two offices under the Century 21 name was simply too good to pass up. With the move came a new name, Century 21 American Homes, and all the tools provided by a nationally recognized brand.
"We got a lot of support and insight, many friends and fellow brokers that we've networked with over the years," Litzner says. "When you join a brand, you can have access to its branding tools. It could be technology; it could be training; it's numerous things, especially over the years. It's a matter of taking the best pieces of what they offer you and applying them to your company."
With 10 offices and more than 650 affiliated independent sales professionals, Century 21 American Homes had grown into a dominant presence over its 25 years, but, once again, an opportunity presented itself that simply could not be ignored. Bringing together Century 21 American Homes and Coldwell Banker Realty made sense, a significant move not only on Long Island and the surrounding New York areas, but across the country. Combined, the two companies boasted 5,096 transactions and $2.7 billion in sales in 2020.
Now, with two impressive names combined, Coldwell Banker American Homes is on the precipice of unparalleled success, with agents and a leadership team who are determined to stay at the top of their game. From October of last year to the end of this September, a 12-month span, the numbers were an astounding 5,975 sides and $3.5 billion. As of this printing, the 2021 year to date is $2.6 billion and 4,330 sales.
"It's critical to have trust, loyalty, committed professionals as part of the whole team," Litzner says. "And we've exhibited or enjoyed the loyalty and commitment of many long-standing professionals in our company. I think two of our agents, or two of our management leadership team, have been with Tom and me for over 30 years now. That's a big part of it."
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. That's what they say about New York, after all. One of the world's most competitive and constantly evolving real estate markets, New York and its surrounding areas present a distinct challenge for sales associates and the companies they work under. The same holds for Coldwell Banker American Homes.
To find success in a market like New York, the key is to use every tool at your disposal.
Training at Coldwell Banker American Homes begins by making sure agents understand what their job entails. It's not just about helping a client buy a house. It's about helping a client find a home they love, about finding a foundation, both literal and metaphorical, on which they can build the rest of their lives.
"We talk extensively about our tools, system, and support," Litzner says. "I need agents to be the most productive, with the most professional reputation. We often say the easy business for an agent to convert is the referral business, and referrals happen by design, not by accident. So again, part of our core value is it's a service industry."
No matter where an agent is working, from the most competitive markets to small towns across the country, real estate has always been a deceptively human industry. Sure, there's plenty of money to be made. Properties to be bought and sold, too. But, at its core, real estate is an opportunity for people to help people. To be a partner in one of the biggest moments of their lives, and for Coldwell Banker American Homes, it's that opportunity that continues to be the driving force in everything the company does.
"It's not about trying to sell [clients] something they don't want," Litzner explains. "It's about understanding what's important to them, and help them wade through the choices in the marketplace, and help them find the house that best meets their needs.
"It's a rewarding business in many ways, economically, but also emotionally," Litzner continues. "When you're helping people, and you see the excitement when they buy their home or the relief when they sell a property. When you see that come to fruition, closings happen, and it's rewarding on many levels."
Of course, there's more to Coldwell Banker American Homes than simply ensuring everyone's operating with the same mindset. That's where Coldwell Banker American Homes' comprehensive training program comes in. With support at all levels for both new and experienced agents, the company covers everything from the fundamentals of a career in real estate to deep dives into technology offerings and the ins and outs of the market.
Coldwell Banker American Homes provides agents with marketing and technology-driven productivity tools, including those offered by Delta Media Group®, as well as professional mortgage and title services. No agent is left on an island to understand those tools, either. Support comes from the management and leadership team, assisting agents every step of the way as they find their niche. So, whether an associate wants to pursue residential or commercial sales, leasing, business brokerage, property management, branch management, new homes sales, or relocation, the opportunity to tailor their career to their interests is there.
"The goal that we have for all of our tools, systems, and support, including our training, is to give our agents the highest rate of return on their investment, which is their time," says Chief Technology Officer and Associate Broker Chris Manteria. "That's their biggest investment at the end of the day. I don't care how much money you put into this business; you can't generate more time. You can generate more money. You can't generate more time."
And training doesn't end with those initial instructions. Coldwell Banker American Homes' Educational Program offers multiple classes, allowing agents even more chances to learn and fine-tune their approach in the real estate world. From Agent Success, a weekly 2-hour module for both newly licensed and experienced associates, to commercial training and coaching, agents never have to worry there isn't an answer to whatever questions they may have.
Soaring to Success, a 10-session program written by National Real Estate Coach and Speaker Debra J. Asher, now a member of Coldwell Banker American Homes' leadership team, is also a top-rated course and one that's relevant to agents with every sort of background and success level.
"As an experienced agent, I took it after being in the business already [for many] years," Manteria says, "and I was able to capture a lot of different pieces of the puzzle that I had missed before, or it changed my thought process on how I presented information to my customers and clients, which allowed me to have a higher rate of return."
In addition to company-wide training offerings, managers also do trainings in their specific offices. It's that sort of unique training that cements Coldwell Banker American Homes' support and allows agents to interact one-on-one with those they work closest with.
"There is a very personal touch, a high touch in all of our offices," Manteria says. "Every single one has a full-time non-compete manager, who takes the agents by their hands and walks them through the process. No matter what level they're at, whether they're a brand-new agent, experienced agent that needs to get to that next level, or the top agent that comes in or has been with our company for a long time, that just needs support. Those managers are there for them. I truly believe that our leadership team is top-notch."
Litzner echoes the sentiment, adding that it's the ability to connect with agents that makes training all the more impactful.
Providing that specialized focus, taking the time to truly understand what agents want out of their careers — that can make all the difference.
"Where the rubber meets the road is on application," Litzner says. "So, by having centralized training, we can control the messaging, the information, the flow of information to our agents in scale. It's having those high-level professionals in our office work with those agents, saying, 'What did you learn? How are you going to use that in your business?' That's phenomenal."
SUCCESS IN A NEW YORK MINUTE
Ask any person what they imagine when they picture New York City, and the odds are pretty good that you'll hear conjured images of Times Square. Flashing lights and yellow cabs, bumper to bumper traffic, and sidewalks covered in pedestrians and tourists. And that's true; Times Square does look like that. But that's far from all New York and its surrounding areas is.
With so many different characteristics to define so many different boroughs and neighborhoods, every area Coldwell Banker American Homes serves presents its own distinct opportunities and challenges. In Brooklyn, clients may be looking for brownstones, or condos and co-ops, while Queens generally runs a bit more residential and rent-prone. Then, take a drive out on Long Island, and depending on what town or village you stop in, you'll find distinctly different real estate markets. Nassau County is full of suburban living, but keep going east out the Long Island Expressway, and you'll quickly find farms, vineyards, and the beaches of the Hamptons.
"We have such a diverse marketplace," Litzner says, adding that the acquisition has only increased that scope. "We've acquired offices in some of the highest-priced, global luxury markets. So we have this North Shore/South Shore dynamic now that we didn't have prior. We also have unique markets. Like we have the leading REO guy on Long Island as part of the company.
"We also have probably the top rental person," Litzner continues. "We have relationships with management companies that we control thousands of units of rentals and represent them in that end of the market."
Learning what works and what doesn't in any given micro-market is crucial to an agent's success. Each area comes with its own idiosyncrasies, both good and bad. Understanding what clients expect and want when searching for a real estate partner in Brooklyn won't always be the same as someone in Suffolk County. Coldwell Banker American Homes' associates understand that, and thanks to the training they receive as soon as they join the company, as well as the individualized and hyper-focused information from their specific offices, those same associates have proven time and time again they're ready for the challenge.
Then, of course, there is also Coldwell Banker American Homes' Commercial Division. What Litzner calls "a very different discipline," from working in residential real estate, the Commercial Division operates under Coldwell Banker Commercial AMH as "a separately licensed office with separate tools and systems." And while the Commercial Division adds another bullet point on the list of everything Coldwell Banker American Homes offers, it's also another chance for the company's agents to truly specialize their careers.
Ultimately, no matter what an agent decides to do or where they decide to do it, Litzner says two defining factors will determine someone's success: Personality and passion.
"They hold true in every single market," Litzner says. "Having the right commitment to professionalism. Do they attend training classes? Do they learn the tools and systems? When you partner with companies and vendors like Delta Media, who support us with their suite of websites, company, office, agents, the CRM at the center of their Open House App. It doesn't matter which one of those markets you're in; the fundamentals hold."
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY
Since first deciding to partner together, Litzner and Gallagher have made it a priority to provide every opportunity for anyone looking to begin their careers in real estate. With the Recruiting America's Heroes initiative, that also includes United States veterans.
"It's about helping provide benefits to America's heroes," Litzner details. "That's the people that have served our country, and so it's about helping them transition back into a life and explore career opportunities and essentially the entry-level to a real estate career."
Getting into real estate can sometimes be seen as an easy career move, but Litzner is the first to point out that there are a handful of steps that can quickly become obstacles. Thanks to the Recruiting America's Heroes program, however, those obstacles are a bit less intimidating for those who have previously served, ensuring veterans have a structured plan for the next phase of their lives. Complimentary continuing education courses are offered, as well as first-year registration for the Global Conference, a multi-day event that brings together some of the top Coldwell Banker names from around the globe, in addition to discounts on pre-licensing and new agent materials.
"The concept was a way to thank the service members who are transitioning back, to try to reach out and offer them the ability to transition into a new career," Litzner says. "And they say that discipline, the service-minded mentality that service members have, translates well into the real estate business."
Recruiting America's Heroes is just one instance of Coldwell Banker American Homes' core values in action. Work hard, play hard, give back. Those were never hollow words and, over the years, the company has made sure to place a clear emphasis on the last two in particular.
"We've always been a service-minded company," Litzner says. "My business partner and I have been in our local Chamber of Commerce [for years]. We're very, very involved in the Kiwanis organization, a non-denominational charitable organization."
Through their past affiliation with Century 21, the company frequently donated to Easterseals, a charity focused on responding to the needs of people with disabilities, their families, and communities, with a variety of services. Coldwell Banker also fostered a strong relationship with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Giving back has long been one of the fundamental building blocks of the company that is now Coldwell Banker American Homes. Still, although Litzner says it's fantastic to work with national charities, the company's presence across Long Island and in the New York metro area makes it ideally suited to give back at home. Because Coldwell Banker American Homes helped thousands of people buy those homes. So, about four years ago, the Heart of American Homes Foundation was formed through a collaboration of like-minded individuals, both agents and brokers, who were working under the Century 21 American Homes umbrella at the time.
"[The charity] is fully housed within our offices," Litzner says. "There are no paid employees, and a hundred percent of the money that we raise in that organization goes back into our local communities."
The Heart of American Homes Foundation continues to host multiple fundraisers throughout the year, all with a specific hometown focus. For example, lottery fundraisers are held, as is the annual Night at the Races, and company-matched donations whenever an agent contributes a certain amount from their closed transactions. This year alone, Litzner says, Coldwell Banker American Homes has matched agents with $50,000 in donations to various causes — all as a result of closing transactions.
Deciding which causes to highlight and how to give back is also a true company-wide effort. Each Coldwell Banker American Homes office elects an agent or office member to sit on the Heart of American Homes Foundation board of directors, so, as Litzner explains, "they all have ownership in it."
Each member of the board has taken that ownership to heart with different programs and causes supported each year. Not every initiative has to be a $50,000 donation, either. Sometimes it can be as simple as putting in handicapped ramps or as impactful as helping people afford life-saving medication and assisting with funeral costs. So long as it benefits the community — the same one Coldwell Banker American Homes has helped so many find a home in — the company wants to ensure it happens.
"It's had a profound effect on the agents and the culture of the offices," Litzner says, "because one hundred percent of that money goes back, and they see it. It's something that I'm proud to be part of. I believe every member of the American Homes family shares that sentiment."
Coldwell Banker American Homes still regularly donates to those national causes, of course, but being active and present in the communities the company services, in the neighborhoods that, although so strikingly different from one end of Long Island to the other, are home to so many clients, is something that cannot be overstated. Nor can the impact this mindset has had.
"The agents, since this has started, have entirely changed their engagement," Manteria says. "They've increased their engagement tremendously because [they] do want to give back to their communities. When we have fundraisers, we'll have a couple of hundred people at a fundraiser, and 90% of them are from our company."
THE NEXT STEP IN TECHNOLOGY
Bringing in hundreds of new agents and combining the long-term successes of two dominant real estate companies may have become official seemingly overnight, but the path leading to the creation of Coldwell Banker American Homes was a much longer one than some may assume.
"Realistically, we've been on this path for about a year and a half," Litzner says. "Something of this magnitude, you don't just wake up and say, 'I think I'll buy a billion and a half dollar sales company in the morning.' We took a long, hard look at our company, where we were, what we were doing, how we were doing it, where we wanted to go, and said, 'What's our vision for our company in 10 years?'"
While preparing for the future, Litzner says the company that would eventually become Coldwell Banker American Homes also realized it needed a technological facelift. Calling their previous platform "outdated," Litzner adds that the tech "didn't communicate well; everything was separated. And we said, 'You know what, this is not good enough. We can do better.'"
So, much like preparing for its headline-making acquisition, the company took all the necessary steps to find the perfect tech fit. Researching multiple platforms and vendors, Litzner says certain factors were "non-negotiable, and Delta Media Group® was one of them that checked every one of those boxes." Still, nothing was decided on immediately. Instead, a committee was formed, including Litzner and Manteria, and about 15 demos were held between a handful of companies to ensure that every aspect of the platform was worth the effort to implement, integrate and ensure adoption with the company's agents; what would be all 1,000-plus.
Because, as Litzner put it: "If you do all this and the agents don't use it, what's the difference?"
Luckily, Delta Media Group continued to stand out throughout the process, a platform that wasn't only an excellent fit for the company when it was still Century 21 American Homes but one that would be there every step of the way through this next stage. Combining companies is as challenging as it is exciting, and with Delta Media Group in its corner, Coldwell Banker American Homes knew it had a tech partner in the truest sense of the word, one that would operate within the framework of the company and assist, rather than hinder, throughout the hectic nature of the last year.
"Since we've implemented our relationship, [Delta has] continued to work with us on further integrations," Litzner says. "We've laid out a wishlist, our roadmap, and Delta's at the center of it. Delta has been a partner that's developed their product to play nice, to communicate well with all the other technologies we're able to bring in. So we've been able to develop our own technology that works for us."
Delta worked with Coldwell Banker American Homes to function with its Just Engage Today (JET) Platform, a company-provided turn-key productivity platform meant to propel agents directly into a profitable real estate career. With all of Delta's best features directly at their fingertips, agents have tech tools that are undeniably real-estate focused, something that hasn't always been the case.
"One of the things that I've often found myself saying is that in the past, we knew technology would come in, but a lot of the technology came in, and it didn't work the way we work," Litzner says. "What we feel we've been able to do for the first time, through this transition, is get the technology to work intuitively and follow the natural transaction pattern that an agent goes to when generating a customer or client to converting that client, to signing up contracts to mortgage, title, closing. Delta has been a great partner."
Ease of use has been a major factor in Delta and Coldwell Banker American Homes' partnership over the last year or so. Often, Manteria says, multiple agents work with the same client, and Delta allows them to do that without "any sort of cross-contamination."
"[It doesn't lock] out the agent from being able to work with [clients]," Manteria adds, "and the open architecture, the ability for us to bolt on other technologies into it and have data transferred back and forth using APIs made a lot of sense."
With so many agents operating in so many different markets working on so many different transactions, DeltaNET® 6's one-stop-shop format has also proved crucial. Instead of bouncing between X or Y to do multiple tasks, Delta has integrated almost everything an agent needs in a singular spot, allowing them to focus on the task, not the technology.
"Let's be honest, our agents are good at selling real estate," Manteria says. "They shouldn't be worried about being technology experts. It's not their job. And Delta is the closest technology out there that lets our agents use their natural workflow and allows us to integrate multiple tools to work together."
Manteria also commends Delta for its willingness to work with Coldwell Banker American Homes. If the company wants something new, Delta does its best to make it happen, a trait that isn't always true of other tech providers.
"The reality is, we needed a partner in this and [Delta has] been a great partner," says Manteria, who also serves on Delta's Coldwell Banker advisory committee. "I can't tell you how many times I call [Product Development Manager] Harley [Wolfarth]. [Vice President of Sales] Franklin [Stoffer] hears from me all the time, looking at how we can make Delta better because the better you become, the better we become, the better it is for us. So the fact that [Delta] looks at this as a partnership, as opposed to a vendor-client relationship, that alone sets it apart."
WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON
This has been a year of change for Coldwell Banker American Homes. Of embracing new and building on a reputation that was already impressive. It is also a jumping-off point for what comes next. With sights set on the future, Coldwell Banker American Homes has no plans of slowing down. How can it when the company is so firmly entrenched in the markets it serves?
Listing Concierge, a new program that allows agents to access new marketing tools and professional photography for their listings, is already underway. Lessons learned during COVID-19 won't soon be forgotten, as agents took their marketing and engagement games to the next level even from a distance. In fact, throughout the pandemic and 2021, the shift to virtual has been a success, particularly when it came to things like training.
Manteria credits Coldwell Banker American Homes' local leadership for keeping the company on track recently, "because many of them were quasi-comfortable with some of the technology going into COVID, but they stepped up, and they embraced the technology, and once they did, they were able to get that extra engagement from their agents."
Having a manager for every office location provided personalized leadership and assistance that has become the norm for Coldwell Banker American Homes at a time when nothing was truly normal.
Whether it was changing franchises or contending with an international health pandemic, every single person with Coldwell Banker American Homes on their business card was still able to work with confidence, thanks to the support they received.
"We have engagement with a leadership team that cares about their agents," Manteria says. "And at the end of the day, everybody agrees that giving our agents what they need is what this comes down to. Having that support that you won't get in other companies, having that training, having that company culture, where we give back to all of our local communities."
Getting the best of both worlds can sometimes seem like an impossibility when combining companies, but Coldwell Banker American Homes has made it a reality: Providing agents with the sort of professional home that inspires growth, backed by decades of experience with leaders who embrace the company culture every single day. And that won't change any time soon.
"We are taking the best and picking and choosing and bringing it into the new ecosystem," Litzner says. "So I think our opportunity is to improve our company and transform it into something that is best in class. I'm excited about where we are and our opportunity to go forward. I think we hit it out of the park. And honestly, if I do say so myself, I'm excited about what the next 10 years bring."
To view past Real Estate Marketing and Technology articles and read more from the December 2021 issue, click here.
It was only a few decades ago when many experts believed that, due to the rapidly accelerating pace of productivity, technology would render the five-day workweek obsolete in a few generations. There were several visions of how it might happen, including a three-hour, four-day week.
Amazingly, while productivity has continued to rise, most people are working even longer hours. What's more, wages have stagnated in relation to productivity, meaning that earners in many industries are going home with less. Luckily, real estate pros are positioned to reverse both these trends.
Unlike so many others, the nature of your business means you really can have it all:
Where workers once relied on muscle, your stock in trade is concentration — and even that can be stretched to the limit. Good technology investment is something that allows you to do more in less time while focusing more of your attention on things that matter to you.
All machines have one major purpose: To save labor. That hasn't changed at all even though we're now using artificial intelligence and machine learning instead of windmills that grind flour. And by unlocking the labor-saving power of modern technology, you can achieve more in a day than some do in a week.
Let's look at some of the best technologies for a smooth, seamless increase in productivity:
The secrets of productivity are no mystery. Contact us at Delta Media Group to get inside information on how our suite of reliable, AI-driven tools can help you achieve more in less time in the coming year.
At Delta Media Group, our mission statement is literally: "Automate to Elevate Life," so it should come as no surprise that 2021 was a year of constant innovation for our team. Of course, this challenges us to constantly look for ways to automate processes within our business, and more importantly, automate processes for the agents and brokerages that utilize our all-in-one CRM & website platform, the DeltaNET®. With this in mind, I wanted to look at some of the biggest technology updates we saw in the real estate industry and what to expect in 2022:
First and foremost, I believe that automated marketing tools are the biggest time saver offered to a real estate agent. Building high-quality marketing designs for things like new listings, "just sold" postcards or multi-page brochures can be a huge time sink. Earlier this year, we officially launched our Creative Studio™, which allows agents to quickly gain access to dozens of flyer designs, postcards, multi-page brochures, and more.
The initial launch of the system brought new functionality with integrations into third-party printers, like Xpressdocs, giving agents the ability to see dozens of beautiful designs, select one, and then check out and order their print through a third-party printer. One of the biggest benefits of marketing systems like the Creative Studio within the DeltaNET is the ability to automate your marketing completely.
REALTORS® are busy, and even finding the time to take five minutes and choose a flyer to send off for something like an open house doesn't always fit into the schedule. So, we launched our "Automation Wizard" that allows a real estate agent to pre-select their favorite designs for categories like "New Price," "Just Sold," "Homeowner Anniversary," "Client Anniversary," and more. This means within minutes of new listing data being pulled from the MLS; a beautiful flyer design can be automatically built and sent to a group of prospects. At Delta, we typically pull in new MLS data incrementally every five minutes or less.
We've also continually made refinements to the Creative Studio over the last year. With automation in mind, we made it even easier for real estate agents to quickly select any prebuilt flyer design in the system and automatically have their company's colors and logos applied. We even added a dynamic "disclaimer" system for the designs, so in states like New York, where disclaimers are required, our NY-based clients could still use the designs. This has been a game-changer for the agents.
One last note I should add is that your marketing system should also have the ability to import Adobe InDesign files. Most marketing departments already have professionals who build amazing designs in InDesign, so we added functionality that allows you to build a design in InDesign and then import it into the Creative Studio. As a result, we have seen clients with more than 200+ options for different market flyers for their agents to use!
Going in a different direction, I believe 2021 was the rebirth of the traditional mobile apps. What was once a trend back from 2012-2015 had quite a bit of a renascence this year. Years ago, we provided dedicated mobile app versions of our client's websites so they would encourage their clients to download and use the mobile version of the site. At the time, we noted across many different mobile apps that the usage rates simply weren't there. Even if the consumers downloaded the apps, we saw less than a 5% usage rate, so we deprecated support of those apps in 2016 and thought that would be the end of that.
Five years later, the mobile app space within the real estate world has started to boom. It's not the consumer-facing website apps that are popular, though; it's applications for the real estate professionals to use to automate their business even further. In just the last two years, we've launched two dedicated agent-centric applications to great success.
The first app, launched in 2020, was our Open House Connector® App. This application allows real estate agents to seamlessly run an open house where the attendees can register, receive updates about other upcoming open houses, and leave feedback for the seller/real estate agent regarding what they thought of the property. As the app launched during the pandemic's peak, we offered "contactless" registration for open house attendees, where they simply scan a QR code to sign in and answer survey questions.
This open house app ties directly together with the agent's CRM, where they can have dynamic follow-up campaigns based on how the attendees answered different questions. For example, if an open house attendee said another agent was already representing them, we wouldn't import that customer as a contact into the agent's CRM. In another example, if an attendee said they were looking to put an offer in on a property in the near future, they could be automatically enrolled into a "potential buyer" follow-up action plan/ drip campaign available within the agent's CRM.
The second app we launched just a few months ago. For the first time, our mobile-responsive CRM system, DeltaNET 6, was now available in the form of a mobile app in the iOS and Android app store. By having a CRM that supports a traditional mobile app, it opens the door for many additional notification updates that were just not feasible with a strictly web-based CRM.
For example, let's say I'm an agent with a great website that has lead capture forms built-in. That website is automatically tied into my personal CRM, so whenever a customer fills out a form or saves a search, I get an email or text notification. Thanks to the power of mobile applications and their real-time push notifications, we can do new things like automatically notify the real estate agent whenever a customer is currently active on their site and looking at properties. We could also send a notification directly to the agent's phone if a customer has just signed up on their site or even clicked on an email they had sent. It allows the agent to get instant insights into which of their clients or prospects are truly active on their site and with their marketing.
Another significant step forward for CRM technology in 2021 has little to do with automations. Still, it is one of the more important things that brokerages should be looking for in any tech stack they may be evaluating. Beginning in 2021, the DeltaNET platform officially began customization of our actual backend tech stack. No longer was the CRM an "off the shelf" offering. Brokerages can now build dynamic dashboards, workflows, and even white-label the entire system to be EXACTLY what they want their agents to have in front of them.
I like to use this analogy to describe the importance of this type of functionality: Typically anyone can find a good-looking suit, and take it off the shelf and make it work. However, the feeling of getting a suit tailored and wearing a suit that was specifically fitted for you is a totally different feeling than just putting on something off the rack. The tailored suit will last longer, will feel better, and will look better. That's the power of customizing your CRM for your firm's unique needs.
Our thought process was simple. We build great technology, but we're not REALTORS®. Each business operates differently, with different cultures and skillsets. Rather than force every brokerage to play in the same sandbox, we gave brokerages the ability to put unique dashboards together that can differ from company to company and even office to office within the same organization. Our clients can change their navigation and brand the entirety of the system to look like it's an in-house tech system and not something built by a third party like Delta.
This has been huge, especially for our enterprise partners, as they can take our DeltaNET framework and have a beautiful tailor-made CRM solution that their agents feel like they can ONLY have with their current broker. It's become a great retention tool because even if the agent left the brokerage using the DeltaNET, they wouldn't be able to purchase that same version of the system provided by our brokerage client.
This is a perfect segue into what I feel brokerages will need to have in their business in order to stay on the bleeding edge in 2022. As it relates to customization of your backend systems, Delta is planning to massively up the ante next year. All of the great tools we have internally to build unique versions of our CRM platform will be put into the hands of our clients and brokerage admins to build and dynamically change their own system on the fly. By putting these tools in the hands of our clients, they will have even more flexibility to listen to their agents' feedback about usability and apply their feedback to the system in real-time. We feel this will boost the adoption of the system and make it easier to use.
What else is needed to stay bleeding edge in 2022?
An Intranet/CRM system that you can build for your company
Built-in learning management functionality
Cutting edge automated CMAtools
True video marketing that is more than automated slide shows of listings
I also see the future of these "all-in-one" systems adopting more training and learning
management type functionality. One of the most exciting updates we've been working on at Delta is our Training and Learning center that offers dynamic course creation, out-of-the-box DeltaNET training classes, built-in quizzes, and more. It will allow our clients to make the DeltaNET a critical piece of their new agent onboarding, as they can take assigned courses right in the software.
Of course, integrated all-in-one systems should have a built-in CMA builder as well. So in early 2022, we will be launching our much-awaited DeltaNET CMA tool. Unlike many other systems in the all-in-one space, we want to offer this as an integrated tool, not a paid add-on.
Finally, I expect to see more and more push for video content marketing. While video marketing is nothing new, I believe we will see a bigger call for even more tools that sales associates can use to integrate automated videos into their marketing packages. We've provided our automated listing video product, Properties in Motion®, to thousands of agents since 2014, and have been working on some incredible updates to that platform that I believe will blow our users away.
Many automated listing video services today include dynamic photo slideshows, feature the listing agent's information, and perhaps automatically post to places like Facebook or YouTube. Historically these products didn't offer much in the way of customization and were usually nothing more than a glorified vTour. That will change in 2022, as products like our Properties in Motion system receive updates that will allow agents to upload dynamic photos or video snippets into the automated video, have unique animations, upload their own voiceover scripts, and more. The goal is to take the static automatically generated video and give the agents tools to bring it to life.
To conclude, I'm excited about the advancements that have been made to real estate technology over the last year, but I'm even more excited about where things are headed in 2022. As a sales professional who uses these tools in my own business, I can't say enough how important these types of automations are in giving me back time in my day to focus on the more human-to-human relationships that matter so much to a salesperson.
To view past Real Estate Marketing and Technology articles and read more from the December 2021 issue, click here.
I can't speak for everyone, but I can tell you that, at Delta Media Group®, we learned a lot this year. We learned that deer will go out of their way to climb onto an expressway and jump in front of your car even in broad daylight (maybe only I learned that). We learned that working remotely really does work, but it's not for everyone. We learned that when big hedge funds are involved, the stock market looks a lot like a casino. Lastly, and most importantly, as far as this article is concerned, we learned that simplicity is one of the most important elements when it comes to making something that people want to use.
I don't mean to make things simple at the cost of functionality. It's more about knowing how your clients will use whatever it is that you're building so that you can know what functionality to put right in front of them, and what can be tucked into the background. It's also about recognizing — and, in some cases, eliminating — any unnecessary steps in a process. There's little more frustrating than performing the same task repeatedly, being asked the same question as part of the process of completing that task, and answering it the same way every time. The easy remedy is to just use that answer automatically so that, in 99 out of 100 tries, it's already correct, and the user gets to skip a step. For that 1 out of 100 anomaly, there just needs to be some alternative way to change that answer in that single case.
This has all been pretty abstract so far, so let's look at some specific applications. In the DeltaNET®, it's possible for an admin to customize what buttons appear on the landing pages and Welcome page for their agents. If you can predict the most common actions, your agents take when logging in, you can add the necessary buttons to develop a workflow there that will take them where they need to go in the least amount of time. For example, let's say that the thing your agents do most when logging into the DeltaNET is add a customer and send them a "Happy to be Working With You" e-card. You can put an Add Customer button at the top of their Welcome page, so that's the first thing they see when they log in. They need only click it and enter their customer's information. You can put a Send e-card button right next to it that will take them straight into Creative StudioTM so that they just need to choose their template and click send. The button that links to Creative Studio could even take them to a page that's already filtering the templates to those in the category of e-cards they're most likely to want to use.
The same principle can be applied to every landing page in the DeltaNET. If users are usually looking to create or modify their custom pages when they click on the Website tab, why not give them a button right on top that takes them straight there? If they're generally interested in adding a blog article every time they click on Marketing, give them a shortcut there. You get the idea.
The other side of that coin is to avoid presenting a lot of extra buttons and options that the majority of users won't be interested in using. Of course, you still want those things to be available, but putting them right at the same level as "Add Customer" is going to add clutter, distraction, and sometimes even confusion. Fortunately, the DeltaNET allows you to make something called a Tile Collection. It basically allows you to put a button on the Welcome page that simply opens a modal that contains other tiles. With this, you can put your Add Customer, Send e-card, Send Email buttons on the Welcome page, then have a single, additional button labeled something like "Advanced Features" or simply "More...". Clicking on that would then pop up a window that contains tiles to the other equally valuable but lesser-used features. This allows you to cater to the power users while keeping it simple for everyone else. The easier you can make it, and the fewer distractions and extra options the user needs to read through to get to what they want, the more everyone will use it. This, in turn, leads to more agents sticking around for the tools that make it easier for them to run their business.
This really translates to the public website side of things as well. At Delta Media Group, we have ongoing projects to assess the usability of various features of the public websites that are shared throughout the system. However, especially when it comes to the individual sales associate websites, there's a lot you can do to make it a more friendly experience for clients that are coming to your website to search for properties. Nobody knows your clients and your market better than you do. As a real estate sales associate, you're the expert there. So why not use that expertise to drive your clients' experience on your website? Your quick search stays front and center for those users that know what, or where, they're looking and want to jump straight into the results. For those that might not be so sure, you could put links to common searches right on your homepage or in your top navigation. Maybe there are some popular school districts or subdivisions in your area. You could put obvious links to search results pages for those areas right on your homepage. You can even go a step further by creating dedicated landing pages for those areas. This has the added benefit of setting your website apart (for those clients and search engines) by adding some valuable, unique, market-specific content to it. You can put a search results section right on that page as well. That presents customers with a single page of dedicated listings in the area they want that gives them information and highlights about that area as well as a display of all of the available properties there.
Just how a well-structured and intuitive DeltaNET helps with agent adoption and retention, a user-friendly and intuitive website leads to better client adoption and retention. Your expertise in the markets you know gives you an edge over all the big portal sites by allowing you to make a website and real estate search experience that really caters to those interested in your market. If you can provide those clients with the superior experience, they'll keep coming to your site. They may even tell their friends, thereby driving more traffic and leads to you. It's all about providing the best and easiest experience.
Let's face it, the reason people are lined up around the block for the small, locally owned, one-room restaurant instead of heading to the nearest big chain restaurant is because that local place does it the best. The best food and the best experience. In real estate, you can't do much about the "food," but you can provide the best experience, and that's what's going to get them to come to you instead of the portal sites.
At Delta Media Group, we're taking these ideas to heart. It's good to be driven by the feedback of the vocal, power users that make up the minority of the user base. But while that feedback is very valuable, if that's all you look at, you can lose sight of keeping it simple in favor of adding the newest great idea. The key is in adding those features without distracting from the simplicity that the other 99% want and need to run their business every day. The DeltaNET needs to remain as robust and powerful as ever, and we will always endeavor for it to be your one-stop shop for all of the tools and resources you need to run your real estate business. However, right on the surface for day-to-day use, the things that you need most, and most often, will stay right in your face so that you don't need to go looking for them or go through a dozen clicks, pages, or windows to use them. This year, we learned about "easy," and that's a lesson we're going to keep with us from here on out. We hope you do the same.
To view past Real Estate Marketing and Technology articles and read more from the December 2021 issue, click here.
Meet Abbey Parsons.
A North Dakota native and University of Utah alum, Parsons' journey toward finding a professional home within the real estate industry has been one filled with ups, downs, trials, tribulations, and even a few pirouettes. Parsons was once a professional ballet dancer, you see. And a hotel manager for Marriott. But while she's donned plenty of metaphorical hats throughout the years, something clicked in 2013 when, two years after initially moving to Spokane, Washington, Parsons joined Coldwell Banker Tomlinson.
Working with her clients to help them find their forever homes also helped Parsons feel at home herself, settling into a career that's become more than simply successful. One of Coldwell Banker Tomlinson's top-producing sales associates, Parsons has established herself as a go-to real estate partner, relishing the opportunity to make lifelong business and personal connections. How does she keep those connections flourishing, though? Even after a transaction is completed?
Simple. She uses every tool available to her — including everything Delta Media Group® has to offer.
Utilizing DeltaNET 6 is part of Parsons' daily routine, starting each day with a quick look at her CRM and client database. By taking advantage of all the tech Delta provides, Parsons has leaned into time-saving automations and taken her engagement to the next level with out-of-the-box marketing that's gotten visible results. Parsons took some time to speak with Real Estate Marketing & Technology, sharing how she uses the DeltaNET and her best tricks for getting the most out of your real estate tech.
What initially drew you to use the DeltaNET as your CRM?
I was [originally] going to go all-in on DeltaNET because it's included [with CB Tomlinson], and I don't have to pay anything. But it has everything that I need. I know lots of CRMs. I like to do research, and every CRM has its flaws; one's not perfect. [And] when I started selling, I knew the value of [DeltaNET] because I trained on that...so I went all in, and I started with my past clients, putting them in there, putting them on the Market Watches, putting them on the monthly market reports. And then, as I started to get more leads, I made it a priority, every Thursday, I updated my database, and I was disciplined about that.
How did you start, and how do you continue to organize all your clients and leads within the DeltaNET?
I probably started with like 30, honestly. It wasn't very big because my past clients, if they sold their house and left, I didn't really have them anymore. So I started... and I think now I have somewhere like 500 or so, just growing it. And, honestly, I'm still getting used to it, like using it daily, and I started by organizing my homepage. Like, what do I want to see first when I log in because that was something that I would log in and I would get distracted. I'd be like, 'Oh, shiny thing. Cool. Let's click on that.' So I made it so that my customer list is the first thing I see when I log in so that I can see who I need to follow up with that day.
What are some of the DeltaNET features that stand out to you? What do you find sparks the most interest and engagement with clients?
All these different coaching programs, they say the same thing, 'You have to have a system, you have to have a program, you have to send a Market Watch.' It's not even an option anymore. All of your clients want to know what their home is worth on a monthly, quarterly, whatever it is basis. You have to automate that. And so, that's a big one because there are, of course, competitors to DMG, but what I love about the DeltaNET is that I don't have to go out and search for all these tools. I just log in, and it's there in one place. I don't have to pay for it [either], and it's automated. So, I don't have to go out and look for all those individual different tools. They're all right there for me.
As a one-stop CRM, how much time does using the DeltaNET open up in your schedule?
What I love about it is you can say, 'Okay, if a lead comes in, it looks like this, do this with it.' And so it automatically happens. There still is, for sure, some human interaction that needs to happen, but if I'm on an appointment or if I can't [work] right that second, at least they're getting a response, and then I can follow up with them later. So, that's what I do like. Like I'm going to do an online lead today, and I'm going to be flying [later]. And I'm like, 'It's fine,' because I know that if I'm in the air, if I'm in that half-hour where I don't have service, they're still going to be followed up with. Otherwise, I might not have placed that ad today. I might wait and then think, 'Oh, what's the perfect day for me to do a lead?' Well, that's not a good business practice, to put your life on hold so you can do a lead form. So it definitely gives me peace of mind that people are being communicated with, but it's not necessarily me having to do it all the time.
Knowing when and how to follow up with clients can sometimes be a challenge. How much does the DeltaNET help with that, and how have you used automation to your advantage on that front?
One thing that I started doing just a couple of weeks ago is to go in and see who's interacted with my website or the emails in the previous week or two, depending on how long it's been. And I see who's active. Oh, they opened that. They clicked on that. They opened their Market Watch; they clicked on it. They wanted to know more. So that person is subliminally saying, 'I want more information.' And so those are the ones that I focus on, talking to those people, communicating with them saying, 'Hey, how's it going? How's your family? What did you think about that Market Watch?' It allows me to see what they're doing and that they are somewhat interested. So I started doing that to start warming up those people, [and] that's how I'm prioritizing who I contact.
With such a focus on technology, particularly over the last two years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, what features in the DeltaNET have proven to be a game-changer for you?
I thought QR codes were gone. I mean, I was like, 'That is such a thing in the past, you have to have an app.' Then COVID happened, and every menu in the world is a QR code, and everybody's camera automatically does it now. So, I said, 'I want to create a QR code' and [our marketing team was] like, 'Oh, it's already [in the DeltaNET]. So I started combining that with direct mail, and I started farming out of state owners during COVID.
I thought, if they're thinking about selling, maybe this is the time, and I want to be in front of them because I want listings. So I started mailing to them and then putting the QR code on there that says, 'If you want to know what's going on in your neighborhood, sign up for the Market Watch.' And they'd scan it, and then it would take them to the Market Watch where they could fill out their information. Or I did a specific zip code, and I did a blog post on zip code 99212, what's going on in that specific zip code, and then I made the QR code point to that blog post, so then there was a video and some stats. So I combined today's technology with the old technology of mailing, and about half of my business this year is from out-of-state owners. It worked. I mean, it definitely works.
DeltaNET 6 is easily customizable to fit every agent's specific needs. In what ways have you used customization to make using the platform easier?
One thing that stops agents sometimes is they're like, 'Oh, well, I want it to look like this, instead of like that.' And so what really helped me is knowing that the homepage is customizable; you can edit the tiles. Knowing that you can customize it to be exactly what you want to see was a game-changer for me because I wanted to see my people first. I didn't want to land on the landing page and then try to find which tab it is. So, that really helped me. Knowing that it is customizable, I think, is important because so many people get stuck in the mindset of 'Doesn't look exactly how I want it to look. So I'm just not going to do it.' So I think that's big.
Delta Media Group offers plenty of support to make sure clients get the most out of the DeltaNET, do you use anything specific to spark your ideas and creativity?
I love Tech Tuesdays because I learn something, or I just go to the YouTube channel, and I type in, like, QR codes where I just wanted to learn myself. And so I used Tech Tuesday and the YouTube channel a lot to just learn some more about the tools.
With a fully customizable website that highlights your personal brand, how have you used that platform to jumpstart your business, and how did Delta Media Group help?
It's good not to have to fumble around. I started in 2013, and I built my website with [another] creator that was terrible. I was trying to deal with code and like, 'What am I doing?' And I didn't want to pay somebody. [With Delta, you're] able to be an agent and have this website set up; you don't have to do anything to it. It's just there, and it's like your backbone, and you can direct people to it. You can work on your blog. There are so many different angles you can work. Having that puts you at another level. When you get your license, you already have a website. It's already done. Instead of having to create it and reinvent the wheel and say, 'What website are you using and how much does it cost?' and paying for the IDX feed and just that headache, not having to do that as a new agent is huge.
Brokerages currently face a real estate paradox: 90% of sellers and buyers say they would use their agent again, yet only about one in five home buyers and one in three sellers actually used the same agent a second time.
It's not because these "orphaned" clients are moving out of the market. On the contrary, Pew Research found that most Americans (57%) have never lived outside their home state, and more than one in three (37%) have never lived outside their hometown.
The fact is that when most people move, they don't move very far. So why aren't they using their original agent? And for those moving to another state, why aren't they getting a referral from their agent?
The most likely cause of lost repeat business is also the most avoidable: Agents are not staying in touch with their past clients.
To some extent, this is understandable. When you're a busy agent, it feels nearly impossible to find the time to fit in the tasks that will build new business when working a pipeline of active buyers and sellers. Closing transactions puts income in your bank account today. Reaching out to prospects does not.
However, over time, unless agents stay top-of-mind, clients will no longer feel connected to the original agent who helped them buy or sell a home. This makes clients open to another agent's direct solicitation of their business.
Automatically Staying Top-of-Mind
Today, agents no longer need to struggle to stay connected to past clients. When brokerages use DeltaNET® 6, agents benefit from a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform fully integrated with easy-to-use automated marketing programs.
Agents can select from an array of Delta-provided email and text drip campaigns that help them consistently stay in front of their sphere of clients, prospects, business acquaintances, family, and friends.
Delta's "My Customer for Life" newsletters are designed to keep agents connected with their client list so that when they are ready to buy or sell, they reach out to the agent they've worked with in the past. Other Delta Media Group® marketing tools, such as Social Connector, Market Watch Reports, HomeFinder Reports, and Seller Reports, also help keep agents top-of-mind.
Using Delta's automated listing videos is another way to streamline your marketing tasks to have more time to reach out to your sphere.
Staying in touch is crucial. According to the latest National Association of REALTORS® research, a stunning 77% of recent sellers contacted only one agent before finding the agent they eventually worked with to sell their home. And the percentage of buyers who interviewed only one agent during their home search? An astounding 73%.
But all client outreach starts with an up-to-date CRM.
CRM: Now More Important Than Ever
The most valuable and cost-effective source of new business for a real estate agent comes from their sphere. A study by Buffini & Company showed that 82% of all real estate transactions come from repeat and referral business.
The study also found that for one in four agents, half of their business comes from repeat clients. One in five agents gets more than half their business from past client referrals. So why do agents pay $200 or more for an online lead when there is a goldmine in their own database?
Real estate is and always will be a relationship-driven business. The critical tech tool that manages agent relationships is a CRM.
A CRM's value cannot be overstated. Many top-producing agents find that nine out of every 10 referrals come from their sphere of influence, including past clients, friends, and family. Moreover, agents who earn $100,000 or more in gross commission income are more than twice as likely to use a CRM than agents who earn less, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
Agents potentially will be spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a month on advertising and promotion to reach new prospects — but their most significant source of future business is the people they already know.
A Brokerage Provided CRM
Brokerages provide more technology than ever to their agents, yet almost every tech tool — from CRM software to transaction management programs — feels and looks the same, regardless of the brokerage.
Many brokerages struggle to showcase their character and individuality through their tech offerings, so when it comes to recruiting and retention, nothing really stands out. Non-franchise brokerages, meanwhile, are usually independently minded. They want to provide tech tools that differentiate them from their competitors while also helping their agents grow their business. Unfortunately, what's often missing from that approach are the tech tools that can set the brokerages apart.
All that changes with a CRM solution from Delta Media Group. Delta is offering an industry first: CRMs that can be customized for every brokerage. The color, style, look, and feel of the Delta-provided CRM makes it your own. It also draws in agents who are able to see a customized product that is unlike anything else in real estate. With tech that's one-of-a-kind, agents will be inspired to do one-of-a-kind work as well.
Automation = Adoption
Real estate brokerages know that the best CRM is one that an agent will use. Yet, adoption remains the single most challenging barrier towards universal CRM usage.
To accomplish universal CRM usage among their agents, brokerages need their CRM to do a lot more than it does now. That's why Delta is integrating the newest technology into our easy-to-use platform, providing one-stop-shop tech that offers everything from automation and artificial intelligence to machine learning.
Automation is what will drive universal adoption. Take out any unnecessary steps, free up agent schedules, and suddenly, it's easier than ever for those same agents to accomplish everything on their to-do list. And as intelligent marketing tools are integrated with the DeltaNET CRM, the benefits for agent adoption will be universally compelling.
There are two keys for a brokerage CRM to be successful. First, every custom CRM that Delta Media Group creates for a brokerage must be easy to use. Second, the CRM also must reflect the independent brand of the brokerage.
Delta-provided CRMs are at the core of every agent marketing activity. Future innovations will make them even more robust. And when an independent brokerage uses a customized CRM, it helps that brokerage differentiate its brands.
Delta is building even more innovative marketing tools that will be fully integrated into every CRM we provide. These new tools will drive more social media connections and deliver more highly targeted direct marketing, email, and text campaigns that offer the right message to the right audience at the right time.
Everything will connect to one's CRM, and once independent brokerages can provide a unique CRM from their competition, we will move closer to universal CRM use.
Many times, new business owners start with a clear idea of what they want to offer the world — and it's something that excites and uplifts them. As they think about the details, however, doubt creeps in — and it shows itself the same way across all industries.
"I can't turn away business," they start to think. "I have to appeal to everybody!"
No matter how many books you read or business coaches you hear from, it can feel counterintuitive to be told to "niche down." Deciding on a small segment of the total customer base to focus on may seem like a scary commitment, one in which you're not sure the other side will "love you back."
Yet, focusing your strategy allows you to do the same with your marketing, advertising, and other types of communication. And it's precisely that laser-focus that appeals to people. Because you get specific, they recognize you understand their problems. That draws them to you!
This is especially crucial in real estate.
In your first year as a real estate professional, you might feel like you're doing a little bit of everything. After all, there's so much to learn! Soon, you start to develop a better sense of which customers fit you best. Ideal customers should be easy and fun to work with so you can add value to their lives!
On the other end of the scale, some customers will drain your energy and may leave you miserable.
It's crucial to get those encounters out of the way in the first year — because your business is not "for everyone." It's for the right people with the right budget at the right time. Those are qualified leads, the ones more likely than anyone else to become customers, and they grow your business.
Sad, but true: Unqualified leads don't add to your bottom line, no matter how many you get!
How to Qualify Your Leads the Easy Way
Ideally, you would be able to qualify your leads by collecting just a little bit more information each time you encounter them. You might get some details when they sign up for your email list, a few more when they register for an open house, and a little bit more when they schedule a call.
By spacing out your "asks" naturally in encounters like these, you can learn a lot!
And an all-in-one real estate solution like DeltaNET®6 makes it much easier. That's because your CRM can capture and analyze details any human would easily overlook. Making connections between all the thousands or even millions of data points available, an AI-driven app helps you turn "information" into "insight."
Still, it's a wise idea to have a qualification framework in mind.
A qualification framework is a system of expected data points you collect about each prospective customer. Prospects that give answers within a desirable range are well-qualified leads. Those whose answers are outside the norm may be poorly qualified or not qualified at all.
In real estate, people are often trained to maintain every relationship they can — "you never know who'll become a customer!" With a qualification framework, you might still get caught by surprise now and again, but you will be able to develop informed expectations about every prospect in your funnel.
When you know, you can focus your attention on leads most likely to be your future customers.
Plus, you can do something that might otherwise feel unthinkable: Let go of unqualified leads! Referring them to someone who can meet their needs better does a service to them, you, and a colleague of your choice – and with a steady stream of truly qualified opportunities, it'll always feel good.
A Simple Real Estate Lead Qualification Framework
The BANT framework originates in business-to-business sales and adapts very well to real estate.
For each prospect, ask these questions:
Budget
Does the prospect have a budget that matches the type of properties in the local area you typically deal with? If not, can you help by providing facts about mortgage qualification or new homebuyer programs?
Authority
Is the prospect "in charge" of the buying decision? If working with a couple, both should be consulted on everything. If a large family is moving, everyone's preferences and needs should be taken into account.
Necessity
Does the prospect "need" to move now? If not, what would increase the sense of urgency? If so, what roadblocks are standing in the way — succinctly, why hasn't the person taken action? How can you help?
Timing
Is the prospect planning to move now, next week, next month, next year? Get a sense of projected timing and any contingencies. Entice long-term "waiters" who are well-qualified onto your email list.
Contact us to discover how digital marketing automation can help you qualify leads faster and better.
Real estate technology is constantly evolving, with valuable new tools that can help agents better serve clients and run your business more efficiently behind the scenes. The most successful modern agents take advantage of the latest tools to make their lives easier, boost their business, and provide the best possible service for clients. So if you want modern agents, you need to have modern tools. Here are some key tools that you can use to help your agents modernize their habits and reach their full potential.
What Does It Mean to Be a Modern Agent?
If we have learned anything from the last couple of years, it's that being a modern agent means being prepared to adapt. Adapting to changes in technology, changes in how real estate business is transacted, changes in client habits, and changes in the wider world that impact the real estate industry. Embracing technology is the best way to adapt to all of those changes with confidence and stay up to date in the ever-evolving nature of the industry.
Changes in demographics, like the current trend of tech-savvy Millenials and Gen Z clients entering the real estate market for the first time, further stress the need to take advantage of the latest real estate technology. Modern agents are ready to serve clients in the ways that best fit their needs, and that means using real estate technology to make life easier for everyone involved.
Start with the Right Real Estate CRM
If you want to provide your agents with the best tools for the job, the right real estate CRM is the perfect place to start. Modern agents need access to reliable, accurate client data, marketing tools to generate new leads, and virtual tools that make it easier to conduct business in our modern world. DeltaNET®6 provides all of the tools that your agents need to serve their clients in one convenient package.
With DeltaNET®6, agents can easily manage relationships and generate new business. Take advantage of integrated email marketing, AI-driven newsletters, automated lead segmentation, and smart drip email campaigns to cultivate leads. Use SMS text messaging to stay in touch while making the most of virtual open houses and showings to accommodate modern clients. Track IDX search activity, integrate IDX listings, and track property searches to see what leads are searching for online.
And those are just some of the features that your agents will love when they dig into all that DeltaNET®6 has to offer.
Tap Into Your Artistic Side with Creative Studio
Modern agents wear many hats, which often means tapping into their creative side with things like listing brochures, flyers, email templates, and social media posts. Creative Studio makes it easy for agents to get creative, with accessible, easy-to-use graphic design tools that can give all of your marketing materials a professional shine. Easily design your own layouts, or use pre-designed templates to speed up the process while still getting great results.
Creative Studio also works well with DeltaNET®6, allowing you to quickly upload photos and listings directly from your CRM for a seamless design process. You can even store online versions of the materials that you create, have them sent to a print shop, and have the results delivered directly to your door.
Quickly Provide Accurate Valuations with Our AVM Report Platform
Business is booming in the real estate world, which is good news for real estate professionals but also presents some unique challenges. One of the biggest challenges that comes from a highly active real estate market is that there are major inventory shortages in many markets. Providing accurate valuations is always important, but especially so when inventory is so low compared to demand.
Our AVM Report Platform makes it quick and easy for agents to find the accurate valuation information they need, when they need it. They can easily catch up on the latest market conditions, quickly find the data that they need within the platform, and provide accurate estimates for clients from up to five independent sources. The reports that clients receive include multiple calls-to-action to generate conversions while providing them with the accurate, market-specific data that they value. It's all driven by AI, which helps the process automatically improve over time as it receives more data.
Help Your Agents Modernize Their Practices by Providing the Best Real Estate Technology
The bottom line: If your agents don't have the best tools for the job, now is the time to upgrade your real estate technology. The investment that you make in technology more than pays off with more efficient, modern agents and satisfied clients. From online marketing to relationship management and AVM, our team can provide your team with the tools that they need to thrive in the modern real estate industry. Contact us today to get started.
For years, Zillow has seemed like the big bad wolf of the real estate industry. Since the company's 2004 founding, Zillow has steadily expanded its reach into territories where only an experienced real estate agent could help you buy or sell a home. Now, the company garners millions of web visits a month and threatens the success of local real estate experts. And despite the news that Zillow is shutting down its homebuying business, that doesn't mean the company will go away — nor does it mean other competitors won't try to achieve the same goals as Zillow but with better efficiency.
The good news is that tactics like Zillow's haven't been tested by time the same way those of the traditional agent have been. In fact, you have an advantage over Zillow and all the other online real estate companies that want to be on top: you're a real-life expert that buyers and sellers can trust. With that in mind, Zillow-proofing your business is not only possible, it may even come easy! Here are 5 steps for taking on Zillow.
For more tips on how you can Zillow-proof your business, contact us today.
Real estate has come a long way in a very short time.
Looking back on the history of our industry, it's easy to get distracted by the profound changes of the last few years. With the start of the pandemic, agents and brokers at all levels needed to completely rethink their business to keep themselves and their clients safe.
Even though the public health situation is beginning to change, real estate thought leaders still focus lots of attention on the new best practices revealed by this situation. While that is important, it's crucial not to miss the forest for the trees. In truth, real estate has been in a period of flux for over a decade.
Even though those changes have unfolded gradually, they are all driven by the same thing:
Changing customer preferences.
Zoom out from the pandemic and take a look at the longer trends, many of which were accelerated in 2020. Gone are the days when new buyers would look for real estate agents in the phone book or drive around the neighborhood to spot any "For Sale" signs in front yards.
In-person outreach is still effective and it isn't going away, but the great majority of future customers will find you online. Most new home searches start online. The younger a customer is, the more likely they are to have a "digital-first" mindset — but elders are getting involved in growing numbers.
This gives agencies and brokerages unprecedented power to attract the right leads to their door.
Today's Real Estate Experts Need to Look Toward Data-Driven "Scientific Marketing"
Scientific marketing describes an approach to marketing in which data is used to create hypotheses, test assumptions, and make continuous improvements so you can allocate your budget toward the initiatives that make the greatest impact on your bottom line.
All businesses that operate online face some of the same challenges. Data provides the answer to both today's issues and tomorrow's. For example, there's no point in posting on Twitter if all of your leads come from LinkedIn. By comparing ROI across channels, you can optimize your investments.
But where, precisely, does the data come from? And what's the ultimate goal?
In real estate, most of the data you collect and apply to your business helps you with lead generation. Your digital assets have the power to attract the right leads to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Your website is at the center of that effort. Every visitor to your site offers you a trove of data.
Your analytics suite is the software that helps you transform that data into actionable insights.
What Is Analytics Software and How Does It Work?
In modern real estate, analytics takes place on two levels:
These two systems often work together. For example, the analytics suite on your website can keep track of the exact blog articles someone has read. Your CRM then compares these activities to the behavior of leads who converted into customers in the past.
When a strong match is found, an AI-driven CRM can let you know — helping you follow up at the right time and in the right ways. With a clear understanding of a lead's individual interests, you have the opportunity to craft truly personalized correspondence and start a meaningful conversation.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence empower today's analytics software to make connections that would be invisible to even the best-trained human analyst. A centralized, "all in one" CRM may have the capability to evaluate not just thousands, but millions of data points in search of a pattern.
The practical benefits are twofold:
Step Into the CRM Age: Better Performance with Less Manual Labor
Another critical benefit to artificial intelligence is the sharp reduction in manual data entry.
Not only does this mean less time spent typing in names, dates, and figures, but it will also narrow the scope of human error. That's vital when you're working with email marketing, online advertising, or any other scalable system where you might be in contact with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people.
There's no need to take an artisanal approach to everything you do: Data makes life easier and doesn't call on you to sacrifice quality. DeltaNET®6 is today's state-of-the-art solution that not only collects data but highlights the lessons buried within, so your business can act right away.
Contact us to learn more.
Marketing is one of the most important parts of real estate, and it can also be challenging for agents to come to grips with. Once you've learned the knowledge and skills you need to serve clients, marketing should be your next priority.
Having a marketing plan is essential to your overall success!
Marketing is indispensable because the majority of your future clients will find you online. These days, most home searches begin there. As more Millennials turn to the market and the eldest of Gen Z find their way into it for the first time, this trend will continue.
A marketing plan helps you identify where your audience is, how to connect, and the best ways to do so over the time it takes them to launch their home search. From the high-level plan you develop, you can work backward to understand what you need to do every quarter, month, and week.
The concept may seem intimidating at first, but it is worthwhile.
Marketing is the central piece in pivoting from finding new business through in-person methods versus drawing qualified leads directly to your website with minimal effort. This transition has the potential to save you thousands of hours a year, but it relies on having the right marketing assets in place.
What Does a Real Estate Marketing Plan Include?
A real estate marketing plan is a top-level strategic roadmap you develop once and review quarterly based on your evolving goals and the success of your marketing initiatives. It is built around Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as leads generated and transactions completed.
How Do You Write a Real Estate Marketing Plan?
There are seven components to a marketing plan for real estate.
While some may prove challenging, each element builds on the ones before. If you do not have the time or resources to conduct a deep market analysis, you can leverage the wisdom of your colleagues and mentors to start with some basic assumptions that you then verify with experience.
The elements of a real estate marketing plan include:
Turning Your Marketing Plan into Reality
To achieve your goals, you may find you need more tools or training. Upfront investments are common in the first few years of the real estate journey. Be sure you understand how much you're spending, why, and a timeline for a) first value and b) return on investment, including recouping the initial spend. From there, review your analytics data monthly to track trends and prepare for a quarterly plan update.
Contact us to find out more about digital marketing for real estate.
Real estate has long been considered one of the best investments of all.
The sterling reputation of owning a home as a way of building wealth took a beating among Millennials after successive waves of downturns and crises. Now, it's on its way back. Up-and-coming Generation Z made a strong showing in homebuying during the pandemic.
Only a fraction of that generation is old enough to enter the market now. But general trends indicate they look at buying a home as an important life milestone — and a goal to be pursued at earlier ages than ever before. This is sure to shape the real estate landscape for years to come.
In short, they have a different view of their return on investment.
ROI is the ultimate goal of any investment. It stands at the heart of the concept of "putting your money to work for you." If your return on investment is flat, it's evidence that you could have gotten greater value from that money elsewhere. If it's negative, then you've identified a bad investment.
To succeed, real estate agents should put this concept at the forefront of their minds.
Real Estate Technology May Be the Best Investment an Agent Can Make
Every time you choose one solution over another for your business, you are making an investment. The goal is to make money or save money. However, it's not always easy to trace the path from the tools you use to your bottom line. To make the connection, go back to the simple maxim everyone knows:
"Time is money."
If you can save time, you can make more money. Even if you don't "reinvest" that saved time directly into work hours, it still makes a difference. After all, having more time for rest will enable you to do your best work longer and more consistently. This is always more productive than just getting by.
On its own, real estate technology can't promise you'll close more deals or get more leads. But it can serve as a platform to accelerate and simplify your use of the skills that yield those results. It multiplies what you are capable of. Imagine doubling or even tripling your productivity without making a hire!
Now is the time to seek out and implement the modern tools that make it possible.
Real Estate Technology Is on the Grow After Pandemic-Induced Slowdowns
The pandemic drove tremendous evolution in the real estate market in a matter of weeks. A rapid pace of change was imperative to keep transactions moving while maintaining safety for everyone.
With pandemic restrictions beginning to fade, it's clear that real estate won't be returning to "business as usual." Many pandemic-driven changes are here to stay, and technology facilitates it all.
All in all, real estate technology has two big effects:
There's no greater example of this than the virtual home tour. Virtual tours were gaining momentum before the pandemic, along with other types of interactive and video content. To expand buyers' search radius and protect sellers from dealing with crowds, they mushroomed practically overnight.
As a result, real estate technology solutions have evolved to make them easier, even for agents who have never been comfortable in front of the camera before. The tempo of technological innovation is sure to remain upbeat as work gradually returns to normal and teams can collaborate more easily.
Artificial Intelligence and Automation Combine to Make Real Estate Technology Work Better
Two core capabilities define the real estate technology of tomorrow:
For example, real estate agents from coast to coast use social media. It is the #1 source of high-quality leads for many agents and firms. But on its own, social media can be a time sink. Automation speeds up the process of using it, while artificial intelligence verifies the business value that it can offer.
DeltaNET™ 6 is the all-in-one real estate solution that unifies these two capabilities in a way designed from end to end with your unique needs in mind. It gives you complete visibility into all of your contacts, customers, and brand advocates, where they stand, and how best to connect with them.
Delta Media Group is constantly expanding and improving its product line. In 2021 alone, we've added dozens of additional free features to DeltaNET™ 6. By adding more value, we aim to become your best investment in the growing world of real estate technology.
Contact us to find out more or get started.
If you have seen any of the sales or training presentations I've delivered to REALTORS® in the last 12 months, then you'll know I've been beating the drum that the industry needs to "BE DIFFERENT." That's because there's growing disruption within real estate that's not going away anytime soon. In particular, we have continued to see massive movement from industry juggernaut Zillow over the last 12 months.
This is old news, but Zillow has been a licensed brokerage inside of every MLS in the country for months now. They also strategically made an acquisition of popular showing service "ShowingTime" in early 2021. I don't believe they are finished making big-time plays this year, as they also made the switch to power their property search on zillow.com with true IDX data, making it even more accurate and faster than before.
I bring this up because while Zillow's moves present clear challenges, there are specific things that both brokerages and real estate agents can do to prevent their business from being impacted by major industry players. Ironically, many of these things have been at your disposal for years. But, as the saying goes: The best time to make a change was yesterday; the second-best time is today. The change I'm referring to is fully leveraging the business automations available on the market NOW. Either with your current CRM/all-in-one solution or by taking a look at companies such as Delta Media Group® to see the impact that can be made in your company nearly overnight.
I believe very strongly in the following five concepts, which should be top of mind when looking at fully adopting your current technology or while evaluating other options. First and foremost, you want to find a technology firm that can help your brand BE POWERFUL.
What does it mean to be powerful in regard to real estate technology? There are a few answers to that question. Number one, you need a website platform that makes your brand stand out online. Something that doesn't feel cookie-cutter, something that truly speaks to your brand identity, and that you would feel proud to showcase online. There is immense power in a strong brand and a website that can fully tell your story and deliver an incredible experience for your customers when they find your site.
The second answer to the question of "being powerful" online is by having a website platform geared toward SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Having a beautiful, powerful website means nothing if nobody is visiting it. There is a major misconception in real estate that nobody can compete with the big portal sites for rankings online. Delta has been competing with and beating portal sites for phrases like "Homes for sale in
There is power in being present and dominant in the search engines. The battle for getting traffic to your site can't be won by spending tens of thousands of dollars on paid advertising, but it can be won by focusing on search phrases that truly matter in your market and getting customers to engage with you without forcing them to register on your site. Remember, Zillow is a powerful national brand, but they don't have the power and local name recognition that your business should have.
The next element you should consider is how technology can help you BE EFFICIENT in all aspects of your day-to-day operations. A phrase I hear thrown around a lot in online webinars is, "What do you have more of? Time or money?" I've consistently recognized that your time is the most valuable resource you will ever have. At Delta Media Group, our mission statement is "Automate to Elevate Life." Every day, we're looking for ways to deliver the most powerful real estate software ever built, designed to automate away the things you just don't have time to do.
When we talk about being efficient, I'm essentially talking about getting your business automated. After all, Zillow is immensely efficient at deploying new initiatives and executing them. The DeltaNET® 6 platform offers dozens of automations that any sales professional should use in their business. Here are just a few of the key highlights any CRM solution you're looking for should offer:
• Automated Drip Campaigns
(not just email, things like automated texts, automated calendar notifications, and more)
• AI-Driven Newsletters
• Automated Social Media Posts for Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter
• Automated Tasks lists created each day based on your clients' behaviors with your website or emails
• Automated instant notifications to your customers related to new listings, market activity, and more
Something else you should be able to squeeze out of a technology platform is how you can BE CREATIVE.
In my opinion, I don't believe the major portal sites have been able to create a clear identity for themselves. There is something to be said about the human element and being able to tie yourself to your business in creative ways that help you feel like a local business rather than a large corporate entity.
Within the DeltaNET, you'll find our Creative StudioTM, which offers hundreds of designs ranging from single-page flyers, multi-page brochures, printable postcards, e-card designs, and so much more. New designs are constantly added to the platform, and all of them are completely customizable with options to match your brand's identity from the first click. I've never seen such an easy-to-use system display or such incredible high-quality designs. It also supports integrations with Adobe InDesign and even print fulfillment through third-party printers. Other "all-in-one" solutions typically offer this type of creative marking center; however, I don't know of any that offer it at the base price like we do inside the DeltaNET. That's right, our entire suite of marketing materials has no additional cost, and as I mentioned earlier, the entire e-card piece can be completely automated.
The fourth "concept," I feel, is probably the most important. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a 2020 case study analyzing data over the real estate market (and REALTORS®) for 2019. One of the many things revealed through this data is that an "experienced" real estate agent — which NAR defines as someone who has been in the business for 16 years or more —gets more than 39% of their business from repeat business. Additionally, another 29% of their business came from referrals from people they had worked with in the past.
So that's more than 68% of your business coming from the clients you've already worked to help.
Here is the other interesting element of that data. Directly after a transaction has been completed and the client has moved into the home, more than 90% of customers said they would work with their real estate agent again in the future. That means, despite those earlier numbers, in reality, real estate agents are losing nearly 50% of their future business opportunities for one reason or another. I believe the biggest reason for this is because real estate agents do not do their best to stay top of mind with a client after they have helped them move into a new home. You may feel that your clients should use you again in the future because you've done a great job with them, but the truth is those clients are getting bombarded by your competition to work with them. You have to continue to show your clients you want their business.
That is why we believe any technology platform you are looking to deploy needs to help you BE RELIABLE.
Why would a customer work with you again in the future and give you their business? Ideally, it's because you were a reliable expert who helped them navigate the largest transaction of their lives. However, your job isn't done when the commission has been paid out. You have to continue to provide value to those clients with things like real-time market statistics detailing what is going on in the neighborhood your client has now moved into. You have to provide them with automated home estimates about what the value of their home may be. Finally, you should continue to give them information about what's happening in their local community and the real estate industry as a whole. Never be stagnant.
Ultimately this brings us to the final phrase we want to impress upon you. I feel strongly that if you are POWERFUL with your brand, if you are EFFICIENT with your time, CREATIVE with your marketing, and RELIABLE for your clients...it will help you BE DIFFERENT in your business strategy and prevent your business from being impacted by the disrupters that are constantly trying to change the status quo.
At Delta Media Group, we believe that technology can empower your business and supplement all the great things you're already doing to be a leader in your marketplace. If you are looking to have your current technology solution audited or evaluate other options on the market, we have a team that can offer you a free consultation. Please don't hesitate to reach out!
Artificial intelligence is poised to become the next big thing in real estate.
Lots of ink has been spilled about the potential of AI to replace jobs. But as the pandemic has shown, that future remains a long way off. Instead of displacing professional expertise, AI has the potential to serve as a highly versatile and adaptive "multi-tool" that can help real estate agents and their clients.
In fact, it is already affecting every stage of today's real estate transactions. To understand what makes artificial intelligence so exciting, it's best to begin with the basics.
What is Artificial Intelligence, Really?
Artificial intelligence enables a piece of software to make inferences and draw conclusions based on a set of data. Some AI, called Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems, have the ability to interpret and answer a question posed in the "natural language" that ordinary people use every day.
AI has been around since the 1950s. However, the processing power and bandwidth available today has driven it to new heights. Everyday people can now interface with AI-based systems using the supercomputer they keep in their pocket. This is accelerating AI development on a grand scale.
Automatic processing and data collection are where today's artificial intelligence tools shine. They aren't always great at solving complex problems alone, especially when that means applying creativity. But they help agents, buyers, and sellers "connect the dots" and gain deeper insight for more informed decisions.
Let's dive in and see what artificial intelligence is doing to improve today's real estate world.
Lead Generation
AI is especially crucial for real estate agents in their never-ending quest for lead generation.
These days, the vast majority of lead generation is bound to happen online. Agents' real estate websites and their social media are the two biggest planks in the strategy. Both can be enhanced by using AI to generate branded customer care experiences in a seamless and delightful way.
Machine learning is on display in a modern real estate all-in-one solution like DeltaNET™ 6. By continuously learning about buyer and seller behaviors based on past transactions, it finds patterns within millions of data points — patterns invisible to even the keenest human analyst.
This saves time by automatically scoring leads and facilitating effective follow-up.
Home Search
Home listings are already searchable in massive quantities in any market you care to name. But buyers in particular depend upon real estate agents to sort through the oceans of listings and find those that meet their criteria. Agents, in turn, can look to artificial intelligence to accelerate the process.
Yes, the process typically begins with the AI system pulling in data entered by the real estate agent or directly by the buyer. By monitoring details like how long was spent on each listing and which photos were looked at, however, it highlights factors that allow it to surface additional listings faster.
This equips agents to send a curated round-up of listings to their buyers so they can act faster.
Transactions
Real estate transactions aren't as confusing or complex as they might look from the outside. Still, there can be many twists and turns – and there's a lot both buyers and sellers don't know. The right AI can streamline transactions, making data searchable and easy to reference when you need it.
One of the biggest advantages to artificial intelligence is how it can cut down on human error. While it's always a wise idea to double-check every document, you no longer need to worry about tedious data entry that can introduce problems. Instead, software auto-populates forms contextually.
Property Valuation
We all know of an AI-driven valuation tool that's notoriously off the mark in many of the estimates it gives. Despite that, AI-driven property valuation is growing better by the day. One key to making it work effectively is to cross-reference data from multiple vetted data storehouses.
By doing this behind the scenes, a machine learning tool can determine how much weight to assign to different sources. Ultimately, estimates continue to improve. Instead of spending hours developing a list of comparable sales, you can quickly generate a report and double-check the figures.
Lending
The lending landscape will always affect real estate agents and their clients, so it's crucial to know what changes are around the corner. Mortgage lenders have jumped into AI with both feet, using it to tame the ferocious process of underwriting — which can involve hundreds of documents.
Artificial intelligence can highlight key points within an entire corpus of documents, allowing lenders to make an initial determination in a matter of hours rather than days or weeks. As the process continues to get faster and more accurate, lenders stand to double or even triple their productivity.
Contact us today to learn how you can capture AI's power with confidence using DeltaNET™ 6.
You're working too hard. But then, I don't have to tell you that, do I? What you might appreciate me telling you is that you don't have to.
Automation is taking over the world. You can use smart home products to turn on your coffee maker in the morning and turn on your bedroom lights when your alarm goes off. You can use your phone to wait on hold for you and have it ring when the other party picks up. Complaining about your phone bill has never been easier. So why not use that technology to help you maintain relationships with your customers too? Of course, there will always be the need for your personal touch here and there, but when it comes to informing your customers of new listings when they come on the market, keeping them up to date on market stats, and just generally staying in touch with relevant information and articles, save yourself the time and let the machine do it for you.
If you're just diving into the world of automating some of your marketing and customer communications, there are several features I can suggest that make it easy to get started. First, go turn on the Market Watch Report automation. It basically amounts to flipping a switch. Once activated, every customer that asks for information or a showing on your website will automatically have a Market Watch Report created based on the listing they made the request on. The system will then send them an email once a month with data related to that market.
E-card automations are equally simple. You can turn them on independently for new listings, open houses, and listings that have just sold. When you list a new property, schedule an open house, or sell a property, respectively, an e-card will be sent to whatever group of customers you choose. That means you can focus on that actual property listing while the system handles telling your customer database that it's on the market.
In addition to sending e-cards automatically when something happens with one of your listings, you can trigger e-cards on holidays or even customer-specific dates as well. We all love getting birthday and Christmas cards, but not everybody loves sending them. Even if you do, time is our most precious commodity, so free up as much as you can by having the DeltaNET® remember those dates and send them for you. The DeltaNET will remember, and can work with, some less obvious dates, too, as long as you enter them into your customers' accounts. Purchase anniversary? Sure, that one's easy. How about a wedding anniversary? It can handle that. Pet birthday? Now that's the fun one. You can bet that I'm going to remember the name of any real estate agent that sends me an e-card on my dog's birthday. I don't even know what day that is, so I'm impressed if you do (actually, you could probably just make up a date, and I'd believe you). Just being the name that pops into a person's head when they think about real estate is most of the battle, after all.
Another easy one is social posting automation. You can now have the DeltaNET automatically post your new listings, blog articles, customer reviews, market watches, recently sold listings, and about a half dozen other things to your social media accounts on your behalf. We're not just talking about Facebook, either. It can now post to LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter too. It's not always easy to maintain a social media presence, so the more of your posting that happens automatically, the better.
Some of the less obvious but equally easy to set up automations are the Behavioral Alerts. When activated, these will send an email or SMS message to your customers when they perform certain actions on your website. For example, if they visit your website for the first time in a couple of weeks, it can welcome them back. If they view enough properties on your website in a day, it can ask them if they need help. If they view the same property more than once, it can ask them if they'd like to get a showing scheduled.
The My Customer For Life system is another one that essentially just needs to be turned on with very little additional configuration. Just switch it on, set it to work on all new and existing customers, and let it run. It will send emails to your customers as frequently as weekly, though it can be configured to go out much less often, and the best part is that you don't even have to write the content for the articles it sends. We take care of all of that. It's even smart enough to keep track of which articles your customers click on when they get the email so that it can send them more similar articles each time it emails them. The result over time is that every customer receiving messages from your MCFL system gets a message that is uniquely catered to them. Simply getting your name in front of them is beneficial, but then associating your name with content they're really interested in, that isn't purely informational, like a saved search email, is that much more powerful when it comes to customer retention.
Those are just the automations that can be turned on with little to no actual configuration. They only scratch the surface of the automation tools available. You can also save searches for your customers (or they can save them on your website themselves) so that they're automatically notified when new listings they might like come on the market. It takes a little configuration to define precisely what your customer is looking for, but what's a prospective buyer more likely to respond to than an email telling them their dream house just came on the market?
Campaigns are another powerful tool to stay in touch, not only through email but via text message as well. Our prebuilt campaigns are often all you need, but if you want to go down the road of creating custom campaigns, you can really tailor the messaging in a way that speaks to customers based on how they came to know you or what they're looking for. You can segment customers into groups based on the general area they're interested in buying in, then add them to a campaign populated with messaging specific to that area. You can have a campaign pick up on the fact that the customer came into your database from a request they made on Zillow (it's a dirty word, I know, I'm sorry) and send them messages that are sensitive to that fact. You can even have a campaign that automatically sends only to customers that were added to your database because they signed on using Open House Connector at an open house you were hosting. It's not quite the same as a personal message sent directly to a prospect, but it's pretty close and, once you complete the initial configuration, you don't have to spend any time on it.
If you haven't gathered it yet, we're all about automation around here. The most important thing you can do in the name of customer retention is to make sure those you've worked with in the past don't forget about you. Sometimes, however, that can occasionally create a bit of a roadblock for growth. If you spend all your time trying to stay in touch with past clients, when will you prospect new ones? When will you pick up new listings, let alone market those listing and get them sold so that the current clients remain happy clients? The answer is automation. Not just form letters either, but real, intelligent automation. Form letters drive people to the 'unsubscribe' button. Automations that provide valuable, relevant, and even just interesting information drive people to become repeat customers.
Data is a big topic — not only in real estate but in every industry where digital technology offers insights.
Data can seem esoteric and opaque to gregarious, relationship-focused real estate professionals. But you don't have to be a data scientist to make sense of it all. Instead, you need the right tools to connect those figures with your business outcomes.
Data is crucial in real estate because, as in other selling professions, it provides an objective source of truth to fact-check expectations against results. When challenges arise, it's no longer necessary to fill in the blanks with "hunches" or "gut feelings."
Instead, you can know precisely where your limited time, energy, and budget are best spent.
That means you can continuously, consistently improve.
No single piece of data is a North Star. You'll need data from a variety of sources. Synthesizing them, you can create a total picture of your business. That leaves you with less ambiguity to navigate and a much shorter path to actionable plans.
Let's see how it all comes together.
The Biggest Types of Data You'll Use in Real Estate
It wasn't long ago when real estate agents had access to very little data. They would meet people, follow up, and track the outcomes of their conversations. Between encounters, however, the lead's mind was unknowable. Even if it seemed like leads were moving forward, it wasn't necessarily the case.
Then, as today, it could take weeks or months for a lead to dive into the market. There were few high-touch, low-effort ways of staying connected until that happened. Phone calls and in-person meetings were the norms. By comparison, today's leads provide an enormous amount of data.
That's just one area where data has clarified the picture. Let's zoom in on the crucial types of data that shape the real estate world:
Three Steps to Leverage Your Data for Greater Success
Ask data scientists and they'll tell you data is always increasing in two ways:
As time goes on, these effects increase and compound one another. Luckily, you don't have to worry about vast oceans of data. With sound processes, you'll stay laser-focused on finding and using the data most relevant to your prospects, leads, and customers. That, in turn, propels your business forward.
Delta Media Group helps you achieve repeatable, reliable marketing and growth through data. Contact us to find out more today.
Video is quickly taking over the internet, and the same can be said about real estate marketing!
Well over half of all internet traffic is now made up of video content. As more people gain access to unlimited smartphone data plans, that number continues to increase. The adoption of 5G internet will accelerate the trend even further as it becomes possible to stream video fast from almost anywhere.
Real estate pros would do well to get comfortable with the power of video — both in front of and behind the camera. Video is much more likely to be viewed, remembered, and shared than plain text content. And video has the unique power to build rapport and foster trust like nothing else out there.
Video for Listings Is King – But it's Only the Beginning
Nothing will ever replace real estate photography, but video is the next best thing to being there.
When video is used to enhance listings, it allows interested buyers to go from merely browsing to imagining everything a space has to offer their lifestyle. With context provided by your narration, they can engage all of their senses and envision their future in the home.
That said, real estate listings are just one of many places video can make a winning difference. When used as a central part of your overall marketing strategy, it helps you deliver high-quality, branded communications that leads and customers will really look forward to.
Let's consider some other great ways to use video in your real estate marketing:
You Don't Need to Reinvent the Wheel to Come to Grips with Video for Real Estate
Video can seem like an intimidating prospect, but it's fun and exciting when you get comfortable making them.
To seamlessly tap into the power of video, you need a nimble, high-performance center of excellence you can trust to remain stable and dependable. DeltaNET 6 is that solution for thousands of real estate professionals across the United States. It gets you rolling with video in minutes, not days or weeks.
Contact us to find out more or get started with the top all-in-one solution for real estate.
Lead management is crucial to moving your real estate business forward.
Every lead has their own story. Some are motivated to jump in and get involved with the market right away. Some want to "wait and see." But the vast majority are somewhere in between. It may take weeks or months for them to get started. Proper lead management ensures two things:
With a modern lead management strategy, no time is lost and continuing communication is seamless.
Customer Relationship Management for Real Estate Is Crucial to Staying Ahead of Your Leads
Customer Relationship Management refers to a software suite designed to provide complete visibility into leads and their activities. While CRM is common across many industries, especially in sales, only one CRM suite was built from the ground up with input from real estate pros across the United States: DeltaNET 6.
Following up is the name of the game in real estate. It wasn't that long ago when you had to plan out all of your outreach manually and hope your timing was right — not too much and not too little. These days, your CRM can keep track of lead behaviors and connect the dots so you know precisely when to follow up.
As a DeltaNET 6 user, you'll enjoy a number of other great features:
How to Organize Your Lead Management More Effectively
Lead generation and lead management go hand in hand. Providing excellent experiences that introduce leads to your brand will put them on a trajectory to work with you. This means publishing the right digital resources and making sure your offline efforts, such as in-person networking, benefit appropriately from them.
Here are some ways to do it:
Contact us to find out more about real estate lead management.
Is marketing your top priority?
For most real estate pros, the answer is "no" — and with good reason!
Marketing is an essential part of building your business. In the long run, few other activities contribute quite as much to the trajectory of your unique brand. If you want a lucrative practice that nonetheless offers the right mix of work-life balance, marketing needs to land on your radar consistently.
On a day-to-day basis, though, it's no surprise you have other things to think about.
Buyers and sellers alike are growing savvier and getting more demanding in the level of customer care they expect. The youngest movers in the market — whose lifetime value is highest – are also the most likely to say they will lose interest if they do not hear back from a real estate agent immediately.
You are your biggest business asset. To work on deals and build relationships, you must be present.
So marketing slips down the priority list. Or does it? No marketing resource can replace you, nor should it try. You need assets that extend your reach. The solution is digital marketing automation for real estate agents.
Spend Less Time Marketing and More Time Engaging Your Customers — Without Sacrificing Either
By automating away routine tasks, you free up time and reduce human error. But there's more to it.
With end-to-end digital marketing automation, you create something just as valuable: Consistency. Your email, social media, and more can deliver personalized communication in your own warm and relatable voice. No matter if you are talking to ten, one hundred, or one thousand leads, it can always sound like you!
This is crucial because trust is the foundation that real estate success is built on.
Fostering that trust begins long before you ever meet with a potential client. They are already out there on the internet, comparing their different options for a real estate agent. It may take weeks or even months for them to jump in. Your marketing messages between now and then can make the winning difference.
With the digital marketing center of excellence offered by DeltaNET 6, you can present your expertise with full confidence. Our all-in-one AI-driven platform empowers you with seamless integration and dependable high performance on all the core marketing tasks that drive your business forward.
That includes:
No matter what the future brings, digital marketing is an essential part of the equation for real estate experts at all levels. DeltaNET 6 keeps you on the cutting edge by giving you real estate marketing automation capabilities that can save you thousands of hours every year, all without sacrificing the human touch.
Contact us today to learn more or get started.
In this week's Tech Tuesday, Harley Wolfarth demonstrate how you can add panoramic photos to your listings through the DeltaNET.
Harley:
Hello, and welcome to Tech Tuesday presented by Delta Media Group, where there's no time for clever jokes or movie references today. So, pitter patter let's get at her. So, today we're going to take a look at some new functionality we have added for listing photos, specifically, you can now add panoramic photos to your listings. And they're pretty neat. You can actually go into these photos in such a way that if you even had Google Cardboard, if you've ever heard of that or a VR headset, you could actually view this panoramic photo in VR. So, it's kind of neat and kind of an easy thing you could actually do with your phone at a listing.
Harley:
So, in order to add a panoramic photo to the DeltaNet, you must first create the panoramic photo using a regular camera that supports a panoramic photo mode; or most phones out today, or most smartphones do have the ability to take panoramic pictures. But how you do that depends on your device. Now, once you've taken your picture and you have downloaded it onto your computer, or you could actually do this with your mobile device though the interface will look a little bit different, you can go in and add it to your listing.
Harley:
So, to do that, we're here in the DeltaNet. We're going to go down to listings and then down to manage my listings. And now from here, we're going to go into the listing profile page for the listing that we would like to add our panoramic photo to. So, in this case, we'll just go ahead and choose this first one. So, I'm going to click on the MLS ID in order to get to that page. Now, the MLS ID looks a little funny because this is a test listing. But you'll just click on your MLS ID to get into this page.
Harley:
Now, from here, you'll see that we have a new tab up at the top called panoramic photos. I'm going to click on that, and now this is where we can upload our photo. Now, you can see here that for best results it's looking for an image aspect ratio of two to one. So, the idea is that, and it says here, the width must be exactly twice the height. So, the closer you can get to that, the better the image is going to look in the viewer.
Harley:
So, now we're just going to click on add file, and I happen to have a panoramic photo prepared here. I'm just going to click on that. So, there we go. And now once you've added it here, you click on start upload to actually add it to the system. There we go. You can see the page refreshes. So, if I go back over here and click on panoramic photos, you can see there's my picture, my very pretty scenic vista here. And now if we go to the listing detail page for this property, I can just click here as a shortcut to get there.
Harley:
You can see that opens up in a new tab. And now in my listing photo section, you can see there is an additional button for panorama. If I click on that, it'll actually show me all of the panoramic photos I have uploaded to this listing. In this case, I have just the one; but if I had more than one, it would actually show a box for each one here. And then if I click on the photo here, it will open it up in the panoramic viewer.
Harley:
And you can see how cool this is. So, it opens it up. You can navigate it. I say navigate, but you can move around within the image using your mouse here. Or if you were using a mobile device and you were viewing this, as you moved your device around, you could actually see this move with your phone as if your phone, you're looking through a window into this image. So, that's kind of neat.
Harley:
And the other thing you can do is down here, there's some additional settings. So, I could click this to full screen it, which would make it fill up my screen depending on what size your monitor is. And then you can view a larger version of this image. Or I can click on this gear down here, and I have some additional options. So, right now it's on mouse control, which makes sense for what I'm using. But if I were using a mobile device, I might want this to be on sensor control, in which case it's using the gyroscope in the device so when I move my device around, it's moving me around within the image.
Harley:
And the next thing we have here is under mode. I'm on normal mode, so it's just basically displaying a box that has my panoramic image in it. But I could change this to Cardboard view. So if I was using a Google Cardboard or a VR headset, you can see that it will line up with the eye sockets, the eye holes on that device. So, it'll be like virtual reality. It'll act as if I'm there.
Harley:
And then lastly, we've got a stereoscopic mode. So, you can see it is two separate, slightly different images. You can see how they're a slightly different part of the image because it's designed, you're right eye would be seeing one. Your left eye would be seeing the other. This would be used for more dedicated VR headsets as opposed to the Google Cardboard view specifically which is designed to line up with the lens sizes in a Google Cardboard if you set one of those up, if you know what that is.
Harley:
But there you go. So, that is how you can add a panoramic image to any of your listings and then how your customers can get in and see those images online. And as I said, you can add more than one. So, you could have a whole series of panoramic images for different parts of the yard or different rooms within the property.
Harley:
So, there you go. Thank you very much, kind of a short one today. I'm keeping it easy on you. So, as always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, feel free to send an email into support@deltagroup.com, or give us a call and we can walk you through whatever functionality you'd like. And thank you very much. I will see you again next week.
Deal flow is the rate at which business proposals and pitches are received.
Investors, including investors in commercial real estate, use this as a general barometer of whether business is good or bad. The same term is also used, alongside lead generation, among real estate professionals focused on residential property. More referrals lead to better deal flow overall.
Leveraging marketing automation technology is a key step in accelerating real estate deal flow. Although there are many tools that can help, the cornerstone of any strategy is CRM. CRM, short for Customer Relationship Management, enhances visibility across your customer ecosystem.
A powerful all-in-one solution like DeltaNET™ 6 is no longer "nice to have"; it is an absolute must-have.
A CRM serves your needs in three powerful ways:
Not long ago, only a fraction of real estate agents used CRM. Now, the tottering old "technology stacks" of yore, built of a dozen apps that don't work together, are giving way to centralized solutions. By using CRM effectively, you benefit yourself and your clients.
When it comes to deal flow acceleration, a single technique can bring your business to the next level.
CRM-Based Audience Segmentation Improves Deal Flow Through Targeted, Personalized Messaging
Your email marketing list is one of your most valuable business assets.
That's because your list is packed with people who have a definite, pre-existing relationship with you and are amenable to hearing what you have to say. You have the power to significantly influence subscribers, making customer conversions more likely at times when they benefit you most.
You can also use the same resources to stay connected with past customers and acquire referrals.
But what's the best way to differentiate your messages so they remain relevant and welcome?
Audience segmentation means refining your email list by placing subscribers into sub-lists, called segments, that match up with your relationship and their interests. Using segmentation, you can make sure subscribers get only the most targeted and relevant information. That makes it more likely they'll take action.
5 Ways to Boost Your Monthly Deal Flow Using Audience Segmentation
There are many situations where segmentation creates better experiences for your contacts. Your CRM can turn your single list into a seamless collection of highly focused sub-lists in a matter of just minutes. That means you will get better ROI from your email drip campaigns and can expect a fuller schedule overall.
Let's look at some audience segments that can bolster your business:
Contact us at Delta Media Group to unlock the power of marketing automation.
Stubborn listings are no fun for sellers — or for their real estate agents!
It's well-known that as a listing sits on the market, it becomes less likely to capture an attractive offer. The ideal is to move a listing within 30 days. The longer it waits, the more likely buyers will assume something is wrong with it. At the dreaded 90 days, relisting is nearly inevitable.
There are two situations where agents need to be especially wary about idle listings:
Before a listing even goes on the market, pricing it to sell is one of the most valuable services an agent can offer. Sellers can easily overestimate the value of a home for sentimental reasons or just because the market seems to offer them a big payday. Agents need to step in, look at recent sales, and make the facts clear.
But sometimes, even when price is aligned with market conditions, a home simply won't sell.
This is highly frustrating for sellers, and it's also one of the situations most likely to lead to a bad review – never a fun prospect. Sometimes, there may be many factors outside your control making the road ahead difficult for your listing. The key is to seize on what's in your area of influence and course correct as soon as you can.
Let's look at some of the most effective ways to do it:
Contact us to learn more about digital real estate marketing.
COVID is over! Well, maybe not completely over, but I went to the grocery store without wearing a mask the other day, so we must be getting close. At least close enough that it's time for us to start thinking about life after COVID and what that means for marketing our listings.
It's tempting to see all of this as "getting back to normal" and immediately go back to handling things the way you did in 2019 — as if the whole pandemic amounted to nothing more than a year and a half hiatus. Avoid that impulse. Because, despite all of the hardships, we really learned a lot too.
Speaking from a real estate marketing perspective, some of the technological solutions built out in response to the pandemic — like virtual showing request functionality and virtual open house presentations — continue to be valuable tools even when there aren't any mandates keeping us at home. It always made sense to adopt these kinds of solutions. The pandemic just acted as the catalyst to get them developed right away. Likewise, it was a catalyst for us to learn about new ways of using streaming video and remote conferencing technology to meet with clients we couldn't talk to in person.
There are still plenty of valid-use cases for being able to handle virtual showing requests. Keeping those options available post-pandemic allows you to provide remote personal showings for clients whose schedules may be too busy to accommodate an in-person showing. Especially in a market where homes are selling so quickly, you can hardly wait for schedules to align. There's also a use case for clients that are interested in relocating or buying a second home. For someone moving from Chicago to New York, for example, it might be much more convenient for both of you if you walk them through some properties using Zoom or FaceTime instead of them flying out to see it in person. It just makes sense to continue to allow them to request that you show them the property that way.
Virtual Open Houses still have a place as well. As it stands now, real estate agents can record themselves walking through and presenting one of their listings to the unseen guests on the other side of the camera. They can then define a date and time that that video will become available and present that information, and a link to the video, on the listing detail pages on their website. It may have been the pandemic that drove the need for us to add that functionality to the DeltaNET®, but the idea of creating a video like that and presenting it to prospective buyers on your
website was nothing new. Even though we can perform traditional, in-person open houses again, there can still be a lot of benefits to recording a video like this, setting up a time for it to premiere on Facebook or YouTube, then promoting that premiere on your website and through social media. Anyone unable to make it to a physical open house can still benefit from your walk-through video. Even if there's nobody there to watch the video when it goes live, you have one more piece of marketing material you can use to promote that listing. It doesn't hurt that viewers can sign up on your website to attend the virtual open house, either, allowing you to capture their contact information as a lead as well.
Another thing the pandemic got us used to was live-streaming and virtual conferencing. Those two things aren't really the same, but they more or less serve the same purpose when it comes to promoting a listing. It's all about a live presentation of the listing through a medium in which you can interact with your viewers in real-time. When the pandemic started, there were a number of agents out there already using this kind of technology with some real success. It's particularly nice when presenting listings for second homes or vacation homes, as those buyers tend not to be local, but there's a place for it when promoting any listing. For example, maybe I'm really interested in your listing, so I'd like to attend an open house and ask you some questions about it before thinking about a personal showing, but I'm not able to attend an open house in person. If you're live-streaming a virtual open house of that property, I can "attend" it on your website, ask my questions, and get live answers in real-time. It's just another way to extend your reach to those that might not have otherwise been able to be present and extend that listing to as many potential buyers as possible.
Live streaming and pre-recorded videos can also have the added benefit of building out content on a YouTube channel. That's just another social media channel for you to build a presence to ultimately build your brand and your business. Besides, what better way to find out if your true calling is that of a YouTube content creator? You could be internet famous before you know it. Even if that doesn't work out, at least you're driving more traffic to your website and your listings in the meantime.
This last piece of technology didn't seem to get as much of a push during the pandemic as I would have expected, but I still feel like it deserves an honorable mention. That would be 360 photos and video. It came to the forefront for some because a potential buyer with a VR headset could use it to view one of these photos or videos as if they're actually standing in the property and looking around. Even those without a VR headset can still use their phone or tablet to "look around" within one of these photos or videos. This is the closest thing we have now to actually putting a potential buyer in a property when they can't physically be there. What's more, as the adoption of VR continues to grow, this will only get more and more important. So the more you can learn about using it now, the better.
COVID has taught us a lot. We learned that it's nearly impossible to wear a surgical mask for any significant length of time without your glasses fogging up. We learned that we don't wash our hands often enough, or for long enough. We learned interesting and unexpected things about the availability of toilet paper in a crisis. More importantly, we learned how to run a Zoom meeting, host a Facebook Live video, and present a property to a potential buyer via FaceTime. Now, let's try not to forget.
For years, CloudDelta™ has been a great resource for easily sharing secure files quickly with your team. It helps your company save time, money, and valuable resources when all the documents you need are accessible in DeltaNET 6™, the all-in-one solution for your real estate businesses.
Delta Media Group's secure cloud-based management tool ensures you don't need to email large documents to your agents, and you don't need to worry about yet another third-party system you have to support — with one login, you have all the tools you need for digital success.
Here are some of the features CloudDelta™ users already know:
At Delta Media Group, we strive to bring our clients the best products, which is why we're constantly listening to feedback and thinking of ways to make improvements. Even when we think we have something great, we acknowledge our products will evolve over time, as everything does. With CloudDelta™, we've targeted some areas where we could improve form and function, and we're happy to announce this tool is getting a big update!
Here are upgrades coming to CloudDelta™ you can get excited about!
We look forward to the feedback from these upgrades. If you have questions about getting the most out of your real estate technology, contact us today.
Most homeowners would be glad to work with their real estate agent again — but they never do.
It's true. The average homeowner will own three or four properties in a lifetime, with most purchases spaced out between three and seven years. But even when they are thrilled with the service their real estate agent offered, they often end up using a different one for every transaction.
How can this be?
Some of the reasons are purely logistical. If someone is moving across the country, odds are they connect with a real estate agent in their desired area as one of their first steps. But there is a bigger reason: traditional real estate marketing is focused on customer acquisition, not retention.
Customer acquisition can be an all-consuming part of any real estate agent's first year on the job.
After that, it's important to start building referral business. This means you can spend less time going after that next client and more time building the long-term assets you need for the kind of firm you really want. In the long run, retention is easier than acquisition, which can cost 25x more.
Long-term engagement is the key. And it can start with the clients you have right now.
Long-Term Engagement Turns Customers into Allies for the Life of Your Business
According to research from 2018, real estate agents are among the least trusted professions in America.
In fact, only 11% of respondents consider real estate agents trustworthy, placing them above only politicians and car salespeople. Responses varied by region, with those out west feeling most suspicion of the profession.
That's bad news, of course. But it means that when someone finds a real estate agent they trust, they don't really want to start over again from scratch. By recognizing and working with that reality, you can create lasting loyalty. That, in turn, has the potential to multiply the value of every customer relationship you hold.
Getting more transactions from a single customer is an obvious example. You could double or triple lifetime value from your customers if they keep coming back to you every time they're ready to buy a new property. But that's not all: you can also get dozens of referrals from each customer over the lifetime of your practice. From that perspective, having even a handful of strong relationships could drive your revenue goals for years.
After all, long before you have the opportunity to meet a client-in-waiting, that same person is expressing their desire to buy a home. . . to their family, their friends, and to just about everyone they know other than you.
Referral business is a hot ticket, letting you be the very first real estate agent to talk to any buyer or seller. That positions you to build trust and continue the cycle, helping more people while growing your business.
Set the Stage for Long-Term Engagement with Digital Marketing and Smart Follow-Up
Real estate digital marketing becomes easier than ever when you adopt the right technology. Good technology doesn't get in the way of relationships; it makes them easier — allowing you to check in with people in helpful, meaningful ways without wasting lots of time on data entry.
Here's how you can strengthen client relationships into real bonds of trust:
Contact us to learn more about how digital marketing fuels better relationships.
Millennials are still the largest, most active generation of homebuyers, but they are no longer the youngest. That distinction goes to Gen Z buyers, who are entering the real estate market for the first time and will represent a rapidly growing generation of buyers in the coming years. They count on real estate agents to help guide them through their first home purchase, which is why it's so important to learn what makes these young buyers tick.
The Newest Generation of Homebuyers
According to the latest data from the National Association of REALTORS®, Gen Z makes up about two percent of homebuyers in 2021 — but don't let that small number fool you. A few years ago, millennials were a small fraction of the market, and now they're the largest group of buyers. While they're adept at conducting general real estate research online, more than 90 percent of young buyers and sellers rely on their agent to guide them through the complicated process of purchasing their first home.
Gen Z homebuyers are very comfortable using tools like virtual tours and virtual open houses to research homes. Many of them have entered the market for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they've had no choice but to rely even more than usual on virtual tools. This generation of homebuyers is typically very active on social media and uses a wide variety of technological tools to stay in touch. They value home locations that provide a short commute to work, neighborhoods with plenty to do, and homes that they can grow into long-term.
From their agent, they want consistent communication, integrity, expert guidance, honesty, and attentive help with all of the details of closing the deal. With inventory low in many markets, they also count on their agent for help identifying homes that match their needs in their target neighborhoods. They value the experience that agents can provide during negotiations, especially in markets where most homes for sale generate multiple offers. So they're looking for many of the same things as buyers from other generations, but with the added needs that come with being a first-time homebuyer in an unprecedented time for real estate.
How DeltaNET™6 Can Help You Connect with Young Homebuyers
As the number of Gen Z homebuyers continues to rise, it's crucial to have the expertise to guide them through the process of purchasing their first home, along with the right tools to both earn their business and provide them with the best service possible. That's where DeltaNET™6 shines as a real estate all-in-one solution that helps you provide young homebuyers with everything they need to succeed.
While Gen Z homebuyers have their own unique preferences and processes, they are ultimately looking for many of the same things from a home — and a real estate agent — as the generations of young buyers that came before them. With the right tools, the right approach, and a deep understanding of the latest trends in the communities where you do business, you can become a go-to resource for Gen Z homebuyers in your market.
Social media is one of the best tools for real estate agents to build a stand-out digital brand. Research shows real estate professionals are some of the most active voices on social media. Some acquire 30% of their online leads or even more from social channels.
Of course, some haven't seen the results they want just yet.
When you're new to social media, it can be tough to see the connection between a tweet or hashtag and a client meeting on your calendar. But that doesn't mean the potential isn't there, hidden just under the surface.
With the right methods, you can make social media work for you.
Social Media Automation Makes it Easier to Achieve Real Business Value
There's a simple formula for deciding what should be automated.
If something is important, but low-yield . . . automate it!
The more you can automate basic processes that underlie your business, the easier it will be to scale and grow in the future. Real estate marketing is the most natural place to enjoy all the benefits of automation — and because social media can consume so much time, it just may be the prime candidate.
It's easy to get off on the wrong foot with social media when you feel you need to watch it like a hawk.
Social media platforms encourage this level of reactivity. After all, for every minute you spend scrolling your social media feed, advertisers on the platform have the opportunity to sell something to you. Social media automation helps uncouple the bottom-line benefits from the "Fear of Missing Out."
Here are some ways to manage your social media more effectively:
Contact us to learn more about using social media automation to help your business thrive.
If you don't know anything about website and email domains, getting one set up can seem like a daunting task. However, the benefit of having one far outweighs the drawbacks, both in terms of the actual cost of the domain (usually) and the effort required to get it purchased and configured. I promise that it's not as difficult as it seems, and hopefully, this article will steer you in the right direction to get you started.
Before we get into the basics of how to buy and configure a domain, let's take a closer look at some of the benefits of owning and using one. First, ask yourself what's easiest to share with potential customers, and what's going to be easier for them to remember when they want to sit down and start searching for properties. Is it bobsmith.brokeragedomain.com or bobsmithrealestate.com? Not only is bobsmithrealestate.com going to be easier for most customers to remember, but since you can choose just about whatever you want for your domain (as long as nobody else chose it first), you can match it up to your brand to make it that much more memorable. Bob Smith, from our example, could double down on something like "Realtor Bob," have his website at realtorbob.com, and have his email as bob@ realtorbob.com. There might be some stipulations around using "realtor," but you get the idea.
The domain is the perfect way for you to solidify your brand while making yourself that much easier to reach.
That takes us to the next big benefit of having your own domain—hosted email. There's no debating the convenience of using Gmail or Yahoo for your email needs. However, as a matter of further cementing your brand and conveying the professionalism of your business, using an email account through your domain goes a long way. When communicating with someone about a transaction that is potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, wouldn't you feel more comfortable sending emails to bob@bobsmithrealestate.com instead of bobtherealtor@gmail.com?
Depending on the email host you go with, your hosted email account may include a myriad of other features and functionality as well. Office 365, for example, can come with the online version of the Microsoft Office suite. Google can provide hosted email as part of their Google Workspace product that includes numerous collaboration and calendar functionality along with the email account.
There's something to be said for the potential SEO benefit as well. Having a dedicated domain name pointed to your website ensures that all of your website's content is credited to it. This improves the strength of your domain and your brand and can even improve your website's search engine ranking. By itself, just having a domain name attached to your site isn't going to be enough to get you to the top of the search results, but it's a step in the right direction.
Many of the benefits of having a domain aren't just about having one, though. What domain you choose is also very important. Remember that this is about having something easy to remember, easy to type, and something that demonstrates your brand. It's not about trying to predict what customers in your market will search for and buying a domain to match. For example, if you have Bob Smith Realty on your website, logo, and signage, a good domain would be bobsmithrealty.com. If Bob Smith primarily works in the Roslyn, New York market, he might be tempted to buy domains like roslynpropertiesforsale.com and roslynnewyorkrealestate.com. Not only are those too general to be associated with him, but domains aren't search engines. A customer would need to remember that domain and type it in exactly to get to Bob's website. Just searching Google for "Roslyn properties for sale" likely won't have a greater chance of returning Bob's website simply because he has those domains attached to it. Also, since something so general is actually harder for a customer to remember, domains like this will often have the opposite effect from what you were hoping for when you bought it.
When it comes to getting your own domain and attaching it to your website, we make it easy to do through the DeltaNETTM. You'll find a "Purchase / Manage Domains" button on the domain settings page. If you just click that button and follow the instructions to search for and ultimately purchase a domain, the system will do all of the configurations for you. Once you've completed the steps, your new domain will already be set up with an HTTPS security certificate attached and be going to your website.
As far as adding hosted email to that domain or purchasing a domain through a third-party registrar and attaching it to your website, every registrar and email host has an interface that's a little different. This prevents me from being able to give you clear, step by step, instructions. However, I'll lay out the basics.
Both Delta Media Group's® support (assuming you're a Delta client) and the support available through the third-party domain registrar or email host of your choosing will be able to help you with the specifics. The basics of buying a domain come down to going to the registrar of your choice (GoDaddy is currently the most popular, but NameCheap and Network Solutions are others), searching for the domain you want, then following their instructions to purchase it. You can then add it to our system by clicking the "Setup a Domain I Own" button on the domain settings page in the DeltaNET and following the instructions. It will have you add a verification record to your domain, thereby proving to our system that you do own the domain in question, and then have you change your domain's name servers so that we can direct it to your website.
I realize that all sounds very intimidating, but when it really comes down to it, our system will tell you what to do with the domain, and you can then contact your registrar with those instructions. They'll either walk you through the changes or make them for you.
Adding hosted email is a very similar process. You start by choosing the hosted email provider that you want to go with. There are a lot of different hosts out there that offer email accounts at different pricing and with different features, so go with whatever fits you best. A few suggestions would be Google Workspace, Office 365, or Rackspace.
Once you've set up your account at the email host of your choosing, by following their instructions, they will provide you with some DNS records. Assuming your domain is already all set up in our system as per the general directions above, you'll just need to go back to that domain settings page in the DeltaNET, click on the Manage DNS button for the domain you're adding email to, then enter the records that your email host provided. Not everyone is comfortable manipulating DNS records, so that is exactly why our support team is available to help you with any trouble or if you're just worried about breaking something.
The best part of the whole process is that it generally just works once it's done. As long as your billing information stays up to date so that the domain and email hosting accounts can auto-renew, you'll likely never have to touch it again. At that point, your business will have all of the benefits of its own domain: practical benefits like search ranking and marketing, as well as some intangible benefits through the increased professionalism of having your own domain and domain-hosted email. Because there's just something about getting an email at myaccount@ myowndomain.com that makes a business feel more official.
We talk about CRM's every single day in our business. The importance of using one, how to clean up contacts, the benefit of email marketing strategies. Having automations empowering your business with tools like our Social Media Connector for automated posts running to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can make your entire business life easier. What I wanted to share today is how to actually utilize that type of software in ways that will deliver even more tangible results.
One of my largest responsibilities at Delta Media Group® is conducting enterprise-level outbound sales prospecting to find partners to utilize our software. Many people don't know this, but I personally use the DeltaNETTM 6 CRM software in my business every single day, and I'm not a real estate agent. Taking the time to truly USE our product in ways that many of our clients would has been enlightening for me, as I have now discovered real-world applications on how any sales associate could use our platform to find new business opportunities. At the end of the day, real estate agents who make a career out of helping people complete the biggest transaction of their lives are ultimately still salespeople.
Before you can accurately use any CRM, you need to have data in it first. Ironically, I believe this is typically the biggest hurdle that you have to clear to use any CRM. So many real estate agents I've trained and worked with have lists and lists of data. Still, it's nearly unusable to them because of how outdated the information is or the sheer amount of duplicate contacts in their database. Bad data leads to a bad experience for everyone. When you start using any CRM, you need to decide how you would like to load contacts into the platform — uploading those contacts one by one or by uploading the database files and cleaning them up manually.
One of the most useful tools I've found which helped me get started using our CRM platform was DeltaNET's "Merge Contacts" and "Clean Up Customers" tools. It allowed me to have duplicate contacts in my database import quickly flagged, so I could decide which contacts I wanted to keep in the system and which contacts I needed to delete and start fresh with. Any CRM that has tools to help you get your database clean is going to be a necessity to accurately use it for outbound prospecting efforts.
We also have an incredible feature at Delta Media Group that helps make this process even easier for real estate agents. It's a dynamic AI-driven Newsletter tool called "My Customer For Life." This tool takes all the hassle out of an agent needing to manually segment and clean out their list of contacts by tracking the interests of the customers that are receiving an agent's automated newsletter. Here's an example of how it works.
Let's say that I'm a contact that exists inside the database of my agent Charles Copeland. Charles has his automated newsletter set up to run to ALL of his contacts on a bi-weekly basis. So the first time I receive the newsletter from Charles, it contains three articles of content. One buyer article, one seller article, and one home improvement article. If I'm someone curious about selling my home, I might click on that seller article. DeltaNET tracks that click. So two weeks later, when I get Charles' following newsletter, it will now show me two seller articles, along with the other categories of content. Suppose I click on a seller article two newsletters in a row. In that case, the DeltaNET now as- signs me a label of "potential seller," and the newsletters coming from Charles will predominately contain seller content as that is the type of content I was engaging with.
On the agent end of this experience, I have newsletters with great content running every two weeks. It helps segment and build my customer groups (like buyers, sellers, current homeowners) without ever lifting a finger. We're giving the clients content they care about and helping sort and filter ALL of an agent's contacts using this great tool. One last thought to share on My Customer For Life — the agent never needs to worry about adding new content to their newsletter, either. Our marketing team at Delta adds 12 fresh newsletter articles every month to the platform. To date, we have over 650 articles inside of our platform, and that number will only continue to grow!
So now we've got some contacts in our CRM. This is when you can start to get more tactical with your marketing and prospecting strategies. Any CRM worth using will have an "email blast" or "bulk email" feature that allows you to send bursts of emails to hundreds, or thousands, of customers at once.
Let me share an example of how I use this kind of tool in the DeltaNET, and how I've seen real estate agents directly use the same tactic to generate interest in finding new listing opportunities.
In my personal DeltaNET 6 CRM, I've imported thousands of real estate professionals' contacts that I have curated and built over the last six years. These contacts are sorted into groups like "Independent brokerage owners" or "Current Delta Media Group Clients." Something I do in my sales strategies is craft an email that can run to all of my prospects each month. It might be an email talking about a new promotion we're running, or a new product launch, or even the latest REMT magazine issue. I build a great-looking email and schedule it to run on a specific date and time (I've found Tuesday mornings have the best open and click-thru rate for me). I run an email blast to over 4,000 contacts on Tuesday morning, and then I wait.
Wednesday morning rolls around, and I can now go back into the DeltaNET and look at a history of all of the email blasts I've run through the system. If you open up the history of an email you previously sent, you're greeted by a prompt showing you the total number of emails sent, how many were opened, and how many were clicked on. Personally, I then take all of the customers who clicked on one of my emails and put them into a new group that I'll use for dedicated prospecting over the next week. I've essentially used an email blast to find out who is paying attention to my emails and who was interested enough to click on one. For anyone who clicked through my email...they're now on my cold call list!
Finally, let's connect the dots on how to use this in a real estate setting. Let's say you're looking for a way to pick up new listings. You can send an email blast to all of your active clients with information that might give you a clue if they're interested in listing their home anytime soon. Perhaps plug in something related to historically low mortgage rates. Or new communities that are being built/developed in markets you service. Once you have a solid topic, send that email blast to all of your clients and come back the next day to get a list of clients who opened or clicked on your email. It's building you a list of warm prospects that you can follow up with because you know they saw or interacted with your content!
If you'd like to find more great tips on using CRM tools in your business, please like us on Facebook and YouTube, where we regularly share these types of stories and strategies!
Digital marketing might sound complicated, but it doesn't have to be.
Today's digital marketing is inbound, meaning it attracts leads the moment they are most in need of your services. With that in mind, every piece of online marketing you do should help your target buyers or sellers reach their goals. Understand this and you're halfway to success.
What can give digital marketing a feeling of complexity is the wide variety of techniques involved. However, it's not necessary to be everything to everyone. You can focus in on a smaller selection of marketing methods you perform consistently. Plus, real estate marketing automation lets you do more faster. When you dig a little deeper, you discover digital marketing can be easy.
Digital marketing approaches usually fall into one of two categories:
Knowing that, marketing's dual nature becomes obvious: marketing itself is a marathon, but it can be broken down into a series of sprints. Those sprints, in turn, are easier to stick with and produce real results. As you gain more momentum, marketing develops into a series of habits.
Let's cut through the clutter and look at some effective digital marketing methods:
Marketing has many moving parts — but with the right technology, most of them can "move" themselves.
Delta Media Group makes the best in marketing automation accessible to everyone, from solo entrepreneurs to nationwide brokerages. To learn more, contact us.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, 93 percent of real estate clients from all generations rely on real estate websites as a primary source of information when buying or selling a home. How does your real estate website stack up to the competition? In order to capitalize on the immense online interest in all things real estate, there are some essential features that every real estate website should have. With the right mix of features, content, and smart design, you can turn your website into a constant, reliable source of leads for your real estate business.
Responsive Mobile Design
One more interesting statistic from the NAR: 76 percent of all buyers found their next home using a mobile device. And that number is even higher for Millenial and Gen X home buyers. So if you want to maximize the potential of your real estate website, it needs to look and function as great on mobile devices as it does on bigger screens. Responsive mobile design allows your website to scale to any screen size and makes it easy for website visitors to access key features on any device.
IDX Listing Integration and Convenient Search Filters
While many website features pique visitors' interest, the number one reason most people visit real estate websites is to search for listings that match their needs. So IDX listing integration is absolutely essential for any real estate website. It's also important to make sure that people can filter their search based on the features they want in a home to easily fall in love with homes that match their needs.
Informative Real Estate Content
Informative, educational real estate content is key to informing website visitors, demonstrating your expertise, and showing them why you're the right choice for their real estate needs. Whether you maintain a real estate blog, post video content on a reliable schedule, put together information-rich infographics, or ideally all of the above, your content provides a window into what potential clients can expect from your real estate business. Clients especially appreciate content that answers real estate questions, helps them overcome challenges, and dives deep into what buyers can expect when purchasing homes in the markets where you do business.
Social Proof and Social Media Integration
Social proof is one of the best ways to turn website visitors into clients by showing them exactly why your current clients love your real estate business. Featuring testimonials from current clients is a great way to showcase what you have to offer and show prospects the quality of service they can expect when choosing you for their real estate needs. It's also important to make it easy to find all of your social media feeds so people can seamlessly connect and engage with your business on their favorite social media platforms.
Neighborhood Guides for Home Shoppers
While making it easy to search for homes is a great start, it's also crucial to help buyers learn more about the neighborhoods where those homes are located. Neighborhood guides are a great way to help buyers get acquainted with your neighborhoods while finding locations with the attractions, services, amenities, and characteristics that match their needs. Your blog posts and video content are also great places to go deeper into what local neighborhoods have to offer by highlighting local attractions, dining destinations, traditions, events, and anything else interesting about those neighborhoods.
Lead Capture, Calls to Action, and Subscription Forms
With great content, IDX integration, responsive design, and social proof, you already have many of the ingredients that will help turn curious website visitors into strong leads for your business. Now it's time to capitalize on all of those important features by capturing leads and encouraging website visitors to take the next step. It's important to include calls to action throughout your website that encourage people to take that next step, add forms that make it easy for visitors to subscribe to your newsletters, and provide incentives for them to learn more about what you have to offer.
Uncluttered Layout and Intuitive Navigation
All of the great features on a website are only valuable if visitors can easily find them. Making it easy to find everything will also encourage them to stick around on your website for longer periods of time. Avoid cluttering any one page with too much information, and make sure that visitors can easily, intuitively navigate all of the features that your website offers.
While there are essential features that every real estate website should have, there are also many different ways to customize your website within that framework. With the right mix of features and design, your website can be a major asset for your brand. Contact us today to learn how to make the most of your website.
The central challenge of real estate marketing is serving more people without losing the human touch.
Many real estate agents are solo performers. As their business scales up, increasing headcount isn't an option. Instead, they need to find ways to utilize their resources more efficiently. The most cost-effective approach in modern real estate is automation, especially digital marketing automation.
And automation isn't only for one-agent shows.
Teams of any size can achieve more by taking a hands-off approach to repetitious but necessary tasks. That's indispensable to having more time and energy for what really matters. By accelerating what you can achieve in one day, you are prevented from falling into the trap of working ever-increasing hours as business grows.
In other words, real estate marketing automation is the key to work-life balance. It's also one of the most versatile assets you can have at your disposal.
Real Estate Marketing Automation Helps Your Business Scale Effortlessly
If more real estate marketing meant you had to "turn the crank" more every day, the result would be a disaster:
But marketing is a crucial part of growing your presence in the community. Without it, you can easily end up chasing referrals for years to come. The alternative is building a steady stream of leads that will find their way to your website at the precise moment they're most interested in what you have to offer.
In effect, automated real estate marketing plants seeds that come to fruition over time to enhance your results.
Let's look at some of the most significant ways it can change your work life for the better:
Real Estate Marketing Automation Is a True Game-Changer
If you're not using real estate marketing automation, you could end up working morning through night and still falling behind. Luckily, the best automation technology — especially for real estate — is within your reach. Contact us to learn more and get started today.
The valuation of a home is essential to buyers and sellers alike. A property's valuation determines its taxes, influences insurance rates, and plays the biggest role in capping how much even the best-qualified buyers may borrow. For smooth financing, the valuation of a home must be established well in advance — and above all, it must be accurate.
In the past, it wasn't unusual for a professional appraiser to spend dozens of hours working on a single report. Sophisticated valuation processes apply to residential and commercial properties and must consider dozens of factors describing the market and neighborhood.
Sound valuation isn't just about today; it's also an informed projection of a property's future state. This is why, for example, home inspections that turn up problems with plumbing or wiring can have a devastating impact on the appraised value of the home and its financing until the problem is resolved.
Real estate agents are most familiar with the sales comparison method of property valuation. Here, the value of a property is determined with reference to similar local properties that sold recently. Depending on a home's amenities, it may be priced higher or slightly lower than the average.
In 2020, Delta Media Group made it easier than ever for brokerages to provide accurate and informative market intelligence to their clients. Our Recently Sold map enables would-be sellers to get an instant sense of relevant activity in their local market, helping them make informed decisions.
This map tool is part of our AVM (Automated Valuation Model) toolkit, a crucial feature in DeltaNET 6. AVM allows you to quickly and accurately determine property values — all while appealing to the natural curiosity sellers feel as they start to examine the market.
With new AI-driven features, this all-in-one valuation center of excellence is getting better and better.
Delta's AVM Platform Empowers You to Connect and Inform
Word-of-mouth and Fear of Missing Out are often major factors when sellers first start to explore the market. But anecdotes from friends and neighbors can lead them in the wrong direction. They need a clear picture of what's truly happening in their area — and a real estate expert like you to provide it.
Not that long ago, a relatively simple sales comparison in one neighborhood would take days: finding "comps," getting recent sales information, eliminating outliers, and more. With AVM, you can go beyond, harnessing the power of a machine learning engine that seamlessly examines thousands of data points.
Yes, thousands!
Delta Media Group's AVM Platform strives to be the most powerful in the real estate industry, putting you on an even footing with your large, established competitors. Our AVM Platform redefines the game with information your current and future customers can trust, direct from you as their local real estate expert.
In response to the pandemic, we've added features and expanded the most popular ones:
The real estate market moves fast, and a comparative analysis process that takes days could give sellers the wrong impression. With the DeltaNET 6 AVM, you and your clients will always have the best, most accurate, and most comprehensive real estate data for all your pricing needs.
Contact us today to find out more or get started.
Old leads can be a valuable source of new business, but reconnecting does require a mix of touch, tact, and timing. Reconnecting with those old leads is an especially good idea right now, with so many buyers and sellers who put their real estate plans on hold in the last year now looking to get those plans back on track with the help of the right real estate agent. With a good action plan in place, you can heat up those old leads and show them why you're the best choice for their real estate needs.
Take Steps to Ensure That You're Always Ready to Reconnect
Every lead has potential, even if they're not ready to buy or sell right this second. That's why it's so important to learn about your leads and make sure that you have key information ready for when the time is right. When you engage with a lead, note their preferences in your real estate CRM even if they're not ready to take the next step right now. Learn about what types of homes they're interested in if they're a buyer, what their timeline is for buying or selling, and what's motivating them to explore their real estate options.
How Email Marketing Can Help You Reconnect with Old Leads
Email marketing is a great way to keep leads engaged, and the AI-driven campaigns in DeltaNET 6 can help you make sure that your leads are getting the right content at the right time. When you identify an older lead that may now be ready to take the next steps, a personalized email can help you reestablish lines of communication:
Get Social to Learn about Leads and Reconnect
When it comes to both lead generation and re-engagement, social media has tremendous value. If you've connected with an old lead via a social in the past, their social activity can provide valuable insight into when the time is right to reconnect. And even if you don't scout social to find out what leads are up to, social platforms are still an easy way to open lines of communication.
Offer Something in Return and Always Follow Up
Reconnecting with a lead is a great first step, but they may still need a little nurturing before they're ready to make a decision. Offering targeted, valuable real estate content that speaks to their needs is a powerful way to show your value and incentivize them to continue the conversation. No matter how you reconnect with an old lead, always remember to follow up. Your first contact can help create interest, but it may take more outreach before they're truly ready to buy or sell a home.
Do You Have the Right Real Estate CRM to Maximize Your Leads?
The right real estate tool is a huge component in both generating new leads and reconnecting with old ones. Do you have all of the tools you need to generate new business? Contact us to learn more about how DeltaNET 6 can help you take your business to the next level.
Social proof is one of the most important elements of your real estate marketing mix because testimonials and reviews play a key role in helping potential clients decide which real estate company to choose. When a prospect can easily find out what satisfied clients have to say about your business, they will have more confidence that they can trust your agents to help them achieve their own real estate goals. If you've been wondering how to make the most of the testimonials that your business earns, you've come to the right place. Let's take a closer look at maximizing your testimonials and using social proof to earn new business.
Maximizing your testimonials is so much easier with the right real estate marketing team on your side, and we'd love to help you make the most of all your marketing tools. Contact us to learn more about DeltaNET 6 and how we can help you grow your business and take your real estate marketing to the next level.
Real estate has changed quickly over the last year. There are new technologies and new marketing techniques. Some of them leverage trends that were already percolating in the background, accelerated by the pandemic. Others are all-new, the byproduct of the collective ingenuity and creativity of a highly adaptive industry.
Whatever the case, real estate's evolution won't end with COVID-19. On the contrary, agents and brokers should prepare for a fresh era of change — one in which they'll need to draw on recent lessons while connecting with how they can best communicate their unique value to clients.
That's because the time is now to start Zillowproofing your business.
Big or Small, 2021 Is Pivotal to Zillowproofing Your Real Estate Future
Zillow is no longer "just" a place for listings — it's a real competitor.
But don't panic! Zillow has a big budget and even bigger aspirations, but you have competitive advantages that it can never take away. More than that, it can't even come close to replicating them.
Only local real estate pros can:
In sectors of the economy from accountancy to roofing and everywhere in between, motivated professionals and small or mid-sized brands have always found ways to compete successfully with "the big guy." Zillow's brand recognition is a double-edged sword: millions of would-be clients will soon be turning up their noses at the name everyone knows and looking for a local real estate expert who truly cares about their needs.
Meet (and Beat) Zillow on Your Terms: 7 Ways to Get Started Now
What's the biggest takeaway? Don't get spooked! Stay calm, think things through, and make informed choices about your options to stay ahead of the curve. To learn more about real estate digital marketing, contact us today.
There are more tools available than ever before to market your real estate business, but finding the right marketing mix doesn't always feel easy. In order to generate the best ROI with your real estate marketing, it's important to understand both the tools available and how each tool fits with your audience. It also requires a willingness to set goals, and a commitment to tracking results. We'll cover it all, with a closer look at how to generate great ROI with your real estate marketing.
Generating great ROI with your marketing is virtually seamless when you have the right team on your side, and we'd love to help you achieve your marketing goals. With all of the tools in DeltaNET 6 and the help of an experienced real estate marketing team, you can accomplish your goals while making the most of your marketing budget. Contact us today to learn more.
The trend of rising home prices from 2020 has continued with vigor in 2021, and it feels like every month we see a new record high in median home list prices. To say that we're living in a seller's market is a major understatement, as there are simply not enough homes available to meet demand in most markets. While high home values are good news for sellers, buyers feel frustrated with the lack of options available and the premium they must pay to land a home. Why are home prices rising, is there an end in sight, and how can real estate agents manage this unique market? We'll cover it all ahead.
How the Pandemic Has Impacted Home Prices
The COVID-19 pandemic is the elephant in the room when it comes to rising home prices, with both direct and indirect impacts on real estate markets around the world. High demand is a key ingredient nearly any time that home prices start rising, and being required to shelter in place in so many communities throughout 2020 has motivated many people who weren't previously in the market for a home to reconsider the benefits of owning over renting. For people who already owned a home before the pandemic, the challenges of 2020 made it less likely that they would be interested in selling.
While the real estate industry has continued to function throughout the pandemic, both buyers and sellers have had to navigate the necessary safety precautions in place. Virtual tools have helped connect buyers with homes, but both buyers and sellers have been wary of in-person visits to properties in many communities. Many potential sellers have chosen to wait until conditions improve to put their homes on the market, and buyers have been forced to choose from a limited inventory.
When Lack of Inventory Meets Low Interest Rates
The lack of inventory caused by the pandemic coincided with record-low mortgage rates that have put owning a home within reach for a wider pool of potential buyers. Of course, those interest rates dropped largely due to the economic impact of COVID-19, and they presently remain at record lows. When you mix together a paucity of inventory, the lowest interest rates of our lifetimes, and an especially motivated pool of buyers, you have all of the ingredients for the meteoric rise in home prices that we've seen over the last year-plus.
And it's not just the prices that have been so favorable to sellers. It's also the speed with which homes are selling and buyers' willingness to overlook issues with homes that may have made them look elsewhere in less of a seller's market. Buyers are more willing to waive contingencies and purchase homes as-is, while still often making offers above asking price in order to beat out the fierce competition. In the most competitive markets, homes barely have a chance to hit the market before the seller receives multiple high-quality offers.
A Look at the Near Future of Home Prices
Even as home prices continue to rise, there are signs that we will start to see a return to a more balanced real estate market in the relatively near future. COVID-19 vaccines are becoming more widely available, and more communities are beginning to open up as the number of vaccinated people rises. Many potential sellers who have been hesitant to put their homes on the market will feel more comfortable doing so as communities re-open, and an increase in inventory will be a huge factor in stabilizing home prices.
The low interest rates that have motivated many buyers to search for homes in such a competitive market are also likely to rise, as the overall economy begins to return to normalcy. With higher interest rates and more inventory available, we may see more balance between the number of buyers and the number of homes on the market. The when of all this happening is the tricky part during these uncertain times, and individual real estate markets are likely to evolve at their own pace.
How Real Estate Agents Can Navigate the Trends in Home Prices
Whether home prices are rising or falling, the best way to serve your clients is to have the right tools for the job. With DeltaNET 6, you will have all of the tools you need to unlock inventory, market homes, manage relationships, and keep your clients updated on the latest market trends. The right real estate tools help you make the most of the current seller's market, maintain the interest of buyers who are waiting out high home prices, and prepare your clients for what's to come as markets begin to normalize. Contact us today to learn more.
Helpful, informative content is the bedrock of any real estate agent's digital marketing strategy.
In a nutshell, "content" is anything you publish in the hopes of helping current and future clients make informed decisions about real estate. Good content showcases your expertise and previews the value you offer. Content is vital to building a relationship, especially with leads who have not met you in person. Once a lead is on your radar, it might be months before that person takes the next step. Content keeps you in touch.
Blog posts, e-books, and videos are the most common types of real estate content. While you normally publish most content directly on your website, you can always use social media to amplify it further.
Content doesn't just entice visitors to your website, however. It also helps convert leads into customers. As leads do more research, they look for deeper, more specific content. By aligning your content marketing with their needs at different times, you position yourself as a trusted advisor.
Real estate content is indispensable to three critical conversions:
Sure, someone can go directly from social media follower to customer. It's even possible for a prospect to visit your website, fall in love with one of your listings, and schedule an appointment right away.
In many cases, though, people follow this predictable path from prospect to lead to customer. You must have the right content available to move them forward.
Engaging with social media followers is crucial because they may be actively comparing real estate firms. The jump from social media follower to email subscriber is big: Email is much more direct and intimate.
Consider this: In recent years, social media platforms have created algorithm-driven "bubbles" that show users only content they are most likely to respond to. In almost all cases, this results in diminished reach for brands.
On the other hand, email subscribers see your messages every time.
Well-designed real estate lead magnets create the bridge you need.
Lead Magnets Set the Stage for a Lasting and Lucrative Relationship
A lead magnet is a piece of real estate content specially designed to move the relationship forward. It does this by meeting your social media followers precisely where they are and giving them highly valuable information and insights they can't find anywhere else.
What distinguishes a great lead magnet is this: It is something they can use right away.
Master this formula, and you'll turn your social media feed into a lead engine. Followers get lead magnets for free, but they must join your email subscriber list to receive one. This uplevels your relationship.
Let's look at the most effective real estate lead magnets on Facebook:
Social media lead magnets work best as part of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Marketing automation makes the whole process faster and easier for you. To find out more, contact us at Delta Media Group today.
Being a real estate agent often means wearing many hats, and it's so easy to feel like there's not enough time in the day to tackle every task. Fortunately, managing relationships, marketing, inventory, and leads is so much easier when you have the right tools for the job. That's why every agent and real estate firm can benefit from a customer relationship management (CRM) system. The right real estate CRM can be a true boon to your business, allowing agents to convert more leads, unlock inventory, maximize marketing, and free up more time for closing deals.
Unlock Your Inventory With DeltaNET 6
How Every Real Estate Agent Can Benefit from a CRM
The best CRM offers solutions for real estate agents' diverse needs and streamlines the many daily tasks that drive new business. It's both a centralized hub for collecting key client information and a suite of tools for putting that information to work. Perhaps most importantly, it's a major time-saver, with seamless integration of all the tools that agents need to manage relationships from the "nice to meet you" stage to closing day.
Make the Most of Your Marketing and Save Time with Automation
Without the right tools, marketing can be a massive time-sink. The right real estate CRM helps agents save time with AI-driven marketing automation and all the most important, reliable tools for generating new business. Whether it's managing social posts, creating content, setting up online advertising, blasting bulk emails, earning online reviews, or collecting testimonials, DeltaNET 6 makes it easy to manage all of your marketing in one place. With less time spent on marketing, agents can spend more time connecting clients with homes.
Nurture Existing Leads and Uncover New Opportunities
In addition to its many other functions, your CRM is also a repository of information on clients and leads. The more you learn (and remember!) about a lead, the easier it is to earn their business. Your CRM makes it easy to record information on leads and put that information to work. With DeltaNET 6, agents can harness the power of AI for drip email campaigns, newsletters, and follow-up action plans that turn leads into clients.
Connect Clients with Homes and Manage Your Inventory
Real estate clients want to work with agents who "get" them, and connecting clients (or prospects) with the right homes shows that you understand their needs. When working with a new client, you can record all of their home preferences in your CRM and connect them with homes in your inventory that check all of their boxes. Sending listings that perfectly match the client's preferences is an easy way to show them that you're the right choice for their needs.
DeltaNET 6 makes it easy to collect client information so that it's always there when agents need it, and it even provides monthly market reports on all of your market areas for clients who want to stay informed. Our Open House Connector helps agents register clients for open houses through automated marketing campaigns, generate reports from open houses, and follow up automatically after the open house is completed.
Why DeltaNET 6 Is the right Choice for Your Real Estate Success
DeltaNET 6 makes it easy for agents to handle the real estate sales process from start to finish, with tools for marketing, generating leads, nurturing those leads, and unlocking your inventory by connecting buyers with homes. Agents love the intuitive, easy-to-use platform and automated, time-saving tools. With so much time saved on daily tasks, agents have more freedom to do what they do best. Contact us today to get started.
You may have a secret identity as a mild-mannered real estate pro. When it comes to connecting with the people who can move your practice forward, however, you turn into a superhero — whether you know it or not!
Everyone brings their own skills and perspective to the field of real estate. It's no surprise, then, that everyone has a different grab bag of real estate competencies they pick up faster or enjoy the most. Experimenting with different techniques is essential for discovering your own marketing superpower.
It wasn't that long ago when everyone in real estate was expected to be a rollicking extrovert. Marketing in real estate was synonymous with in-person events: everything from open houses to business networking to town hall meetings. Being seen as frequently as possible was a principal goal.
Certain types of face-to-face events are still extremely powerful. But agents and brokers are now equipped with a wide range of options that allow them to think differently about marketing and their place in it. Specifically:
No matter what you recognize as your superpower, it's okay to lead with your strengths. Some real estate experts sell a huge portion of their listings through social media. Others are energized by open houses or virtual tours. With the right technology, you can multiply your efforts while staying focused on your core interests.
Here are some superpowers that turn ordinary real estate agents into extraordinary Men and Women of Steel:
Contact us at Delta Media Group to learn how DeltaNET takes your superpowers to the next level.
What's moving your business forward?
In the old days, there was virtually no way to know. Real estate agents relied almost exclusively on face-to-face contact, attending events in the community, and handing out business cards or fridge magnets. After that initial conversation, it could be months before they heard from a prospect again — if ever.
Today, we have the benefit of a wealth of data and plenty of ways to use it.
Every time someone visits your website, they generate a vast treasure trove of useful information. Each session tells you where someone first found your website and what they did once they got there. That includes every page they looked at and how long they spent at each step in the journey.
Once you master your data, you can consistently improve your website, making it a better experience for all your visitors. Improvements of 2%-3% a month gradually turn into competitive advantages in your local market. But where do you start the process of becoming fluent with your data?
When your digital marketing is handled through an all-in-one, AI-driven solution like DeltaNET 6, you'll enjoy an amazingly granular view of your data. Still, it takes time to see how it all fits together. Here are some pieces of the puzzle you'll want to get familiar with first:
Continuous Monitoring Helps You Turn Data into Actionable Insights
New data is generated every day, but that doesn't mean it always has new things to tell you. Get into the habit of putting aside one or two days at the same time each month to do a deep dive into fresh data. That's long enough to see which way trends are pointing, short enough to tie causes to effects.
With DeltaNET 6, key digital marketing features like search engine optimization and social media marketing are built right in, ready for you to customize or automate as you see fit. You can even automate entire Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns with AdWizard. ROI on all your initiatives is easier to measure than ever.
Managing your data has a learning curve, but it equips you to supercharge your real estate marketing. To find out more, contact us.
Digital technology is the ticket to accelerating the sales process. That's especially vital today, as pandemic-related uncertainty continues to shape the behaviors of both buyers and sellers. The right technology means fewer steps must be completed in person, helping everybody to move forward with confidence.
A faster closing leads to better results for sellers, protecting their property from languishing on the market. To hasten this complex process without sacrificing quality, agents must integrate forward-looking technology at every step. A seamless, all-in-one approach to home marketing is essential. For modern real estate agents, that means fully embracing digital.
Let's look at some of the most important pieces in today's real estate technology puzzle:
To expedite the home sale process while delivering superior customer care, more agents are adopting DeltaNet 6, an AI-driven center of excellence for all their digital real estate marketing. To learn more, contact us today.
Over the last decade, automation has become one of the most important tools for real estate agents.
With the right software, it's possible to automate complex, multi-step tasks that once took hours to complete. For example, DeltaNET 6 customers benefit from an all-in-one real estate solution that automates social media, email drip campaigns, and much more — potentially saving thousands of hours a year.
At Delta Media Group, we've heard time and again from agents and brokers who have built their workflow on a handful of software products that work best for them. Although many of these products were not designed to work together, they now form the foundation of day-to-day operations.
These professionals want the power of DeltaNET 6, but they don't want to reinvent the wheel by replacing other software they already use. Our new partnership with Zapier provides the answer. Zapier is an integrated automation solution that enables you to use your existing software in amazing new ways.
With Zapier, All Your Apps Can Talk to Each Other Like Never Before
Zapier facilitates communication between diverse online applications, paving the way for superior compatibility. That means no more "workarounds" to get apps from different developers to work together efficiently. You can orchestrate all-new workflows where multiple applications share and act on incoming data.
Zapier's customizable workflows are called "Zaps." They perform actions based on a trigger.
Here's one common Zap:
You receive an email in your work Gmail that includes an attachment
In response to the trigger, Zapier tells your antivirus to scan the file
In response to the clean scan, the file is sent to your work Dropbox
When a new file reaches your Dropbox, Slack alerts you to its arrival
Zaps allow for forking conditions so you can create sophisticated logic without human intervention. In the Zap above, for example, it would make sense to delete the infected file if the antivirus scan turns up a problem. The sender could then be blacklisted or receive an automated response based on their identity.
Zapier takes the guesswork out of application interoperability. As a Zapier user, you become the architect of your workday. A solo agent can do the work of a whole team and a small team can compete head-to-head with the largest, most established agencies in their market. And now, it's all available from your DeltaNET 6 interface.
DeltaNET 6 Zapier Integration is Another Step Forward in Automation for Real Estate
Zapier is the conductor that makes more than 3,000 apps sing. Seamless access to all Zapier's features right in DeltaNET 6 makes it even