After the conference, we had the chance to check out a new event that takes place in downtown Indianapolis the third Thursday of every month from 4:30-6:30, Downtown Diggs, a series of downtown open houses to allow you to experience what Indianapolis has to offer in downtown living.  This week’s event was capped off with an event at the Skyline Club, hosted by one of our clients, Nathan Pfahler.  I don’t think you can get a better few of the city than this and the hospitality was great!

We’ve had a very exciting year of adding new features and enhancements to our real estate service.  We now offer SMS Text Messaging, Toll Free Voice Messaging, and Virtual Tour (both mobile optimized and online) in packages priced at what our competitors would charge for just 1 of those services.  We’ve also sought expertise in web site design, blogging, social media and email in order to bring these applications to our clients looking to take their real estate business to a whole new level.

How can we help you?  Visit our site at www.digitalhomeinfo.com or contact us at info@digitalhomeinfo.com or 877.250.5277.

How long have you been a realtor?  

I have been a Realtor for 4 years

What made you get into real estate?

After being in the corporate world for several years after college, I decided that I needed to do something that would not limit me in any aspect.  I can run my business the way that I want, in a more effective and profitable way.

What’s your favorite area to show homes and why?

I don’t have a favorite area. I show homes all over Indianapolis and beyond!  I have no boundaries!  It’s just really amazing when I walk into a house with a client, and I can tell the moment that they decide that it is their new home.

What do you do in your spare time?

I play tennis, run, hike, golf, read, and go to the pool or lake.  I also enjoy spending time with my family.  Attached is a photo of my sisters and I hanging out during a recent trip together.

What impact has mobile marketing had for you?

It has made information on a house even easier to get without talking to a Realtor right away…who wants to do that? LOL!  It does allow me the opportunity to follow up with potential buyers in the manner in which they request information (text, call or email).  It also appeals to the sellers because it is another avenue of advertising that many Realtors aren’t utilizing (yet).  I’ve earned the business of sellers simply by showing them all of the resources I use in order to sell homes. 

Any additional information that you would like to share?

The market is coming back and that makes everyone happy!!!

Want to learn more about Amy?  Visit her site @ http://www.amysiewe.com/ or check out one of the FREE Real Estate Happy Hours that she hosts.  The next one is coming up on Monday September 14^th:  Click HERE to hold your spot!

How long have you been a realtor?   What made you get into real estate?

This is our 9th year in real estate.  We had positions with major corporations, relocated and moved a number of times, and sold a number of homes in Cleveland, Columbus, and Chicago (if the city didn’t start with a “C” we didn’t move there…we’ve  lived in Chagrin Falls/Bainbridge for 21 years).  We were so involved in real estate with all our moves, that becoming Realtors seemed like a natural transition.

What’s your favorite area to show homes and why?

Chagrin Falls, Ohio is such a unique little town.  Most of the buildings are either 100 years old or older or built to look like they have been around for 100 years.  It’s businesses still function and the town could be in the middle of Anywhere, USA.  When relocation is the reason for a move to our area, it’s fun to see the looks on people’s faces when we drive into town for the first time.  There is actually a waterfall in Chagrin Falls in the center of town.  The famous Popcorn Shop Factory is located right alongside the falls…also a great place to get an ice cream cone.

What do you do in your spare time?

We really like to visit our grandchildren.  The older 3 live in Wadsworth, Ohio via Chattanooga & Hartford (Tommy -17, Frankie – 15, and Katherine – 12).  We have 2 that live in Goshen, NY via Columbus (Andrew – 3 and     Aubree -2).  The youngest live in Alaska, via Reno/Tahoe and New Zealand (Benjamin and Jonathan 9 month old twins).  The visits aren’t nearly as frequent as we would like.  Thank goodness for the Skype video phone calls.

*In the photo above, Jim & Joan share time with family in New York.

What impact has mobile marketing/social media had for you?

When working for the Cleveland Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, we were teaching our members how to network.  Now we are back to being the students.  To date, most of the impact has been the time and effort spent to initiate programs that will benefit our clients.  We’ve realized the importance of developing and sharing information that will benefit the Home Buyers and Home Sellers that we work with and allow us to attract new clients.

Any additional information that you would like to share?

There are many parts to a real estate transaction.  We believe that there are 2 important parts of being a good realtor.  Part A is to be a good resource.  We provide the right information to arm every buyer and seller with the data they need and want.   Part B is to be a good friend.  To be a good friend, we do a lot of listening to get to know and understand our clients.  The better we understand them, the more we can help them through the buying and selling process.  This can be a stressful time, and sometimes all we need to do is listen.  We don’t make decisions for our friends.  We give them good advice and information so that they can make good decisions.

Want to learn more about this real estate team?    www.yourclevelandrealtors.com

Our API provides clients with the ability to:

Deliver messages to one Cell Phone
Deliver messages to an entire Text Club.
Schedule Messages for delivery at a later date.
Initiate a Text Club Opt-in Process.
Unsubscribe (Opt-out) a subscriber.
Check the status of delivered messages.
Retrieve the number of subscribers for a particular Text Club.
Retrieve the Mobile Subscribers’ numbers for a particular Text Club.
Set up an Initial Message to be delivered to a new subscriber.

Each time an action is submitted the API returns a status, error code and ticketid. The error code and status can be looked up in the API documentation. The ticketid is used to check the status of that transaction. You can tell if a message has been delivered, is waiting in queue, or was undeliverable.

We are very pleased to have our API publicly available and are constantly working to enhance it and add new functionality. In the near future we expect to add the following features:

Add new Keywords to an Account.
Manage Real Estate Accounts.
Deactivate Keywords on an Account.
Change account information (Billing address, logo, etc…)
Expanded Reporting via API.

If you have questions or want more information please feel free to contact us:

info @ connectivemobile.com

We will keep you up to date as we make enhancements and modifications to our API.

Is it really just as easy as placing a sign in the yard? The answer to that is yes and no. Placing a sign in the yard will develop leads and those leads will turn into customers, but in order to get the most out of your mobile marketing tools you should first exercise the full options of your mobile tools and then integrate the mobile tools into your overall marketing strategy.

The first part of this is utilizing the full options of your mobile tools. What does this mean? Well for the package that Connective Mobile offers this means using the Call, Email (adding attachments, pictures, MLS sheets, etc… to the email), Contact and More Information option features that come with every listing.

Once you have set up the options you want to use, it is time to integrate the messaging tools into your overall marketing plan. This means including the property code in your other advertising.

Here are just a few things that some of our clients attribute their success with using Digital Home Info (our real estate marketing service that features text messaging):

1) Include the property code in your newspaper, magazine and online listing ads. You will enhance your ability to deliver information to a buyer and your ability to capture lead information for follow up.

2) Remove the paper flyers from the property and place only the Text Messaging and Toll Free signs in the yard. This will encourage buyers to seek information through this service increasing your lead captures.

3) Promote the Text and Toll Free service as a part of your marketing strategy to prospective sellers to let them know that you are up to date with the latest technology and using it to sell their home.

4) Include links to your web site, your email address and contact information in the Text Messages and Toll Free message. This will drive traffic to you through your site or direct contact.

5) Use the Text Messaging and Toll Free service on every property! The more visible your service is, the greater the usage will be. (This is one of the reasons we price our service to include unlimited listings, we want our service in front of every home.)

Thanks to all of our realtors who have shared their success stories.  We look forward to hearing more.  How have you used mobile applications for real estate?

Seth Godin and Tom Peters

Mobile marketing has the ability to deliver information to buyers in a quick, easy, and timely fashion helping Realtors be responsive to requests for information automatically.  Over the last few years our society has become more and more mobile oriented. There are approximately 260 million cell phone plans in use in the USA, out of a population of just over 300 million. That covers about 86% of the population. With such a deep market penetration and the growing capabilities of these devices, mobile marketing becomes a natural space for Realtors to reach new buyers.

The question is what mobile technology should I use? There are many technologies for use in mobile marketing and in order to use it effectively you have to be able to reach buyers in the way that they are most willing to communicate. For some buyers this is a phone call directly to the agent, others prefer to get information before talking to agents. This is why a program that offers a well rounded mobile technology package is required to reach the majority of buyers.

What is a well rounded mobile technology package?  Based on what we’ve seen and heard, we think a well rounded mobile marketing package incorporates voice, email, text messaging and the web. By using all of these technologies Real Estate Agents can enable prospective buyers to retrieve information instantly via text, listen to a recording about the home property, contact the realtor directly, and get in-depth information via email or web site. At the same time the agents are enabling buyers to learn more about their properties, the mobile marketing package should also be capturing lead data for the agent.  While we are seeing many home buyers take the initiative to reach out to the Realtor, we also provide the agent the information about when a request was made, the phone number the request was made from and the property that was inquired about.

Our company offers Real Estate Agencies, Brokers and Agents the ability to communicate with prospective buyers using Text Messaging (SMS), Toll Free Numbers, Email and Mobile Web. All of these mediums meet the differing desires and demands of buyers and increase the number of leads generated for the Realtor. 

We’re excited about the number of Realtors who are currently using our service.  The number continues to grow each day as our customers share our service with their colleagues.

On October 7, 2008 we had the opportunity to attend a sales rally hosted by RE/MAX Realtors. The event was held in the newly minted Lucas Oil Stadium here in Indianapolis, IN. This was my first time in the new stadium and I must say that it is an incredibly impressive facility. If you get the chance I would highly recommend attending an event there. The event itself was quite enjoyable.   We met hundreds of realtors and made many new friends with other vendors. Many of the real estate agents seemed to be quite excited about our Property Lead Suite and quite a few signed up that day.

The agents seemed most excited about our integrated Text and Voice program which offers unlimited text and voice listings for one low monthly price, $39.95. Included in this package are real-time online reporting including phone number and email address capture, email delivery with attachments (pictures, mls sheets,etc…) , and connect now options. We believe that this is the most comprehensive text and voice package being offered to the real estate industry.

We want to congratulate Brian DeMarco, the winner of our prize package. The prize package consisted of 6 months of free text and voice service, 3 yard signs or riders and a $25 gift card.

Thanks to RE/MAX and all of the real estate agents and brokers we met for letting us join them at this great event!