Counselor Realty Locks Up HomeActions and New Lead Scoring Service
MINNEAPOLIS (JUNE 29, 2020) -- Counselor Realty, an agent-owned powerhouse in the Twin Cities and Greater MN market, is teaming up with the HomeActions platform for agent email marketing and relationship building. HomeActions' exclusive program provides contact database building, nurturing, intelligence and insulation. Starting out, HomeActions appears as the best-in-class, customized e-newsletter. The bi-weekly system delivers lead-generating "Conversation Starters" through its hyper-local content, widgets and predictive metrics. Email addresses that are entered into the agent's HomeActions dashboard become exclusive to that agent. HomeActions will not be available to competing brokerages for a designated period. "NEW" Lead Scoring Launching: Agents have been asking for ways to benefit from AI-powered capabilities. HomeActions will be adding even more predictive metrics that are developed from the new Lead Scoring 360 system. The goal is to help brokers and agents focus on the segment of their database that is "Warming Up" and likely to transact in the next 3-6 months. Presentation on the lead scoring system at: https://midd.me/RG7n Albert Clark, HomeActions President, commented on the agreement, "All brokerages know real estate is a numbers game. The more contacts agents can make, the better they can nurture these relationships, the better their numbers. We share this core mission with Counselor." Counselor CEO Nick Dreher has seen his teammates' results with HomeActions and wants to make sure his agents can "lock-up" all their email contacts…and benefit from AI-powered tools. More importantly, Counselor now can preempt the competition. Nick offered, "Not only will we be able to embrace the HomeActions platform and the new Lead Scoring, but we now have a real differentiator for our new agents to deploy once they move to Counselor." About HomeActions HomeActions provides custom-branded digital marketing solutions complete with professionally written articles for real estate professionals. HomeActions articles and widgets portray agents as trusted advisors. Our goal is to help agents create and nurture relationships that lead to long-term success. With instant engagement alerts on "Predictive Articles" and widgets, as well as robust reporting, the system generates real-time conversation starters, leads and consistent top-of-mind awareness. For more information, visit http://www.HomeActions.net. About Counselor Realty The prime purpose of Counselor Realty is to develop experienced agents so that our customers and clients receive superior service and value. We believe in healthy communities and support individual and corporate opportunities to serve and support the communities we work and live in. We believe in the value of local agent ownership, building vested interest and growing personal success.

MoxiWorks Launches New Real Estate Referrals System, Intros
SEATTLE, September 24, 2019 -- MoxiWorks, a leading real estate technology platform, announced they have launched a real estate referrals system for their MoxiEngage CRM called Intros. Intros is an innovative, refreshed approach to leads, providing an end-to-end referral generation and management system. Intros takes leads generated on brokerage websites, purchased from a lead provider, generated by MoxiWorks partners, or from existing databases that need to be revisited. All leads are qualified and nurtured by real humans until they're ready for a friendly introduction to an agent. After the personal introductions are made between the agent and future client, Intros routes the referrals directly into the agent's MoxiEngage CRM account for follow-up. York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks said, "It's no secret that, as T3 Sixty estimates, lead conversion rate sits sub one percent in our industry. However, when leads are processed carefully, and relationships are cultivated through nurturing them, conversion rates rise and brokerages can expect much happier agents, a better consumer experience, and more closed transactions." "We are very excited about the new MoxiWorks Intros referral program! Our agents are extremely productive and a focus on the most important income generation activities is a high priority. With Intros, we rest easy knowing that our online leads are taken care of. From a speedy response to regular follow-ups, we are seeing increased opportunities and building stronger relationships with our clients. Thank you to the Moxi team! We are looking forward to continued success," said Marcus Martin, VP of Brokerage Operations at RE/MAX Metro. MoxiWorks is also deepening integrations with partners, such as QuantumDigital, who is enhancing lead generation through digital media and print marketing efforts. "The new MoxiWorks Intros service is a well thought out lead qualification model that provides an excellent and consistent experience for both the participating agents and consumers. Our integrated and automated Just Listed and Just Sold geo-targeting Facebook lead ads and smart direct mailers help Intros target local neighborhood seller listing leads. We're very excited to be the advertising and lead generation engine for this new innovative service and a component of the current overall MoxiWorks platform!" said Eric Cosway, EVP and CMO of QuantumDigital. Unlike typical lead providers, MoxiWorks will only charge a referral fee when a transaction actually occurs to ensure high quality introductions. There is no minimum lead volume requirement. Treves Hokama, VP of Strategic Initiatives at MoxiWorks said, "Leads need love. Cold internet leads require an agent to contact, qualify, and nurture many leads to discover one customer. Intros accomplishes this. We provide high-activity agents with personal introductions to people who are ready to work with a real estate professional. This will transform an agent's day, focusing more on people and less on prospecting. This fulfills MoxiWorks' vision of collaborating with brokers and agents – let's sell more homes together!" To find out more, visit go.moxiworks.com/intros. About MoxiWorks MoxiWorks is a comprehensive open platform system for large residential real estate brokerages that serves over 80 brokerages and 130,000 agents nationwide that account for more than 13% of the transactions in the U.S. MoxiWorks’ customer retention over the past seven years stands proudly at 96%. Their integrated tools are centered on sphere methodology that increases agents’ repeat and referral business by 54%, while lowering overall technology, training, and support costs for the brokerage. The open platform known as the MoxiCloud has tools from more than 50 partners that integrate to create unique brokerage solutions. MoxiWorks also powers the LeadingRE Cloud. Find more information at moxiworks.com.

Delta Media Group Doubles Down on Real Estate Technology with a New Pipeline Management System
Innovation, ease of use and agent adoption are the key to a successful technology implementation – Delta Media Group is leading the charge. CANTON, OH (Oct 30, 2018) -- Powering more than 65 of the top Leading Real Estate Companies of the World in North America, Delta Media Group is extending its leadership in high quality broker technology websites and lead-to-close technology with the announcement of their Pipeline Manager. Based on extensive customer feedback, Delta Media Group has made continuous improvements to the platform allowing the delivery of world class website design, smooth integrations, increased agent adoption and a greater depth of industry offerings to help companies run their business more efficiently and with greater profit. "The new Pipeline manager offers a powerful new way for real estate firms, teams and sales associates to manage and customize their business workflows," shares Michael Minard, President of Delta Media Group. "We are delivering the visibility, compliance and control that real estate firms and sales associates need to run their business properly in this age of technology." There are several key elements with the new Pipeline Manager dashboard that real estate firms and teams of all sizes will find compelling: Comprehensive, segmented list of all clients List of tasks to be completed today Calendar integration providing a visual of all upcoming events Sales pipeline showing actual sales to goal for the year Quick access via SSO to the most popular industry tools "The most successful sales associates, real estate firms, and teams in the industry actively manage their businesses. With our new Pipeline Manager we are making this management more streamlined, efficient, and effective. This is the tool I would want if I owned a real estate business and it will continue to evolve and mature over the coming months making it even stronger," said Michael Minard, President of Delta Media Group. About Delta Media Group Delta Media Group is the enterprise marketing and business management solution for many real estate professionals across the country. Servicing over 65 of the top Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® and hundreds of brokers nationwide. Delta partners with its customers at the point where marketing meets technology, helping clients successfully run their real estate businesses and maximize profits. Delta Media Group was founded in 1994 and has grown to become the leading real estate website and lead management developer in the country.

Shorter Lead Incubation Creates a 4x ROI
In this video, broker Jason Huerkamp shares why his company gets good ROI from realtor.com: "The leads are better quality and for every dollar invested four are returned..."

Nick Libert: Let agents with best results converting leads define best practices
A number of sales associates have refined the process of response and follow-up to online leads. Often, it is the real life experiences that are most meaningful in conversion coaching.

George Chopoff converts leads with Five Street
Watch this short video to learn how this office distributes and converts incoming leads with FiveStreet.

RE/MAX Appoints ReferralExchange to Approved Supplier Program
New strategic alliance with Referral Powerhouse brings the power of Agent-to-Agent referrals to RE/MAX Affiliates in the U.S. SAN FRANCISCO--ReferralExchange, the real estate referral leader, has been named by RE/MAX, LLC, one of the world's leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services to their Approved Supplier Program. The RE/MAX Approved Supplier Program is one of the largest of its kind in the real estate industry. "We are excited to have been chosen for this program and to work closely with RE/MAX affiliates around the country," said Scott Olsen, CEO of ReferralExchange. "We offer RE/MAX brokerages an option for monetizing leads that they're not working, and providing trusted referrals anywhere in the U.S." With over 23,000 agent members, ReferralExchange is one of the fastest-growing referral services in real estate. The network participated in over 125,000 agent/client matches in 2016 and over $3 billion in real estate property sold. ReferralExchange has referral-ready real estate agents in all 50 states (100% of US Zip Codes) who have all been vetted and have years of experience and positive recommendations. ReferralExchange will be participating at the upcoming R4 Conference in February, 2018. "Our goal is always to provide RE/MAX Affiliates with access to an exclusive group of Approved Suppliers who can serve their professional real estate needs," said Mike Ryan, executive vice president, RE/MAX, LLC. "ReferralExchange takes excellent care of every referral in their network and provides complete transparency and peace of mind for our agents." The program is available to RE/MAX Affiliates through the dedicated Approved Suppliers portal. ReferralExchange is offering Affiliates a special discounted rate. Learn more at https://shop.remax.net. About the RE/MAX Network RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger, with an innovative, entrepreneurial culture affording its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence. Over 115,000 agents provide RE/MAX a global reach of more than 100 countries and territories. Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX when measured by residential transaction sides. RE/MAX, LLC, one of the world's leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RMCO, LLC, which is controlled and managed by RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RMAX). With a passion for the communities in which its agents live and work, RE/MAX is proud to have raised more than $157 million for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals® and other charities. For more information about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit www.remax.com/newsroom. About ReferralExchange ReferralExchange, the nation's top real estate referral company, is dedicated to creating great real estate experiences between real estate professionals and customers. Founded in 2005, ReferralExchange has built an invite-only network of over 23,000 top-performing Realtors. In 2016, the network created over 120,000 agent-to-consumer matches.

SmartZip Adds Lead Qualification and Concierge Service to its Predictive Marketing Platform
SmartZip Outreach mobilizes a team of inside sales agents who engage and pre-qualify likely home sellers identified by predictive analytics PLEASANTON, Calif., July 18, 2017 -- SmartZip Analytics, Inc., the leader in predictive marketing technology for real estate and related industries, has announced SmartZip Outreach, a lead qualification and concierge service that augments its SmartTargeting platform to proactively verify the selling intent of predicted homeowners. Inside sales agents qualify and engage local seller prospects that have been identified by SmartZip's predictive algorithms and transfer hot leads directly to the local agent for follow-up. "For real estate agents, bridging the gap between cold lead and qualified lead can be difficult and time-consuming. Often times, opportunities are lost when agents get busy and are unable to connect with good listing prospects fast enough," said Rajeev Kalavar, SmartZip's Executive Vice President of Product, Strategy and Operations. "SmartZip Outreach ensures that our clients are the first to reach out and connect with a likely home seller, and is designed to help agents nurture and grow relationships with these prospects for the long-term." SmartZip Outreach is powered by experienced inside sales agents (ISAs) who call targeted homeowners from an agent's market area or sphere. In each call, the ISAs leverage proprietary scripts designed to non-invasively extract the homeowner's selling intent and timeframe. The ISAs are trained to recognize immediate home seller opportunities, which are instantly transferred to the agent for personal follow-up. Homeowners who plan to sell in the next few months are nurtured via phone calls, text and email, in addition to SmartTargeting's automated nurture campaigns, until they are ready to speak with the agent about listing their home. If the seller prospect does not show any indication of selling, the inside sales agent attempts to identify referral opportunities before disqualifying them from the agent's pipeline. SmartZip Outreach's early adopters have been impressed with how the ISAs are able to build relationships with potential local sellers before passing off the hot leads to the agent for direct follow-up. "I just recently launched another campaign using SmartZip Outreach and I'm impressed with the early results," said Scott Newman, broker/owner of Newman Realty in Chicago, Illinois. "I love the idea of saving time by only speaking to homeowners who are thinking of selling in the near future. This new feature further saturates my farm with my brand and positions me as the absolute go-to resource for selling homes in the area." Qualified leads from data-backed predictions Historical industry data shows that when such a service prospects a database of traditional, non-targeted homeowners, it generates one lead or nurture contact every 35 conversations on average. By contrast, in the initial alpha test of SmartZip Outreach based on SmartTargeting's predicted seller targets, the service has seen an improvement of 2x or more, with the ISAs sourcing a lead every 18 conversations on average. SmartZip client Leah Quintana of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has reported strong results in her short time using Outreach. "SmartZip Outreach has been a fantastic new feature to put in my tool belt," said Leah, a RE/MAX Elite agent who participated in the alpha test. "It has been amazing to see that the inside sales agent callers could generate five times as many leads when working from a list of predicted sellers instead of my whole database. It's saving me a ton of time, and it saves me a lot of money. It is early in my campaign and I have already been able to secure a listing. I am very happy!" Rollout and package options After the highly successful Alpha test, SmartZip Outreach is now available to both new and existing clients. Agents who commit to SmartZip Outreach can request that the ISAs contact only their top-ranked predicted sellers — the top 20% of the owners in their geographical farm — or every contact within their farm. Outreach can be purchased as an add-on service with only a two-month commitment. Results have shown to increase over the long-term, with continued and consistent outreach from the ISAs to top targets. Early adopter discounts are available for current and new SmartTargeting clients who sign up this month. "For eight years, SmartZip has been laser-focused on not only developing the most accurate home seller predictions in the industry, but also in making predictive analytics actionable for busy agents and brokers," said Kalavar. "We expect that adding this lead qualification and concierge service to our SmartTargeting platform will immediately elevate the success of agents who recognize the value of predictive analytics, but lack the time or resources to qualify and win over predicted sellers in their area." ABOUT SMARTZIP ANALYTICS, INC. SmartZip Analytics is a national leader in predictive marketing solutions for real estate, lending and related industries. Using patent-pending home intelligence, predictive analytics and automated marketing campaigns, SmartZip's SmartTargeting platform offers an integrated solution that can identify top home seller prospects accurately, engage them through targeted online and offline marketing campaigns, and help close more business with smart nurturing and prospecting tools. SmartZip is backed by Intel Capital, Claremont Creek Ventures, Crest Capital, Javelin Venture Partners, Cue Ball Capital, Toba Capital and ORIX Growth Capital, and is headquartered in Pleasanton, CA.

Adwerx Announces Spacio Integration
New collaboration adds digital advertising power to open house follow-ups DURHAM, N.C., June 28, 2017 -- Adwerx, the leading provider of localized digital advertising for over 40,000 U.S. real estate agents and brokers has partnered with Spacio, pioneers of the paperless open house, on a new integration to bring their two products together in a single workflow for agents and brokers. "Automating as many services as we can is a way that we continue to add value for our customers," said Jed Carlson, CEO of Adwerx. "This new partnership allows Spacio users to easily put open house attendees into an advertising campaign with no additional steps needed." Spacio's elegant visitor registration solution automates lead capture and follow-up. The company's analytics and customer insights provide contact verification, lead quality scoring, and insights on each lead. The broker-level version delivers real-time visibility over company-wide open house activities tying them directly to agent and office activity for more effective decision making. "Spacio helps agents and brokerages create relationships with new customers from the moment of contact at an open house," added Spacio CEO and co-founder Melissa Kwan. "This partnership deepens that, allowing our users to make sure these valuable new contacts become part of their ongoing advertising campaigns." The integration is now live inside the Spacio paperless open house product. Spacio and Adwerx debuted the product during a webinar with Inman News on June 20 on ways real estate agents and brokers can use automation to streamline their businesses. For media, interviews or speaking inquiries, please contact [email protected]. About Spacio Spacio's intelligent open house solution streamlines outdated real estate processes and reduces lost opportunities. Spacio helps agents maximize open house lead generation opportunities by automating lead capture and follow up, allowing agents to easily reconnect with potential buyers and convert more leads over time. In an industry founded on relationships, Spacio is a game changer. The tool is sleek, modern, easy to use and impressive. Agents and brokerages benefit from CRM integration, streamlined lead capture, contact verification, social profiling, open house reporting, company-wide real-time analytics, and cross-platform functionality. For more information, visit spac.io. About Adwerx One of the fastest growing companies in real estate technology, Adwerx provides brilliantly simple digital advertising to over 40,000 real estate customers across all 50 states and Canada. Adwerx is comprised of a team of savvy marketers, experienced software developers, and advertising veterans who are bound together by the simple belief that online marketing should work for everyone. For more information, visit www.adwerx.com.

The Numbers Behind Data-Driven Engagement
  We've spoken at length about the power of data-driven engagement, but sometimes numbers are more powerful than words. The average real estate consumer spends just over a minute on any given webpage. One percent turn into a lead by providing their contact information and when they filter into your CRM system; the open rates average 19 percent. After 15 years in the real estate industry, we realized that infusing this process with data would yield better results. And now we're ready to reveal the numbers behind our consumer engagement system. I think you'll agree that they speak for themselves. To view the original post, visit the Onboard Informatics blog.

Homes.com Debuts Instant Response Technology for Real Estate Pros
  NORFOLK, VA (NOVEMBER 01, 2016) - Working to solve the need for real estate agents to rapidly respond to consumer inquires, Homes.com®, a top consumer real estate resource and leading provider of marketing solutions for real estate professionals, unveiled today its proprietary, Instant Response Technology (IRT), featuring its new Lead Concierge service and a powerful new app, TalkNow. "Time may be the most precious commodity we have," says Homes.com President David Mele. "With a real estate market where inventory is tight, responding faster to consumers can be an essential competitive edge for real estate agents, and a definite win for consumer engagement." Statistically, studies show slow agent response time is a pervasive industry problem. An insidesales.com Lead Response Study notes that leads contacted within the first five minutes are 100 times more likely to close. Research from the California Association of REALTORS® (CAR) reveals that a majority of home buyers view "responsiveness" as the most important quality in selecting an agent – more important than characteristics including "trustworthiness" and "knowledgeability." Moreover, a study by WAV Group documents nearly half (48 percent) of buyer inquiries to agents were never responded to and the average response time was 917 minutes (or 15.29 hours). With responsiveness being a leading differentiator for consumers, Mele says real estate professionals must find a way to improve response time, or risk losing more consumers to competitors. To solve the real estate industry's need for speed, Homes.com is delivering its IRT toolset—comprised of Lead Concierge and TalkNow—to enable real estate professionals to respond faster and close more leads. Lead Concierge: On-Demand Call Center Homes.com's Lead Concierge service empowers brokers and agents to work smarter, not harder, by providing a personalized call center service that takes the first consumer inquiries. When an agent or broker cannot be reached for a qualified lead transfer, Lead Concierge service provides immediate consumer engagement until an agent or broker follows up directly. "In effect, we're providing real estate agents and brokers with a personal assistant to help them never miss a call," says Mele. "No one can always be available: if they're actively engaged with a client, they can't stop to answer a call or respond to a text. Homes.com Lead Concierge will perform that service for them, and more importantly, will help qualify and prioritize leads." Well-trained Lead Concierge Assistants automatically handle incoming calls and emails on behalf of the agent or broker. The Lead Concierge asks a series of qualifying questions, including, "Are you currently working with an agent?," "What is the time period for your home purchase?," "Has a budget been determined?," and "Have you been pre-qualified for a mortgage?" Mele explains that leads are considered "disqualified," for example, if a caller is currently working with another agent, or is looking to rent rather than buy. "Hot leads," or qualifying leads, are immediately transferred to the agent or broker. Other leads are sent to the agent's dashboard for follow-up at their convenience. TalkNow: Connecting in Real Time Homes.com takes IRT to the next level with its launch of Homes.com' TalkNow, an app instantly connecting consumers searching for properties online with a real estate professional. "TalkNow is like Uber for a real estate agent," says Mele. "Agents let us know when they're available to take inquiries—they can show consumers 'I'm available now,' and TalkNow will connect them to someone who needs help on specific properties instantly. These may be the hottest leads an agent can get." When a home buyer is interested in a property on Homes.com, by simply clicking on the TalkNow button on the website, an alert is delivered immediately to a local agent. TalkNow then matches the consumer with an available agent in the coverage area for that listing. If the agent chooses to accept the inquiry, TalkNow delivers to the agent links to text or call the prospect immediately. Instant Response Solution To measure how vital response time is to consumers, Homes.com recently polled home buyers about their need for instant response: 22 percent expect to receive an immediate response when they submit an online form, and over 50 percent expect a response in less than one hour. 52 percent expect response time to be faster during business hours, when agents and brokers are busiest. 56 percent report that initial response time is a consideration when selecting an agent to represent them in their next real estate transaction. Homes.com's Instant Response Technology, both Lead Concierge and TalkNow, helps agents win more deals by providing consumers what they want: "immediate responses," Mele says. "Millennials are the vast majority of first-time buyers and to them, faster equals better and faster also means now. Agents also know that the first one to respond often gets the listing or the sale, no matter what the age bracket. With both Lead Concierge and TalkNow, Homes.com delivers instant connections to help agents and brokers to the hottest leads," he adds. "Homes.com is more than just a portal," Mele explains. "We're expanding our digital marketing offerings for agents and brokers to help them remain more competitive." Homes.com requires no minimum spend to take advantage of Lead Concierge. Homes.com TalkNow is currently available in Orlando, Nashville and Dallas/Fort Worth with nationwide coverage expected in the next 6 months. For more information on Homes.com Lead Concierge, view here and Homes.com TalkNow, view here or call 866-774-2947. About Homes.com Homes.com is a top real estate search destination, visited by more than 14 million consumers each month. Homes.com leverages search visibility to connect this in-market audience with real estate professionals in their local areas of interest. Homes.com offers the following real estate marketing and media services: brand advertising, property listing exposure and syndication, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation to help real estate agents and other real estate related partners succeed online. For more information, visit http://www.Homes.com.

SmartZip launches SphereTargeting to power home seller analytics and automated advertising for contacts in an agent's sphere of influence
PLEASANTON, Calif., Aug. 2, 2016 -- SmartZip Analytics, Inc., the leader in predictive marketing technology for the real estate, lending and related industries, announced the launch of SphereTargeting, a product that offers home seller analytics and targeted marketing campaigns for an agent's sphere of influence. After uploading their personal databases to SphereTargeting's predictive analytics engine, agents will receive rich data insights and seller predictions for each contact on an ongoing basis. Pre-configured online and social media advertising campaigns will automatically nurture their entire sphere, while enabling agents to double down on marketing and outreach efforts to top-predicted seller prospects. SphereTargeting works to solve a major pain point in most real estate agents' businesses: finding the time to nurture past clients, potential clients and others who have shown interest in their services. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, just 26% of home sellers hire the same agent they used in their previous transaction. Most real estate professionals lose out on business opportunities over the years simply because they didn't stay regularly in touch with their database. "Real estate professionals know the importance of their sphere of influence for finding business opportunities. But staying in touch over a long period of time, and most importantly at the right time, is a difficult and often expensive task," said SmartZip CEO and President Avi Gupta. "SphereTargeting was specifically designed to create a smarter and easier way to keep an agent's name and brand 'top of mind' for the long term, so they have the best shot at winning the next real estate transaction. But we also wanted to go one giant step further by applying our predictive analytics to surface the contacts most likely to sell, which ensures our client and their advertising is proactively reaching out to the right contact, at the right time, with the right message, and never losing out on repeat business from their sphere." Thousands of agents across the U.S. use SmartZip's flagship platform, SmartTargeting, which helps find listing opportunities in self-selected geographic territories. Beginning today, SphereTargeting will be included within the SmartTargeting platform for all current and future clients. In addition, for a limited time, new and current SmartTargeting clients can get SphereTargeting for free for their first 250 uploaded contacts. Clients will see deep insights about the contacts in their sphere, including their likelihood to sell, which gives them the ability to spark productive conversations and focus their attention on top seller prospects. Online advertising campaigns can be added to automatically nurture their sphere for the long term, including listing-focused ads to top seller prospects or leads and brand-building ads to the others for referral opportunities. Agents who have tested the product tout that SphereTargeting will help them to nurture their entire database while prioritizing the contacts with the highest selling potential. "I totally see the value in it," said RE/MAX Accord agent Derek Rodrigues. "As a real estate agent, my sphere sometimes gets forgotten and I know I'm probably missing out on listing opportunities. But with SphereTargeting, I get to see insights about my sphere and actions pop up that motivate me to stay in touch at the right time." In its initial launch, SphereTargeting is available for existing and new clients of the SmartTargeting platform. The standalone SphereTargeting product is expected to launch in fall 2016 and will be available to all real estate professionals and businesses. SmartZip Analytics is a national leader in predictive marketing solutions for real estate, lending and related industries. Using patent-pending home intelligence, predictive analytics and automated marketing campaigns, SmartZip's SmartTargeting platform offers an integrated solution that can identify top home seller prospects accurately, engage them through targeted online and offline marketing campaigns, and help close more business with smart nurturing and prospecting tools. In addition, leading national real estate companies, including Homes.com, ZipRealty.com, HomeSnap, foreclosure.com, RealtyStore.com and others rely on SmartZip's best-of-breed analytics for their online businesses. SmartZip is backed by Intel Capital, Claremont Creek Ventures, Crest Capital, Javelin Venture Partners and Cue Ball Capital, and is headquartered in Pleasanton, CA.

Is Your Website Helping You Close Leads and Build Relationships?
  How Do You Warm Up Website Leads & Build Relationships to Grow Conversion? In today's real estate market, having a real estate website has become a baseline requirement in the agent's marketing toolkit. Serving as the home base for your professional resume, neighborhood insights and listings, your website can be a great lead generation tool. But, what processes do you have in place to warm up your website leads, build relationships with your prospects, and - therefore - increase your conversion? In our latest downloadable guide, we look at six proven and actionable strategies being used by some of today's top producing agents and brokers. From being as tech-savvy as your prospects to building rapport through valuable information, you'll learn tips for success and walk away with actionable, can-do strategies that will help you convert your website leads and build lasting relationship with you sphere. Download your free copy of "6 Ways to Warm Up Website Leads, Build Relationships and Increase Your Conversion" today!

Contactually Now Offers Lead Capture with Zillow and Trulia
Never miss a new opportunity New client interactions are extremely time sensitive and we know how stressful this can be. What if a prospect reaches out in the middle of the night and you miss an opportunity?! Are you expected to stay up all hours of the night in order to respond? When you're out enjoying life with your family and friends you don't want to be worried about new leads. Trust me – no one likes that person who's always compulsively checking their email...and now you won't have to. It's important to initiate contact with a lead as soon as it's submitted. The likelihood of a lead converting is seven times higher if they're contacted within the first hour, and the window of opportunity starts closing in a matter of minutes. When the stakes are this high, trust the Contactually/Zillow partnership to coordinate your efforts. We'll instantly sync new leads to your account from Zillow and Trulia, so you can break through and build a dialogue quicker than ever before. We even take it one step further and allow you to designate which buckets your leads are sorted in, so you can organize, and prioritize without the manual lift. Imagine the possibilities You've gotten a new lead from Zillow of a buyer interested in a property. The buyer's info syncs automatically with Contactually and is placed in your "Zillow Leads" bucket. The bucket is attached to a program which sends the buyer an introduction email within a matter of minutes from submitting his information. You've just connected with a potential client without lifting a finger! With a systemized approach you can engage with your new leads and start building rapport. The framework of trust starts with the first interaction, and with the help of Contactually your new leads will see a genuine message within minutes from the spark of their interest. Zillow and Trulia Lead Capture in real time The new, seamless integration makes it possible to nurture and evolve your relationships like never before. Contactually's powerful features coupled with the improved partnership will help you uncover, manage and nurture more opportunities with less effort. Take five minutes to run through a quick setup on your end and rest assure you'll never miss a potential lead again. Next Steps For Users Step #1 Log into your Contactually account and head over to your settings page. From the Apps tab select the connect to Zillow option and copy your API key. You can also select which buckets you'd like your Zillow and Trulia leads to go to. Try creating a new bucket specifically for these leads if you'd like. Step #2 Head over to Zillow and go to the Contacts Tab on your Agent Hub account page. From here you'll select "Connect to my CRM." Step #3 Click Add Partner, and select Contactually from the drop down options. Step #4 Paste your Contactually API key, and click save. Build better relationships With four quick steps, integrate your Zillow and Trulia lead capture with Contactually. Take full advantage of Contactually and this new found partnership with Zillow and Trulia to automatically sync new leads. You'll never miss a beat with potential new clients or ever have to worry about a prime opportunity slipping through the cracks. Lasting relationships must be nurtured and it all start with the first interaction. We're toiling away to make your business processes easier. As always, let us know what you think...we're all ears. To view the original article, visit the Contactually blog.

Wise Agent CRM Releases Powerful New Lead Management System
We are very excited to announce that our awesome new Lead Management System is now live! You may now have all of your Leads automatically added to your Wise Agent CRM database from almost any source you are receiving them from. Then, you can decide exactly how you want to handle your leads from each source. You can set up an immediate auto response or choose to leave it off if you already have one sent from the lead source provider. The lead can be added to your call list and assigned to anyone on your team, and automatically added to as many categories as you need. You can set your system to launch a different drip campaign for each lead source and send notifications to everyone you want alerted about the new lead. Easily set up lead distribution filters to distribute leads by zip code, price, round-robin, or a combination of the three to anyone on your inside or outside team. Finally, you can track your success using our Reporting Dashboard. We're constantly adding value to the system, based on your requests! So let us know if there's a Lead Source that we don't yet support, or any other lead management tools and we'll do our best to accommodate!To view the original article, visit the Wise Agent blog.

Placester Releases New Marketing Platform for Brokers
Boston, Massachusetts -­ December 22, 2014 -­ Placester has announced the release of its brand new website and marketing platform for real estate brokers. The new broker platform streamlines the online marketing experience for brokers and adds several features, including multi-­site management, lead management, and premium support. "Earlier this year, we launched a brand new agent platform designed to give every real estate professional the opportunity to create a competitive online presence and build direct relationships with consumers," said Placester CEO Matt Barba. "Now, we're excited to bring the same combination of simplicity, power, and affordability to brokers and offices." Today's release will expand Placester's recent partnership with the National Association of REALTORS® to include broker members. As a partner in NAR's REALTOR Benefits® Program, Placester is offering its broker product to NAR members for just $3.75 per site per month, making Placester one of the most affordable broker­-focused solutions on the market. Rates for non-­member brokers start at $5 per site per month, with volume pricing available for large firms. Whether you're managing a few agents or several offices, running a brokerage can be both stressful and time ­consuming. Unfortunately, many brokers are forced to spend precious hours wrangling cumbersome marketing software. "The broker market is full of complicated solutions, many of which carry hefty setup fees and other hidden costs," Barba said. "We've built a product that's ready out of the box with all the features brokers need to manage their teams, all for an exceptional price." Placester's new broker platform begins with its agent websites, which feature IDX search, responsive designs, lead capture, and blogging. The broker product adds websites for offices, along with the ability to add, remove, and manage all of team's sites from one master broker dashboard. Brokers can also upload their company logo to create custom­ branded dashboards for their teams. In addition to websites, Placester's broker product also features essential lead management tools. Brokers can view incoming leads on agent sites and track their origins for maximum insight. Brokers can also monitor leads on their office sites to help manage lead nurture and follow ­up. More lead management tools will be arriving in the coming months, Barba said. Finally, the new broker product comes with premium support directly from Placester's broker team. "Support has always been a top priority at Placester," Barba said. "For brokers, we plan to continue that tradition with a personalized, high-­touch support experience." For more details about Placester's new broker platform, visit placester.com/broker. About Placester Placester is a real estate website and marketing platform that helps real estate professionals grow their businesses online. Through data partnerships with MLSs representing 95% of agents in the United States, Placester provides cost ­effective real estate websites with IDX search, modern design, and advanced lead capture. In addition to offering websites for agents and brokers, Placester also provides websites and search technology for local media companies and publishers, including Hearst Corporation's nationwide network of daily and weekly newspapers. Finally, Placester connects real estate professionals and media outlets to create an advertising marketplace for real estate, allowing agents and brokers to easily purchase and place digital ads with a variety of local and national publishers. Placester was founded in 2010 by Matt Barba and Frederick Townes. The company has raised nearly $10 million in total funding to date, and is backed by leading investors, including Romulus Capital and Techstars. For more information, please visit: https://placester.com/

Sotheby's International Realty Brand Launches Global Referral Management System
MADISON, N.J., June 18, 2014 -- Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC today announced the launch of the Sotheby's International Realty® Global Referral system, which is designed to streamline the transfer of referrals electronically within the Sotheby's International Realty worldwide network. The Global Referral system, which the brand developed with Immobel, allows Sotheby's International Realty network members to assign referrals, manage them through closing and run detailed reports. The system also features language translation and currency conversion. "The Sotheby's International Realty Global Referral system offers our network members increased flexibility in handling referrals, especially on a global basis," said Philip White, president and chief executive officer, Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC. "They now have the ability to view current and projected revenue for those referral transactions that are active and pending, and gain insight into business generating from other markets. As our brand has grown to 700 offices in 54 countries and territories, we saw a need for an integrated, global referral management tool that would serve to unite our network members and help them better capitalize on referral business." Sotheby's International Realty network members already have found the new system to be valuable in streamlining their referral processes. "The system is very helpful in keeping track of the many referrals we receive," said Laura Benaglia, marketing and communications manager, Milan Sotheby's International Realty in Italy. "I no longer need to file anything in paper. Now I can manage our referrals electronically anywhere using various types of mobile devices, even if I'm not physically at the office." The Sotheby's International Realty network currently has more than 15,000 independent sales associates located in approximately 700 offices in 54 countries and territories worldwide. Sotheby's International Realty listings are marketed on the sothebysrealty.com global website. In addition to the referral opportunities and widened exposure generated from this source, the network's brokers and clients benefit from an association with the Sotheby's auction house and worldwide Sotheby's International Realty marketing programs. Each office is independently owned and operated. About Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC Founded in 1976 to provide independent brokerages with a powerful marketing and referral program for luxury listings, the Sotheby's International Realty network was designed to connect the finest independent real estate companies to the most prestigious clientele in the world. Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. RLGY -1.36% , a global leader in real estate franchising and provider of real estate brokerage, relocation and settlement services. In February 2004, Realogy entered into a long-term strategic alliance with Sotheby's, the operator of the auction house. The agreement provided for the licensing of the Sotheby's International Realty name and the development of a full franchise system. Affiliations in the system are granted only to brokerages and individuals meeting strict qualifications. Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC supports its affiliates with a host of operational, marketing, recruiting, educational and business development resources. Franchise affiliates also benefit from an association with the venerable Sotheby's auction house, established in 1744. For more information, visit www.sothebysrealty.com.

IXACT Contact Joins Zillow’s Tech Connect Program
  Toronto, Canada, June 12, 2014 -- With Zillow's Tech Connect program, IXACT Contact customers can now seamlessly capture all of their Zillow leads into their IXACT Contact Realtor CRM, making follow-up quick and easy and eliminating the need for manual data entry. Zillow Inc. is the leading real estate marketplace on the web, with nearly 64 million monthly mobile and web unique users. Configuration of Tech Connect is very simple and can be completed in just a few steps. With Tech Connect, IXACT Contact customers can automatically capture all contact details, property information, and buying preferences (such as location, bedrooms, price range, lot size, etc.), for all their Zillow leads. But that's just the beginning. With IXACT Contact's advanced lead management automation features, these leads can be automatically assigned to a specific group, a drip email nurture campaign, and to the professionally designed and written monthly e-Newsletter that IXACT Contact provides free of charge to all subscribers. This combination of tight lead capture integration via Tech Connect, and the powerful lead nurturing capabilities built into IXACT Contact, helps agents respond to leads like never before, maximizing their opportunity to build relationships and convert leads into clients. "Zillow has grown to become the leading real estate marketplace and a trusted lead generation partner for thousands of real estate agents across the United States. Similarly, IXACT Contact has grown to become one of the largest and fastest growing real estate CRM companies in the world. We're very excited to announce our partnership with Zillow because it means our customers can take advantage of seamless lead integration, which will save them time and improve their experience with both platforms," said Rich Gaasenbeek, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, IXACT Contact. About IXACT Contact Solutions Inc. IXACT Contact® is an easy-to-use web-based real estate CRM that helps REALTORS® stay organized and build lasting relationships with past clients, hot prospects and important referral sources. IXACT Contact makes it easy to stay in touch with clients in a way that's personalized, relevant and timely. With IXACT Contact, real estate agents can convert more leads into listings and attract more referrals and repeat business. Real estate marketing is also a snap with IXACT Contact's personalized mass email, drip marketing, real estate newsletter, and Email Campaign Reporting features. The Active Business side of the system helps Realtors keep control of transactions by managing all the to-do's associated with listings and buyers. Sign up for a free five-week trial today at http://www.ixactcontact.com. About Zillow Inc. Zillow, Inc. operates the leading real estate and home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. Zillow's brands serve the full life cycle of owning and living in a home: buying, selling, renting, financing, remodeling and more. In addition, Zillow offers a suite of tools and services to help local real estate, mortgage, rental and home improvement professionals manage and market their businesses. Welcoming nearly 64 million monthly unique users during its peak month in 2013, the Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs s™, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Agentfolio®, Mortech®, HotPads™ and StreetEasy®. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Not All Leads Are Equal
At realtor.com®, we take great care to focus on the outcome for the brokers and their agents when we provide lead solutions. Leads come in all shapes and sizes; and it is not until you back out the intent of the consumer who submitted the lead, that the quality over quantity issue becomes apparent. How ready are they? Where is the consumer in their life cycle? While it is good business to follow-up with all inquiries—at this time of year, the demand seems to be for leads where the consumer is past the research phase and already has a house in mind. If your source of leads is funneling in lots of consumers who are just curious about the state of the market, these potential consumers can convert, but this requires that your agents use good customer relationship practices. Instead of a drip marketing campaign that only sends emails without something personal, that will fall flat. We train with Top Producer® to send auto emails, but filter in lots of personal interactions and references to previous conversations which we store for the agent to refer to. Where is the loyalty? If your leads are being distributed to your agent—and a few others simultaneously, you can argue that this assures that the consumer will get a call. But it can also be uncomfortable for both your agent and the prospective client. We have anecdotal evidence that this hurts lead conversion significantly—from what our customers tell us, and studies done independently by PAA research will back this one up as well. Who answers the phone? Phone leads are great—there is no scrambling to get back to the customer and if done well, an appointment or next step can be produced in a single action. But if your agents have not instrumented a system for sending a personal text when they are busy or capturing the lead on their cell phone, the results can be devastating. When we tested what happens when a consumer reaches a voice mail, only 30 percent left a message. In these cases, we would recommend email leads—or upgrading the systems used to manage the leads the way FiveStreet does it. We offer phone leads and email leads so this is something to consider when every closing makes a difference—especially when your desire is to finish the year strong! To learn more, click here.