Looking for that Perfect Closing or Thank You Gift? Here You Go!

When it comes to buying the perfect closing gift for your client what better way to say thank you, than to give them something they will actually use for years to come?

Every homeowner needs tools and that is why Project Home has created a great closing, Thank You gift for your clients or other gift giving occasion. Imagine having your branding on the toolkit to remind them who gave it to them and for their friends and families to see.  This is a great way to really give your client something they will use, but to also keep your name fresh in their mind every time they use it.

What is included in the Project  Home Home Owner kit? Five basic tools and a great canvas bag to carry them in.  These tools are what every homeowner needs from the first time buyer to the seasoned homebuyer purchasing their tenth home. And, these are not just any tools, these are Tomboy Tools a division of Project Home who strives to make their tools as light weight as possible with an ergonomic design. 

·         Pink/Black wide mouth canvas bag with zip closure

·         13 oz. Hammer is the perfect weight hammer for most, including a magnetic head and rubber grip handle 

·         16' Tape Measure includes metric and fracture markings for ease of measuring

·         Ratcheting Screwdriver is like having 10 screwdrivers in one with 10 bits in the handle with the ease of ratcheting for all of your home projects 

·         Slip Joint Pliers also include rubber grip handles

·         Pink/White Rubber Gloves are washable, come in two sizes and can be used in the garden.

Project Home is offering Real Estate Professionals the opportunity to purchase 5 Homeowner Kits embroidered with your name and phone number or maybe your website.  You have the option of adding two lines to this high-end, durable canvas bag with your information on the side of the bag.  What a great opportunity to continue to advertise your business while giving your customer a purposeful gift!

Have you heard of Project Home? If not, let me share a little information about who they are and why they are making a huge difference in the real estate industry. 

Tomboy Tools, now d/b/a Project Home was founded in 2002 with a mission of building confidence and empowering women through education and quality products. The company has its headquarters in Newark, Ohio. On August 1, The company will do business under the name Project Home™ with the tag line, "Making your vision real." The company will continue to use the brand name Tomboy Tools for its line of pink tools that are designed especially for women.

"We want to show women how to keep their homes organized, maintained and beautiful. In other words, we’re taking a much more comprehensive view of our mission than simply as a seller of pink tools."


August Special – Each Real Estate Professional joining Project Home will be in a drawing for one Home Owner kit to be given away.  For more information on how you can continue to advertise your business while providing a great gift to your clients, contact Toni Griffin, Project Home Consultant, at 217-412-0610 or email her at toniglovespink@comcast.net.

Toni Griffin has been a Project Home Consultant for 2 years.  She has always had a passion for remodeling, renovating and home improvement.  Along with her husband Phil, they have remodeled their home and most recently built Phil his own garage.  She can answer any questions about this incredible opportunity, the company or any tool.  Visit her website at www.theprojecthome.info/tonigriffin

Planting the Seed

How many of your past clients are you still in contact with? Do you have a relationship with them?  Do you call them to say hello, happy birthday, congratulations?  Why not?  This is your bread and butter and cream of the crop for business building.

Creating a system to keep in contact with your past clients you can plant seeds of suggestions.  By keeping touch with them you need to let them know how much you appreciate their business and for referring their family, friends and co-workers to you.  After all, they have already done business with you, so they know how detailed oriented you are and really worked hard for them in achieving their dreams.

If you are not staying in touch with your past clients, now is the time to start.  Send them a card or call them.  Explain to them it was a genuine honor to work with them and that it is important to you that you have satisfied clients.  Ask them if there is anything they need or you can do for them.  Offer a free home value analysis or to meet with them to evaluate their real estate portfolio, which means determine if they are in a position to buy or sell.   You could even talk to them about maybe considering a re-fi since the interests rates are low.  This could save them hundreds of dollars a month if they are paying high interest rates.

When you take the time to stay in touch with your past clients, you are planting the seed. It also gives them the confidence in referring you to others and brings them back to you when they are ready to buy or sell. 

Planting the seeds of suggestions is just that - a subtle reference to the idea of referral, especially with non-business contacts.  Use a "By the way..." indirect approach to avoid appearing pushy or desperate.  By implementing this technique not only helps develop contacts from friendships, but friendships from contacts.

Take a few minutes to write down how you will indirectly mention that your business is built on referrals.  Then start planting the seed. 

Need help in this area of your business?  Contact me so we can discuss how your system should be created so you can start building your referrals. 

How to Remember Maintenance Tasks? There’s an App for That!

These days, we’re all busy with work, family and friends. There’s so little extra time left,  it’s human nature that some things just are not remembered. Like changing the batteries in the smoke-alarms or the filters in the HVAC system. You would do them if you remembered, right?

Now, perhaps you won’t have to worry about remembering. BrightNest is a free app for iPhone and iPads that organizes cleaning and schedules maintenance tasks for you.  After creating an account, or using Facebook, to sign in to the service, you’ll answer some basic questions and then the App is ready to work for you.

​BrightNest will suggest a variety of tasks for you to do, and provide an estimate of how long they’ll take, how hard they’ll be and a guide to how to get them done.  You can then add them to your schedule. If there’s a task not listed in the App, you can add it on the website itself.

Right now, BrightNest is only available for iOS, or through the web. The website includes a variety of excellent, time-saving ideas, from how to create a pallet garden to making small spaces work.
 

Like similar Apps, BrightNest is a way to simplify your life a bit.

This is a great app to share with your real estate clients. 

Kim Hughes
Real Estate Virtual Assistant
Business Consultant
www.KimHughes.com
Kim@KimHughes.com
903-569-6763

Social Networking – How Sociable Are You?

As you read this, more than 10,000 Tweets just went out. According to the Social Computing Journal, social media grew more in 2009 than all previous years combined. Social networking sites have rapidly evolved into much more than a way to connect with family and friends – social media has become the channel for interactive, digital marketing and communications that brings businesses, consumers and communities around the world together as collaborators.

A recent article on the web describes this amazing tool, HowSociable.com. This tool is fun, easy and informative. Just enter the brand name of any business you’d like to track (including your own) on the HowSociable? home page. The tool will query a number of the top social networking sites and then display the results for the number of times the brand or business name showed up on each site. To see more detail about the visibility on a specific site, like Facebook People, you can click on the results icon and get additional information, even specific posts or comments.

You can use the tools to measure where you are with your social media plan, or give you a beginning baseline for measurement if you are just getting started. It also provides an easy interface to see collective results. Give HowSociable? your email address and the brand you want to track, and they can email you the results on an ongoing basis.

You can also use the tool to study the success of highly rated brands and check in on how your competitors are faring in the social landscape. HowSociable? is fun, it’s free and it’s a way to measure your social success stories. Try it, we think you’ll like it.

Protect Your Privacy From Data Mining

By now, we’ve all been conditioned to protect our Internet privacy when we make purchases online. Most people know to only use reputable sites, make sure they use encryption software, don’t give out too much personal information at once, never give out your social security number – the list goes on and on.



We’re even becoming a little more aware (sometimes learning the hard way) that we should exercise some restraint on our social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.


What you may not know is that consumer sales organizations, including retailers, insurance companies and lenders, are very interested in your social media habits, profiles, blog comments and your social network of ‘friends’. Many of them are data mining social media sites and blogs to get a full personal profile of you and learn about your buying behavior through your social behavior.


One of the most talked about data mining services is Rapleaf, who claims to give retailers the ultimate in customer insight – by crawling through the most popular newsgroups, blogs and social sites – all unknown to the individual consumer. While lending and credit agencies swear that they only use factual data to determine credit decisions and scores, they still use social data to understanding consumer profiles – even looking at the credit worthiness of your friends or your followers on Twitter. After all, Twitterers of a feather, flock together.


Here are three important tips to keep your social pages from undermining your consumer rights:
1) Absolutely EVERYTHING you put on the Internet is public information. Period. Don’t let strict ‘privacy settings’ give you a false sense of security.
2) Choose your friends wisely. Don’t accept ‘friend’ invitations from random people you have never heard of or know only through friends of friends of friends. Your circle is being watched and mined for your connections.
3) Monitor posts on your account frequently and remove anything offensive.

Social networking and blogging is fun, friendly and here to stay. Just be mindful that your online conversations are big business for big brother retailer.

Take Command of Your Short Sale Business – check out Short Sale Commander!

Trying to navigate through the uncharted territory of short selling? Are multiple deals slowing your workflow? We have a great new tool for you to check out – Short Sale Commander.

Short Sale Commander offers the following key features:

• Guest Access for non-users to view pertinent file information
• Centralized data access and a standardized process
• File sharing and document upload capabilities
• Automated document management and central storage
• Flexible reporting tools
• Time-stamped activity logs
• Paperless system

Whether you are a newcomer to the short sale market or an experienced pro tying to manage a short sale portfolio, Short Sale Commander offers an easy to use, easy to implement solution that helps agents, investors and brokers better manage the short sale business from a single, central system.

We also like that you can test drive the product yourself before committing – they are currently offering a 14 day free trial. Priced for all budgets and offices, we see this as a productivity tool that can’t miss for the price. They also offer a free demo video – all you have to do is complete a simple contact form.

Elk Software is a software development company that specializes in Web management platforms for professionals in the real estate and title industries. Their value prop states that Short Sale Commander is the first in the industry to focus on the internal organization and workforce collaboration for managing short sale negotiations.

If you’re ready to look at productivity tools for your distressed property and short sale business, then take command of the situation and visit www.shortsalecommander.com. Also be sure to check out their blog!

Backing Up Your Tweets

Twitter is an effective and fun tool, it can be used for your business as well as personal connections. Some people spend a substantial amount of time and energy into their tweets. So what would happen if all the time that you spent on Twitter, all the great stuff you sent out, all the followers you’ve gathered were to suddenly disappear? For a lot of people who are hooked on Twitter it would be a nightmare.

Have you ever thought about backing up your tweets? If not reading the above statement about what could happen if you don’t may make you change your mind. Backing up your Twitter can be simple and free. Here are a couple different programs that can keep you tweeting even if something happens to your account.

BackupMyTweets.com
Their tagline “Don’t lose your Tweets. Make Them Permanent” and that’s exactly what they do. With this service you can protect your tweets, do daily backups, and they offer flexible download options. The basic service is free but you can also get a Premium Edition $4.95 a year, pretty cheap for all that it does. BackupMyTweets.com also offers a suite of other programs such as BackupMyMail and BackupMyBlog.

TweetBackUp.com
TweetsBackUp is easy to use and it does daily backups but what makes it really stand out is that it’s all web based. No installation of extra programs on your computer to bog it down.

Tweetake.com
Tweettake makes possible users aware of just what can happen when Twitter malfunctions. On their about page under “Why bother to do this?” They state that Twitter may lose followers again like it did in June/July. If you are backing up your tweets you won’t be the one that’s scrambling to get them back.

How to Prepare for a Disaster Using Social Media

It could happen at any time, you could be running your daily errands. Your oldest is at school and youngest at daycare. Your husband or wife is in another city 400 miles away at a conference. You go into the store to buy milk while your walking to the register to check out it happens, an earthquake. Once the initial shock is over your mind is spinning. What do you do next?

Preparing for a disaster is something we all need to do to make sure that our family is safe and technology is there to make it possible. Within minutes we could contact our husband and children to make sure they are ok, find a local shelter to get everyone to, make sure you can find the safest route to all the destinations that you need to get to.

To use social media and technology as a guide to getting through a natural disaster you need to know where to start. First step is to make a plan and involve your whole family in it. Make sure everyone has all the vital information in their electronic devices that they need. Phone numbers, addresses, email address, etc. Check with your children's school to see what their plans are for natural disasters. Have a meet up place if your children are older so they know where to meet in case of an emergency. This is a great project for your virtual assistant to help you with so your family is prepared as well as you business associates.

Disasters can strike at any time and using technology can keep you connected. For more information check out this great article from wonderful guide HOW TO: Prepare for Disasters Using Social Media.

Check out NutShellmail To Stay Informed on Your Social Networks

Here is a great FREE program that I have been using for so long and really love it.  It saves me so much time in knowing what is going on with my social networks.  You have got to try it out yourself!

NutShellMail

 

NutshellMail: Simplify Your Online Social Life from David Lyman on Vimeo.

Facebook:

Get all your Facebook Birthdays, Photos, Friend Requests, Wall Posts, News Feed, Event & Group Invites, and Messages in one interactive email.

Control Facebook right from your inbox -- you can comment, reply, post on walls, and update your status without leaving your email.

Twitter:

See your mentions, new followers, quitters, and your friends' latest tweets in your Twitter summary. Tweet, Reply, Retweet, and DM without leaving your inbox.

Posted via web from Kim Hughes and Company

Their conditions are not objections!

Posted via web from Kim Hughes and Company

Tax Credit Widget for Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Get the Countdown Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)

Posted via web from kimhughes's posterous

Change The Way You Think in 2009

Well, here we are moving into a New Year! I am thrilled to leave 2008 behind, but take the experiences of 2008 with me. On the eve of the New Year I always look at the good and the bad that I experienced in the previous year, feel the experience again and then decide what I take with me that will improve my life into the new year. 2008 is no exception. I had some crazy things happen - as the movie is called "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Can't we all relate to the title? We all have experiences in life, but which one's are you going to take with you in to the new year. Make sure you take the positive experiences with you, but remember the not so positive one's - these will keep you grounded.

So, this morning I am reading Chris Brogan's blog and thought is was great, so take a minute to visit what he has to say about going into 2009. Then take a minute to reflect.

One thing I know I will take from 2008 with me into 2009 and that is the friendships I made, my clients appreciation, the knowledge and the ideas that I generated that will make such an impact on my life.

Wishing you a wonderful new year! Make it count and take time to help others - even if it is just to say hi to a stranger. It is amazing the impact we all can make by just smiling and showing compassion towards one another.

ActiveRain Tip - Make It Work For You

If you want to know the #1 benefit of working with a real estate virtual assistant is we are constantly educating ourselves with the daily changes to how the Internet and Technology works. In the 10 years of being a real estate virtual assistant I have built some very solid friendships with REALTORS across country. We chat about what is going on with the real estate markets and by having this relationship with so many I am kept informed of what is going on everywhere.

So, today I am talking with my friend and client Sam Miller in Knox County, Ohio about Social Networking and how it has impacted our business. During this call we are going over some projects for the first quarter of 2009. One of the goals is to make sure his social networking sites are reviewed and updated. This lead to a conversation about Active Rain.

Active Rain has over 126,000 members today and membership continues to grows. As with any program you have to stay educated on what changes/updates are being made.

When viewing ActiveRain blogs have you ever noticed the "View all Real Estate listings in your area" field, which is up in the left corner of the screen, and a field for the consumer to enter their "city". If you have never noticed this go to your blog on Active Rain then look for this field then put in your city. Notice where the link takes you - JustListed.com - all the leads from Active Rain are being passed along to HOUSEVALUES.com participating agents! Why? I have no idea, but thanks to Sam I can show you how to make sure you get the lead.

Here is how to correct this issue:

1. First make sure the home search field does not already point to your IDX. If it doesn’t then follow these instructions:

2. Log into your AR Control Panel, click on Settings, scroll to the bottom of the page and UNCHECK the box that says "Show the Listing Router search box". Then click "Update" to save your changes

3. If you have an IDX system, follow the instructions below to set up the Listing Router Search to utilize YOUR IDX system for the cities in your MLS area. When you go into Listing Router, go down to the second item to set up...."My Markets" to route inquiries to your own IDX search for that town. You will need to add the direct link on your IDX for every town you want included, but at least the result is that those leads will come to YOU! Once that is completed, you can go back into your Settings and re-enable the search box.

4. Make sure to add your "custom link", the very last Settings item. This will appear to the right of your name at the top of your blog. Another way to capture the leads you are generating.

5. Be sure the IDX site you are directing visitors to has a good lead capture system in place. The "Find Homes For Sale" search box will now appear at the top of your screen and will "Float" as visitors scroll through your Blog, your profile, and your individual posts. Searching for property is literally just one click away now."

If you are not a member of ActiveRain, send me an email Kim@KimHughes.com and I will send you an invite.

Have a Great Weekend!

Heading to Nacogdoches to see my son, Phillip play in the yearly Rugbyfest at Stephen F. Austin University. Go Lumberjacks! Phillip has the ball. #12!

National Association of Realtors Convention - Check Out The Expo!

If you re planning to attend the National Association of Realtors Convention this year in Orlando, Florida then you must have on your list to visit the NAR Expo. This is where you will find a huge amount of excitement. New products and programs to help you build your business and run it more effecently. Here are my top 5 programs to check out.

www.Gooder Group.com - Booth 1821
At last, there is a 4-in-1 integrated system that includes lead-capture web forms, plug-in website content and automated drip e-mail (new "green" e-HomeNews) all in one easy-to-use system you can plug into as many websites as you have. RAINMAKER E-CENTRAL® helps you generate more leads...enrich all your websites...and follow up every prospect without lifting a finger. All this, PLUS unlimited Rainmaker Microsites™ included. Maximizing referrals and generating repeat business now is as easy as 1 - 2 - 3.

www.RealProSystems.com - Booth 3960
Real Pro Gold is the complete agent system that provides all the essential tools you need to take your business to the next level. Five tools integrated in a single system gives you a productivity advantage, so you can spend more time selling real estate!

www.TopProducer.com - See the latest upgrade 8i - Booth 2821 or booth 4434
op Producer helps you manage day-to-day communication and activities with leads, customers, employees, or anyone else that matters to your business. With Top Producer 8i you know exactly who you have talked to, what you talked about, and what you need to do next.

www.SettlementRoom.com - Booth 3851
If you participate in, manage, or coordinate real estate listings or transactions, then SettlementRoom's web-based real estate software will impress your clients with online status reports, while simultaneously managing, tracking, and archiving every transaction.

www.VisualTour.com - Booth 2331
The VisualTour Marketing System is a complete, turn-key system that includes everything that you need to create, host and display your own web or CD based virtual tours complete with your own branding using nothing more than your own digital camera. Your VisualTour System includes UNLIMITED toll free telephone training and support ensuring that you can learn to use your system productively and profitably very quickly.

While visiting these real estate vendors remember that you do not really need to know how each program works in detail or become frustrated in having to learn a new program. Why? Because a real estate virtual assistant can run each and everyone of these programs for you. This will save you time and money and the beauty of all this is - take your business to the next level.

If you have questions about how a real estate virtual assistant can help you in your business you will find a lot of information at Kim Hughes and Company or visit REVA Roundtable. REVA Roundtable is the newest and becoming the best place to find a real estate virtual assistant.

Have fun at NAR and let a real estate virtual assistant help you implement the programs and strategies when you return.

Your Brand is Your Promise

When people mention the word "brand" they usually mean a well-known, well-defined company. That's why consumers frequently mention names like Target, Rolex, Apple, BMW and others who have done an excellent job in crafting an image and sticking with it. Buyers know what to expect from these companies, and as long as these companies meet that expectation, they will continue to imprint their brand in the minds of their audience. It's pretty simple really; if you just keep in mind these two principals.

Principal One: Know Your Promise

As amazing as this may seem, most companies don't really know what it is they are promising their clients. That's why they have weak brands. They may have mission statements, and can spout off why everyone should use their product or service, but really it's just a rambling list. Out of fear of losing audience, most companies will try to compete on price, quality and service... and that's a recipe for disaster. Who wants to buy a watch from the Discount Overnight Rolex store? If you try to go after all three areas you end up muddied in the mind of the consumer who is trying to put you in a box. And in this case... that's a good thing!

A mental "box" is not that different from a set of mailroom boxes. The customer gets all these incoming "messages" and has to sort them all day. The easier you make it for them to sort your company, and put it in a category, the easier it will be for them to recall it when needed. Try this... think of a fast place to eat. How about the best tasting food? And finally, the place you go if you really want to impress someone? You can probably think of each of these categories rather quickly. And chances are these companies are more than happy to fill that niche without trying to become much more.

Take a moment and write out in two or three sentences (more if you're feeling inspired) exactly what your brand promises. It will usually fall under three main categories... quality, service or price. But there are nuances. Ben ... Jerry's image contains both a quality message and a social message... one of commitment to the community and environment.

Principal Two: Never Violate Principal One

Once you have firmly established your promise in the minds of consumers, make sure every move you make conforms to that promise. Coke was fine to come out with Diet Coke, Cherry Coke and a host of other flavor variations (brand extension) but they completely missed the mark when they introduced NEW Coke. People believed in Coke, identified with Coke and it was a part of their history. New Coke was seen as a betrayal of the brand itself, a vote of no confidence in their core product. "What's wrong with the original Coke?" was the immediate question that popped up in most minds.

That's why it is so important to know what it is, and why it is, that people buy from you and believe in you.

Know your promise and keep your promise. Pretty simple? Yet it will go a long way toward making your company resonate with your customer on a deep and lasting level. And that's a promise.

The First Steps

The First Steps in finding a VA is to get organized. Yes, organized! You need to know what tasks to delegate to your VA before you go out to find the best one for you.

Some of the top requests real estate professionals seek:

• Listing Coordination - Have your VA input the listing into the MLS, create virtual tours, create your homebook, place the listing on the Internet.
• Lead Generation - Your VA can monitor all your leads to make sure they are receiving useful information from you that will help them when the time is right to buy, sell or relocate.
• Marketing Presentations - Use the creativity of a VA to update your listing presentation, CMA presentation, Home Book, Relocation Guide, etc.

Every real estate professional will have different needs for their VA. What are your specific needs?