RealtyGenerator's Corporate Blog

Whether you're new to RealtyGenerator or have been using it a while, you may want to ask us a question from time to time.

Our Customer Care team is always available to you, and they're happy to answer virtually any question you may have. From questions about your website, logins, folders, webmail and more, you can find out whatever you need to know to be successful with RealtyGenerator.

Here's how to contact Customer Care:

Email: support@realtygenerator.com

Call: 1-888-532-3715

If you're the kind of person who performs better with a rival, RealtyGenerator will put you in competition... with yourself. The See How You're Doing Tool allows you to monitor your performance on RealtyGenerator.

To open it, click the "See How You're Doing" button in the menu on the left side of your main page. You'll find a handful of statistics based on your account with explanations of what the statistics mean and what is normal/expected.

You'll also find Quick Calls/Quick Emails, which scans your Inactive folder to find any leads who have been back to the website in the last two weeks. Leads with phone numbers show up in Quick Calls, leads without numbers in Quick emails. Usually you'll want to move all of these leads from Inactive to Retry and get in touch.

This way you can monitor your performance and quickly see where you have the best opportunity to convert a prospect into a client--and improve your stats.

If you're an agent who's been using RealtyGenerator for a month or more, you may be ready to build upon your success. Join us for Agent 201 and learn a number of new, powerful skills and tools for delivering real value to both buyer and seller prospects as you use the RealtyGenerator system.

October Classes:

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 1:00PM Pacific/4:00PM Eastern

Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 11:00AM Pacific/2:00PM Eastern

Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 11:00AM Pacific/2:00PM Eastern

Check the full schedule for a date and time that works best for you.

If you have an open house coming up for one of your listings, promote it with the Open House tool. Your open house will appear on your brokerage website, plus notification of your open house will also be included in any of the relevant listing alerts going out to your agency's leads.

To set up an open house, scroll to the bottom of your main page and click "Add Open House" to access the Open House Manager. You'll see all the listings, sorted in ascending price, associated with your brokerage that have been uploaded from your MLS.

Find your listing and click the "Add" button on the right for your listing.

Then add all information for the open house and any comments. Providing an address will give users with a link to look up directions via Mapquest. Once you have entered the information, click "Add" at the bottom to finish.

One of the biggest mistakes agents make with RealtyGenerator is taking too long to respond to incoming email.

Think of it this way: the best leads you will get are the ones who make the effort to contact you. These leads are usually people who saw a home they were interested in and contacted you about it. When they don't get a response, they'll seek answers elsewhere or else lose interest altogether.

Taking a day or two to respond to emails is a surefire way to jeopardize your chances of turning leads into real customers. The sooner you respond to your leads' needs, the more likely they are to turn to you for assistance in the future.

The easy solution is simply to sign in to RealtyGenerator a few times a day to check for new email. Remember, it's not how much time you put in, it's how quick you are.

We always love to hear about the successes of our customers. Shannon Pyatt of EXIT Trinity Realty in Columbus, Ohio, recently told us about the great results he's seen with RealtyGenerator:

"RealtyGenerator is a huge contributor to my success here in Columbus, Ohio. Last year alone, I closed 26 RealtyGenerator leads and attribute more than 90% of my business to it. My favorite tool is the Activity button that highlights everyone who is actively looking at properties in my area. With all of the visibility tools I have access to, I can always be in the right place, at the right time to close more business. I love RealtyGenerator, I couldn't do my business without it!"

When it comes to leads, the more the better. However, that makes for an organizational challenge. Here's a quick reminder on how to use the folders.

New: Only includes new leads just assigned to you. After attempting to make contact, move the lead to the appropriate folder based on their initial communication.

Retry: Only includes leads that haven't responded to you yet. You will need to attempt to contact all retry leads with a phone number. Ones without a phone number will get an auto email at 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months.

Active: Only includes leads that are communicating with you. They may be looking up to a year down the road before they purchase. Because this folder will become rather full, a good rule of thumb is, every active lead should have a reminder set up to check on them once a month. If they remain active, great. If not, you can see if their circumstances have changed, and you may want to move them to the inactive folder until they become more active again.

Inactive: This should be the largest folder you have, but when a lead's status changes, the Activity folder and reminders will keep you posted. If a lead is placed in here because they are long term, just looking, etc., set up reminders to send an email or call. Also in this folder are leads that never reply to you and after sitting in the retry folder for about 6 weeks. Watch for them to resurface on your website via the "activity" bin. Have several "just checking in" emails pre-written and saved so they can be sent quickly.

Hot: Only includes leads that you are working with regularly. They may be on their way to closing, or may have pre-approval and you may be showing listings. You should know all these leads by name.

Sold: This is the folder for leads that you sell listings to.

Trash: Very few leads should go in to the trash folder because they will be unsubscribed from the website automatically. These include leads that provide no phone number and a false email address (you have no way to contact them), and leads that ask that you not contact them anymore.

Now, take a few moments this week to get your lead folders in order once more!

Many of our customers love RealtyGenerator so much they hesitate to tell their competition about it. But you have contacts throughout the country--not just in your own market--and we'll make it worth your while to put us in touch with them.

As a broker, you can receive $1,000 reward for helping us sign one of your fellow brokers--or get $500 for an agent who signs up for Team Leader.

To receive your reward:
1. Call 1-877-732-9515 to provide your referrals.
2. By email or phone, personally introduce this person to a Market Leader representative.
3. Join the call when your referral is given a demo of RealtyGenerator or Team Leader.
4. For you to receive the $500 or $1,000 credit, your referral must sign up within 120 days of your reference.

1. Check and respond to e-mail from leads.
2. Review your reminders. Set new ones up based on leads' activity--or inactivity--communications with you, etc.
3. Make contact with any new leads that have come in overnight.
4. Check your "Activity" area for leads that have revisited the site. Send a "just checking in" email to the inactive or retry ones who are not in regular communication with you.
5. Review your "Retry" folder. Look for oldest leads that have not responded to you yet and attempt to contact.

Remember: if your leads have a phone number, you will need to contact them. They won't be scheduled to receive the 2-week, 1-month or 3-month reminder auto emails. Best success!

RealtyGenerator not only helps you get buyer clients, it also works to help you win sellers. The Initial Report Tool allows you to create a presentation for a potential seller, either online or in person.

The Initial Report shows a potential seller all the tools you have at your disposal to market their property via the website and RealtyGenerator. It gives powerful facts to the seller, including:

1. Exactly how many leads in your brokerage's database have recently been looking for a home just like theirs. You can explain to the seller how you can market directly to this database of prospects if they list with you.
2. How you can use the Advertise tool in RealtyGenerator to get maximum exposure for the home across the Internet.

To use the Initial Report tool, scroll to the bottom of your main page. Under Initial Report, click "Create Report." Enter the information for the prospective listing and select "Print" to preview it first. If you want to email a copy, enter the recipient's email address and select "Email" as the delivery method.

If you're an agent who's been using RealtyGenerator for a month or more, you may be ready to build upon your success. Join us for Agent 201 and learn a number of new, powerful skills and tools for delivering real value to both buyer and seller prospects as you use the RealtyGenerator system.

Thursday, August 6 at 11:00AM PDT.

Click Here to Register Today.

A couple of news stories have us feeling good about the housing market lately. One exciting item is that sales of newly constructed single-family homes jumped 11% in June, according to a report released on July 27. The other recent news was that the Case-Shiller index is showing the first rise in U.S. housing prices in 3 years.

As you know, these are merely broad indicators, and we're hearing from our customers about the varying conditions throughout the country. We're optimistic that as the new stories spend more time focusing on the positives in the market, consumers will gain confidence.

In fact, these news stories may be a good reason to get in touch with prospects who have previously expressed nervousness about the market conditions. A simple offer of helpful information can go a long way in building trust with your future clients.

Here's a tip for agents who are new to the RealtyGenerator system: always check the "Activity" tab. It will instantly provide your daily to-do list.

Clicking on "Activity" brings up a list of all prospects who have returned to the website in the last 48 hours. This tool is essential for keeping an eye on your prospects. It shows you many prospects who have shifted from a casual search to an active search for homes.

It makes sense: anyone who is coming back to the website is worth your attention. You should already be working with the prospects who visited your website in the last 48 hours. If you aren't already working with them, now's your opportunity. Try to get in touch with them immediately.

We received such positive response from our last RealtyGenerator Agent 201 class that we're offering it again. We want to make sure that all agents using RealtyGenerator have an opportunity to learn new, powerful strategies for delivering real value to buyer and seller prospects. Sign up today!

Topic: Agent 201--Delivering Real Value
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 11:00AM Pacific Daylight Time
Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 11:00AM Pacific Daylight Time

In just 60 minutes you will learn advanced skills and tools to take your business to the next level of success, including:

• The power of Listing Alerts--and how you can get more prospects to sign up for them
• How to set yourself apart from your competition at the listing presentation
• Easy ways to market your listings and attract attention of buyers

With RealtyGenerator, your prospects can set up Listing Alerts for themselves directly on the website, with no work required on your part. You'll receive notification whenever that happens. We recommend that whenever a prospect creates one of these alerts, check to make sure it has been set up correctly.

Why is that a good idea? From time to time a prospect sets up an alert with a parameter that's too broad for all practical purposes. For example, they may set up a Listing Alert with $0 minimum price and no maximum for all areas. This can cause frustration when the prospect receives too many emails for listings they aren't interested in.

As their agent, you can view the prospect's listing history to see if the Listing Alerts are an accurate reflection of their viewing interests. If necessary, revise the Listing Alert so that it is on target with that prospect's true interests.