Dave Keillor

• Manage |RSSReal Estate Trends

If you're giving away your information to all comers, STOP. Information need not be a one-way street and can truly be an exchange. Think permission-based, online information access. First, don't answer the same questions over and over again. Provide online access to a wide range of information. Information that's generated by you, and information that comes from third-party sources (to which you provide one-stop access). Second, provide permission-based access to that information. In the following information hierarchy, notice how as the access to information increases, your involvement and control also increase. At the lowest level, provide an IDX listing search that's available to everyone -- no registration, no nothing. I call this the "honeypot" level. Provide a reasonable number of search parameters and a reasonable amount of listing information. The idea is to give people a reason to visit your website without initially giving up personal information. At the next level, require VERIFIED registration for access to advanced features such as saving searches, favorites lists, notification, etc. At this level, you can also provide more search fields and more listing information. People WILL register and those who do have qualified themselves by giving up some personal information (their email address). At the verified user level you can see what each "shopper" has in their favorites list (and what they've removed from their list) view their saved search, hold threaded discussions, etc. You can suggest listings they may want to consider and see which of your suggest they take. Your sellers can see their listing "hit" rates and see how many people have put their listing in a favorites list. The third level is what I call the "client" level. These are people YOU deem to be bonafide clients and to whom YOU have given the client-level data access. At this level they can search all listings (not just IDX), have more search fields and more listing data, and perhaps be able to see closed (and other status) listings. At the highest level, you're providing current information to your buyers and sellers. In one example, you've defined the market segment for each of your buyers and sellers – this is done in the form of a saved search. Then, periodically your client resource management program creates a "market snapshot" for each client that shows the current market conditions in THEIR market segment – new listings, price changes, new pendings, new closes, etc. In another example, your CRM program allows you to maintain a detailed activity log for each of your sellers – a log to which you can provide permission-based access. There are other examples I can cite, but the point is to show that information exchange CAN be a two-way street and properly done will produce more business from more satisfied clients. Dave Keillor www.tconcepts.com

I agree with the need for good, high-resolution pictures, but I disagree on the "fuzzy" criteria. The reason why consumers search is that they are unable to articulate their needs in terms an agent can understand -- and often in terms the consumers themselves can understand. And often there is not a single set of needs and priorities to be articulated. In a family situation, every family member will have a different set of wants and needs. I think the best that can be done with current technology is empower the "I'll know it when I see it" approach. Search does allow the evoked set to be narrowed, but not to a single home. Dave Keillor www.tconcepts.com

Why is this information not available on the agent's website? Agents who make this type of information do very well. The home buying and selling public wants real information, not silly designations or inane tag lines. Dave Keillor www.tconcepts.com