Inman

Weichert gets Web makeover

Weichert, Realtors recently revamped its Web site to capture the growing number of consumers who use the Internet for home buying and selling.

Consumers can now search open houses, map their route, and even get pre-approved during the workweek via a pop-up box that can be filled out and e-mailed to Weichert Financial Services for a quick response. Behind the scenes, this enhancement is supported by a new Online Media Center that simultaneously populates the open house section on weichert.com whenever open houses are entered into the system for newspaper advertising. The immediacy of the Web allows open houses scheduled too late to make newspaper deadlines to appear online in time for a weekend open house.

A “101 Buyers Guide” and a “101 Sellers Guide” explain the basics of home buying and home selling, as well as the importance of using a Realtor. A helpful FAQ addresses common questions. A “buyers tools” section supplies useful tools such as pre-qualification, mortgage calculators and school reports.

A “My Weichert” section allows buyers to save listings and to receive e-mails on new listings that come on the market.

Once on the Weichert Web site, consumers desiring to make an appointment or get more information can call an 800-number or e-mail. Within seconds, an inside sales consultant from the Weichert Lead Network, a new business unit launched a year ago, is on the line with the customer. During the ensuing conversation, the inside sales consultant determines the quality of the lead before initiating a “warm transfer” directly to a specially trained Weichert sales associate in the field. In its first year, the Lead Network successfully converted over 2,000 leads and is on course to significantly surpass that number this year, according to a company statement.

“The new weichert.com is the next evolution of our fully integrated approach to the Web,” said Jim Weichert, company founder and president. “It delivers on our determination to offer genuine value to our customers, while providing our sales associates with the most complete Internet marketing and lead generation platform in the industry.”

Morris Plains, N.J.-based Weichert has more than 12,800 sales associates in 270 company-owned and franchised sales offices located in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Texas.

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