Welcome to Vendor Alley

I was talking to Shane McCarthy today. I worked with Shane at HomeSeekers.com and eNeighborhoods. For the past couple years he has worked at VisualTour. Shane is a very natural salesperson, and great in front of an audience (agents just love him). Shane also surfs ( he would want me to post that tid bit!)

The value proposition for VisualTour is this, for $29.95 per month an agent can create and host an unlimited number of virtual tours. These tours can remain online for as long as the agent/broker pays the monthly subscription fee. They claim to host over half the virtual tours in the country.

Great company, very focused on customer service. The problem?? It’s an agent based subscription service! And we all know what a grind that can be. How many agents stay and how many leave, etc. etc. etc.

Recently VisualTour has been running television commercials on national networks such as HGTV, DIY and Fine Living.

You can see one here. You can read about it here.

I haven’t seen any other commercials, but this one is hilarious! And it struck me how clever an idea this ad campaign really is, because it really hit all cylinders on a subscription based service such as VisualTour.

1. Be aggressive.
Market be damned, lets roll! See my previous post about this here. They have over half the virtual tour business and they see this market as a perfect way to go after ALL of it!

2. Innovate.
They have also created a simple search interface where consumers can search for properties that have virtual tours. Since they have over half the tours in the country , and tours of sold properties, their search inventory is decent.

3. Sell. Sell. Sell.
In my opinion the best way to solve agent retention problem in a subscription based business is agent acquisition. Agents will leave the business no matter how great your customer service department works. You’ve got to give your sales guys better ways/tools to acquire new business.

I can just see Shane up in front on an audience of agents. Here’s how I imagine it goes…

Shane:
Consumers love virtual tours.

We are the largest and best virtual tour company.

We just started a nation wide television campaign to help real estate agents out in this tough market.

Can you think of any other real estate vendor running television commercials?

Would you like to see one of our television commercials?

[Play television commercial]

Audience: Laughter

Shane:
We take Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. The line forms to the left.

Gnarly dude!

I love the fact they have integrated Cyberhomes valuation into their CMA.

If they would have used Zillow my condo in Huntington Beach would have been priced $110,000 dollars less!

Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions Releases Upgraded rDesk Suite

Enhancements include integration with FNRES’ web-based valuation tools

RISMEDIA, May 23, 2008-Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), a Fortune 500 provider of products, services and technology solutions to the financial and real estate industries, has announced that Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) has released a major new upgrade to its popular rDesk Suite of agent and broker products.

Key among the enhancements is a feature that enables agents to offer consumers access to the full power of the latest automated valuation modeling via their own branded Web sites, and an rDesk CMA comparative marketing analysis function, which features stylish new graphic designs on all printed documents.

“This release of rDesk products means that for the first time, every type of information that a homeowner or buyer needs to make informed decisions will be available though an agent’s or broker’s rDesk Web site,” said John Hensley, FNRES SVP and General Manager of Broker Agent Products and Data Aggregation. “Data that was traditionally only available on property valuation Web sites like FNRES’ Cyberhomes, or Zillow and others, is now available through Web sites that use this platform.”

Enhanced rDesk-powered Web sites now provide consumers with access to comprehensive neighborhood information, demographics, school reports, cost of living statistics, housing information and environmental information, as well as comparable sales and property valuation of neighboring properties within the property detail page of every listing. Powerful map-based searching is also available through these rDesk-powered sites.

FNRES’s rDesk was the first comprehensive desktop productivity portal for real estate agents. The significant advances within rDesk v2.5 and rDesk IDX v 5.2 support FNRES’ position as a leading provider of Web technology applications, services and custom Internet solutions for agents, brokers, MLS’ and all the other constituents involved in residential real estate.

The rDesk Suite includes the rDesk agent productivity tool, rDesk Web site and rDesk CMA and Buyer’s Tour for comparative market analyses, as well as rDesk IDX for integrating listings search capabilities.

According to Hensley, “The real breakthrough behind the new power of rDesk is the breadth and depth of available data and the methodology we employ to sift, sort and simplify this information for consumer use. And, best of all, we’ve made this information available at no additional cost to our customers.”

Looking into rDesk

At the core of the rDesk Suite is the rDesk business control panel application, which integrates productivity and business tools into a single, personalized real estate agent portal. Compatible with any MLS system, rDesk complements most tools and technologies currently in use by real estate professionals. It generates leads and manages business and scheduling.

rDesk Web sites provide a turnkey solution in an environment where, for the real estate professional, “location, location, location” increasingly means the Internet. The rDesk Web site platform is the most cost effective tool for marketing a business via the Web, and now offers consumers a single-site location for the most robust property valuation and comparative reports available.

rDesk IDX enhances a Web site by providing an easy-to-use listing search engine, compliant with all local MLS Internet data display rules and regulations. Listings are updated on a daily basis through the MLS. In addition, rDesk IDX includes a variety of lead generation tools and supports the creation of client profiles for the purpose of saving searches, bookmarking properties and facilitating automatic email listing updates. These client profiles allow agents to monitor who is using their search engine, what types of searches they are running, and what properties they have taken interest in, helping agents and brokers better determine where to focus their time.

rDesk CMA generates presentations for potential buyers and sellers using attractive, stylish new graphics and prominently incorporating agent branding. There have been significant improvements to the layout and design of Property Detail pages and Side-by-Side Property Comparison pages as well, which now incorporate enhanced graphs and charts.

rDesk’s School and Neighborhood Reports are more comprehensive, too, yet are provided in easy to understand layouts. Information is gathered on the environment, housing, people, schools and quality of life for over 200,000 locations across the country.

The latest release from rDesk comes just weeks after FNRES announced the release of a completely redesigned and restructured Cyberhomes.com. The more powerful, easier-to-use Cyberhomes site now powers those agent and broker sites using the rDesk platform, giving them the detailed analysis of homes and their surrounding communities based on the site’s unique matrix of more than two million listings and 100 million property, ownership, sales and mortgage records drawn from more than 85 percent of the United States population.

For more information on the rDesk Suite, or for a product demonstration, contact the sales department at sales@rdesksolutions.com 800-336-1027

More information about FNF can be found at www.fnf.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

(April 1st, 200 “Some things die hard.” stated Errol Samuelson President of REALTOR.COM and Top Producer Systems (both owned by Move.com). “Frankly by replacing the color purple in Top Producer products we thought we were making a step towards a more ‘Web 2.0′ look and feel.” continued Mr. Samuelson. “I guess we were wrong”

Reports indicate that a “spirted” letter writing campaign was started by a real estate agent in Kent, WA. “We don’t know why so many REALTORS sent us hand written letters and not just email us, it was kinda bizzare” stated David Fisher, Top Producer Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Whoppi Goldberg could not be reached for comment.

Well, we didn’t get much time to report from the show, it is Vegas after all. So we’ll just hit you with a wrap up.

RE/MAX International put on a good show at its 35th anniversary convention in Las Vegas this year. Dave Liniger dropped from the ceiling in a basket with Las Vegas showgirls at the convention’s general session. Attendance reports were mixed. We heard they had close to 6,000 attend. This was much better attendance than all other franchise shows, so the “Vegas factor” was in full effect.

Once surprising stat I heard at the show was that a full third of RE/MAX attendees were “international”. Meaning if your product was in English and only worked in the U.S. then you didn’t do too well. So, you do the math.

One of the many great things about RE/MAX is how they treat their vendors. This event is no different, whether its access to agents, reasonsable booth policies or free ice cream they really go out of their way to make sure everyone feels welcome.

Have you checked out Realty Times lately? They have been sporting a new look, with videos running on the top of their site. The site is still very agent centric with tons of content, which I’m sure why it’s still so popular with agents. This gives it a more “how to” vibe than the “gloss” of Inman.

Because of this, targeted banner/text ads (selling to agents) I’ve run on Realty Times have typically performed better than ones on Inman News.

The other great thing about Realty Times is Blanche Evans. She is the Editor and one of the best real estate writers out there. Check it out and judge for yourself.

So right around the corner we have the 2007 NAR EXPO in Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course Las Vegas wasn’t NAR’s first choice, they ran into venue problems in Chicago and Las Vegas was the only town that could cover them. There have been some minor changes, mostly the Expo runs in the middle of the week instead of over a weekend. Which is fine by me, especially in Vegas, hell we pay too much for rooms as is. So the big question in my mind is—-Will the REALTORS come?

Will they come to Vegas? NAR says “YES! They will come” “It’s Vegas, of course they will come!” In fact they tell me that pre-attendance is way up over last year. When I remind them that last year was a post-Katrina New Orleans I get nothing but silence over the phone (cue crickets).

So I’ve got some questions, you can comment back or email me your responses….

Any budget cut backs this year?
Where are the demo suites this year?
Parties?

Also, anything you want to plug about your company, feel free!

Those who post might even get the secret password to the “Backstage Pass” link up on the top right hand of this page. Secret cool stuff can be found for those with an ALL ACCESS password.

WASHINGTON, Aug 22, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Following is a statement by Lucien Salvant, NAR managing director of Public Affairs:

Numerous news outlets have reported today that membership in the National Association of Realtors(R) has declined. That is false. Membership has increased by nearly 6,000 this year. By the numbers, NAR ended 2006 with a record 1,357,732 members. At the end of July 2007, the most recent figure shows we have risen to 1,363,493 Realtors(R). That figure was provided to the Associated Press, which knowingly chose not to include it and also chose not to run a correction or clarification.
While the media has been focused on a decline in national sales for the past year, all real estate is local. We expect 2007 to be the fifth highest year on record for existing home sales. That historically strong level is supporting our membership base.
According to an outside source, there are about 2.6 million real estate licensees in the United States; about half of them belong to NAR. It appears much of our growth is from non-member licensees choosing to become Realtors(R), with the balance composed of newcomers entering the field. Non-member licensees are drawn to the benefits provided to them through a three-tiered membership in their local, state and National Association of Realtors(R), where there are numerous opportunities to increase their professionalism and specialization through training, networking and education.

The National Association of Realtors(R), “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
Information about NAR is available at http://www.realtor.org.
REALTOR(R) is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics. Not all real estate agents are REALTORS. All REALTORS are members of NAR.
SOURCE National Association of Realtors

As Century 21 conference kicks off in Vegas this week we only have Prudential’s trade show in San Diego next week then we’re pretty much done with all franchise shows. All shows reported attendance was way down from previous years. Now the question is; “Where am I going to make up all the sales that I expected from the trade shows?”

Anybody got any ideas? Anyone…Anyone……Anyone?

Greetings from HOT-LANTA! Actually it was below 50 degrees and windy when we arrived, but hey, lets give it up for the A-T-L! The folks at RE/MAX International moved their annual convention from New Orleans to Atlanta this year. With all the news coming from New Orleans these days it proved to be a good move. However, attendance was waaaaaay down this year. Not sure if it was good breakout sessions, the market, the city or what, but many vendors and suppliers in the convention hall were complaining about “booth traffic”.
Hard to fault anyone at RE/MAX International, they put on a quality show and treat their “Approved Suppliers” with respect. But if you can’t sell your stuff at a RE/MAX Convention, then where can you???? Our advice, scale down. Leave a few guys at home for your next convention. No need to have 7 guys standing in your booth.

According to reports HouseValues had a harsh 4th quarter, adding 2,700 new customers but losing 4,300. Shows how tough it is to attract and retain agents these days. I can tell you that it’s not from a lack of trying. I got a call at about 11AM in the morning, from a HouseValues rep, asking me if I could “accept any leads right now” (Great line by the way…). My name must be caught on an agent list out there, or maybe I submitted it while doing marketing recon. Anyway the interesting thing about the call was that it was on a Saturday. Hear that folks? Just when you thought that being a real estate vendor wasn’t hard enough, now you have to make sales calls on the weekend!