Its gobsmacking to think agents don’t respond to emails!
Its the first thing I do every morning and I fret if I don’t reply within 24 hours.

Emails are just as important as phone calls – when will agents realise this!

I use it all the time when directing people to our listings

The key is to have a CRM/Business application that is NOT owned by a major web portal (sorry about the partial plug).

I understand that some agent websites like RS’s don’t have each of their listings appearing on a seperate URL that they can link back to.

RS, rather than changing your website in the short term you could also create an individual property website for your listings or use a blog within your website & upload your listings onto a blog page to create an individual URL that way.

(I’m sure this is a very clever way to feed clients back to said portal – e.g. just visit http://www.majorportal.com.au/12345678 as opposed to go to our webpage http://www.smallagency.com.au then click on the for sale tab, then select your suburb and hit the search button and it will bring up all the listings in that suburb, then just look … ugh)

Would love to change it, but as others have said, principal has no inclination to change or understanding of web

I read a report a while back where sharing content on Facebook had become more popular than sharing via email. And it was interesting to see that Twitter was only just behind email at that time.

Facebook & Twitter are such powerful tools & provides an incredible marketing opportunity for real estate agents but unfortunately most agents just see it as a time wasting distraction.

If agents are worried about time wasting distractions, I think the old school ways of knocking on doors, walking down streets stuffing leaflets into letterboxes & cold calling for business are a greater distraction & I can tell you most good Gen Y agents feel the same way.

The majority of Gen Y’s know how to leverage these social networks, but unfortunately the culture in lots of agencies is that prospecting has to be done the old fashioned way.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/article/facebook-yahoo-ninemsn-advertising-pd20091104-xg45t?opendocument&src=blb&

Let me know if you can’t open the link and I will copy and paste it in this blog.

Having said that – I agree – most agents should direct enquiries to their own sites – as long as that site is easy to use and well presented. This shows they are savvy and can use the web effectively – surely a winning premise to getting listings from sellers? Maybe some agents dont like the site their principal gives them?

Its still also true that many agents either dont answer emails personally or dont respond at all! Unbelieveable but true.

I dont think if they do refer clients to portals its a mortal sin – just not an optimal strategy for them personally but buyers will be valuing a property against the market – thinking that they wont by sending them to your own site isnt realistic – its a branding play for future potential listings ( buyers are sellers right? ), which in my opinion is the main reason for having your own site.

Having a great agency site or a personal site is a real winner. Increasingly sellers comprehend the power of the web in real estate and demand an agent who also “gets it”. Especially if the seller is a corporate or white collar worker who uses email and the web everyday.