Brio Realty's Blog

How to set up an Automatic Alert for the Referral Network

Brio Realty — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:27:52 -0500

Every member of ActiveRain needs to set up an Automatic Alert! This feature is potentially one of the most important features ever released on AR.

The Referral Network Automatic Alerts represents that finishing step that gives the Referral Network the ability to become useful on a widescale basis.

A couple weeks ago, ActiveRain presented a forum whereby members of this great community can post referrals for other members. The referring member is then contacted by members that would be willing to work the referral based on the agreed upon terms. It gives the referring member a great chance to see who among us is willing and eager to work with their client, at the same time giving them a chance to check out that person before making the referral.

I really believe that agents who find the time to be diligent in their participation here probably have it together in the other facets of their business. Taking a minute (or twenty) to read through the blogs someone has posted can really give you, as a referring agent, a sense of who you are referring to and conviction that that person will take good care of your client.

However, it was a little cumbersome to go into the referral area every day (or more often as I'm sure a few of you may have done) and check to see if anything was posted in your area. Alas, Matt and his team (and by team I mean James and Ben) have given us Referral Alerts.

Now, as a member, you can go into the referrals area and create 'Referral Alerts' so that when someone posts a referral to the specifications you have pre-determined, you are alerted.

At first glance, I think it could use a little more flexibility. With the price range for instance, if I am interested in any referrals over 500K, it looks like I would have to set a couple of alerts up, one for each of the price ranges.

If ActiveRain as a collective community can rally behind this new Referral Exchange I believe that we could change our entire industry for the better!

Kudos to the State Department of Transportation

Brio Realty — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 21:13:46 -0500

I was reading the Seattle Times this evening and I came across an article about the 520 Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. If you live in this area then you know how important the 520 Bridge is for the daily commute. The Bridge is one of two that span Lake Washington connecting Seattle to the vibrant Eastside. Citizens in Bellevue (an affluent suburb), Redmond (the home of Microsoft) and Kirkland (another affluent suburb) all depend on the bridge to make their daily trips to and from the city. Built in 1963 to relieve traffic from the I-90 bridge that spans the lake a few miles south, it has meant a lot to the infrastructure of our highway system.

Well this little article came with some great new video that the state has paid to have made up. The video, which the state has uploaded to Youtube, as well as hosting it on their site, is meant to show the public what would happen in a "catastrophic failure" as caused by a huge windstorm or earthquake.

Take a look

Now don't get me wrong, I am all for the idea that visual images help to stimulate the mind. They can certainly give the viewer a better idea of how a particular event may unfold, but seriously $21,000 for that?? Why not utilize the University of Washington and it's students looking for real world experiences to help with a video like this. I'll bet a couple of starving students would have done it for $5,000.

The State Department of Transportation has said that it will cost between 4.4 and 5.3 BILLION to replace the current four lane bridge with a six lane bridge (and if you've ever sat in traffic at 5pm on a Friday night headed to Seattle from the Eastside you know this needs to be done). Never fear though, the state has identified 1.6 BILLION in funding for the replacement. The other 2.8 BILLION (on the low end) I suppose will be donated after the public sees these new videos and is so paralyzed by fear of being stuck on the bridge when it happens, decides to step up to the plate. At least that's how it works in your town right???

There is little reason for concern however as the article lets us know that the bridge would be closed during a windstorm (which is true, I've sat in traffic for three hours for a similar closing). Oh wait........there's still those darn earthquakes.................

I guess if I had the answers though, I'd be bound by my duty as an American to run for office.............wait, is that a duty as a citizen? Or is it ok to just sit back and gripe?

Honestly.....why would I believe you?

Brio Realty — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 07:09:10 -0600

One of my guilty pleasure's is watching Dateline's: To Catch a Predator. For me it's two fold. I love that the spotlight is being shown on such a disgusting aspect of the internet. These perverts need to be exposed and I'm so glad some of our local officials have made it a felony in some areas. There is also something very captivating about watching these sometimes normal (sometimes not of course) guys, errr.....IDIOTS, doing something they obviously know is wrong, yet their libido's have put their brain on the fritz (a phrase that was actually the final Jeopardy question, or is it answer, tonight, with the answer, or is it question, fitting with the final explanation in the link).

Something that almost every one of these imbecile's comes up with at some point in their subsequent interogations is a statement of innocence. And it almost always starts with "Honestly".

"Honestly, I didn't plan on giving any of this Mike's Hard Lemonade to this 13 year old girl, Honest"

"Honestly, I drove four hours from BFE to West Palm Beach and was only planning on talking with this 13 years old boy, even though I raced in the house like a dog in heat, Honest"

"Honestly, I didn't plan on having sex with this 14 year old girl. Oh, the Condoms? Honestly, I didn't plan on needing them, Honest"

I don't watch too much TV, but one of the other shows I like as well is Cops. They always have episodes filmed in King or Pierce Counties here in Washington. I have two cousins that have both made appearances on the show. Unlike most of you yahoos, my cousins are on the right side of the camera, County Sheriffs (although I have a few relatives who have probably made the other side, as we all do). My girlfriend's father is a Seattle Police Officer, as well, so I have a deep respect for the men and women that uphold the law.

Well wouldn't you know it, something similar happens when one of the stars of that show (on either side of the camera by the way) is finally ready to come clean. They begin by giving us an indication of their impending candor.

"Honestly officer, that crack in my purse isn't mine. Well yes it's my purse, but I swear, that crack isn't mine"

Often times followed by the officer responding with much the same honesty. "Let me be honest with you, you're going to be in jail for a long time and honestly we won't be able to get much for your car at auction"

When did it become necessary to preface upcoming statements with "honestly"?

I say it. (I'm going to make a real effort in the future not to, but I do now) I'm not a liar. One time I stretched the truth to benefit myself ("no honey, those jeans don't make you look fat")(wait, does saying I've only done it once make it twice, uh oh) but I certainly don't make a habit of telling people what they want to hear, or outright lying to people. All the same, I still find myself prefacing some of the statements I make with "honestly"

Shouldn't it go without saying? Well of course it should. Let's just assume that what is coming out of my mouth is the truth without me having to assure you.

There are a couple of reason I can think of for why people feel the need to let us know of their imminent honesty.

1. The topic being discussed has a lot of room for interpretation and a vast amount of information available for someone to consider. Mortgages are a great example of this. With all the information out there for a consumer to digest, you want them to know that the advice they are getting from you is credible. "Let me be honest with you, that other company may be able to get you 5%, but they are crooks.......(Honestly, I don't know what mortgage people say, haha). The majority of people who start off a sentence by declaring honesty, are probably in this boat. Not a bad boat to be in, but to me it just indicates that their are times when you aren't honest.

2. You have been less than honest with that same person in the past. If you have a history of dishonesty with someone, it might make you (and them) feel better to let them know up front what to expect from you. I can't recall a specific instance, but I'm sure this method was popular with our beloved former president, Bill Clinton. He was certainly less than honest with us in regards to a few things, and probably spent the last years of his presidency delivering speeches laden with "honestly". (Honestly, the same can probably be said about our current president, or politicans in general, but I digress......how about Obama, he seems like a straight shooter to me, I'll bet you don't hear him having to qualify what he says..........wait, further off topic)

3. You have been less than honest with other people about the same topic but really intend on being honest with this next person. This is one of which I have been guilty. Sometimes when dealing with and trying to motivate sales people, you stretch the truth just a tad to get it to fit with their goals and perceptions. There are some people that are not motivated by the fact that our leads have a 2% closing rate, they are too lazy to make 50 calls to close a deal. For them, "Honestly, most of our agents close these leads at about a 2% clip, but I think with your great sales skills, you can probably be somewhere in the 7-10% range."

4. You are about to lie. This is what the Predators and the perps are doing. "Honestly officer, I am about to lie to you, and I just wanted to let you know by starting off my declaration with the word that means the exact opposite of what I intend on doing"

(Don't worry though, if you finish it off with "I swear to God" then you will have successfully completed the lying double negative makes it a statement of fact routine and will no doubt be found innocent in a court of law)

Where does a Blogging lead fall?

Brio Realty — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:16:38 -0600

I think everyone would agree, there are different quality of leads. Someone from your sphere of influence is certainly a better potential lead than the guy behind the counter at the tire shop that you handed your business card to as part of your attempt to pass out as many cards a day as you can. If you continuously market to your sphere of influence (friends, family.........friends, family) or in some cases just keep it fresh in their heads that you are an agent, when the time comes for them to buy they may do it with you (of course some of you would say to never mix business and friends or family, but that's another topic). By handing out business cards to every person you come across in the course of a day, you'd probably be happy with one in a hundred calling and inquiring about your services. So naturally, these leads have different levels of quality.

So where does a lead cultivated by your ActiveRain blog or your subsequent participation on Localism rate in comparison with the other ways to get leads? Let's take a look.

I'll start at what I believe to be the worst quality lead and work my way up from there.

This is a lead generated by the infamous (at least in Matt's opinion) lead aggregation machine. Companies like Housevalues and HomeGain dominated this space in the early 00's and wedged themselves in between the consumer and the real estate agent. Consumers finding their way to these sites, and others like them, would often be left feeling duped. A television or radio ad for Housevalues would send you to their website where you would fill in a form leaving your name, address and contact info with the promise that you would be given a value for your home. Then with the consumer's contact info in hand, they would turn and sell it to an eager agent ready to help you sell your home and find the next one. Many times though the consumer just wanted to see their value and were not interested in talking to anyone. To their credit, Housevalues (I'm not as familiar with Homegain's internal workings) does have a good lead management platform and some of you may have had success with their leads. By enlarge though, the leads are the bottom of the barrel when it comes (quickly becoming came) to quality. With each and every lead, the agent has to demonstrate credibility, build rapport and ultimately woo the client with your local market knowledge. In essence, you start over with every lead..........again and again and again. And don't forget the best part, they may have even started feeling duped.

This is a lead captured on your website, or in some cases your companies website. Even within these leads your level of quality can range a bit. There has been ample discussion on ActiveRain about forced registration versus non forced registration. I would venture that a lead that isn't forced to register will generally be a higher quality lead than one that is, but the fact still remains, it is an on-line lead. These people are now willing to give their contact info on the premise that they want some piece of information about the listing and generally aren't that surprised if they are contacted (I said generally). You have demonstrated very little credibility other than you have a website, which just about anyone can do these days (and does). If you do in fact end up with their contact info, then great. The reality is you still have to demonstrate that credibility, build rapport, and ultimately woo the client with your local market knowledge before they are going to work with you. Needless to say, the glaring difference is the client doesn't feel duped (although they may if you force them to register which inevitably leads to names like "Not on your life" and email addresses like "Ibetyouwish@youknew.com"). Again though, you have to start over with every lead.

I would say that the traditional farming techniques fall relatively close to this category as well. You have demonstrated minimal credibility ("Well, the guy/lady can afford these mailers every month") but still built no rapport and demonstrated no local market knowledge (I guess the fact your title company can get the address correct on your mail labels may demonstrate minimal local market knowledge). The client in this instance though will generally initiate the first verbal communication which makes it a bit easier for the weak at heart (but deep in pocket).

Everyone loves this kind of lead. Why wouldn't you? Even referrals though can vary somewhat in their quality, but they generally come with a little more of three main ingredients of a lead. Credibility can vary from highly established to barely established at all. Your barber, who you have never helped buy or sell, may tell you that his son is thinking of buying and that you should give him a call. He probably can't vouch for your credibility much further than you always have a $20 in your wallet to pay when he's finished (except for that ONE time). A referral from a past client though may come with much more built in credibility as they can vouch for how fantastic of a job you did for them (because, of course, you did a fantastic job). With a referral though in many instances you still have to demonstrate to that individual what your level of expertise is and then of course build one on one rapport with them. I think most people will take someone else's word on expertise, but want to see it demonstrated to them personally as well. Rapport is something you have to start over with on each and every referral client to some degree. Still, we like referrals because they come with some level of the three ingredients built in. But a common thread remains, we have to start over with each one every time.

I'm going to skip ActiveRain and Localism for a second and deal with the highest and best form of lead, then come back.

With a repeat customer you already have the three ingredients built in. They have worked with you before so they know that you are credible, they know that you have the local knowledge, and they know that they get along with you (rapport). ActiveRain and Localism actually give you the opportunity to come just about as close to this as you can get without having worked with someone in the past. Needless to say, hang on to these people. Use them for referrals, make sure they know how to find you (another benefit of ActiveRain if you don't have a well ranking website, or one at all).

I would say that the potential for a lead you can generate from ActiveRain and Localism falls right between a referral and a repeat customer, and here's why............

How do you demonstrate to someone that you have credibility over the internet? The best way is to give them a peak into what you do on a daily basis. Show them experiences you have had with other clients and how you handled the challenges that presented themselves. Show them that you can spell and understand the proper usage of your and you're. Show them that you know the extent of your own limitations and are willing to seek out the advice of your peers. These are all components of some of the more successful blogs written on ActiveRain.

How do you demonstrate your expertise in a local market over the internet? You write about that local market. Do like Rich Jacobson and write about the local businesses that serve your market. Do like Lenn Harley and consistently write about the current conditions in your market. Do like Broker Bryant and continually write about how good looking you are.............(wait, I mean about all the great things Broker Bryant writes about .) Basically do like any of the very active people on ActiveRain. If you're a regular reader of any of the three blogs (and countless others) I mentioned, you can clearly see that these people understand their markets. In posting your blogs then, make sure you get them into the right market area for syndication to localism. Now a consumer can find all that great info you produced in one place.

How do you build Rapport with someone over the internet? You give them a glimpse of your personality. Write in an informal manner that lets the client into your world. Broker Bryant is GREAT at this. Can anyone here that has read his blog not feel like they are getting the essence of this man? By continually giving you glimpses of who he is, readers can't help but build a rapport with him. I feel like if I sat down for a beer with Broker Bryant I would already like the guy. In fact, I've never spoken to him and I like him. I've had a chance to sit down at lunch with Rich Jacobson and I liked him already. Gerhard Ade is an agent in our office, he is a very intelligent man and you can see the thought he puts into his blog. I had the opportunity to know him before I started reading his blog, but I can see his intelligence and his sense of humor in his writing.

Now here is the best part about a lead you get from Localism or ActiveRain. You have demonstrated these things to the consumer over and over again but only had to write it once. Someone new that comes along only need to read some of what you have written in the past to get an idea about you. YOU DON"T HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE IT TO THEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN FROM SCRATCH.

Now think about that for a minute. Someone wants to know what you know about pricing. You've written about it. Someone wants to know what you know about Marketing. You've written about it. Someone wants to know what to expect when you show up at their home for a listing presentation. Shoot, you haven't written about that yet, so you tell them, then you write about it so the next person can read about it. ActiveRain and Localism give you the opportunity to chronicle your knowledge, your credibility and your character. Even better than that, they know how to get it in front of the consumer.

The success stories of people are plentiful. I know Mark Flanders has closed business as a result of leads that contacted him after reading his blog (he told me at lunch). Many of you are in the same boat. I would venture a guess that what you were able to demonstrate to the client via your blog prior to having ever met them was a huge factor in why they contacted YOU!!!!

Chronicle your knowledge so that you don't have to demonstrate it over and over and over again.

You were an inspiration Joe

Brio Realty — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:11:46 -0600

Last week as I was back in Maryland checking on our branch in the Baltimore area, I got a call from a dear friend of mine back home in Bellevue. We work closely with each other back home so hearing from Tyson a couple times a day is pretty standard. As I answered the phone "hey", like I always do, Tyson didn't even give me a chance to follow up with my customary "what's up?" before he said, "Joe Magee died".

Had he not said "Joe Magee" I probably would have asked "Joe who?" but because he was only 43 and had more energy that anyone I have ever met the thought of Joe Magee would have NEVER entered my mind. In any other conversation we've ever had about Joe there was no need for Magee to be mentioned. When you talked about "Joe" everyone knew who you were talking about.

It's taken me 7 days to be able to write about Joe and I'm struggling to do it even now. The reason I'm sitting here now to do it is because his service is tomorrow and I want to be able to tell Joe how much he meant to me even though I never had a chance to do it while he was still alive. We were friends and Joe knew that, but I don't think he knew that he inspired me in a fashion that I have never experienced in my 29 years on this earth.

I know that Joe is looking down on me as I write this and this is what I want to tell him........

Joe,

I remember the first time I met you. I was with Tyson and Lance in the parking garage of our building as you bee bopped (because anyone who knew you knows that's what you did) out of the elevator on your way to wherever you were going. You were always going somewhere.

"Money never sleeps, Dawg", right?

You were obviously in a hurry but you took the time to stop and have Tyson and Lance introduce me to you. I'd heard so much about you already but it none of what was said compared to getting to know you over the next four years.

I miss you!!! Since I never got a chance to tell you the impact you had on me, I'm going to try now.

Your energy was absolutely contagious. In the six months we worked side by side every day there was never a time I was in your presence that I didn't feel like I could conquer the world. I can't recall one time we left a room together, after meeting with one person or ten, that everyone in your wake didn't have the same feeling I got to experience everyday.

Your determination to succeed was unparalled. No matter what obstacles stood in your way, you were like a freight train barreling through them. It was hard to keep up with you. Even though you'd already knocked the wall down walking through it behind you was sometimes a little tough. Freight trains leave a lot of debris when they destroy a wall. I'm honored to have been able to clean some of it up. I never had a doubt that together we could do something fantastic. I'm sorry I didn't have the courage to stand up for you when things didn't turn out exactly like we'd planned them.

Thank you for reintroducing me to God. I never went back with you because I wasn't ready yet. I really want to thank you for not pressuring me and still having the same opinion of me. That freedom you gave me to decide for myself is something your wisdom allowed you to do. My relationship with God is stronger because of you and I have an eternity to be thankful to you for that.

Your kids are two of the most well mannered, beautiful children that I have ever come across. I hope they know that their dad was loved by so many people and that you will guide them through life with a soft touch from heaven.

This one seems so inconsequential but you were the best dresser. You really taught me that the way other people perceive you can mean a lot in business and there first perceptions are generally based on your appearance. Even though your tailor won't stop calling me to see if I need anything since you brought him into the office to get fitted for those suits, I still appreciate it.

Playing basketball with you was a real treat. Even though that jumper was the ugliest thing I've seen since middle school and if you tried to shoot over me it usually ended up on your forehead, I'd give anything to be able to take an elbow to the nose again as you flailed for a rebound. Even as I sit here in tears, I can still chuckle at that ugly jumper. I know, I know, it was about results.

You had an undefinable quality that I can't even begin to describe. I think the fact that Ann had to postpone the service so people can fly in from across the country and even overseas to be there is a testament to that.

I'm going to be a new dad Joe. I never got to tell you. The last time I saw you we knew, but we weren't really telling anyone yet because it was early. I wanted to tell anyways because I knew how much you loved being a father and how happy you would have been for me. I meant to grab you before you left and tell you, but you bee bopped out before I could. I'll really miss being able to share that with you. I saw the way you were with your kids and I'm so remorseful that I won't have you as someone to turn to when I need advice.

I want you to know that a day will never go by that I won't think about you. I love you Joe.

Your friend

"Bobby Brown"

9-11-2001

Brio Realty — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:23:17 -0500

This may end up being a little long, but I'm writing this for me.......not necessarily for you.......I have never really went back and tried to recall how I felt that day. I don't know that I ever wanted to recall it. I have avoided the TV today. But alas the ActiveRain community has shared some of their personal experiences from that day and it has persuaded me to write about it, with a last push from Jonathan.

relatively fresh out of college I had taken my first "real" job with a store planning firm. We did remodels for big box retail stores. On this particular morning our crew of 20 was finishing up a reset in a Lowes Hardware store. We worked nights doing these resets as not to disturb the paying customers. I did this sort of thing during the summer all through college and landed the job rather easily upon graduation. Of course, any job at that point is welcome but working nights has it's toll. It must have been about 5:30am Pacific Time when the first of the daytime Lowes employees started to roll into the store. I was at the front submitting my reports to the Lowes corporate office back in North Wilksboro North Carolina. I would normally fax in the reports then follow up with a phone call. I can remember the face of the employee who was the first one to walk through the door that morning. He looked like a ghost. He had been at home 5 minutes before that watching the news of the first plane that had hit. As not to be late for work he hurried to the store while listening to the radio. Just like most of us, his first impression was that a small plane had hit one of the Trade Towers. I remember him saying "those towers can take anything, remember back when they tried to set the bomb off inside?" The look on his face though belied what he must have been feeling.

At this point it seemed like a relatively minor situation, a case of bad piloting, possibly some lunatic trying to end their own life. Little did I know that it was something so much more sinister. Regardless, since I was in charge of the group doing the remodel, I hastily gathered everyone up and we did the quickest morning clean up we had ever done. And we headed back to our hotel.

Upon getting to the hotel I immediately headed for my room. I skipped the normal morning dinner (or whatever you call the last thing you eat before going to bed when you work nights, I never quite figured that out). Doing a remodel on a store that has been around for ten years, you can imagine the kind of dirt and grime that accumulates on, behind, and under just about everything. Every morning coming home I would be filthy. The first thing I would need is a shower, not this morning. I needed to know what was happening.

This was the first moment that I caught a glimpse of the actual Towers. By the time I had arrived at the hotel, the second plane was moments from hitting. I turned on the TV and listened as the anchor was relaying eyewitness accounts of the first plane hitting. It was in fact a commercial airliner. I remember wrestling with the thoughts of if it was a terrorist act. At this point, the grime got the best of me, I had to wash my hands.......as I made my way to the sink and turned the water on the second plane hit. I didn't see it, I can vaguely recall the newsman on the TV saying something to the effect of "oh my god" as I stood at the sink. I didn't want to look around the corner at the TV again. What could have happened that this newsman would say that after what had already happened?

I was now glued to the TV. When something happens in my life that would normally illicit tears, my dike doesn't break until I talk. My eyes well up and my throat gets the worst lump in it (just like the one I have right now). At this point, it was now all too clear that our great country was the target of an attack. An attack on our own soil that no one alive had seen. This was not the Japanese attacking a military installation. These were terrorists attacking innocent Americans. Why? Who would do this? I have the images of the smoke billowing from both towers burned in my memory. I must have flipped through every channel ten times trying to get the most up to date information. No one had it, no one knew what was going on. There were reports coming in from everywhere.

My mind was so full of thoughts. I remember thinking about the people stranded in the towers above the explosion. As the news gave details of what floors appeared to have been hit, my mind calculated how many stories were above that, how many people were on each of those floors. I was on the math team in high school, it didn't matter, my mind would not, could not add the numbers up. One of the stations showed pictures of people jumping from the floors above. I could not fathom this, yet what other options did they have? Still no tears. That lump in my throat bigger than I have ever felt it.

The next thing I remember is that first tower coming down. There were no words for it. Aaron Brown was the anchor on CNN I believe. I remember him from his days on KIRO TV in Seattle. How can someone prepare to televise to the world something this horrific? One can not. As the consumate professional though, he reported it as he saw it. I can't recall a word he said as that tower came down, not one. I don't know that he said a word. What was there to say? We were watching on live TV the most horrific event ever to be televised. Words had no place. They say a picture can say a thousand words.......yet there were none to be spoken.

I've read it from almost everyone else.......it felt surreal. This can not be happening. There was no way to rationalize it. A sane person could not comprehend what they were seeing. There was absolutely no way. To this day I can not comprehend what these terrorists did. I will never be able to comprehend it. How could 16 terrorists take away the safety felt by hundreds of millions? Part of being an American was feeling safe from the kind of extremists that perpetrated this act. Not any longer. They took that away from me. I can remember sitting there thinking this as reports continued to rush in about the state department, the Pentagon, the White House, the Capital building. I imagine for a moment I was looking at this as a "what if". What if this happened, how would I feel.

It felt like almost immediately I turned my thoughts to my family, my girlfriend. It wasn't almost immediately. I sat on that bed playing the "what if" scenarios through my head for an hour. Only it wasn't "what if", it was "what now?"

Now I am from Washington State. Not the most obvious place for a terrorist attack, but in some ways a symbol for the thriving international trade that takes place from our Seattle Tacoma seaports everyday. They wouldn't dare. Would they? As I watched what was unfolding before my eyes, it now appeared they would. How many of these planes were unaccounted for. At one point there were quite a few. 15 planes unaccounted for, 12 planes, 10 planes..........None of my family works in an area that would be an obvious target, but my girlfriend worked in a building right next to the Columbia tower. The Columbia Tower is the tallest building west of the Sears Tower. If they were striking at symbols of our thriving economy surely this would be a target on the west coast. Now at this time I still hadn't talked to anyone. Not a tear shed. I didn't know if I could speak, my throat felt like I had a basketball lodged in it.

"Brenda, are you ok?" I asked as my girlfriend answered. "what are you talking about, you just woke me up, what's the matter?"

I had lost it. I couldn't tell her what was the matter. I didn't know what was the matter. I still hadn't pieced together that nearly 3000 people had lost their lives. I sat there on the phone sobbing as she continued to ask me what was the matter. "Turn on the TV", I said. We sat on the phone for 5 minutes without either of us saying a word. Now she knew what was the matter. My girlfriend was never one for holding back a tear. She would cry if her soup was cold at the deli. But even she couldn't shed a tear over what she was seeing. Not yet anyways. "This is surreal" she would say. "But it's not, baby, it's real and it's happening right now in America". She couldn't fathom what she was seeing. Even when I got off the phone with her, I just sat in my room crying. Greater thinkers than I have written about why tragedies affect us when we are not directly touched, and now a whole new generation of Americans would understand. Not many of us can explain it, but we understand.

I didn't personally know anyone that lost their life that day. I have many friends who knew someone. One of my dear friends lost her uncle that day. But I did lose something that day very personal to me as an American. I lost my sense of safety. I would get it back in the days and months and years to come, but for some the return has not been as swift.

I have flown all over the world and to this day, not once do I complain or gripe when I have to take my shoes off in line at the airport. Not once have I complained when they pull me aside and check my luggage by hand. Not once did I question why they wouldn't let me take my nail clippers on board (ok, maybe once on that one). I understand why. In Asia back in 1999 they would search your bags by hand for everything that you carried on the plane. Men with machine guns would do the searching, I now understund why, but I still don't understand how hate could fester in someone so deeply that they could convince others to do this sort of thing as an answer to what they see wrong in the world.

Since that day, this is the first time I have looked back thinking of myself. It seemed so meaningless, who cares what I was doing when this happened when there were thousands of Americans grieving over the most unimaginable end to so many promising lives. I don't know that I will ever look back again on how I felt that day, but everyday I think about how America has changed. It has, I have to. Thanks ActiveRain for allowing me a forum to recall how I felt that day and God bless America and everyone that came to her defense that day and every day since then.

Bob

Are You Ready For Some FOOTBALL!!!!

Brio Realty — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:24:58 -0500

My favorite time of year is here. For me there is nothing quite so refreshing as the crisp smell of the air in fall (visit Seattle in October if you have never smelled crisp air). The smell of peanuts and stale beer in the parking lot somehow gets my mouth to water when any other time of year it would make me gag. Making the walk from the parking lot to your seats under any other circumstances would require a break for 80% of the people. Not during football season. Watching two grown men run at full speed and slam head first into each other would normally make you cringe in your seat. Not during football season. Waiting in a line 20 people deep for a hot dog and beer then paying $20 for said beer and hotdog would make anyone irrate. Not during football season. And of course sitting in your car after the game for an hour trying to make it out of the parking garage would normally have people cussing and swearing. Not during football season unless your team loses.

Now if you take a look at the profile, you'll see I'm from Bellevue, Washington, right across the lake from Seattle. When I was a little kid my dad would take me to the Seahawks games in the environment controlled Kingdome. You have never been in a structure so drab and void of atmosphere in all your life. For a couple of years when I was rather young I can remember the Kingdome loud enough that you almost expected the roof to collapse. Then came the Ken Behring era. For 21 years the Seattle Seahawks didn't return to the playoffs. Then our savior......Paul Allen, Microsoft Co-founder and resident Seattle Billionaire bought the team. What did he do with them you ask? Tear down the Kingdome, put up one of the best stadiums in the country and put together a Super Bowl contender (I can't tell you how hard it was for me to not put Champ in the place of contender. If you saw the game, you know what I'm talkin about)

Since the turn of the century, no Super Bowl runner up has finished the following season over .500. I just got done watching the Swami say that the Hawks weren't going to make the playoffs.

The Seahawks are the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL....No Respect, No Respect. So we sit back and wait for the season to open and we wait two weeks before they come home for the home opener. You can be assured that if your team comes to Qwest this year, it will not be fun for them. But I'll have fun enough to make up for it for you..........

Bob

Branding Gift Cards

Brio Realty — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:38:33 -0500

I was reading Nima's post about thank you cards and it got me thinking. Jonathan Washburn and I were talking one day about effective ways to thank a customer and market to them at the same time. We started kicking around the idea of gift cards. Now someone let me know if someone is doing this, because we came to the conclusion it is a great idea and we would love to try it.

Why wouldn't a company like Home Depot or Bed Bath and Beyond open up a promotion where those of us in the business of houses can co market with them. They are in the business of selling things to people who own houses and we are in the business of helping people own those houses. It would seem like a natural fit for big corporations like this to allow us to co-brand ourselves with them.

Giving a client a thank you card with a $100 (or maybe more for the big shots) gift certificate to Home Depot would be a decent enough idea. What if you could give them the card, for the same $100, but the card had your design or logo on it. So instead of something with them on it, why not something with us on it. I know that I would be much more inclined to give a gift like that if the client could see Brio as they spent that $100.

It gets Home Depot exposure because the client usually ends up there spending more than $100 and it gets the agent exposure because the client gets to remember who helped them be able to spend all of their disposable income at Home Depot.

I just wish Eagle Hardware hadn't sold to Lowes or I would have them doing this for us today.

Just a thought, and like I said, if you've seen this, please let me know.

Bob

Brio Realty utilizes ActiveRain

Brio Realty — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:19:40 -0500

I am glad that ActiveRain made the first post about our integration with the ActiveRain network. When we first approached them about integrating our Brio Home Search with the site I wasn't exactly sure of the terminology and how they would apply it to make things work. Luckily for us, Matt and the gang are brilliant at what they do.

initially this is a little bit of a change in how our company operates. Up until this point, our agents have always been able to grab leads from our client management system based on the areas they know and work. However, there are a few drawbacks to this approach. The first being that sometimes agents grab leads in some areas that they don't know very well just because the client happened to be looking at a high value home. By allowing our agents to sponsor different neighborhoods, we can assure that someone looking in Wallingford Seattle will be put in touch with an agent who knows Wallingford.

It will be up to our management to make sure that the agent sponsoring a certain neighborhood is in fact knowledgable of that neighborhood. One way we can do this is to encourage our agents to really get to know the neighborhood they are sponsoring. The blogging tool on ActiveRain allows our agents to put that knowledge on display for potential clients visiting our site.

As we work the bugs out and really get the process streamlined, I will make sure to keep those of you who may be interested updated on the progress. Of course, the ActiveRain guys do a fabulous job of this as well so I am sure they will be one bob and weave ahead of us to the punch. Luckily for all of you, when they punch they usually deliver the blow with so much more detail and insight (even if it needs to be explained to the rest of us).

Thanks ActiveRain, you have really given us a tool that our clients can benefit from.

Bob

Taking advantage of your leads.............

Brio Realty — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:30:59 -0500

I see so many people that do not have an ability to follow a lead from beginning to end. If you can identify a potential buyer early in the process you have given yourself a leg up on the competition. If, however, you can't follow that person until they are ready to buy, what good was it to identify them in the first place. In order to follow a person through the home buying cycle, you must give yourself effective tools. A customer relationship management (CRM) system that does two main things is crucial.

The first thing your lead management system must do is allow you to set reminders for when you will next follow up with a person. This may be a reminder for the next time you will call. It may be a reminder to send them your business card. It may be a reminder to show up at their home with a basket of cookies. If you can set a reminder and have a CRM deliver that reminder to you, you are half way there. The other half is you have to execute on the reminder. Just setting it doesn't do a whole lot of good if you don't perform the task you reminded yourself about.

The second thing you want from a CRM is the ability to automatically market to those leads. In the real estate space you want to be able to get the consumer what it is they are after......houses. An automated home search can keep you in front of a customer for months without ever having to do anything beyond the initial set-up.

If you have these tools available to you, why wouldn't you use them?