Brad Roberts

There's a common fear that we may lose business if we don't answer the phone every time it rings.  However, when I'm with customers I've made the decision to put the phone on silent.  Here's why.

They deserve my full attention

I'd hate for my customers to feel like they're second place, because they're not.  However, if I make them feel that way, they're less likely to refer me to others.  To illustrate this, let's say you recently hired a painter.  He was always late, didn't finish on time, and didn't give you his full attention.  Even though he was an excellent painter, are you likely to refer him to friends or family?

It's important that my customers feel comfortable referring me to others.  Let's not forget that the caller deserves my undivided attention as well, so I should make sure I'm in a place where I can give it.

I'll forget to call back

Let's say I answer the phone and explain, "I'm in a meeting right now.  Can I call you back?"  I then continue with my meeting and after a few hours, I've completely forgotten about the call.  I don't remember until the next day, when they call me again.  I now learn that the caller simply wanted to give me 30 seconds of information that could have been left on a voice mail, but I didn't give them the opportunity.  Also, had I let the call go to voice mail, I would have been reminded to call back the next time I looked at my phone (which is very frequently).

Text messaging

Even if customers are walking through a house ahead of me, I don't want to preoccupy my mind with another project.  It's very difficult for me to text and carry a conversation.  It's important for me to listen, take notes, and be fully present.  Isn't that what I want when I'm the customer?

Unfortunately, Internet "gurus" have sold us on the idea that auto-responders are the answer to timely communication.  They've told us, "You'll lose business if you don't respond immediately."  Sure, everyone would like a quick response, but they also want a real one.  Here are three reasons why I do not use auto-replies.

Read the rest of this post »

Remember return receipts? Those annoying popups in your email that said, "So-and-so has asked to be notified when you read this message."  Maybe you still use them (yikes).  Boomerang however, takes an unobtrusive approach.  It returns an email to your inbox if you do not receive a reply within a specific time.

Their "Send Later" feature is nice too. It's great for writing email now, and well.... sending it later :)

I've been using Boomerang for GMail for several months and I recommend it to anyone in the real estate business.  They have a free version, so give it a try.

There's plenty of ways to create QR codes.  Here's a few that I use.

For web pages

When creating a QR code that opens a web page, I use bitly.  Bitly is a URL shortner, but it also gives you a QR code with every shortened URL. Here's how:

1. Input the URL you want to open when someone scans your QR code
2. Bitly gives you a short URL that looks something like this: http://bit.ly/ioedud
3. Simply append ".qrcode" onto the end of the new URL so it looks like this: http://bit.ly/ioedud.qrcode
4. Visit this URL in your web browser to view the QR code.  From here you can save it to your computer (right click and choose "save as..").

You may even consider registering your own short domain name and using Bitly Pro (the free version). For example, I'm using the domain http://homesear.ch

Another free alternative is Google's URL shortner.  The steps are almost identical, but with Google you'd append ".qr" to the end of the shortened URL.

For contact information

I don't have a favorite, but I used this QR code generator.  It creates a contact card in the MECARD format, which doesn't store as much information as the VCARD format, but I like to keep it simple. If you'd like to store your company info in the card, try Nokia's card generator and choose the VCARD format.

2d Code's list of QR code generators is a nice resource for different types of QR code generators.

Need help?

Check out how I use QR codes in real estate. If you need a hand creating QR codes, please let me know.

If you're a real estate agent, you've been inundated with 100 ways QR codes will skyrocket your business.  However, we have to understand that currently, the hype about QR codes is mainly within our industry.  It's not mainstream yet.  Businesses are simply creating excitement around a technology in order to make money, without any evidence to back it up.  I'd also like to point out that you can create QR codes yourself for free!

Unfortunately, as a result of over promotion, QR codes are often used haphazardly in real estate without any thought or goal in mind.

Read the rest of this post »

The iPhone has push notifications for email, but...

1. Like everyone else, I get tons of bulk email.  It's mostly newsletters, announcements, etc.  I don't want my phone to bing-bong every time I receive an email. Only when I receive one from a real person.

2. I don't want my phone to ring at 3am, even if it's from a real person. 

Here's what I did.

1. First, I created two email addresses.  One that I give to real people, and another that I use for online signups.

2. Next, I installed Boxcar on my iPhone and added a new email service.  This gave me a special Boxcar email address that I can forward important emails to, which will popup on my phone.  I changed the settings to only notify me between 6am and 9pm.
   
   
3. Finally, I setup a filter in GMail that forwards my important emails to my new Boxcar email address.  In this case, an important email is any email sent to my real people address.
   
   

You can also tell Boxcar to alert you about new tweets, facebook activity, and a ton of other stuff.

This tiny little feature in GMail is simply genius.  No more, "Sorry. I forgot to attach the document" emails.