There is a reason real estate agents are among our largest demographic of clients. You will hardly ever find a real estate agent in one place all of the time. The best in the industry are always on the go, doing what they can to get more listings and to close more sales. These are the agents that are making the money, not settling for average. Most of these agents are well versed in using tools and techniques to help them stay on top of their game by having a high level of efficiency and productivity. At Wireless I.Q., we coach current and aspiring top producers and develop an “action plan” to use technology to achieve goals.

I have compiled a list of 5 tips to increase your efficiency and productivity in 2009:

1. Adopt a new technology and openly look for ways to utilize it to your advantage.

I give a free presentation at real estate company sales team meetings. At the beginning of the presentation, I ask for a show of hands from smartphone users. During one presentation, I was shocked to see that out of over thirty agents there were only three or four hands raised . The week after the presentation, I received calls from a dozen of those agents looking to make the jump to a smart phone. Try to overcome whatever is holding you back from adopting a new technology and approach it with an open mind.

2. Better Manage Client Relationships

What makes a good salesperson? I have always thought of myself as a successful salesperson because I understand who my client is, exactly what they are looking for, and use techniques to help me position my services to their individual needs. If you are asking the right questions, or “power questions” as they are sometimes referred to, you are quickly gathering all of the necessary information needed to help you find the right listings to show your clients. A long sales process can be very stressful for both parties, especially if your client seems to be unhappy with any listing you show them. Maybe they are being difficult. Maybe a better relationship needs to be built.

When I meet a new client, I always add them into my phone’s address book. In my BlackBerry, there are many different fields of information that can be entered. I fill in as many fields as possible, especially the birthday field. Then in the notes section, I write as much as I can about our conversation when I asked them “power questions.” I now have all the information I need to position our services to fit their individual needs.

A few good books to read if you want to improve in this area:

• Spin Selling
• Getting Past No
• Sales for Dummies

3. Showcase Your Property Listings

Find a new way to communicate new listings and changes in listings to potential buyers. If you are reading this on ActiveRain, you have already taken the first step. Social Networking has become a very effective way to market products and services. In the United States alone, there are over 36 million Facebook users. As time progresses, many of the people on Facebook will become first time home buyers. You can setup a Facebook page to help scoop up some of these people and make them your clients. Businesses can now setup their own page with loads of information for Facebook users to view. A few other sites worth checking out are MySpace and LinkedIn.

Another great way to communicate to your clients is to setup a blog or an email distribution list. You can tell your new and existing clients that they can check out your blog for new listings or price drops. If you start an email list, you can send out a weekly newsletter that showcases one particular property. Use your cell phone to take pictures or video of a property and post it on your blog or email it to your clients. If you choose the email newsletter, make sure to tell your clients that you will not share their email address and use the bcc option to hide their email from others.

4. Remain Focused on Your Goals

It is hard to juggle all of the aspects of your job. This is especially true when your family or personal life come into the mix. I use a few techniques to keep up with everything that needs to be done.

First I use my calendar to store every event in my life. I enter deadlines, business trips, meetings, and other events into my BlackBerry or into Microsoft Outlook and set reminders to give me enough time to remember everything I need to do for that particular event. You can change the length of time your reminder goes off in relation to the event. If I have a meeting, I will set it to give myself enough time to get to the meeting. If it is a deadline, I give myself enough time to complete the project, and so on. I even put entries into my calendar when bills are due.

In conjunction with my calendar, I use a task list to mark my progress on my to do list. By using the tasks on my phone, I can set priority and the status of the task on hand. I also use a whiteboard in my home office to give me a visual reminder of tasks that need to be taken care of, calls to be made, and if I am waiting on anything needed to complete my task.

5. Save Time Where You Can

This is usually the most complicated step for our clients. We sit down and brainstorm on ways to save time on daily tasks. One of the most frequent dilemmas is answering an entire day of emails after work. Even with a mobile email device, I see many clients that spend an hour or more responding to emails on their computer at the end of the night because they only read the emails coming in throughout the day. Try to answer an email when waiting in line for coffee, while on a smoke break, or as you scarf down lunch. If you can respond to a few at a time throughout the day, you will have more free time to work on other things at the end of the day.

Another popular solution is setting up wireless synchronization for your smartphone. Many BlackBerry, Palm Treo, Windows Mobile, and iPhone users get home, power up their computer, and plug in their phone to sync with their computer. We help setup a lot of real estate agents for wireless sync. Now when you enter an appointment into your phone, it automatically goes into your computer without having to do anything. The same works vice-versa and for contacts as well. This could save you 15 minutes per day. It can also help if you have someone that helps schedule appointments. When you enter something into your phone, they would immediately be able to see that change and could reduce scheduling conflicts.

You may already be doing some of these tricks. If you are, you are one step ahead of the game. I am always looking for different solutions to help in these areas. If you have any tips or tricks that work for you, leave a comment below.

For more information on how you can improve your efficiency and productivity, feel free to email me or call the number listed in my profile.

BlackBerry users can now purchase an infrared eKey fob (pictured).  This is a bluetooth device that connects to the BlackBerry similar to a headset and is small enough to connect to your key chain.  Once you enter your PIN to open a lock box, the keyfob translates the signal from the BlackBerry to infrared in order to open the lock box.

There are two types of eKey service designed for the BlackBerry.  The first is eKey Basic, which is available now.  This allows you retrieve keys for iBoxes, program iBox access hours, beam data to iBoxes (showing notes, listing highlights, and business card information), change shackle codes, and track KeyBox inventory.

eKey Professional will be available sometime in March of 2009 and will include all of the features of eKey Basic.  It will also include eDATA Mobile which allows realtors access to listing information while on the go.  eDATA allows searching of MLS listings that can be viewed on Google Maps.  It also shows updated contact information for other agents and gives you the ability to receive real-time showing notifications.

You can find out more information about eKey for BlackBerry, including an order form for the IR keyfob by clicking here.

e-Mobile Software has created a program for the BlackBerry operating system that allows you to have an active desktop. e-Mobile Today Professional lists missed calls, contacts, calendar entries, tasks, emails, and text messages all on the main screen. Add-ons can also be purchased to include weather, news, and stocks. You can customize the background image and also remove certain features from the home screen. Shortcut keys can be assigned for easy access to applications on the BlackBerry. To exit to the main BlackBerry operating system, just press the end call button.

Some things that can be improved:

• E-mail accounts are not separated.
• The home screen does not recognize MMS (picture messaging).
• Voicemails show up as an SMS.
• Interface takes a little time to get used to.
• Must exit program to lock keys.
• Cannot dial from active desktop. Green button can be pressed to access call screen.
• Program takes over BlackBerry OS. Returns to the program after a certain amount of time.

The program is pretty useful despite a few shortcomings. I am looking forward to testing out the News, Weather, and Stocks add-ons. Check out a video of the software in action below:

Download software:

e-Mobile Today Professional Edition

e-Mobile Today Weather Expansion Pack

e-Mobile Today News Expansion Pack

e-Mobile Today Stocks Expansion Pack

The following video demonstrates how Quick Response can:

• Help you quickly respond to messages by using preconfigured templates.
• Create templates from scratch and using received messages.
• Insert templates.
• Use placeholders.

You can purchase QuickResponse or download a trial version here: Quick Response Download

With Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna threatening the gulf coast region, I wanted to share a few tips on being prepared for these storms.

Our email system is housed out of state and will continue to operate as normal in the event of power failure in our area.  There are several factors that may impact to receive your email on your computer or mobile device.

· If power or internet is down in your area, you will not be able to send or receive messages from your computer during this time.

· In addition, your calendar, address book, tasks, and memos from your computer will not synchronize with our server.

· Any incoming email messages will continue to be received by our server and will come to your computer as soon as power and internet is restored.

· You have Outlook access at http://mail.securembox.com from any internet connected computer.  Shared contacts and calendar are not available on the online version of Outlook.  Login with your full email address as the username and your current password.

If you use a mobile device, you will have the ability to send and receive messages and continue to synchronize with our server as long as your wireless carrier is operating as normal.

· If you are using an AT&T  BlackBerry, your carrier is operating correctly if you have “EDGE” or “GPRS” (all capital letters) next to your signal bars.

· For Verizon BlackBerry users, you should have “1XEV” by the signal bars.

· Windows Mobile users generally have an icon “E” or “3G” signifying that you have correct data service.

· Even when your cell phone is reading a normal data signal, an influx of usage could cause some delays in data being sent and received.

· Text messaging, PIN messaging (for BlackBerry users), and email are usually the best ways to communicate using your cell phone if voice calls are not working as normal.

You may want to back up any data from your computer to a USB flash drive or to a CD.

**Emails, contacts, calendar entries, and memos are backed up to our server and can be easily restored.

If there are any questions regarding any of your wireless or computer needs, do not hesitate to contact me at info@wirelessiqllc.com. In the event Baton Rouge is evacuated, I will forward the landline number to my cell phone or another landline phone.

Visit www.getagameplan.org for tips on hurricane preparedness.

AT&T is finally allowing customer’s to cover PDAs and smartphones under their insurance program.  This coverage includes unintentional liquid/physical damage and lost or stolen cell phones.  You may also make a claim if your phone has warranty issues after the one year warranty is up.  The monthly service charge for insurance coverage remains at $4.99 per month per phone.

Until November 3, 2008, all claims covered under the insurance program will have a $50 non-refundable deductible.  After that time, a tier system will be used to determine the deductible you will have to pay.  Tier 1 will be a $50 non-refundable deductible and Tier 2 will be a $125 non-refundable deductible.  Tier 2 phones are high end PDAs, including the latest BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Treo devices.  Phones may be moved from Tier 2 to Tier 1 during the phone’s life cycle, reducing the deductible.

There is a 30 day enrollment period that begins on the day you purchase the device.  You may want to call the insurance number (1-888-562-8662) and ask if they will make an exception due to the new policy.

Check here (pdf link) to see if your phone is eligible.

You can view more information about AT&T’s insurance policy here.

Ben
ben@wirelessiqllc.com
www.wirelessiqllc.com

*When opening the training, you may be prompted to install the WebEx application.

Feel free to pass this information on to anybody that would find it useful.

Training: http://www.wirelessiqllc.com/training.php

Contact us if you or your company is interested in additional training.  Wireless I.Q. provides on site training in addition to live and prerecorded online training.

Ben
ben@wirelessiqllc.com
www.wirelessiqllc.com

You can view a complete list of searches to perform on Google SMS at sms.google.com.

Ben Marcel
ben@wirelessiqllc.com
www.wirelessiqllc.com

Video is below.

Give us a call or shoot us an email with any questions.

Ben
ben@wirelessiqllc.com
www.wirelessiqllc.com

Read below for the link and some videos showing people popping popcorn using cellphones (supposedly an advertisement and not real, still cool though).

Ben
ben@wirelessiqllc.com
www.wirelessiqllc.com

Read CNet’s Article

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju5yIFu4yY8]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V94shlqPlSI]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAd0aWxs7kQ]