First, they can raise their head count. If we assume an average number of deals/agents - then the more real estate agents on your roster, the more real estate sales your real estate company will be a part of and the more commissions the company will receive. You can raise your head count by hiring more real estate agents or by buying other real estate companies. Sounds simple enough. Revenue is pegged to headcount.

Alternatively, a company can work to make ALL of their agents more effective. Remember that average number of deals per agent. Well, let's assume that the company doesn't want to hire more agents, just have their agents do more deals. The goal would be to raise that average. If your agents are doing 10 deals/year, on average, and you raise the average to 12, all else being equal, the office will make more money. By the way, so will the agents!

This somewhat assumes that the office is working on a classic split model - or does it?

Let me propose something radical. The best way to hire more agents is to have successful agents at your office. If your company has a reputation of making agents successful, then agents will want to work for you! Then it doesn't matter if you're on a desk fee model or a split.

Broker/owners, just imagine - instead of having 25 agents who do $50MM in transactions/year. You only have 10 - and they do the same sales volume! Sounds easier to manage, doesn't it. Or even better. Imaging you had 25 agents, 10 of them did $50MM and get a better split, the other 15 do another $50MM. You win either way.

So, how do you get your agents to produce more. Well, this isn't rocket science. First, they need leads. They need buyers and sellers reaching out to them. The office needs to be noticed. You have to stand out from the other guys in town. Next, you need to give your agents the tools they need to close deals with those leads. I'm talking about lead management, I'm talking about online marketing, I'm talking about social media and a great real estate website to serve as the foundation for it all.

If all you do is work on hiring agents and you don't give them the tools to succeed, they will come and go. They will under perform. Agents thirst for support, they want leads, and they want a company that gives them both. Real Estate agents will stand by a company that helps them succeed. If the agent was making $50,000/year at their last company and is making $60,000/year at your company, they're likely to stick around.

Also, the agents in town will take notice. They'll see your brand and your agents involved in lots of sales, on dozens and hundreds of yard signs. The agents will want to work for your company because you have the best website and your site has the best search engine placement.

Our clients see it all the time. Agents today want to work with a company that gives them what they need. They want a brokerage that provides leads and promotes their services.

The result is simple. The broker wins, the agents win, everybody wins.

Understanding your website is essential to improving it. In this Logic Classroom, we'll use Google Analytics to understand the key indicators that tell us what's working, what's not, and how to achieve better results.

Analytics can tell us a lot about our sites. Learn how to analyze inbound traffic from search engines. Gain insight into how effective our website is.  Discover what pages are effective and split test copy, design, and functionality. If you're getting analytics reports, but don't know how to make sense of what they're telling you, you're not going to want to miss this webinar!

You are welcome to attend at the Boston Logic office (view map), or participate through an online webinar. Take this excellent opportunity to learn how to utilize search engine marketing to grow your business.

Contact Katrina at 617-266-9166 or ksierant@bostonlogic.com to attend. Please specify if you will be attending in the office or online via webinar. We look forward to seeing you all there.

We learned about the importance of the consistency of the user experience from when they begin their online search to when then land on your website, and various ways to KEEP them on your site.  We also talked about  lead capture and management as well as how to leverage social media, email, and other marketing techniques to help convert your leads into clients.

Don't worry if you missed this LogicClassroom session, you can view the slides below at your convenience. Enjoy!

We host a new LogicClassroom on the second Tuesday of every month.  Our next LogicClassroom will be on May 11th. Please email Katrina if you would like to attend or sign up for our Newsletter at the lower right-hand corner of our home page to receive reminders and information about the next LogicClassroom.

When a user registers on your site, what's the first thing you do? How do you follow up? How many times? How often should you reach out to your customers? The answers to these questions and the techniques you use will make a big difference in how you can convert leads into deals. As part of this presentation, we'll also look at some of the tools you will use when following up and how to use them most effectively. We’ll be looking at sites that efficiently convert users into leads. We’ll also discuss how leads are best incubated, and we’ll delve into a concept we’ve been preaching here at Boston Logic for years: consistency of the user experience.

You are welcome to attend at the Boston Logic office, or participate through an online webinar. Take this excellent opportunity to learn how to utilize search engine marketing to grow your business.

You can attend in person at our offices or you can sign in to the webinar. RSVP to Katrina at 617-266-9166 or ksierant@bostonlogic.com to attend. Please specify if you will be attending in the office or online via webinar. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Our next LogicClassroom will be on April 13th on Maximizing Lead Conversion. Please email Katrina if you would like to attend.

Don't worry if you missed this LogicClassroom session, you can view the slides below at your convenience. Enjoy!

Our next LogicClassroom will be on 3/9/10. Learn how agents and brokers can create effective and engaging email marketing. Please email Katrina if you would like to attend.

Please join us for our next LogicClassroom session 2/9/10 on Search Engine Optimization 101. Please email Katrina to attend.

What is the Best Free Web Stat Tracker?

Google Analytics is the standard. We use it for our clients and thoroughly.

How to move an existing wordpress blog but wants to new domain name?

Wordpress has some pretty simple export/import tools that make it easier to grab your content from one blog, shut down that old blog, and import the posts into the new wordpress deploy. It very important that you take down the old blog. So, if you had a blog at realestate.wordpress.com and you moved it to yoursite.com/wordpress, make sure that they old site at wordpress.com is completely gone. Otherwise, the search engines will think that you're posting duplicate content and this will hurt your ranking potential

How can I get people to become fans of my Facebook Business Page?

Start with the people you know. Send them a suggestion to become a fan of your business on Facebook. Next, make sure you have a link on every page of you website to become your fan on Facebook. Also, don't overlook your email signature. Put a link at the bottom of your emails for recipients to click in order to become your fan. Also, include the link in your newsletters or drip emails. As a rule of thumb, when someone is consuming content that you produced, you should present them with an opportunity to follow, friend, become your fan, etc.

With so much information out there, do you find people get turned away when you ask them to register?

This is an age old question. I'll probably write a longer blog post on this soon. Basically, it works like this. If you want the maximum number of leads, then you need to ask them to register before giving them access to the data. If you want to only speak with people who have clicked on a contact form and indicated interest or picked up the phone, then you can leave the doors wide open. We argue that having more leads gives you a greater opportunity to market over time and convert. So, we generally suggest to require sign-ups to view search results.

Can you explain the One System?

The ONE System is Boston Logic's proprietary real estate website platform. It integrates Content Management, Property search, user management, lead management, blogging, neighborhoods pages, live chat, development profiles, deal tracking, and a whole lot more into one platform for Brokers and agents. Click here for more information on the ONE System.

What are some Free or Cheap Mass Email services?

Boston Logic is partnered with both Constant Contact and iContact. We recommend both. Also, our ONE System can be integrated with either platform. Since we're here in MA, and so is Constant Contact, I can tell you that I've met with their CEO and VP and that they are a well run and managed organization. They are also the industry leader with well over 100,000 businesses using them for email marketing.

Do you create Facebook Fan Pages for clients?

We certainly do! Give us a call for more information! 617.266.9166

Don't worry if you missed the second session. We'll make sure that you're not left behind. When we start each LogicClassroom, we'll be careful to start with the basics and then get to the good stuff.

Please view the presentation on effective blogging below. Enjoy!

Our next LogicClassroom will be on 1/12/10. Learn how agents and brokers can leverage free social media to generate leads and a loyal client following.