Home > Blog > BL Company Blog

Client Praises Boston Logic: Thank You!

Boston Logic recently received a glowing letter of praise from a client, and wanted us to share their kind words with you. We're happy to oblige!

To: The Staff at Boston Logic

From: Jody Pattison, Tri-State Realty Group

I wanted to take a few minutes and let everyone know how happy I am with my website! When I came to Boston Logic a year ago; I was a little overwhelmed. I was on a budget and knew I had to watch every penny.

I had a few different options for websites that were cheaper but they didn't have all the extra bells and whistles that Boston Logic offers. So being a little apprehensive at first was a natural reaction for me. However, after a year of allowing the real estate website to do its job; I am now producing at least 10 legitimate leads a month.

Last weekend I was contacted randomly through the real estate website (while my office is completely shut down and under construction) I was asked to see a property in Newton. This was a randomly generated lead from the real estate website Boston Logic built. I closed the deal in 48 hours and will receive a commission of almost $10,000 for only a few hours of work. (I know I sound like a infomercial...)

If anyone that comes to you guys with doubts or is on the fence; please give them my contact information and I would be glad to meet up with them anywhere or just simply talk with them over the phone and explain exactly why they should choose your company.

Bottom Line: One deal pays for the website. Its a no-brainer...I can absolutely say that now. If someone is serious about their business; they can't be without a it. Why not go with the best?

Sincerely,

Jody Pattison
Tri-State Realty Group

Want to increase your leads and accelerate your deal flow? Contact Boston Logic today to see what we can do for you!

LogicClassroom Slides: Sequoia’s New CRM

Thanks so much to all who attended our most recent classroom on Tuesday evening on Sequoia's New CRM! If you missed the LogicClassroom, here are the presentation slides.

At the LogicClassroom, we learned that CRM stands for "Customer Relationship Manager", and how important it is for real estate agents and brokers to have a strong CRM system in place to manage their leads. We took a tour of the new CRM dashboard on Sequoia, and delved into just a few of the new components now available, including Event and Task Management. Our sales guy, Pat, demonstrated how brokers can see all leads and agent stats, which can help their brokerage running smoothly.

Logic classroom - Sequoia's New CRM

View more presentations from Boston Logic.

Along with using the CRM system itself, we also learned some important real estate website qualities that lead to CRM success. For example, did you know that websites with blogs get 88% more leads than those who do not blog? Additionally, social media presence has increasingly influenced business success - and if you aren't on Facebook, than you are missing out - real estate agents' market share is on Facebook, as over 37% of users are over the age of 35, and over 1/2 the users of Facebook are over 25. Which is just the rental and house-seeking market that is perfect for real estate agents!

Bottom Line: In order to achieve CRM success, you need to commit to the system. It may be difficult as there are those who are resistant to change, but utilizing the tools and data available to you in the Sequoia CRM system will help get all agents in the cloud and thus lead to a more successful business.

Want more information on Sequoia, or would you like to schedule your own demo of the system? Contact our sales team at sales@bostonlogic.com to get started, or give us a call at 617-266-9166.

Stay tuned to find out the topic on the next LogicClassroom, and how to sign up!

Happy Holidays from Boston Logic!

The sales and marketing teams have put together a little video to send you some holiday greetings:

Happy Holidays from the Sales and Marketing Team at Boston Logic, your friendly real estate web design and internet marketing company!

Best wishes for a safe and happy New Year!

Think we've got some great dance moves? Read more about us!

Real Estate Marketing with LINK and Boston Logic!

The sales and marketing team attending the LINK networking event with featured speaker, Karl "Chip" Chase last week. The event was a brief yet informative talk, in the gorgeous venue that is the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Boylston Street in Boston.

We learned a great deal about the housing market: where it's been, why it's been there, and where it's going. Chip was a dynamic speaker that illustrated straight housing data into easy-to-swallow facts. Boston Logic was even able to ask a question at the event - pictured here is our own sales guy Matt Bennett posing an interesting point to the speaker. (Photo taken by our other Sales Associate, Patrick Berzai.) We were excited to participate in this discussion, and are always looking for ways to improve our understanding of what our clients are dealing with!

Attended the event and would like to speak with us, or discuss our marketing or real estate web site design services? Let us know!

Boston Logic Attends Networking Events, October 2010

October was a busy month here at Boston Logic! We attended three large real estate conferences in October: the RE/MAX Fall Rally in Providence, the Inman Agent Reboot in Boston, and the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) Conference in Worcester.

The RE/MAX Fall Rally took place on October 6th in Providence, Rhode Island. What started as an early trip to set up at 7:00 a.m. became a great experience to reach out and talk to new client prospects. There was great discussion specifically around our Agent Sites, which are personalized web sites for individual agents on our Sequoia real estate website design platform.

We also talked about the importance of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. We then attended the Inman Agent Reboot event which took place right in our backyard at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The conference was a full day event educating real estate agents on the importance of having a web presence, engaging with social media and SEO best practices. It was a great platform to discuss our offerings and specialties in real estate web design and marketing.

Our last conference this past month was the MAR Conference in Worcester, MA. Wielding sleek new company signage, Boston Logic set up for a great day of stimulating discussions on real estate and website design best practices. The trade show took place October 19th-20th, and attracted agents and brokers from all over Massachusetts. Additionally, Boston Logic President David Friedman gave a dynamic, in-depth presentation about Social Media for real estate marketing, and how you can use it to grow your business.

Interested in getting involved in the latest real estate marketing media, or are interested in strengthening your web presence with a new robust real estate website? Contact us today!

The Reality of Pricing

A client, not too long ago, came to us with a quote from another website company. Now, before I go on, I should mention that this was a client NOT in real estate. So, this is a publishing company. We've only worked with 2 publishing companies in the 6 years we've been around, but, that's really besides the point. This client has been with us for 2 years. We've done a lot of work with them and their online book store is much better for it.

Back to the story. They told us that this provider was in New York City. OK no problem there. I'm from NY originally. They told us that they'd been quoted some upgrades, the same upgrades that we'd quoted for them just a month earlier, and the prices were quite reasonable. So, I asked them to send me the pricing and I'd see what I could do.

We had prepared a quote in several pieces that came down to 3 deliverables at a little over $2k, $4k, and $5k respectively. So, it all added up to about 12k, in total. The quote they sent me was for $4,000.

Now, here's what I've come to realize. There are 2 scenarios, well, maybe 3, that can produce differences in pricing. And let's just assume it's a lower price.

1. The client goes and talks to another reputable firm and the quote is slightly less. In this case, our clients invariably decide that the pain of switching isn't worth it.

2. The client is not comparing apples to apples. They think they're getting a-z, but they're only getting a-e and they've forgotten to make sure that f-z are actually on the bill of goods. Thus, you pay less and get less.

3. The company is actually sending the work to India or they, in fact, have no idea what they're doing. This, unfortunately, was the case with this client and their $4k quote. It took about a month, but one morning I got a call from one of the partners at the firm. When I picked up the phone, all Allen said was, "Go ahead, say it." I couldn't summon my inner jerk to say, "I told you so."

The fact is, when the pricing discrepancy is large, there's no way that the other provider can actually do the work that much cheaper. That is, without outsourcing or simply delivering a LOT less website for the money. It's gotten so that I can smell it when a company is working with cheap foreign labor. And 90% of the time, something goes wrong. The project takes twice as long. The vendor disappears. Or the end result is simply nothing like what you'd spec'd out and they want more money to do the job right.

Avoid this trap. When 2 quotes are drastically different, get more of them. 2 data points isn't a pattern. Buyer beware.

LogicClassroom Announcement: “Blogging 2.0″ on October 12th, 2010

Enhance your knowledge and expand your understanding of real estate internet marketing with our latest LogicClassroom on Blogging, 2.0!

Blogs have come a long way since their inception, and are now a necessary aspect of a successful marketing plan for any business website design desiring to create unique web content and reach potential clients and customers on the web. But writing high-quality content is only half the battle!

In this concise, 1/2 hour, FREE LogicClassroom, we will cover what Bloggers need to know in order to integrate and syndicate their content to stay current with the Web 2.0 world. We will cover the basics about Blogging Best Practices, methods of syndication, and will teach you how get the great blogs that you create noticed!

You are welcome to attend at the Boston Logic Office (view map) or participate through an online webinar at your convenience. The class begins at 5pm on October 12th.

To attend, please contact Katrina at 617.266.9166 or by email at ksierant@bostonlogic.com. Please specify whether you will attend the class at our office or online.

We look forward to seeing you there!

WordPress: Great for Prototyping Your Online Business Model

I'm often astonished at the requests that we get from potential clients. They want to build sites that do all sorts of out-of-left-field things. They think they have a novel idea that no one else is doing. Sometimes they're actually right. No one else may have thought of their idea before, or it's only being done in Europe and it's time to bring this concept to the Yankees.

The fact that no one else is doing what you've thought of could be good, or it could be bad. Maybe no one's doing it because it's not going to work. Maybe no one is selling pizza with mustard on top for a reason...

On the other hand, maybe you're the first. The first mover advantage can be formidable. Maybe you're a visionary, a trend setter, the next Bill Gates. I don't claim to be one who can predict whether or not your idea will work, but we can help make good ideas succeed.

When each of these ideas comes across my desk, I first ask whether or not our Sequoia Real Estate Website platform can be used to accomplish what the client is asking for. For many real estate clients, making their wishes a reality are simply a matter of proper configuration and implementation.

For the really unique requests, I'm consistently amazed by how often there exists a WordPress plug-in that can do the job. A friend asked me, just the other day, if we could have auctions happen on our site. I said, "No, but I'm sure there's a WordPress plug-in that we could use." Sure enough there is! http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-auctions/

This got me thinking. Just how many business models can be implemented using WordPress? Or, for how many of the ideas out there could WordPress, with the addition of a few plugins, be used as a prototype? Let's just assume that the answer is: Many! The next logical question is either; That sounds too good to be true? or OK, what's the catch?

Well, the catch is that you have to live with the functionality that the plug-in offers. Odds are, it's going to do some of the things you need, but not all. it's also probably not going to link up to other business systems. For example, the auction plug-in I linked to above isn't going to integrate with your lead management system on your realtor web design. Also, the bidder seems to only have to enter their email, what if I want to require a phone number and street address?

Well, here's a thought, don't get everything you want, get some of it for very cheap, get your online business up and running and see how things go? You might find that the business moves along great, even without these few missing features. You might find other barriers to real estate marketing success that had nothing to do with technology. Suffices to say, you'll learn a lot, cheaply and quickly. If you fail, you didn't risk much, if you succeed, maybe you didn't need those features in the first place. Either way, you'll be better off.

Why Real Estate Agents Need a Web Presence

For those of you who haven't latched on to our amazing new real estate agent sites, you may be wondering why you even need one. After all, you've gotten this far with your successful real estate business, why need an impressive web site for real estate internet marketing purposes at all?

Unfortunately, you may be missing out on potential leads - not only is the internet a prime source for potential buyers to find real estate, according to the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers for 2009, 94% of people looking for a home use the internet for the home-buying process. So you need a website because the internet is where your market is going to find places and people like you!

If you're not convinced yet, here are some more reasons you should push for a new real estate website and engage in real estate SE O:

1) Buyers looking to the internet. As we mentioned, a whopping 94% of buyers are turning to the internet as their first means of search. Knowing this, will they be able to find you?

2) Real Estate SEO Ranking. It's not enough to just have a website. Users will most likely conduct a search with their search engine of choice, like Google. When they perform a search in your specialty or demographic, does your name pop up? Does it pop up before page 3? The more you optimize your website and blog with fresh content, the greater chance that you have to climb the rankings of search results.

3) You have a split second to make an impression. So a buyer has located your website through a search engine: now what? Do they stay and click around, or "bounce" off of your website? A real estate website design that outlines a company or agent's credentials and has helpful modal search windows is important. Your challenge is to keep viewers engaged and clicking through your website: so make sure you have professional images, a sleek format, and dynamic website content!

4) Advertise your website online. SEO is a great way to get started with your real estate online marketing strategy, but paid advertisements can get you even more exposure to your target market. You can use Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, where you can have great control over who sees your ad for what keyword prompts. You also only pay per each click your ad receives, which would ideally be attracting those interested in your real estate services.

5) Generate leads online. The last major selling point is that just because you have a website, does not mean that you can expect qualified leads to come to you. You can liken this to a real estate agent sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring - it just doesn't happen! You need to not only find leads, but also convince the lead that you are the agent for them. You can recruit these leads online, and using a Boston Logic's cutting edge Real Estate Website can give you great efficiency with lead management.

Easily Persuaded?

Sometimes, someone comes along and tells you that they’ve solved all of your problems. It sounds like a great solution, it sounds like a good deal. STOP! Don't jump.

Every once in a while, someone pitches one of our clients and tells them that their solution is the best thing since sliced bread. Our clients are bombarded by advertisers, software companies, real estate website providers, online marketing companies, you name it. They're calling and emailing and calling again.

Most of the clients who buy from Boston Logic take a highly measured approach. They figure out what they need, what it costs, compare solutions, and we come out on top. We're fine with this process. We're happy to go feature for feature with any platform.

Here's what stings: it's when the client gets a call from someone and doesn't do their homework. They make an impulse buy because the pitch over the phone was just that good. We're constantly amazed that business decisions are actually made this way.

Do you really have 2 completely different buying processes? For some expenses, you take weeks to figure out the right solution, document features, develop a budget, and then make an informed decision. For other purchases, you decide to spend thousands of dollars in literally minutes?

Here's a recommendation.

Consider any purchase carefully. Make decisions based on numbers, whenever possible. Real numbers. I'm talking about data. For example, If you're considering a new online marketing media, try to understand a cost/user or cost/lead. If you can't do better than where you are currently investing, don't buy it.

Also, don't get sold on one feature or even one idea. Look at a solution holistically. It's easy for a salesman to tell you about a nice feature in their website product and ask, "Does your real estate website do that?" Indeed, it may not, but there may be 20 features that your site does have that the product he's selling does not. I can't tell you how many clients have chosen other vendors only to come back to Boston Logic telling us that they made a poor decision.

If you need help developing specifications or comparing real estate web site design solutions, we're happy to help. Just contact the real estate website team of Boston Logic. Thanks.

Client Praises Boston Logic: Thank You!

Related Links:

LogicClassroom Slides: Sequoia’s New CRM

Related Links:

Happy Holidays from Boston Logic!

Related Links:

Real Estate Marketing with LINK and Boston Logic!

Related Links:

Boston Logic Attends Networking Events, October 2010

Related Links:

The Reality of Pricing

Related Links:

LogicClassroom Announcement: “Blogging 2.0″ on October 12th, 2010

Related Links:

WordPress: Great for Prototyping Your Online Business Model

Related Links:

Why Real Estate Agents Need a Web Presence

Related Links:

Easily Persuaded?

Related Links:

Search

Archives

What is the Sequoia System

Recently Written

Categories