Boston Logic will be hosting an Exclusive Hiring Event at an undisclosed location in the Financial District on May 23, 2012  from 5pm - 7pm

We're looking for new Account Executives to join our stellar sales team. Are you a highly motivated, energetic individual who adapts and learns quickly?  

If so, contact us now for an invitation to our Hiring Event!  If you are approved, you will be sent the details for the event...

The Company:
Boston Logic is an online marketing and technology firm focused on the real estate industry. We provide software, online marketing, and web design services to real estate companies, helping them market their listings and services, hire new agents, and operate their businesses. Boston Logic works with real estate developers, brokers, and agents to help them grow and succeed by leveraging technology and the web.

Our culture has a fun, energetic feel, but we are intensely busy and maintain a professional, dedicated working environment. Our employees embody an entrepreneurial, passionate nature and a work hard/play hard attitude.

The Sales Team:
We are results-oriented and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment in which our success can be measured on a daily basis by client acquisition and retention. We truly enjoy what we are doing, have fun, and are careful to make sure that the team works at a sustainable pace. We believe that every team member can and should have a significant impact on the business. We need very smart, energetic and driven people to help us continue to build a great sales team, company, and brand.

Job Description:
The ideal sales candidate is a highly motivated, energetic individual who has the ability to adapt and learn quickly. A desire to be part of and grow with a company is a fundamental requirement for this position. Candidates with experience working in or selling to the real estate industry are preferred as well as demonstrated performance in a similar sales environment is required.

You will report to the Director of Sales, and work with others to bring new clients and revenue to Boston Logic. You must have a solid understanding of sales methodologies and experience growing and working a pipeline are essential. You cannot be afraid of cold calling. You will be expected to generate leads and customers by making calls to cold and warm prospects.

Your Primary Objectives:
First Ninety Days:

• Develop ability to consistently prospect in our vertical and set up meetings with potential leads
• Achieve a solid understanding of our products and not only be able to pitch them, but use them as well
• Learn to give a product demonstration and answer typical questions about features and functionality
• Master the preparation of sales materials and drafting proposals
• Build a robust pipeline and close your first 3-6 deals
• At least one sale between $20K and $250K in the first 12 weeks

Three to six months:

• Learn to manage existing client relationships and producing up-sells
• Build pipeline to generating at least 500K in sales in first 12 months
• Continue to prospect and generate new active leads on a weekly basis
• Develop ability to go on sales calls alone and provide onsite or online demonstrations to potential clients
• Achieve a level of autonomy where you can contact, identify, pitch, and close a deal with minimal support or hand-holding

Six to eighteen months:

• Consistently exceed sales performance targets
• Participation in sales team, helping other members succeed
• Develop additional sales channels including partnerships, relationships with trade organizations, and more
• Execute inside sales within previously closed client accounts
• Provide input to product direction and company strategy

Key Challenges You Will Overcome:

• Building and maintaining a strong pipeline that produces new deals consistently
• Come up to speed quickly on existing technology platforms in a fast paced environment
• Balance day-to-day tactical work with defining and working towards strategic goals
• Work independently to solve problems

Qualifications/ Desired Skills and Experience:

• Familiar with internet technologies and online marketing
• Cold calling -- you will be expected to jump start your pipeline by out-bounding
• Experience working with CRM software
• Must be willing to work hard for large rewards
• Strong written and oral communication skills and an ability to work as part of a team are important
• Solid understanding of sales methodologies and experience growing and working a pipeline are essential

Characteristics that will make you successful at Boston Logic:

• Very smart, driven, gets things done
• Results oriented: your success and ours will ultimately be measure by the numbers
• Self-starter. Asks questions and learns, but needs little "hand-holding" after ramp-up
• Attention to detail and a desire to do things right the first time
• Highly organized, able to multi-task
• Curious, creative thinker
• Communicates effectively and appropriately: good news fast, bad news faster

Additional Information:
Boston Logic offers a comprehensive benefits package. We are committed to providing a competitive portfolio of benefits including health, insurance, and retirement.

To Apply:
Please submit your resume and salary requirements HERE.

Qualified applicants will be contacted with additional details and event location.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Pinterest Referral Traffic

Recently, we added a PinIt button to our property details pages, along with the ability to add your own Pinterest Profiles to your site (both for your office and your individual agents). We understand that home buying is a long process, and that people organize their favorite listings in different ways on their own social profiles (with Pinterest on such a rapid rise, this seemed like a no-brainer for us!)

We know what you are thinking - another social network for business? You should only consider using a social network professionally if you feel that their user demographics overlap with your target audience, and you have a clear idea of what you should use it for (brand awareness, lead generation, etc). Here's a useful breakdown of the traffic Pinterest demographics:

Pinterest Demographics

If you do make the move to Pinterest, here are some quick tips to get you started:

1. Create boards centered around your service specialties ( luxury homes, waterfront properties, etc.)

2. Create boards for unique or exclusive topics  (celebrity homes, unique architecture, etc)

3. You can create staging inspiration boards to show off attractive, simple ways to stage a home for faster sale.

4. Show off featured communities you specialize in! Focus on unique neighborhood amenities like restaurants, affordable furniture stores, farmer's markets, and more.

5. Some other useful board ideas include moving resources, neighborhoods with affordable housing, and things to do before purchasing a home. Think about what your customers look for when they choose to relocate, and focus on showing them the info they want in a colorful visual environment.

6. Create a board for funny images, messages, or trivia games for the office. Social network is just not for selling - have a little fun with it! Injecting some character into your social networking will help to make your business stand out from the crowd with a little personality and flair.

For some information on all of this Pinterest lingo, refer to the info-graphic below:

All these images and info-graphics courtesy of @MDGadvertising

Have any other ideas, know someone in real estate who is doing a good job on Pinterest - or want to find out how you can use Pinterest and Sequoia together to grow your business online? Let us know! Contact Boston Logic today to learn more or schedule a demo of the Sequoia platform.

Spring is in the air, and Sequoia's MLS coverage is spreading to warmer climes as we continue to serve more and more Realtors across the US. We've recently integrated three new MLS services - CLAW, the Combined L.A. / Westside MLS, The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors  MLS (NEFAR), and the Miami Association of Realtors MLS. The Florida services join our existing integration of MFRMLS to offer widespread coverage throughout the state of Florida; CLAW is our first market entry into California and our sales there are off to a great start!

C.L.A.W.

NEFAR

Miami

If you are a broker or agent who uses one of these MLS services, we want to hear from you! We can design the custom IDX website your brokerage needs in order to stand out from the competition - or if you need a new site fast, choose one of our ready-to-deploy standard Sequoia themes and we can have you up and running in as little as a day. To find out more or for a free consultation or product demo, contact Boston Logic today!

Sequoia Page Load Speed Improvements

In our never ending quest to make Sequoia more efficient, we have recently launched a performance upgrade responsible for much faster load speeds for search results and property details. Page load speed can have a major impact on your conversion rates; a single second delay in load time can drop conversion by up to 7% (source: akamai.com).

In September 2011, we were averaging 2.45 secs/page on search results, and 1.55 secs/page on property details pages. Over the past week (4/3 - 4/9) we averaged 2.25 secs/page on search results and 1.15 secs/page on property details pages!

This may not seem like a huge drop, but it adds up fast. At over 50,000 property details page views a day, we will save over 5.5 hours in processing time - making the entire system smoother and faster for everyone using the Sequoia platform.

For more info on how page load speed affects your bottom line, see  the infographic below by Kiss Metrics:

According to studies conducted by the National Association of Realtors, over 82% of people (in 2008) began their search for a home online. WOMMA research (shown below) highlights the top influencers in purchasing decisions, and how an increasing number of people depend on the Internet during their purchase process.

Driving Forces Of Purchase Decisions

As this research demonstrates, testimonials and reviews are a very important component of your marketing campaign. Let's look at 3 ways you can gather reviews, and different websites and networks that can help you in the process.

1. Just Ask

If you know that a customer has had a great experience with you, simply ask them to write a review. This can be as easy as giving them a notepad to write on in your office, or sending a brief email.  A one minute video testimonial on a flipcam or iphone can go a long way!

• Adding photos (of the house, buyer/renter, written note, etc.)  adds authenticity and only take a few minutes.
• Set Google Alerts for your name and your office, and monitor social media for mentions. You can also ask your clients if you can feature them directly on your website. A screen shot or quote from their original post should be sufficient.

2. Local Directories

Make sure that your business is listed on local directories like Yelp, Google Places, Bing Local,  Merchant Circle, Local.com etc. If you are already listed, claim your listings and start promoting the local directory that works best for you (drives the most traffic, etc.) on your website and business card.

• Find out if your business is already listed using Am I Visible ,  Bright Local Seo tool or Yext . The review biz is an easy button to drive more reviews from your website.
• You can also offer gift cards from local stores or special incentives for future work with your company to people who review your business.

This also helps your search marketing efforts - Google looks for reviews from Google places as well as other websites like Yelp.

3. Real Estate Directories / Review websites

Don't forget to create a profile on real estate specific directories and review websites. Some examples are Zillow real estate directory, Incredible agents , Home thinking , Real Estate Ratingz etc.  Zillow also has a section on their advice thread dedicated to agent ratings.

You can find out how to create a testimonial page on your Sequoia website here . Watch a quick video about how the Sequoia platform could help your business thrive online, or contact us today for a consultation.

Town Pages got a few new options , including the new search criteria we discussed earlier.

In addition, you can now create a new Town Page much faster. Follow the following steps to create a new Town Page.

1. On your Dashboard go to the CMS option and select Town Pages

2. Click on the New Town Page tab  on the right side of your navigation. You will see a new section on your screen (image below). If you already have a CMS page that you want to assign as a Town page, select from the drop down. If you need to create one, you can do it by choosing create a new page option.

3. Create and Save your Town page.

New Town Page in Sequoia Dashboard

Daily Email updates now include the ability to choose what changes to a listing will trigger the website to send email updates to a client. A client can choose from various options (new listings, price changes, status changes or "all changes")  and will only be emailed matching results (image below)

Client Account Options for Daily Email

* Agents can also change the options for what criteria's should be included  in daily email updates  in the backend (leads section on the dashboard).

The email will indicate what criteria change of the listing caused it to be emailed , making it easier for your clients to see the most relevant listings.

Stay tuned for more Sequoia System feature updates, and check out our  user guide for more info!

The cover photo is the first thing fans will see when they visit your page. Think of the cover photo as a showcase of what your brand represents. Therefore, you will want to pick an image which represents your area of focus - whether it be sales, rentals or a certain area. The cover photo is a great way to keep your page exciting and visually stimulating.  A good practice is to keep your cover photo fresh and current. For example: changing the image according to seasons.

Another thing to keep in mind with the new changes are the Facebook Policies i.e. Facebook does not allow Calls to Action within the cover photo.

Step 2. Profile Picture

Choose a profile picture that is at least 180 x 180 pixals. In most cases this should be your logo. The Starbucks brand page does a good job of reflecting the brand personality and making the page attractive.

Starbucks Facebook Timeline

Step 3. Apps

You can customize images for your apps and rearrange them in the order of importance.

For example: We have optimized this client's (image below) custom apps section to show featured listings & property search to appear at the top .

Facebook Timeline App Customization

Step 4. Milestones

You can also start thinking about significant events and milestones within the company that can be added to the timeline. For example: the company established date, new hires, pictures of founders, a significant sale, awards, opening of new office etc. Check out the ESPN Sportcenter Timeline for inspiration on milestones.

Step 5. You can also ad large photos with date and location and 'pin' the post to keep it as an entry at the top of your page. Many of these features can also be useful for highlighting featured/exclusive properties.

Below is a quick overview of the Timeline using Boston Logic an example:

Boston Logic Facebook Timeline

Boston Logic Facebook Timeline 2

Now, I don't have his graphs, but the one that caught my eye said the following... If you put $100,000 into each of the following investments in the year 2000, your overall return in 2012 would be:

Dow Jones :: 18%
S&P :: -3% (I forgot the actual percentage, but it was small)
Nasdaq :: -27% (Again, I forgot the actual number, but it was bad!)
Real Estate in the USA :: 38%

Ok, I get it Steve Harney. One makes more money, on average, in the past 12 years in a real estate investment. But I have a number of questions and thoughts:

First of all, these are all terrible rates of return. This is a 12 year investment. This is not ARR, it's total return! If you told me I could make an investment now and in 12 years it would be worth 38% more, I would pass. So would the rest of the intelligent investors on the planet.

Now, if you compare the 18% growth rate on the Dow to the growth rate of Real Estate values, I'm a little nervous. You can't buy a real estate index fund. I can buy a Dow index fund and I can sell it tomorrow if I want to. Most of us can buy 1 house. And selling at house is going to take months. Liquidity has value, is my first point.

My second point: There is other intangible value to buying. The investment isnt everything. I love owning my home. I just redid 2 rooms. I can't do that if I rent. I might be willing to "spend" some money (spending in the form of taking on a less liquid investment) in order to have some of the intangibles of owning.

Now, Steve Harney had another graph, 2 in fact, er, i think, that told us that rents are expected to rise fast. Well, that's not news. Forbes tells us that buying vs renting will save you money at a ratio of 54/90 rent to buy. Steve had a slide on that. Ok, a little math.

38% x 90/54 = 64.75%

Hmm, well, that's a bit better, but still not the rate of return I want. But maybe that's ok.

I have to say that unless you factor in a rise in demand, it's hard to believe in a projection of robust growth that will meet investment grade standards.

Here's the scene: there are 4 guys on the panel. They're all smart and know video and mobile too! Note, they all sell video products as well. So, that's the situation.

All of these guys agree that you need to pay for good video. They also agree that you need to pay professionals. The illustration they used was to show 2 videos, one made by an agent of a shabby, small condo. The second video was of a mcmasion obviously done by a professional at considerable cost. Of course, the expensive video was light years better.

Here's my question - if the average agent can't afford high production value videos, how do they compete?