On December 9th we completed our most recent product update which included –

– Outlook Integration. Details at http://www.focus-3.com/infocus/?p=50. Make sure your team has signed up for installation (support@focus-3.com)
Multiple email and phone fields
Other 2008 feature highlights included:

– Expanded contact import functionality (review/update duplicates). This feature not only provides greater flexibility for list management, but provides our new users’ access to import their existing leads (no conversion cost).

– Ticketed 24/7 help desk system with knowledgebase (support@focus-3.com). Not only does this provide greater coverage for our subscribers, this system gives users the ability to view their ticket and provide additional input while following resolution.

– Improved email flexibility for database email broadcasts.

– HTML email spell-check.

– Expanded user defined export features

– Group and contact update / scheduling.

As always, we value and need your input – please let us know what you would like to see for 2009. Logon and comment at www.focus-3.com/infocus.

It’s that time of year again and you need to send out your Holiday cards. For those of you who may be having trouble we thought we’d try to help. You have the cards but you need to print your labels or envelopes. We can provide you with both a #10 envelope and 5160 label template ready for you to load if you don’t have one yet.

Follow the instructions below and you can have your cards in the mail in no time!

Create a Correspondence titled Holiday Cards:
• Go to “Admin Tab”
• Select “Correspondence/Emails” under “Manage Marketing Attributes”
• Click “Add Correspondence Letters/Emails”

o Type ~ Correspondence
o Name ~ Holiday Cards
o Active ~ Yes
o Merge Type ~ Standard

• “Save”

Under Message Body
• Click “Add Merge Documents”
• Click “Browse” find the envelope or label you would like to load (make sure you’ve saved a copy
of the attached items)

o For Envelopes
 Document Type ~ Letter/Envelope
o For Labels
 Document Type ~ Labels

• “Upload”
• “Save”

From this point all you need to do is create your Contact Group (using Segmentation) to include who you would like to receive the Card. For this example we’ll send to all Owners.
• Go to “Admin Tab”
• Select “Segmentation” under “Contact Tools”
• Change drop down to “Create New Query”
• Under Define Query

o 1st Drop Down ~ Relationship
o 2nd Drop Down ~ Equal to
o 3rd Drop Down ~ Owner

• Click “Add”
• In the “Query Name” Text Box, name the query (ex. Holiday Cards)
• “SAVE”

You will then want to Create a Contact Group for this Query:
• Select the Query you just created from the Select Query drop down box
• From the “Append Contacts to Group” drop down choose “Add New Group”
• In the “New Group Name” Text Box name the group (ex. Holiday Cards)

You have now created a Contact Group so you can go to the Action Scheduler and Schedule the cards to be printed.
• Go to “Admin Tab”
• Select “Action Scheduler” under “Contact Tools”
• Click “Schedule New Action”

o Action Type ~ Correspondence
o Correspondence ~ Holiday Cards
o Schedule Date ~(Today’s Date)
o Occurs ~ Defaults to “Once Only”
o Contact Group ~ (ex. Holiday Cards)

• “Schedule Action”

You have now scheduled the Cards and they will populate in Fulfillment for you to print.

Happy Holidays!

Chrissy

We are all excited to announce our next release – Version 6.0. Just a quick overview for everyone:

• Multiple Phone Numbers & Emails
We have added the ability to store multiple phone numbers and emails for each contact. You will notice a link for each on the View/Edit Details page for the contact records. There is also a field to indicate whether emails should go to the primary email address only or to all email addresses for a contact.

• Contact Updater
We have added “Inquiry Type” to the options in the Contact Updater function.

• Contact Printable View
You asked for it — there is now a “Printable View” link on the Contact Summary page for each contact record. This will open a new window with the information from the Contact Summary page, including the Action History, with the full contents of the Notes fields.

And last, but not least —
• Outlook Integration
Beta version of our Outlook Plug-in is completed. We will be working with each community individually on their installation. If you are interested in integrating your Outlook email, both sent and received, with your Focus3 prospects, please contact us at support@focus-3.com so we can place you on our schedule.

We look forward to your feedback.

Thank you!

MSI Marketing Summit 2008 — by Jim Ellis

Q. Why is investing in CRM the best money you can spend now?

As you can imagine, I am getting a lot of push back in this market. However, I truly think that spending money to work your database better could be the best money you can spend right now.

Think about it. If you are doing or have done National advertising, and you have a database, at the very least, you have people that know you and expressed an interest…and you are likely sitting on sales right now.

So get a system to work them better and uncover those opportunities.

Other pushback I get is I don’t need a CRM because there aren’t enough leads to justify it. But it’s more than that. A good CRM system will help you understand exactly where the leads are coming from, where the sales are coming from, which agents are performing, and it can help you prioritize how you spend your money, etc.

Q. What is “CRM”?

We confuse terminology sometimes. CRM – Customer Relationship Management. The term came from customer support centers and assumes the existence of a relationship to be managed.

What our industry really needs is a process that develops the relationship – converting inquiries into real opportunity. It takes a commitment and a systematic approach. Technology is the obvious platform for this.

Q. What about interactive digital tools?

High Tech Tools have a place in the process – lead generation, converting purchased lists, engaging prospects and supporting the sales team when on site. When done right, these various tools can help add credibility — something that after the investor market is the biggest hurdle to overcome when building a relationship with your prospects (Trust). It’s the ideal tool for post inquiry web interaction, onsite developer story and product presentation. (go to www.fusionmediainc.com)

Q. So what’s the fundamental CRM problem in our industry?

We’ve seen tough markets before. What’s different now? Many of our agents have only been exposed to the investor market. Expectations and work methods are not in line with what we know is the best foundation for good relationship building – creating opportunities to connect with the prospect.

The old methods are still what works – BACK TO BASICS

More Touches

Average American sees 3000 brand messages per day, so there’s a reason that the big brands hit you with the same message non-stop.

So you’re kidding yourself if you think you’ll get the job done with one email blast.
A few years ago, when all media was saying BUY BUY BUY, it took 10 touches or so. In this market, we’re seeing upwards of 30.

If you don’t have a good CRM system, you will fail. Period.

TIPS FOR CRM

Don’t let High Tech Tools overshadow the most important thing — PICK UP THE PHONE.
• by far the most effective tool for qualifying leads
• people appreciate the effort
• best way to create a relationship

NOT TO MENTION
3 Elements of Communication – The “7%-38%-55% Rule”
• Words 7%
• Tone 38%
• Body language 55%

So…pick up the phone. Get in front of people.

Find a system that utilizes Marketing Automation
Get a system that puts people on a set of pre-determined paths, where agents stay focused on making calls and selling, rather than thinking about what the next step should be, to convert their contact to a sale.

Don’t give out ALL your information at once.

Let them ask for more (reason to call / email, is another chance to demonstrate your product knowledge and build rapport).

Build customer profiles. Get to 1:1 marketing.
• Lifestyle interests
• Product interests
• How? – Ask them. Data append. Surveys.
• Use the information to deliver specific marketing messages that are
focused on their interests.

Use your reports.
• Manage agent activity – Completed calls per week. Calls by hour. Traffic reports.
• Marketing reports – get to cost per tour, cost per sale and know what’s working

Respond quickly – the golden rule should be
• Fulfill your inquiries within 24 hours.
• Let them know right away that you have their request for info and you are sending the info out now. An email notification is nice – a message on their phone is better.
It’s your first chance to let them know you appreciate their interest and you are there to serve them.

Think about other creative ways to add more touches
• Keep a digital library of your marketing material
• Create multiple html email templates that can be edited by agents
• Handwritten notes

##

Welcome to the first edition of InFocus, your on-line real-time resource for real estate sales and marketing professionals.Our vision is to create a quick and easily accessed place where you can go for information, advice and encouragement to help you navigate more efficiently through today’s challenging real estate market.It’s also intended to be a sharing environment, where everyone is invited to contribute ideas and techniques that have helped their communities build interest, increase traffic and produce more sales.We’ve assembled a team of the top professionals in our industry and asked them to share with you the secrets behind their success. For example, in this issue, Jim Ellis of Focus-3 gives you the scoop on how PURLs can help you personalize your marketing message to each prospect; Myles Newell of Waypoint Consulting tells you how to make that first phone call count; and Larry Smith talks about how you can see and seize opportunities in a tough market.We also are introducing a section called Ask the Help Desk, chock-full of helpful tips on how to use Focus-3 to its full advantage. And in future issues we plan to have blogs on a variety of interesting topics. In a marketplace like today’s, we need all the help we can get to work smarter and more productively.Again, welcome to InFocus! Please call me at 919 654 7359 or email Kristy@Focus-3.com if you have any questions or would like to contribute ideas, suggestions or articles to us. I look forward to hearing from you.

Get to know your prospects better.
Free database enhancement and profile analysis for Focus3 clients.

In these tough economic times you need key information to help generate savings, gain an edge on the competition, and pinpoint optimal prospects. Through Focus3′s business partner Dirmark Media, you can obtain this key information with a FREE database enhancement and profile analysis.

With your commitment to purchase just 35,000 qualified prospecting names, Dirmark will enhance up to 10,000 records from your database (at no charge) with the following information:

•Income
•Age
•Length of Residence (used to infer available equity)
•Net Worth

*Other demographic/lifestyle information available for minimal fee

Focus3 will integrate this appended information into your database at no cost, and you can use it to make better informed evaluations on how to handle your leads. For example, you may decide to maximize resources for the best qualified leads – while reserving fewer mailings and resources to the lower level leads.

Along with the database enhancement you’ll receive a free Customer Profile Analysis, which will describe your ideal customer per appended qualifiers. You can use this valuable report to determine your preferred criteria for the 35,000 new prospecting names from Dirmark, which you’re not obligated to select and order until October 1st. This provides ample time to plan your fall mailings and campaigns, and with direct mail still outperforming any other media, now is the perfect opportunity to leverage the advantages of an optimized prospect database – free of charge.

To learn more about the free database enhancement and profile analysis, contact David White at Dirmark Media, 888-395-6727.