TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Keeping an Eagle Eye on the Team
Keeping an Eagle Eye on the Team

Birdview Technologies? software helps agent team leaders keep focus

Tom Conway, a team leader at RE/MAX Gold in Granite Bay, California, and Brett Ellis, who holds a similar position with the RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers, Florida, are both innovators in their field. They both use Birdview?s TeamSite software.

?We generate a lot of listing inquiries,? Ellis says. As the market is changing, we see the flight to quality. Buyers are coming to us consistently?not necessarily because we are the least expensive, but because we are the most effective team in our market.?

Ellis believes his Fort Myers team stays on top because they effectively utilize Birdview?s home-search tools, lead management and lead distribution software.

?Birdview?s tools are very consumer friendly; it gets picked up on the search engines and we’re able to display a lot of collateral information that the customer finds worthwhile,? he says. If we can start a dialog, we find we can complete the deal. Birdview helps us get that process started with thousands of people.?

His office also uses Birdview?s management tools to keep things humming along behind the scenes.

?The system allows us to establish some rules and criteria that help our people manage their time better,? he explains. It can be done with both buyer and seller leads. I like the unique color-coding system because it allows me to get an instant view of everything our representatives are doing at any given time, Ellis says. If I get a call from a lead, I can go right to that stream and see exactly what is happening in any given moment, once they are in the system.?

Conway similarly uses a Birdview team site that helps him view the entire landscape of his team’s business.

?Each agent has their own site, but I can watch what people are doing,? he says. I can see when they are not working the leads effectively. As a result, I have a training opportunity, or if needed, I can reassign the lead for maximum effectiveness.

Team Conway completes 150-180 transactions a year and more than 30% are generated off of Internet inquiries.

?We are using Birdview?s drip-marketing program ProspectPro,? Conway says. ProspectPro is a communication device that gives our agents an ability to put prospective clients on a market system that keeps the leads alive. It helps the agents stay in touch until they are ready to act. It’s a nice feature to keep your name in front of them; it improves our chances of them utilizing your agent when they are ready to act.

?Before this system, I never had the level of control or follow-up once a lead went out,? he continues. I really haven?t seen a better product out there, and I really work to find the newest best stuff on the market to keep our company on top of our market.?

Ellis agrees, adding that he has the numbers to back his testimony. In 2005, his office closed more than 435 transactions generating more than $125 million. Through June of this year, his team is up over comparable sales from last year.

?We attribute part of that success to Birdview,? he says. All this lead generation doesn’t matter if we don’t have a system we can capitalize on, and Birdview is our anchor that brings it all together for us.

Birdview has always drawn on industry leaders to help define its product strategy and perhaps more importantly to refine it’s software. Both Conway and Ellis have contributed to Birdview?s TeamSite product.

?Because of champions like Tom Conway and Brett Ellis, we are able to increase the ROI delivered by our software,’ says Michael Kehoe, EVP, Birdview Technologies. At the beginning of the TeamSite development process, we learned about different types of agent teams and how agent teams were not at all like a small brokerage. Toward the end of the development process, we used feedback from agent teams as a reality check and to refine the user interface.

Birdview develops, licenses and supports a wide range of Internet-based software products for the real estate industry. The company?s software includes systems that can be deployed to provide lead generation, lead management, prospecting, communication and productivity tools. Birdview?s software is built to support multi-tiered enterprises, including portals, regional sites, large brokerages, brokerages and now agent teams.

In addition to creating a deep, scalable suite of software, Birdview has built relationships with over 160 MLSs. Birdview?s team of experts has successfully handled the MLS compliance needs of their clients. The company continues to work with MLS, local and national associations, in order to act as an advocate for its customers, while respecting the rules of the MLSs

?John Voket

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