Company Profile – A Marketing Must

By Maria Patterson Print Article

RISMEDIA, September 16, 2009—As chief information officer for Chantilly, Virginia-based Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., Michael Koval knows a thing or two about choosing effective technology for the company’s 13,700 sales associates. After a thorough due diligence process, Koval recently selected SharperAgent’s CRM (customer relationship management) program to add to the firm’s suite of business-building solutions for its agents. 

Serving in the CIO role for nine years, Koval carefully considered three vendors before choosing Denver-based SharperAgent for both its breadth and quality of content and its highly competitive pricing. According to Koval, the sheer number of designs and formats offered by SharperAgent—from postcards to flyers to buyer and seller guides and home tours—far outweighed other companies in the running. 

“The quality and the quantity of the content are unmatched,” Koval explains. “SharperAgent offers over 2,300 different pieces that cover just about every single event you can think of, whether it’s social, business or personal. They offer all the necessary components to help our agents communicate and maintain strong relationships with clients. 

“Plus, SharperAgent’s quality is very good,” he adds. “Their professionally-created products convey the right image for a Long & Foster professional.” 

To make the process as simple as possible for agents, SharperAgent created a custom environment for Long & Foster that matches the look and feel of other company applications. 

The system’s ease of use is also a big plus, says Koval. “You don’t need to be an expert in CRM; all you need to do is upload some data. We built a special interface with our existing interface, so all agents have to do is click one button to integrate the Long & Foster system to the SharperAgent system. It’s a very simple environment where agents are able to put content in and create campaigns and marketing pieces with just a few clicks.” 

The flexibility of the SharperAgent program allows sales associates to not only choose what they want to send, but how they want to send it—by ordering professional digital printing, by downloading a PDF and printing it on their desktop, by e-mail, etc. 

Koval stresses that utilizing a program like SharperAgent is critical at all times, but especially in the current real estate market. “It’s imperative that agents have communication tools at their fingertips that can professionally convey what their value proposition is to the customer,” he explains. “Agents must continue to insert themselves and be vibrant and relevant and communicating to their customers consistently. 

“Agents must have tools and systems in place and they must have the right content,” he continues. “Very few agents can create professional designs and communicative content on their own. With SharperAgent, for a minor investment, a tremendous portfolio opens up in front of you—a contact manager, a CRM campaign, a contact management program, a print campaign…the options are pretty much endless.” 

For more information, visit www.sharperagent.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

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