Sometime next week we will hit 78,000 signups for the Point2Agent product. This after just slightly longer then 3 years after the product release in January of 2003. Of course I am proud of that number but what the heck does it really mean? It is actually the number of real estate professionals that have gone through what we call our “self registration process” to signup to the Point2Agent product, get a website, and become a member of our community.
Out of 78,000 agents, brokers and builders using the product only 40,000 really use it to its full advantage.
So what about the other 38,000? These are agents and brokers that took the time to signup but don’t really use our system, or use it only as a brochure site. I want to find out why. We take great pride in building a free version of our product that we believe is better than most if not all the other pay products out there. Many of our features are not found elsewhere (Handshake, syndication, seller login) and are worth using even if an agent has other websites.
I really want to know why these 38,000 don’t want to take advantage of this opportunity to its fullest extent. I want to find out what it is we are doing wrong or not well enough. To this end I am going to choose, say 500 emails, and send out a note with a personal commitment and some open questions. I will commit to personally speak or correspond to anyone who receives my email. My days are already long, so maybe this is a totally crazy idea, but I really need to know.
Maybe these Realtors are part of the same 45% that the NAR secret shopper survey says never respond to leads. If so, I guess I am in no danger of my day getting longer.
Perhaps they are already in love with some product that, while it doesn’t compete with the Point2 Agent product, isn’t compatible with it.
Given my agenda, that might be wishful thinking. 😉
God only knows why agents don’t do anything with their web sites. I can’t tell you how many times we’ll be in our weekly sales meeting and I’ll say, “That listing was a web site lead” or “those clients found our web site and we’ve been communicating for months”. Without fail, some agent will whine, “I’ve had a web site for five years and never gotten a single lead, how do you get so lucky?”
It’s not luck. It’s hard work. 100s of hours of it. Go to whiney agent’s site and you’ll see a standard template that’s *never* been modified. One agent told me, “I pay for my site every month and don’t even know the site address”.
Hello??? If YOU don’t know the URL, how will anyone else???? It’s unfreakin’ believeable. I also hear, “I don’t have time to work on my site”. This from an agent that sits on her ass gossiping and reading the paper all day….
45% don’t respond to leads. That’s pathetic. Something like 13% of the realtors in our MLS area DON’T EVEN HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS!!!
This is my “competition”. I’m loving it, though I’ll never understand it!