SBM Systems Web Design and Development

Out of all the Internet activities that people do, email is probably the most important yet undervalued resource at your disposal. Close to 88% of all Internet users in the U.S. use email. This statistic comes from a UCLA Internet Report. This same survey states that 90% of those use it for business purposes.

Out of all of the years I have been in this business, I have found most people, not all, but most could improve on their email skills or Etiquette. Unfortunately there is no “written guide” or “book of laws” that govern the use of email, if there was then we would not have spam – wouldn’t that be nice? But there are a number of things to keep in mind when emailing for business.

1. Use a business email address. If you get an email from sexymom.isp.com,
   would you take it serious? Enough said.
2. STOP!! Turn your ‘caps lock’ off! YOU DON’T WANT TO SOUND LIKE YOUR SHOUTING.
3. Keep it short and clean. Don’t go on and on and on and on, (eh sorry) and
   not get to the point, most people are not reading a book, just a message so
   get to the point. Your email will be more readily read if you keep it concise
   yet descriptive but remember to be polite at the same time.
4. Be Polite. Make use of the most powerful 3 words in the business – “Thank
   You” and “Please”. They a greatly under rated and more importantly under used
   and goes a long way with emails
5. Were you joking? It is important to remember that your email does not reflect
   your tone of voice or facial expressions so choose your words carefully and
   make sure you don’t offend someone.
6. HUH? Don’t use shorthand or whatever people call it. Business is business
   and it is important to convey professionalism so don’t use ” Can U plz send..
   “ in the place of “Can you please send..”. Don’t assume everyone understands
   this shorthand just because you do.
7. Proof Read. Make sure you don’t have glaring errors or poor grammer, although
   I have never been known for mine. Just double check your wording and spelling
   quickly BEFORE clicking the send button – it’s a little late to do it after
   the fact.
8. Did you get my email? I can’t tell you how many times I have emailed a
   client or colleague and never received a response. Now I am not saying that
   every email requires a response, though anything important should. I would
   email a vendor with a problem and never get a response yet the problem did
   get fixed. The issue here is NOT that there was a problem, but there was no
   one on the other end to let me know they were working on it. If find that
   my clients respond well to problems if they know I am working on it. So let
   people know that something is happening with their request.

I am not stating that I am a certified expert on this topic, but I am conveying my findings of years using the Internet and email. Keep common sense when using your email and use good manners and you will find your emails will be much more effective for you.

I have worked with real estate sites for close to 10 years now and things have changed drastically since then. Years ago agents would carry around a MLS book. This was a book that came out monthly and it had all of the properties for sale in the area and the information about it. Now I have had agents tell me that they miss this to some degree, since they used it as a weapon. Yes, they would slam it down on the coffee table and scare the stew out of the buyer – some intimidation technique.

Today, there is a slightly better way of getting home and property information — the Internet. What a tool, every home listed in your area is most likely able to be viewed on a Realtor’s website. Every property listing will be there, not just that agents’ listings, but everyone’s listings. This is called IDX. IDX is basically a format that allows everyone to show most everyone’s listings (as long as you agree to the rules) on their web site. The catch is a small disclaimer (in most cases) that states who listed the property or what office listed it. This now provides Real Estate Brokers and Agents the tools to connect buyers with sellers more efficiently.

With this in mind, you can probably understand why real estate on the Internet is the #1 legitimate searched for product. I say legitimate since Porn is actually number one and I personally don’t call that legitimate. Over 80% of the home buyers last year searched for properties on the Internet – OVER 80%! That is huge.

Real Estate agents need to embrace this tool called the Internet. After years of training agents I have found that there is still a large number of REALTORS that still don’t understand the basics of using the Internet for their business. Utilizing email, websites, blogs, and marketing can be a daunting task, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t have to understand how a computer works to be able to use these tools, just learn how the tools work.

Blogging: If you are not blogging in real estate then you should be. This is a simple way to post messages, preferably yours, and letting people know what you think or how to do something. It is easy to do and there are many sites out there that offer blogs for free (with some ads showing).

E-Mail: If nothing else you need to effectively use your email. I recommend using a professional looking one for real estate and not the free ones. Most of the free email accounts have strict spam blockers and you may not be getting all of the emails you think you are, plus it looks much more professional to have yourname@yourname.com than it does if you use someone7731@aol.com.

Websites: Your website should have the ability to search the entire MLS in your area for your potential client. That is the number one reason they came to your site – to find properties to buy. Keeping this in mind, the second reason is for information. Content is important and the more the better, as long as it is relevant and organized. The last thing you should have is a way to capture contact information.

Marketing: Just because you have a website doesn’t mean that Google, Yahoo, and all of the other search engines know about it. Even more, they probably could care less. This means you have to tell them you are there. That is where marketing comes in to play – it’s not check and it is not for the faint at heart, so use an expert to get the best results.

I will go into more detail about these later.