One Stop Shopping for Brokers and Agents
Make Your Business Soar with VFlyer (Part 2 of 2)

by Bernice Ross, Ph.D. MCC
Owner, Teleclass4U.com, LLC and RealEstateCoach.com

Copyright © 2007
RealEstateCoach.com and Teleclass4U.com
All rights reserved in all media.

Tired of having to go to a separate vendor for your flyers, your web site marketing, and creating unique web addresses for your listings? If so, VFlyer.com, the winner of the Inman most innovative web software award, has a solution to make your business soar.

One of the most difficult aspects of Web 1.0 was how complex it was to integrate the various web solutions an agent or broker needed. For example, you might have your website with one provider, your blog residing at a different provider, and your Email newsletter at a third provider. Web 2.0 solutions are now integrating these separate functions into a single platform that allows users to easily obtain all of these services in one place.

Last week’s article examined how the Point2 Technology platform integrates web site technology with syndication to multiple websites. They also offer a National Listing Service, a blog, syndication to other agents, and a new technology platform for using Facebook.  All of this is available at no charge.

VFlyer.com provides a different solution that addresses many of the same issues. Until now, you would probably use two different suppliers to publish web listings on-line vs. marketing in print media. Vflyer integrates these two functions plus doing much more.

When you sign up for a Vflyer account, you have the option of creating a separate web address or URL for each of your listings. Their system does this automatically. Unlike the Point2 system that requires you to upload your listings one-by-one, the VFlyer program allows their premium users (for a fee), to do bulk uploads.

Like Point2, Vflyer also syndicates to numerous websites including Ebay and MySpace as well as to blogs such as ActiveRain.com.  It also allows you to import Email addresses so you can send the digital version of your flyer to the appropriate members of your database.

To use this function, it’s smart to set up subgroups in whatever system you use for Email. Many agents and brokers use Outlook. You can set up a “new group” in Outlook and then simply click on the names of the members you wish to include. Consequently, you could have one client who may appear in three different groups. For example, one person could belong to your past client group, your current investors, as well as your second home database. Setting up subgroups is a smart way to niche market your services.

VFlyer also allows you to create a PDF of your flyer and print hard copies of your brochure. Using a “widget” (a piece of HTML code) you can add your flyer to your website or blog. The VFlyer SMS service (“Short Message Service”—the technology that allows your mobile phone to display text messages, web sites, pictures, animations, and songs) also allows you to create flyers that can be displayed on mobile phones.

In addition, VFlyer has a simple program that allows you to add graphics to your brochures. In the past, it required a fair amount of expertise to add a “Just Listed” banner to your on-line brochure. This function is now as easy as “point and click.”

Perhaps the most important function that both Point2 and VFlyer provide, however, is the ability to track results. For years, most agents and brokers have marketed without tracking the return on their marketing dollar. Given the shift in today’s market, it’s important to make every marketing dollar count. Each of these providers allows you to see how many unique visitors your web marketing program is generating. This is an extremely important tool in terms of obtaining more correctly priced listings. For example, if you’re competing with two other agents for a listing, show the sellers how many hits your marketing has generated from Yahoo Classifieds, Trulia, CraigsList, etc. You can bet that most other agents will be unable to provide that data.

This is also an important took in terms of helping sellers achieve maximum exposure to the marketplace. Maximum exposure results in maximum price. When you go on a listing appointment, sellers want to know how you will market their home. An easy response is to say, “Your home will be marketed on over 30 different websites.” Twenty of these come from loading the property into Point2. You can also prepare you “VFlyer” and show them how both the print and on-line versions of their listing will appear. Ask for feedback as well as what changes they would make. When they start telling you how to change the flyer, the listing is yours.