I’m not sure if our “Beat Karl” campaign is actually going to help us hype up our booth presence at the REALTORS EXPO & CONVENTION in San Diego this week, but we are sure having fun with the promotion. : )
We created a “walk on” video that will be played right before Karl’s ping pong matches. Enjoy, and please share!
#BEATKARL #BOOTH945 #NARANNUAL
W&R Studios updates Cloud Streams to include new data, online map search, and an Android app.
““We are happy to announce that a Cloud Streams app is now available in the Google Play store,” stated Dan Woolley, co-founder of W&R Studios. “We’ve had an iPhone version available and are pleased that we can now offer our Android customers this option as well. …
The company also announced integration with GreatSchools data and integration with Retsly’s Public Data API.”
Huge release, right on time for NAR. Map search, new school data, public records info. Customers are going to be stoked!
I get asked a lot whether or not it make sense to have a big booth at the N.A.R. Annual conference or any trade show for that matter.
First off I think the biggest mistake most vendors make is they don’t do anything to help drive traffic to their booth. They basically just show up with some swag and hope agents will pay attention to them. So, here are some simple tips to help you increase your ROI.
1. You need to have a hook.
In previous years I’ve had celebrities like Fabio and Richard Simmons at our booth. Agents loved them. But your hook doesn’t need to be celebrity. Sometimes you need to get creative. This year we are doing a ping pong themed event. We are challenging all agents to beat our CFO, Karl Ziegler, at ping pong to win free subscriptions to our software. Here’s a video that we put together.
2. Ted Turner is credited with the phrase, “Early to bed, early to rise, in-between…advertise!”. You gotta promote your hook. In our case we are doing a lot of social media (#BEATKARL). Plus we sent out postcards to all N.A.R. Annual attendees.
We are also cross matching that mailing list against our email database and following up with an email campaign to those same attendees.
If you can afford it, signage at the event can also help you draw attention to your booth.
***True story, I actually met Ted Turner once and asked him if he said the above phrase. He quipped back to me, “Well son, i would say, work like hell, and advertise!”***
3. Have a goal.
You need your sales team to have a goal. 400 signups? 100 solid leads. Something to keep their eye on the prize and motivated.
If anybody else has any other tips I’m sure everyone would love to hear them in the comments. Have a great show!
“”Cloud Streams caught my eye from the moment I first saw it,” said MRED President/Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Jensen. “Delivering the freshest information in the most consumer friendly way to prospective purchasers is critical to service the public today. W &R Studios has hit another home run with this latest product.”
My thanks to Rebecca, Lynn and the rest of the MRED team for making this happen.
NTREIS LAUNCHES W&R STUDIOS’ COLLABORATION AND LISTING ALERT TOOL, CLOUD STREAMS.
“The team at W&R Studios has created something truly special – an easy way for agents to alert and stay in touch with their buyers when searching for a home.” stated NTREIS, CEO, John Holley. “Having the ability to automatically send text alerts for property matches is something our members, and their clients, have been waiting for.” Concluded Mr. Holley.
With the addition of NTREIS, now over 125,000 members have access to Cloud Streams as a free MLS benefit.”
My thanks to John and Cindy for help making this happen. And also to Frank for giving us some great (and much needed) feedback early on about Cloud Streams.
Love this quote:
“Cloud Streams was the most well recommended and reviewed software application our MLS Committee has ever considered,” said Tom Beede, president and CEO, MetroList Services, Inc. “Offering Cloud Streams along with Cloud CMA will give our MLS Subscribers best of class industry software to help them compete.”
Many thanks to Tom, Bill and Dave at MetroList Services.
The MLS™/CLAW Adds Cloud Streams as Free MLS Member Benefit
“Cloud Streams is a perfect way for agents to stay connected and engaged with their clients” stated The MLS™/CLAW CEO, Annie Ives. “Our members already love Cloud CMA, and know they are going to love Cloud Streams as well,” concluded Ms. Ives.
With the addition of The MLS™/CLAW now over 85,000 members have access to Cloud Streams as a free MLS benefit.”
As an MLS vendor themselves The MLS™/CLAW has found a way to grow in a very competitive environment. A couple years ago they added the Palm Springs Association of REALTORS and more recently the Imperial County Association of REALTORS signed up for their THEMLSPRO(r) system. Even with efforts to bring a statewide MLS system to California. That’s why I call Annie, The Wolf of Rodeo Drive.
Great article about how they created Flipboard for the web. It is a bit technical. I love to use Flipboard on my iPad. This quote caught my attention.
“Early on, after testing numerous prototypes, we decided our web experience should scroll. Our mobile apps are known for their book-like pagination metaphor, something that feels intuitive on a touch screen, but for a variety of reasons, scrolling feels most natural on the web.”
That’s exactly the same conclusion we came up with Cloud Streams. On the web people love scrolling through streams of data (think Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest). And when you think about it most MLS portals display some excel looking spreadsheet you need to click to move on to the next 25 properties.
Also this is why none of those viewer plugins popular with publishers to turn their paper Magazines in to a “digital” version never really took off. The interface was lousy and seemed like a hack job.
People want to scroll.
When we (W&R Studios) launched Cloud Streams earlier this year we were basing it on the same precepts that made Cloud CMA successful. Find something that has heavy usage on an MLS system but could be done much better. MLS systems are amazing pieces of software but they can’t do everything right.
We immediately saw an opportunity with listing alerts and “client portals”. It was a new product category for us, but still kinda of the same, “…making agents look awesome in front of their clients”.
That’s why I’m so proud to announce that CRMLS is now offering Cloud Streams as part of their basic MLS service. Launching any new product can be scary but based on the response, our instincts were right.
So many thanks to Art Carter and his team as CRMLS for their confidence and support. What a great way to end and start a New Year!
P.S. We’ve got a few more of these deals in the pipeline, and would love to talk to any of you who are looking to give your MLS members (Site license or otherwise) a great alternative to what your existing MLS system provides. Give me call at 714-240-3895 or via email at greg [at] wr-studios [dot] com
P.S.S. Inman News also did a story on the deal. I really should remember that I’m talking to a reporter when I’m opening my mouth. : )
Full Press Release Below:
CALIFORNIA REGIONAL MLS SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH W&R STUDIOS
CRMLS to Offer Cloud Streams to Association Members
SAN DIMAS, Calif. (December 30, 2014) – California Regional MLS (CRMLS) has reached a partnership agreement with W&R Studios, in which California Regional MLS will offer W&R Studio’s product: Cloud Streams. Cloud Streams is an innovative listing alert and collaboration tool that allows agents and brokers to set up and provide branded MLS listing alerts to their clients.
Cloud Streams allows clients to receive listing alerts by email and/or text in real-time via desktop, tablet or iPhone app. Listing alerts link directly back to the client’s personalized communication stream. Brokers and agents benefit from the branded, photo-rich content delivered through Cloud Streams.
“We are partnering with W&R Studios because we wanted to align ourselves with a proven provider that can deliver a product that will strengthen collaboration between real estate professionals and their clients.” said Art Carter, Chief Executive Officer of CRMLS.
“We think agents and their clients will enjoy using Cloud Streams. We wanted to create somehing that gave agents an edge over the listing portals. Cloud Streams is fun to use, provides the best property information there is while keeping them engaged with their clients. said Greg Robertson, Co-Founder of W&R Studios.
“We are confident this partnership with W&R Studios will help deliver more creative products for real estate professionals”. said Mr. Carter. “As the industry leader, will continue to add to our suite of products those that assist in making agents and brokers relevant to today’s consumer”.
Founded in 2008, W&R Studios is a privately held web software company located in Huntington Beach, California. W&R Studios focuses on creating the next generation of software solutions for the real estate industry.
For more information on California Regional MLS membership, products and services, visit www.crmls.org.
About California Regional MLS
CRMLS
California Regional MLS is the nation’s largest and most recognized subscriber-based MLS, dedicated to servicing over 73,000+ real estate professionals from 34 Associations, 3 Boards of REALTORS® and 1 MLS. CRMLS is the industry powerhouse and thrives on providing the most relevant products and services to its subscribers.
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“Thus, we’ve decided to phase out the Agentfolio service and transition the Agentfolio team to work on other strategic initiatives at Zillow. Until we fully discontinue the service (see our schedule below), Agentfolio will be free for those continuing to use it. However, no new agents will be able to sign up.”
If there are any Agentfolio users that would like to try something else, I would humbly suggest this great new tool. : )
