For those of you who couldn’t make it out to New Orleans this year for the National Association of Realtors Convention, I thought I would hit the highlights for you.
LOWES
Let me just start off by saying I can be bought with cookies. Lowes had (by far) the best give-aways at the show. I walked off with a 1 gig jump drive, a mini mouse for my laptop and freshly baked cookies (with coffee to boot!).
This friendly booth made me remember why I do my home improvement shopping at Lowes. Not only great products and services, but great customer service!
Terri Murphy
If you ever have a chance to hear Terri Murphy (@terrimurphy) I would suggest you take advantage. Her insights on real estate and technology are right on the mark. I have seen her speak at a Century 21 regional event and now at the Kodak booth in New Orleans.
As a top producing sales person in the Chicago area for over 24 years, Terri understands the unmatchable power of strategic alliances that truly create a strong differentiation in the market today.
Terri is the President of Terri Murphy Communications and Chief Information Officer of U.S. Learning in Memphis, TN. She is the founder of www.WomensWisdomNetwork.com., an online resource network for women in business.
RealBiz Media
Next One Interactive, Inc. (OTCBB: NXOI) and RealBiz Media have launched a unique real estate marketing platform for real estate companies and professionals called “Connextions”. In a nutshell, these two companies have developed a technology platform that is able to take virtual tours, make them broadcast ready, and feed them to the largest real estate websites (Realtor.com, Trulia.com, etc), social networking sites (Facebook.com, Youtube.com, etc) and now …. television! Connextions is the only real estate marketing technology platform that is able to combine the power of the Internet and Television and provide it in a single automated marketing solution for the real estate professionals.
I caught up with Steve Marques at NAR to brefiely go over the new program.
Wells Fargo MTG
Winner of this years “Fun” booth. At the Wells Fargo booth, visitors are able to play a series of games including Texas Hold-Em and “Bop the Mole” in hopes of winning cash, cooking gadgets and the coveted Wells Fargo stuffed horse. It is always fun to see what Wells Fargo will come up with next.
QR Codes
QR (Quick Response) Codes made an appearance at this years shows. Several companies are trying to turn the QR hype into a business. A few companies were offering the QR codes for a flat or monthly fee. You are able to add listings, and create the QR codes that will redirect visitors with a QR reader to the listing page you created with the company. The issue I have with this product idea is that you (the agent) can create QR codes for free using Kaywa and you can send the visitors directly to the listing page on your website. Seems more cost effective and less time consuming to do it that way – no? It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
We (ListingDomains.com & RealEstateSites.com) are in the process of adding a QR code generator to our Listing and Agent websites service. We do not plan to charge anything additional for this service. We will also offer a sign rider with the QR code for an added fee. More to come on that …