Real Estate Agent Phil Faranda Discusses What Is Needed to be a “Digital Agent”

T3 Experts was created to support, inform and empower real estate agents, teams and brokers to succeed at a higher level by providing “Expertise on Demand”.

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The organization takes the collective body of work of its founders – Stefan Swanepoel, Jack Miller and Michael McClure – and packages that half-century of research and hands-on real estate industry experience in a way that agents, teams and brokers can apply directly into their real estate operations. T3 Experts does this by delivering practical and actionable resources and execution plans that help real estate professionals run their businesses more efficiently, more effectively and more profitably.

J. Philip Faranda

J. Philip Faranda

Phil is broker and owner of J. Philip Real Estate in Briarcliff Manor, NY, which he founded in 2005. An industry veteran since 1996, he is one of the top-selling broker agents for transaction totals in the Hudson Gateway MLS since 2007. In 2013, Phil was a national finalist for Inman News Innovator of the Year.

In the following interview Michael McClure has an in-depth discussion with J. Philip “Phil” Faranda about being a successful Digital Agent includng the importance of using AgencyLogic single property Websites and Follr for social media marketing.

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Podcast Highlights (per the T3 Experts Website):

Top Take Away(s):

  • The Digital Agent has the tools. The tools don’t have the Digital Agent.
  • Strategies for driving people to your website: mail outs, business cards, etc. that just say “Google Me.” Use technology with a human touch.
  • A blog can be used as a pre-listing package. As the blog gets “seasoned” online, it is a tremendous credibility builder.
  • When people go to a real estate website, they want to look at houses. So there are two things on the front of our website: listings and search box for listings.

Best Practices and Considerations:

  • Use the best tool available for the person/client in front of you. Ex: Pick up the phone and call a Baby Boomer, email a GenXer, and text a Millennial.
  • Be on the cutting edge, but don’t lose sight of the fact that the people you’re dealing with just want to get from point A to point B. Apply your expertise accordingly.
  • Give consumers the information and data they need, and they will then use you for the advocacy piece.

Tools Recommended and how Philip uses them:

  • AgencyLogic: suite of tools that includes single property websites, comprehensive social media via Follr.
  • Kunversion: lead generating and company website with blog built into it; not at mercy of pay-per-click
  • Listing Book: proprietary standalone IDX home search that requires registration; has client CRM built into it; it shows people not just what’s for sale, but what’s sold, what’s under contract, etc.
  • Evernote: owner/manager tasks, to-do lists, writes blog post drafts, agendas and business plans; primary input is using his smartphone to audio dictate
  • Google Drive: basically the company’s intranet; shares and stores for other company members; templates, presentations, etc.
  • iPad Mini: gets the most mileage of his tools; does not use for listing presentation
  • Galaxy Note 10.1: listing presentation

Real Estate Agent Phil Faranda Discusses What Is Needed to be a “Digital Agent”

T3 Experts was created to support, inform and empower real estate agents, teams and brokers to succeed at a higher level by providing “Expertise on Demand”.

logo_new

The organization takes the collective body of work of its founders – Stefan Swanepoel, Jack Miller and Michael McClure – and packages that half-century of research and hands-on real estate industry experience in a way that agents, teams and brokers can apply directly into their real estate operations. T3 Experts does this by delivering practical and actionable resources and execution plans that help real estate professionals run their businesses more efficiently, more effectively and more profitably.

J. Philip Faranda

J. Philip Faranda

Phil is broker and owner of J. Philip Real Estate in Briarcliff Manor, NY, which he founded in 2005. An industry veteran since 1996, he is one of the top-selling broker agents for transaction totals in the Hudson Gateway MLS since 2007. In 2013, Phil was a national finalist for Inman News Innovator of the Year.

In the following interview Michael McClure has an in-depth discussion with J. Philip “Phil” Faranda about being a successful Digital Agent includng the importance of using AgencyLogic single property Websites and Follr for social media marketing.

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Podcast Highlights (per the T3 Experts Website):

Top Take Away(s):

  • The Digital Agent has the tools. The tools don’t have the Digital Agent.
  • Strategies for driving people to your website: mail outs, business cards, etc. that just say “Google Me.” Use technology with a human touch.
  • A blog can be used as a pre-listing package. As the blog gets “seasoned” online, it is a tremendous credibility builder.
  • When people go to a real estate website, they want to look at houses. So there are two things on the front of our website: listings and search box for listings.

Best Practices and Considerations:

  • Use the best tool available for the person/client in front of you. Ex: Pick up the phone and call a Baby Boomer, email a GenXer, and text a Millennial.
  • Be on the cutting edge, but don’t lose sight of the fact that the people you’re dealing with just want to get from point A to point B. Apply your expertise accordingly.
  • Give consumers the information and data they need, and they will then use you for the advocacy piece.

Tools Recommended and how Philip uses them:

  • AgencyLogic: suite of tools that includes single property websites, comprehensive social media via Follr.
  • Kunversion: lead generating and company website with blog built into it; not at mercy of pay-per-click
  • Listing Book: proprietary standalone IDX home search that requires registration; has client CRM built into it; it shows people not just what’s for sale, but what’s sold, what’s under contract, etc.
  • Evernote: owner/manager tasks, to-do lists, writes blog post drafts, agendas and business plans; primary input is using his smartphone to audio dictate
  • Google Drive: basically the company’s intranet; shares and stores for other company members; templates, presentations, etc.
  • iPad Mini: gets the most mileage of his tools; does not use for listing presentation
  • Galaxy Note 10.1: listing presentation

Realtor Blog Post: Why I Will Not Be Deleting my Facebook Business Pages

Contributor: J. Philip Faranda

J. Philip Faranda

J. Philip Faranda

(Consumers will find the following post either very boring or an interesting look inside baseball. My point of view is less of a selling broker and more of a manager of 20+ licensees.)

Chris Smith, AKA Tech Savvy Agent, has authored a gutsy article on Inman entitled You Need to Delete Your Facebook Business Pages Immediately. The subject is controversial for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that Chris himself has been one of the biggest proponents of business pages you’ll find. The post has already garnered almost 100 responses, and on the face (sorry) of it, seems blasphemous.

Blasphemous perhaps, until one considers the state of the average business page. The average fan page is a dormant embarrassment that acts as a spam magnet, with no significant updates from the actual owner in a dog’s age. Frankly, I wondered aloud why Chris specified business pages only and didn’t also include dormant blogs and static websites with the same “under construction” message since the Bush administration. I have to smile when I stumble upon a blog that was last updated in March of 2008 after 6 posts. Is the person still in business? Do you think a consumer wonders the same thing? They do. They tell me.

Want to make something happen in real estate? Do something…regularly.

The only thing that succeeds purposely from inaction is the fermentation of wine. The rest of human endeavors require you to vacate the resting upon the bum and getting into action. And if you can’t type a few words, then please, yes, delete the page, because it does more harm than good. And when I say “page” I mean blog, business page or whatever else you have floating out there collecting dust (and spam). This is not to save bandwidth, it is to save your credibility.

J Philip Facebook Business PageOur main business page is updated virtually daily via the Networked Blogs application that sends my blog content over. Another niche page has already yielded a deal with another pending, and gets over 1000 impressions per update entry. Both invite new registrants to our IDX home searches, and those inquires are distributed to our associates, who have an edict to follow up but never pester. And spam is zapped by the Administrative Goddess. I do not point to myself as an authority. I will not write a book. But neither will I redact my content. It is dynamic and works, because I work it. If you aren’t working it, take Chris’s advice. You won’t get heat from the stove because you installed it. You get heat from the stove because you put wood in. Chop chop.

Nothing works unless you work it consistently. If you want to make money by waiting, start a winery. Otherwise, work your stuff.

Suggestion (and unsolicited pimpage): for a totally kickass business page, contact mi hermano Stephen Fells at AgencyLogic, and they’ll build you your own little corner of awesomeness for a really reasonable rate.

Editors Note: The best surprises are the unexpected ones! Westchester Realtor (and AgencyLogic single property Website client) Phil Faranda posted this on ActiveRain yesterday. Much appreciated – thanks Phil! 🙂