Swanepoel Publishes Power 200 List of RE Executives

Stefan Swanepoel is best known for his engaging conference lectures and the running line of Swanepoel Trends Reports that has published since 2006. This year, Swanepoel partnered with Rob Hahn, Chris Nichols, Kelly Mitchell, Michael McClure, Susan Browne, Michael Krisa, and Shannon Musgrove to produce a new publication called the Swanepoel Power 200, The most Powerful People In Residential Real Estate in 2013. These types of lists were made famous by Forbes Magazine, the publisher who releases 52 Top lists a year, including Rich Lists, Top Companies, People, Investing, Places, Sports, Technology, and Education. I spoke with Swanepoel for a [...]

By |2018-08-20T06:12:08-07:00January 9th, 2014|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|0 Comments

What would it take for YOU to be one of the Top 100 most Loved Brands in the World?

Anybody that runs a company wants to believe that consumers LOVE their brand – after all we love our brands don’t we?   While that’s a great goal, it’s a lot harder than it looks to create a strong emotional connection with your customer base. Apco Worldwide, a public relations firm recently fielded a global survey. Here’s the list of the Top 100 Most Lived brands.  According to Apco’s press release, here’s what it takes to rank as a loved brand: “APCO's proprietary Emotional LinkingSM model served as the basis for evaluating the companies by measuring consumers' emotional attachment to brands [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:24-07:00November 4th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Marketing, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Is too much Agent- Centricity at the heart of the industry dysfunction?

A couple of months ago I wrote a post called the “Challenge for Positive Change” that highlighted many of the relationship dysfunctions we are experiencing in the industry today. We have the honor of working with large brokers as well as MLSs, Associations, technology companies and even title and home warranty providers. We see misperceptions and distrust running rampant between each of these groups. It’s clear that there are many that are feeling as though our industry could be working together much better than it is at the moment. Fast forward a few weeks and we get to CMLS and [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:24-07:00October 24th, 2013|Clients, Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

IDX Reboot

This is a rather obscene notion, but sometimes the best way to innovate is to ask a bunch of questions about the status quo. For brokers and MLSs to innovate, they need to question the effectiveness of IDX. I would not question its value. Rather, I believe that it has uncompromising value to MLS participants and subscribers. I question how we can make it more valuable. Perhaps it is time for a reboot. A reboot is a process where you turn something off and turn it back on to stop routines from running that undermine the operation of the machine. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:25-07:00October 24th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Technology Evaluation|2 Comments

Build a More Well-informed Board with the WAVinar Series

Our industry is moving really quickly these days. There are so many challenges facing MLSs that threaten the viability of the entire industry--lawsuits, new players, technology revolutions, economic shifts. It is difficult and expensive to keep MLS leadership teams up to speed on the myriad of events, trends, policies, legal issues and research affecting the business. MLS organizations and their leadership need to keep up on all of these issues so they can make proactive decisions to keep their organizations relevant. That's why the WAV Group created its new WAVinar series. The Solution: WAVinars The WAVinar is designed to provide [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:27-07:00September 10th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Our Services, Strategic Planning|0 Comments

Last Call For WAV Group 2013 MLS Technology Survey

If you haven’t already signed up this is your last chance to have your MLS participate in the WAV Group 2013 MLS Technology Survey. Last year we had 75 MLSs participate with over 15,000 agents and staff taking part. This year we expect to have even more participate. Three Free Reports For Participating National Roll-up Report Every MLS that participates will receive the national roll up report, which provides a summary of the overall findings for all of the vendors reviewed. This will include comparisons to results in 2012, what users and staff like most about each system as well [...]

Leaders and Innovators Often Walk Alone

I have been working a lot in Brazil these days working with a company called Prolist building the first true MLS in their country. The reason I mention Brazil is because it is a great case in point regarding leaders and innovators walking alone. In dozens of meetings I have had with major real estate companies, associations and banks in Brazil I meet those that are leaders and innovators and I also see those that are part of the herd, that only go where the herd goes. The brightest, those with clear vision into the future, often those who have [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:28-07:00September 10th, 2013|Main category, Marketing, Our Company, Our Services|4 Comments

RE Technology Top 5 Articles of The Week

Each week, RE Technology publishes the top 5 most read articles. These articles may be republished by MLSs and Associations in newsletters or blogs for free. If you are not offering RE Technology as a member benefit, join more than 82 MLSs currently offering the service. There is never any charge.   8 Reasons You're Not Generating Real Estate Leads Through Social Media When using social media, there are so many pitfalls you can potentially befall an agent trying to generate leads for themselves online. In many cases, you see agents making the same mistakes online, then throwing their hands [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:28-07:00September 5th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Technology Evaluation|0 Comments

Advertising in an Association Owned MLS Webinar- Don’t Miss This!

Join WAV Group for an informational webinar on advertising in an Association owned MLS! This webinar will feature a Q & A session with GLVAR, BNAR, and GEPAR - three leading Association-owned MLSs who have launched advertising programs to help generate non-dues revenue. If your Association or MLS is considering adding or modifying your advertising strategy, be sure to register today! You are encouraged to prepare questions and invite your leadership to attend this webinar as well. There is no fee for attendance but the capacity of the meeting room is limited to 1000. Register early to ensure your access. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:28-07:00August 30th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Our Company|0 Comments

Product Overview of BombBomb for Real Estate VMail

BombBomb is a video mail program. You can record yourself talking on your computer or mobile device and send that recording as an email. It is a streaming email, so you are not sending a large file. Beyond vMail, BombBomb allows you to vLog or video blog. You can publish the recordings you make in newsletters, on your blog, website, or social media page. Suffice it to say, once the video is created, you can ship it anywhere. Using BombBomb for the first time was quick and easy. I entered a little bit of profile information and was off creating [...]

MLS – It’s All About The Community by Carl DeMusz

If you know anything about the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) you know they are communities and they are better when they are more inclusive than exclusive. A more inclusive MLS will generally have more members, more listings to share with its members and more opportunities for those members to make sales. That makes members happy but it also makes their consumers happy. It would be hard to make the case that less members and less listing content would make an MLS better than a MLS with more members and more listing content looking at it from either the member or [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:29-07:00August 19th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|1 Comment

Call for MLS Technology Survey Participants

WAV Group will be fielding the third annual WAV Group MLS Technology survey in September.  We are inviting all MLSs to take part.  This is a free, non-sponsored survey we provide for the benefit of the industry.  The more participation we have the more valuable the data will be for everyone. There is no cost to participate. Each participating MLS will in turn receive three reports: National Results for all MLSs Your Vendor Specific Results (i.e., All results from users of MLXchange); Your MLS Member results in a system generated report Your MLS will receive the reports prior to the [...]