a la mode
news & marketing tips — September 16,
2005
More than $675,000
collected for Hurricane Katrina victims
Over the past few
weeks since Hurricane Katrina we've asked you to donate to the
American Red Cross through our site,
www.alamode.com/katrina, and our founder and Chairman, Dave Biggers, would match your donations. You came through in a big way,
donating a total of $261,453.53, which Dave dutifully matched, dollar
for dollar.
And as you know,
many of the victims of Katrina were real estate professionals just like
you. As Steve Cook, Vice President of Public Affairs at the
National Association of REALTORS®, put it: "Katrina has been the worst
disaster in history as far as the number of REALTORS® affected.
Thousands of our members have lost their homes and will have a
difficult time getting back on their feet."
Because we have so
many valued customers in the areas hit by the massive storm, we knew
that we had to do more to help them out. So, we've offered corporate
housing to displaced families who may need it and deferred all fees
and payments due us under service contracts, annual subscriptions,
website renewals or anything else for our thousands of clients in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
We also matched the
August 30 REALTORS® Relief Foundation donation of $150,000 in cash,
split equally among the disaster recovery operations of the state
REALTOR® associations in the three states. The REALTORS® Relief
Foundation was created to provide assistance for housing related needs
of victims of disasters like Katrina.
When you add your
donations, Dave's matched donation and our $150,000 donation to the
REALTORS® Relief Fund, together we've provided a grand total of
$678,427.06 to bring aid, necessities and comfort to victims.
We're not patting ourselves or even you on the back — we just want to
let you know about the power and goodwill of the real estate
professionals we work for.
And donations are
still needed! If you would still like to help out Hurricane Katrina
victims, we urge you to donate directly to the Red Cross site by
clicking
this link.
New version of
XSellerate puts emphasis on relationships
Referrals and
repeat clients are a critical component of your business. In fact, the
2005 REALTOR® Technology Efficiency Survey reported that more than
half of the REALTORS® surveyed indicated that repeat or referral
business makes up 25 percent or more of their business. But while they
remain a large chunk of the business, many REALTORS® admit they do
little to keep up these relationships.
XSellerate 2.0,
scheduled for release in October, is designed with building and
maintaining relationships in mind. You're probably familiar with
the business phrase, "It can cost up to five times more to win a new
customer than to keep an old one." With this new version, you’ll
have the peace of mind that your relationships are being cared for.
XSellerate is the fastest, easiest way for you to maintain your
precious relationships, ensuring the maximum return on your minimal
time investment.
What's new about
XSellerate 2.0?
Just like everything we do here at a la mode, XSellerate 2.0's new,
improved features are designed to help you get the most effective use
of your time (or lack thereof). One of the most significant
improvements in XSellerate 2.0 is its pre-written workhorse campaigns
for building relationships with XSite leads. Now you don't even have
to schedule a campaign for the leads that are captured from your XSite.
XSellerate collects the data from your XSites and begins sending buyer
or seller specific information the very next day. That's a zero time
investment on your part for 12 months of communication with potential
buyers and sellers. Of course, you can put your own contacts in
XSellerate and send them the campaigns also.
After hearing your
feedback, we've also redesigned XSellerate's interface to make it much
more visually intuitive and easier to use. Now you can see all of
your campaign information at once. Plus, we've included preview panes
so you know exactly what your ad is going to look like as you build
it. Click
here to see XSellerate 2.0's step-by-step campaign builder
interface.
We also added more
traditional and non-traditional holiday campaigns and personal contact
reminders to your e-mail or mobile device. Imagine getting a text
message on your phone reminding you to call Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson to
congratulate them on their first anniversary in their new home!
XSellerate 2.0 will
be released in October and is a free upgrade to all current XSellerate
owners. Don't have XSelerate yet? Don't wait until October to market
to those precious repeat and referral customers. Get started now and
buy XSellerate today for $299. You'll automatically receive the 2.0
version upgrade when it's released. Click
here for more information. |
