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Moxi PartnersOpen Platform October 10, 2017

Introducing: Moving Offers Powered by MooveGuru

moving offers by moovguru

By Tiana Baur 

The Moxi Cloud officially has a new service provider! Moving Offers powered by MooveGuru. MooveGuru connects consumers to the marketer they need, when they need it. What’s that mean though?

Moving Offers powered by MooveGuru have been developed with a proprietary program designed to deliver exclusive discounts to movers for goods in a timeframe that they are mostly like to make a purchase. Fun fact: This was sparked by a study done at the University of Colorado in 2008.

Once the transaction of a home sale is entered into Moxi Cloud, Moving Offers becomes available. When activated through the Moxi Cloud checklist, Moving Offers sends automated discounts based on exactly what they’ll need in that specific phase of their move. For example, Moving Offers will provide a coupon for a junk removal service when the homeowners are getting ready to pack and move. Or when they client is all moved into their next place, but everything is in boxes, they deliver a coupon for pizza. Genius, right?

Brian Friemel, President of MooveGuru said, “We are very excited to partner with a great company like Moxi Works. Moxi Cloud is the industry leader in real estate technology integration. Their commitment to brokerage automation and customer engagement makes Moxi Works a perfect match for MooveGuru.”

When the Moving Offers are sent to an agent’s clients, they are notified of it within their Moxi Engage CRM and are able to see the progress of their client’s move. When the client receives the discounts, they are branded from the agent and their brokerage, not MooveGuru. This allows agents to continue their relationships post-sale, offering value coming branded from the consumer’s trusted advisor.

Mike McHenry, VP of Channels and Partnerships at Moxi Works said, “Moving Offers powered by MooveGuru are genius. It allows agents to maintain their relationship with their clients far beyond the sale of the home, cementing their role as the trusted advisor. It’s one more way agents can prove their value and get more repeat and referral business.”

We love Moving Offers and we know all of the hungry, packed up families out there will as well. Find out more at mooveguru.com.

Welcome to the Moxi Cloud, MooveGuru!

Tips and Tricks October 4, 2017

Agents: This is how much money you’re losing each year

tips to save money

By Tiana Baur

Every single tax deduction you are or are not allowed to take is impossible to know without a helping hand. If you aren’t utilizing an accounting or tax management system, it means you’re losing a lot of money. And by a lot we mean thousands of dollars that could be in your pocket instead. Avoid overpaying on your quarterly and year end taxes with these tips:

1. Mileage – over $7,000 in deductions

You drive a lot, spending your days driving between properties, appointments and shuttling your clients. Sometimes you probably feel like a glorified Uber driver. How do you determine whether to go with the standard mileage deduction or track all your auto-related expenses?

For those who drive more than 10,000 miles per year, the IRS requires you to keep a detailed log in order to claim this deduction. It needs to include date, time, mileage and purpose of the trip. Do you use an app to track all of this? Even if the answer is yes, there’s a better app out there. QuickBooks Self-Employed is a tool that helps users track an average of $7,393 in mileage deductions per year. It automatically captures everything you need with the click of a button.

2. Meals and fun – save over $4,000 a year

You can deduct meals as a business expense in two forms: 1.) When you are travelling on business and 2.) When you are dining with clients or with other professionals for the purpose of conducting business or generating referral business. With these, you’re allowed to deduct 50 percent of your total expense, which includes tax plus tip for the meal.

Many agents save receipts in boxes and haphazardly enter them into spreadsheets or give them to an accountant later, but this leads to loss of money. QBSE streamlines this process. Simply snap a photo of your receipt with your QBSE smartphone app to digitally store it with your transactions. This process helps users save an average of $4,340 per year.

3. Marketing and ad spend

Online and social media advertising costs are quickly becoming a big part of agent spend. Agents are expected to do more for their listings than they ever have before and they need the tools to effectively do it. Did you know that production costs like writing and design fees are also deductible? This includes website design and hosting fees, search engine marketing, pay per click advertising, video production, and any other IT-related costs.

save money with QBSE

4. Home office or space

Do you have a home office or a dedicated space to work? If you do, you’re eligible for a home office deduction, even if you also have office space at your broker’s office — unless you’re deducting desk fees already.

5. Desk Fees

Your desk fees are deductible regardless of your brokerage. With QBSE, whenever you pay that desk fee, you can set a rule to automatically categorize this expense. This however is only an option if you aren’t already doing the home office deduction.

6. Big purchases

Stationary, photocopies, and any other consumables needed to run your business are deductible. The ones you need to make sure you deduct are the big ones: laptops, phones, furniture, copiers, etc.

7. Fees, Licenses, etc.

Annual fees are common costs of doing business and are deductible. In real estate, that means your state license renewal, professional memberships, and MLS dues. Also, you can deduct real estate taxes necessary for your business, but not self-employment taxes.

8. Education and travel

Given rapid industry change, continuing education is imperative. It’s also a requirement in most states. If you need to travel to attend an event or meet with a coach, make sure to track all the information correctly to ensure that you’re compliant with the IRS. One way to do that is by linking your banking accounts with QBSE. As soon as you incur an expense associated with travel, tap a button to categorize it in one of the IRS approved categories.

9. Tools and services

Any software needed to run your business is fully deductible, including subscription services. Products such as QuickBooks Self-Employed not only help you automatically track your expenses and mileage, but may be fully deducted as well.

Get started with QBSE today and start saving bundles of cash!

Productivity October 3, 2017

This Presentation Tool Wins More Business

The presentation tool that wins more business

By Tiana Baur

Moxi Works recently conducted a case study on our popular presentation and CMA product. Why? Well, we were curious to see how agents performed when they used the product vs. how they performed when they didn’t. To do this, we chose Windermere Real Estate agents in Western Washington as the sample for the case study. There are roughly 2,700 Windermere agents in the Western Washington region. We looked at their agent activity for the 2016 calendar year and found some seriously insane results. But before we reveal them, you deserve some background info first.

Who is Windermere?

Windermere Real Estate is ranked the largest regional real estate company in the Western U.S. with over 300 offices and 6,000 agents in 11 Western states. Founded in 1972, Windermere has been family owned and operated since. They are based in Seattle, Washington and are heavily involved in the communities their offices are in. You can learn more about Windermere and what they’re all about here.

What is Moxi Present?

Moxi Present is a tool that allows agents to easily create seller, buyer, and open house presentations. They are MLS-connected, updated to the minute and every property can be shown with the actual driving commute time to any location. This presentation and CMA tool also allows agents to include video and other rich media right into their presentation and enables agents to create listing flyers in a snap.

What did we find out?

Seller-Side Transactions
Seller agents who used Moxi Present averaged 6.4 sales in the 2016 year, while those that didn’t only averaged 4.17 sales, meaning that seller agents using Moxi Present had 53% more listing sales.

Buyer-Side Transactions
Buyer agents that used Moxi Present averaged 5.71 sales, while those who didn’t averaged 4.30 sales, helping those that took advantage of the tool average 34% more buyer-side transactions.

Total Transactions
When adding those numbers up, that’s 12.08 sides for agents who used Moxi Present and only 8.42 for those who did not. Windermere agents who used Moxi Present enjoyed 43% MORE business in 2016! We probably don’t need to point out the fact that this is a huge change to an agent’s bottom line.

As you can probably guess, we were elated when we figured out the results. We are founded on the goal to make agents more productive and brokerages more profitable. The numbers from this case study speak for themselves. Agents that use Moxi Present, a tool their brokerage provides for them, do more business than those that don’t.

 

Download the full case study here. 

Open Platform September 28, 2017

Don’t Let the Keller Cloud Kill You

Don't Let the Keller Cloud Kill You

By Tiana Baur

Keller Williams recently announced that they have a one-billion-dollar budget to set aside for their technology. You read that correctly, a BILLION. The idea that a smaller brokerage could be able to invest that kind of money to create and maintain their own technology is absurd. Not every brokerage is a Keller Williams and we bet that billion they’re investing in their technology is just the beginning. How does any other brokerage compete with that? You can’t, not at this level of investment. However, you don’t have to sit back and let them bring you to a slow and painful death either.

What is the Keller Cloud?

The Keller Cloud is a fully-integrated cloud solution. That means it is a single platform for agents to run their entire business. Like most brokerages, they felt their agents were getting fatigue from constantly having to switch tools, so they took matters into their own hands. The Keller Cloud integrates all of their tools, CRM, lead generation, transaction management, etc. streamlining work for their agents. They have truly made technology their number one investment. If you’re curious or terrified (which you should be) or both, you can find out more about the Keller Cloud here.

Recruiting & Market Share

If you’ve been following Keller Williams at all lately then you also know they are growing their agent count like crazy by focusing a lot of their efforts on recruiting. In fact, we encourage you to look at the market share in your area. Chances are they have more than the last time you looked. Like a quiet cougar sneaking up on their prey. It’s really quite impressive what they’ve accomplished and the moves they continue to make in our industry. They get it, they embrace technology and change, and are better for it.

How you survive and thrive – open platform integration

So, how do you compete with this? How do you compete with their level of investment and their striking growth rate? Easy. You can future-proof your brokerage with an open platform.

open platform integration

The Moxi Cloud, for instance, is also a fully-integrated solution that can be modified to fit your unique brokerage, all for a much smaller price. The Moxi Cloud open platform keeps all your tools in one place, including data from your agent roster, property data from your MLS, brokerage assets, brokerage data, consumer data, agent CRM contacts, and an API that allows any tools you want to plug in and play nicely. Your CRM, lead generation, transaction management, literally everything.

There is so much change in our industry and the rate at which change occurs is only going to speed up. It’s the open platform integration that gives a brokerage business the flexibility to evolve and live on. Brokerages that ignore it or choose to go a traditional route won’t survive beyond 2020. Let the technology geeks handle the technology, stay competitive, and don’t let the Keller Cloud kill you.

It’s quite simple really, embrace the change and become stronger for it, or drown in a sea of tech-savvy brokerages.

September 26, 2017

How to Compete as Redfin Lowers Their Listing Fees

How to Compete as Redfin Lowers Their Listing Fees

By Maddie Jostol

Redfin recently rolled out an initiative to drop their listing fees, significantly undercutting the average listing fee. The company tested the strategy in major markets, such as Washington D.C., Seattle, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego and, not surprisingly, saw a substantial increase in business. In many of these markets, the typical listing fees are around 2.5 percent, yet Redfin has lowered their fee to 1 or 1.5 percent. Redfin has claimed that their listing count has grown in every market where they’ve dropped their listing fee.

The new low-fee strategy is spreading into residential real estate, which is leaving many brokerages concerned about how they’ll compete. Lower listing fees will put pressure on your pricing, which is painful in an industry with already dwindling margins.

The pricing conversation

The first step is to coach your agents on how to handle the pricing conversation. While a low listing fee will, in theory, save the seller a decent chunk of change, in reality, it’s important for any consumer to look at the whole picture when making a decision. When agents educate their client, buyers and sellers better understand exactly what these low listing fees mean for them, and how they can shop around to ensure they get the experience they’re looking for.

Provide support to your office managers in coaching agents throughout your brokerage to have these conversations, putting your brokerages’ value proposition front and center, regardless of a high or low listing fee.

Focus on the sphere

An agent’s sphere of influence is their key to success in such a competitive market.

If the competitive factor is listing fees, get your agents to rely less on new, unfamiliar leads. Why? Those leads are more likely to shop based on price, whereas those leads who already have a relationship with your brokerage are more likely to shop based on familiarity and trust. When agents focus on maintaining their sphere of influence to encourage repeat and referral business, they no longer face the direct competition that they would with paid leads.

All Moxi Works tools are built to accompany a sphere selling methodology. We’ve seen that when agents have productivity tools that align with their sales goals and methodology, they find long-term success. If contacts are nurtured and relationships are upheld, the decision is no longer about a one percent listing fee difference – it’s about trust and professionalism.

There’s no doubt that Redfin will continue to find success due to their unique low fees, however, that doesn’t mean that price cutting is the only strategy. Work with your managers and agents to ensure they’re armed with the tools they need to remain competitive.

Real Estate Marketing September 22, 2017

You Don’t Need to be a Facebook Expert: The #1 Way to Reap the Benefits

The #1 way to reap the benefits of Facebook Ads

By Tiana Baur

The Facebook community has more people in it than the population of China. The sheer amount of people on the social network make it hard to ignore – even for our industry. When compared to other small businesses, 79% of real estate businesses have Facebook accounts. Which to be honest, is a pretty surprising number if you ask us.

And yet, most are making mistakes – so much so in fact, that there many articles being published about the common social media mistakes real estate agents make. Like focusing on the amount of likes they have or treating their page like some sort of brochure.

The reality is, agents no longer need to keep trying so hard. There are certain things you can’t know without having the proper experience, but no one should expect agents to become social media gurus overnight – especially since others are spending their entire careers doing so. The new best way to take full advantage of social media is to take a step back and let the pros do it for you. Period.

The #1 way to reap the benefits of Facebook is to use tools that do the heavy lifting for you. It might sound obvious, but so many agents try to be the social media maven for their own business and end up dropping the ball or making a plethora of common mistakes that are narrated out in the articles we mentioned above. There are companies that have entire teams dedicated to helping agents get the most out of social media channels, especially Facebook. It’s time to use them. Here are our favorite tools to use right now:

1. Flipt – Predicative Real Estate Ads

Flipt connects home sellers to top real estate professionals on the web and mobile by using housing and social data. They are predictive real estate display ads to empty nesters, people moving into retirement and homeowners going through life-changing events. Flipt lets you claim your zip codes and within a few minutes launches your locally targeted campaign with their easy-to-use ad builder. Within 24 hours your ads are online, where motivated sellers click and request your information from your free Flipt landing page. 

2. Advertise Your Listing – Attention Grabbing Ads in Five Minutes or Less

Advertise Your Listing allows agents who just won a listing to create a Facebook ad for said listing with ease, built directly into the Moxi Engage CRM. The best part? Agents do not need a Facebook Page to run ads. Not only that, but it sends reports directly to their clients with the click of a button. Advertise Your Listing helps agents show clients that they are willing to go the extra mile for them, and keep up with the competition by improving their marketing strategy.

3. Offrs – Get Your Own Territory

Agents want… no they need leads. At Offrs, they identify over 70% of the homes that will sell in the coming year using predictive analytics. They conduct an in-depth analysis of the data that then predicts when people will sell. This data is then presented to the agent via their “Territory.” Each agent chooses a Territory which includes details on every property or property owner, including mailing address, email, phone number, and a predictive seller score that is updated each month based on thousands of data points.

 

There are more and more tools coming out every day, especially when it comes to social media and Facebook ads, but it’s important to pick one that you can depend on to get the job done. We’ve carefully vetted all of these tools and can guarantee they do exactly what they promise. Using tools like these are the very best way to get what you can out of the largest social media network in the world.

News September 21, 2017

Agents Using Moxi Present Enjoyed 43% More Business in 2016

Moxi Present users enjoyed 43% more business in 201643?! No way. That number may come as a shock to some, but we can prove it.

Moxi Present is an industry-leading CMA and presentation tool with a very high adoption rate. It’s a tool that allows agents to easily create seller, buyer, and open house presentations. They are MLS-connected, updated to the minute and every property can be shown with the actual driving commute time to any location. This CMA tool also allows agents to include video and other rich media right into their presentation and enables agents to create listing flyers in a snap.

We were curious what results agents were seeing from using it, so we conducted an analysis. We used Windermere Real Estate agents in Western Washington as the sample for the case study. There are roughly 2,700 Windermere agents in the Western Washington region. We looked at their agent activity for the 2016 calendar and here’s what we found:

Seller-Side Transactions seller agents had 53% more listings with Moxi Present in 2016

Seller agents who used Moxi Present averaged 6.4 sales in the 2016 year, while those that didn’t only averaged 4.17 sales, meaning that seller agents using Moxi Present had 53% more listing sales. 

Buyer-Side Transactions

Buyer agents that used Moxi Present averaged 5.71 sales, while those who didn’t averaged 4.30 sales, helping those that took advantage of the tool average 34% more buyer-side transactions.

Total Transactions

When adding those numbers up, that’s 12.08 sides for agents who used Moxi Present and only 8.42 for those who did not. Windermere agents who used Moxi Present enjoyed 43% MORE business in 2016! We probably don’t need to point out the fact that this is a huge change to an agent’s bottom line.

York Baur, CEO of Moxi Works said, “This is the power of Moxi Present. The agents that embrace technology and the tools their brokerages are providing them, are the ones that are winning. The numbers don’t lie.”  

One last fun fact: over half-a-million Moxi Present presentations have been created to date. That’s a LOT of presentations. Find out more at moxiworks.com and download the case study here  to see exactly what we found!

Prefer to see than read? Catch this video below.

ProductivityProductivity September 19, 2017

How to Compete with Big Signing Bonuses

How to compete with big signing bonuses

By Maddie Jostol

The competition is heating up in real estate. Inventory is tight, agents are competitive, and brokerages are desperately trying to recruit. With a new generation of agents in the real estate world, the way in which successful brokerages approach recruiting has taken a significant turn.

Companies, such as Compass, have huge funding and they’re using it to recruit new agents. What happens to those aggressive brokers when the value prop was a signing bonus? Making agents more productive and making their lives easier with an integrated platform in the answer. Compass is offering agents with higher commission for their first year, serious signing bonuses, and offering managers significant salary bumps. Many concerns have been raised regarding their cash burn rate and the sustainability of this model long-term. Whether or not it’s a sustainable business practice, how are other brokerages supposed to compete with these massive cash offers?

Conversations around signing bonuses, commission splits, training, and culture are getting noisy and difficult to navigate, which means creating a recruitment strategy is that much more challenging. So, what do agents really want?

Put yourself in the agent’s shoes for a minute: What makes your brokerage unique? What is the brokerage doing to prepare for a prosperous future? What tools does your brokerage provide that will ensure you’re successful?

Offering a suite of technology tools is a great way to compete with these rising signing bonuses, while simultaneously benefitting your brokerage. When you offer agents the opportunity to be more successful through intuitive, easy-to-use productivity tools, thus having greater agent productivity, everyone benefits.

Millennials are now making their mark on the real estate industry. As a generation of experienced agents retires, it’s vital for brokerages to continue recruiting, developing, and retaining new agents. It’s no secret that millennial professionals care about more than just cash. While money can be motivating, your brokerage should be making offers competitive in other ways, such as technology. Offering agents an ecosystem of technology tools that encourage productivity and success is exceedingly powerful.

The Moxi Cloud open platform is an example of brokerage technology that attracts and retains agents. Why? Because it makes agents’ lives easier and brokerages more profitable, through agent productivity. The open platform is where all of your brokerage tools and services integrate and share data, creating a flexible technology ecosystem powering your business.

Now think about the future of your brokerage. What changes will you be experiencing in the next 10 years as the industry continues to evolve? Agents want to work with a brokerage that is prepared for change, arming their team with flexible tools and services to remain successful.

Whether you’re targeting new or experienced agents, they’ll want to work with a brokerage where they can find the most success. While you may not offer a massive signing bonus, you can still be competitive in a way that benefits both sides. Technology helps us get through our everyday lives, keeping us organized, on time, and efficient. Making their lives easier will make them more productive, making your brokerage more profitable. What technology does your brokerage provide that will attract the best agents?

Brokerage Empowerment Videos September 11, 2017

Integrated Open Platforms for Brokerages

Tips and Tricks September 11, 2017

100 Ways to Use Moxi Insights

By Tiana Baur

Moxi Insights is a prospect tool sitting in your CRM that instantly supplies you with helpful information and prompts agents when to take action. With the help of this aggregated data, it’s easy to know when people are getting ready to sell and how to best conquer your precious sphere.

We’ve even made a list of 100 ways to use public data to better market to your sphere! Here’s a sneak peek at the first 20:

100 ways to use moxi insights1. Send investment opportunities to investors.
2. Invite all your sports fans to a night out at the ballpark. Buy ’em a ticket, a beer and a hotdog.
3. Send all the highly-likely-to-sell people your “How to list your home” guide. Moxi Insights lets you know when someone is highly-likely-to-sell.
4. Send about to be empty nesters your “Downsizing tips from the pros” guide. Moxi Insights informs you when people are probably thinking of downsizing.
5. Send invitations to the local gallery walk night to all the art fans. Do a meetup with them. Offer to buy them a glass of vino.
6. Got a boat and a bunch of boating fans? Invite them to a meet up on the lake. Have everyone tie up together and do a barbeque on your boat.
7. Quickly and easily learn more info about the internet leads you receive.
8. Learn the interests of your client or almost-client to buy them the perfect “thank you”, “happy birthday”, or closing gift.
9. Got a bunch of literature fans? Invite ’em to a local bookstore with a cafe and offer to buy ’em coffee and a scone.
10. If anyone has a Moxi Insights badge, send an unsolicited CMA, a handwritten note, text or Facebook message them for a coffee date just to chat and catch up. Spend extra time with them – not necessarily talking about anything on the Insights report, but reconnecting with them at the perfect time.
11. Save some money by taking them to a minor-league game (which are typically very fun and engaging BTW).
12. Invite them to join your team for charitable runs, walks, etc. 
13. Do they have children? Get them tickets to the state fair
14. A weekend of free dog boarding at a reputable place
15. Invite car lovers to a car show/new car unveiling
16. If they’re into a healthly lifestyle, get them a free month at the local gym
17. Host an outdoor movie night for those film lovers
18. Those that enjoy international travel, get them a customized passport holder with their name on it and your logo
19. Impress your seller by incorporating information from Moxi Insights to impress your seller on how you’re going to market their home to your sphere
20. Better relate to ALL of your clients with new found information you wouldn’t necessarily know otherwise

Download the full eBook here & find out 100 ways to segment, market, and master your sphere!