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Hanna Holdings invests in Seattle real estate tech firm
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE Hanna Holdings, the holding company for Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, announced on Thursday it has invested in a Seattle-based real estate technology firm that provides a suite of tools to make agents more productive.
The O’Hara real estate company first partnered with Moxi Works in August 2013, becoming a customer of the Moxi Cloud platform offering tools and services to help real estate agents.
How to Leverage Your Database for More Leads
By Maddie Jostol
In today’s competitive market, everybody is thirsty for more leads. Lead generation is becoming increasingly challenging and expensive and it’s tough to know what lead quality you’re going to get. The truth is, a jackpot of leads might be right under your nose. Yes… you might have a goldmine and not even know it! Your sphere of influence could be chock-full of leads – both those who are thinking about buying or selling, and those who have friends who are thinking about buying or selling.
Always be growing that sphere.
As an agent, your sphere is your book of business moving forward. Those relationships will only become more valuable as lead generation gets more competitive. A strong sphere of influence will give you an instant leg-up against other agents because it’s a base of relationships that powers your business. When you meet people at PTA meetings, holiday parties, and community events who could be clients down the road, you’re growing your sphere, and in turn, your business.
Keep that database up-to-date.
As you do your farming, add those people to your database. Those connections are valuable, but only if you have a fighting chance of keeping in touch with them. That’s what your database is for. When the database of contacts in your CRM is up-to-date, you’re able to nurture those contacts as a lead source. Your CRM should guide your daily work routine. Who do I need to follow up with today? Where did I leave off with so-and-so? Use your CRM as a point of reference.
Stay in contact.
When you have a solid, growing sphere of influence organized into a database, you can nurture those contacts for sustainable business growth. The beautiful thing about having a well-organized database is that you can segment your database to stay in contact with certain people. Have a charity golf event you’d like to invite a handful of past clients to? Segment your database by golfers so you don’t miss a beat. Staying in contact with your sphere of influence will lead to an increase in repeat and referral business. These are the highest quality leads an agent can ask for, so don’t let them fall through the cracks. If you’re a Moxi Engage user, subscribe to Moxi Insights for consumer data that notifies you when someone in your database is likely to buy or sell.
Stay top-of-mind.
When it comes to your database, your goal is to be each contact’s go-to person when it comes to real estate. When their neighbor mentions they might take a job in another state: you know a great real estate agent. Or when their friend mentions they’re considering buying an investment property in the next year: you know the perfect person to help. The vast majority of people end up working with the agent who reached out to them first. Your goal: always be there first. If you’re present when they’re just toying with the idea of selling their home, there’s no doubt you’ll be top of mind when they’re actually ready to start the process. Lead generation happens by default when you’re top-of-mind for your sphere of influence.
Don’t discount the value of those already in your database. Rethink how you look at lead generation and start with the people you already have a relationship with. Instead of purchasing leads and attempting to win over strangers (sure, we all need to do some of that), start with your sphere and leverage your database.
My Proudest Moment: The Moxi Fund’s Humble Beginnings
By JoDee Aspin, Database Developer at Moxi Works
I started working for Moxi Works in 2012. At the time, the Moxi Fund had existed, but wasn’t being treated as the priority I felt it should. There was about $4,000 sitting in the fund, mostly from donations that staff made over the years. No one was overseeing the fund or guiding it along to a prosperous future. Fortunately, that soon changed.
Mark Carlson, VP of Software Engineering, knew I had interest in the Windermere Foundation, which has always been extremely visible to Moxi Works since our founding roots are in the Windermere Real Estate brokerage. Because of that, Mark asked if I wanted to take control of it and as you can imagine, I jumped at the opportunity! In fact, it’s one of the reasons I said yes to taking the job at Moxi.
The fact that people on staff had donated money that was just sitting in a pot and not getting to the people it was intended for, bothered me to no end. Under the Executive Director of the Windermere Foundation’s guidance, I formed a team and we began troubleshooting ways to generate more donations to the Moxi Fund.
Initially our team included Tom Harnett, Jillian Igarashi and Jeff DeMelle. We determined that we really had two main goals, first, to continually promote awareness about the Moxi Fund within the organization, and second to generate enough interest that the entire staff thought of new ways to fundraise and help in growing the pot. I think we were all surprised at how quickly this took hold. We started to generate more and more interest and thus our funds began to grow little by little. It really kicked off once our CEO, York Baur got behind it (whom at the time had just joined Moxi Works). From that point on, there was only up. In fact, the Moxi Fund has raised more than $80,000 for charities in our community.
The Moxi Fund is a win for our entire company, and one that makes me proud of each person that gives to it, whether through volunteering for the Moxi Fund team, donating funds, or participating in the activities around it. More than that, it makes me proud to work for a company that promotes and fosters programs that give back to the wider community. So many took ownership and it was so lovely to see and be a part of. Today, because of logistics, I am no longer there with the team, in fact there are many new people involved, but my heart is there and always will be. The growth of the Moxi Fund is my proudest moment at the company (one of many I might add). Can’t wait to see how the Moxi Fund continues to grow in the years to come!
Compass is Coming to Your Town
By Tiana Baur
To recap quite possibly the most significant announcement of 2017 for our industry, Softbank invested a whopping $450 million into the new, shiny tech brokerage: Compass. Emphasis on the brokerage, emphasis on that dollar amount since it’s the largest investment into real estate technology ever, from the world’s largest technology investment fund. They basically did a mic drop to cap off an already crazy real estate tech announcement year. Needless to say, our CEO had some words.
What now?
So, Compass is now valued at $2.2 billion. Casual pocket change, am I right? On a serious note though, they aren’t just planning and raising money, they are doing and achieving. That alone makes this all the scarier.
A few months ago, CEO Robert Reffkin announced a 2020 by 2020 plan. Which meant they are going to expand into 10 new markets in the U.S. by 2020, and grab 20 percent of the market share in the 20 largest U.S. cities. The cities they’re expanding to being Seattle, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
Only a couple exasperated brokerage breaths later, they announced they had ALREADY expanded to Chicago, rapidly growing from a team of 20 top tier agents they plucked from the competition. If that doesn’t make you want to vomit in your own shoes then I don’t know what will. This is real, and it’s terrifying for most brokerages out there.
How on earth do you compete with that?!
Chances are, you’re not going to get Softbank to invest millions upon millions into your brokerage. But that’s okay, because there is another way to survive and even become a stronger, more productive brokerage than you ever thought was possible.
The not-so-secret ingredient: an open platform. In fact, it’s not just an ingredient, it’s THE ingredient for brokerage success. Ever tried baking a cake without some type of flour? Pretty. Freaking. Awful. Think of an open platform as your brokerage’s flour. It provides the structure and strength, holding everything together, in one tasty package. You can add in nuts, chocolate chips, even peanut butter. The options are endless and it’s up to you to decide what is going to taste the best.
Take the Moxi Cloud open platform for example. We have over 40 tools and services – DocuSign, Imprev, Intuit, Buyside, Offrs, Flipt – to name a few. Our brokerage clients get to pick any and all they wish to, and all their data and tools and services are put together, working seamlessly with their roster, brokerage assets, CRM contacts, MLS data, and more.
Compass might be trying to make all their own software, but you don’t have to in order to provide your agents with the tools and services they’re craving. An open platform delivers higher flexibility, efficiency, and profitability to your brokerage and agents.
An open platform is the only way to future-proof your brokerage against the rapidly-evolving technology space. It’s the Compass killer. What are you waiting for? A Compass announcement in your neck of the woods?
Key Aspects to Look for in a Brokerage Platform
By Maddie Jostol
Many technology companies are calling themselves a platform. It’s becoming a loosely used buzzword, but what makes a true platform is a technology that serves as the base for all of your technology solutions. It’s the hub of your company’s technology.
As a brokerage owner, what should you be looking for when considering a platform for your business? Below are a few of the key things you absolutely must consider when vetting these technologies.
Make sure it’s open
An open platform is quite different from a closed platform. What makes a platform “open” is an open API, which allows other technologies to plug into the platform, integrating and sharing data. Asking whether or not a platform is truly open is key to knowing what potential the technology has in integrating your business. A closed platform limits your ability to leverage data, and doesn’t help your agents run their business.
Find a reliable partner
When it comes to onboarding a platform for your brokerage, you’ll want to work with a provider who serves as a true technology partner. A platform is the technology backbone of your business, it isn’t just some add-on tool. Because of this, your platform provider should serve as a trusted advisor, guiding you to the strongest technology ecosystem that effectively runs your business.
The beauty of an open platform is that you can make it your own – our brokerage clients have varying technology ecosystems based on which integrated tool and service providers they’ve decided to provide to their brokerage. Work with people who can guide you through this process, selecting the best technology services for your business. This brings us to our next tip…
Own your data
Data is more powerful than you might think. What kind of data are we talking about? MLS data, consumer data, agent data, and more. All of it should live in your brokerage platform, where it’s accessible and useful. Data can power other tools, lend valuable insights, improve productivity, and more. It’s time for all brokerages to own their data.
The value of integration
Integration adds value to your business, smoothing operations and increasing productivity. Agents don’t have to switch back and forth between technologies, attempting to remember dozens of passwords. It also gets rid of manual data entry. When data is shared across your tools, including your MLS, it negates manual data entry and the inevitable errors that comes with it.
Selecting and onboarding an open platform for your business can feel complicated, but it’s vital to staying ahead in this competitive market. Your brokerage needs an integrated technology ecosystem that offers flexibility, connects your business, and helps you be more profitable.
To learn more about the Moxi Cloud open platform and what sets it apart, click here.
Compass: What Goes Up, Must Come Down
By York Baur, CEO of Moxi Works
If you’re reading this, you have no doubt seen the news about Softbank (the world’s largest tech investment fund) investing $450 Million into the tech brokerage Compass – emphasis on the brokerage. This morning I sent out a note to all of our employees here at Moxi Works, and have decided to share them here. As a true “techie,” I’m sure it surprises no one to learn that I have some opinions about this.
For starters, Compass is a brokerage, not a tech company. However, like Redfin (who has continually overpromised and undelivered), they’re being valued as a technology company, not a brokerage, which means it’s valued at several times the valuation of brokerages.
This fundamental disconnect will work for a while, but gravity is pervasive, and the valuation will fall back to earth soon enough, particularly when there is a real estate market correction.
In short – this is the Greater Fool Theory at work.
What does this all mean?
To quote Inman, “Compass touts itself as “the first modern real estate platform, which reduces the friction and frustration associated with selling, buying, or renting a property by providing real estate agents with a set of powerful tools to increase efficiency and sales volume.”
They have to pay off agents with large sums of money to consider leaving their current brokerage for Compass and their platform. Hence, they are a brokerage, not a technology company.
Here’s a fact: You don’t have to with a true open platform and the technology that embodies it.
There’s nothing Compass has that we don’t already have or that isn’t available today from our more than 35 partners. Our success, the success of the Moxi Cloud open platform isn’t a theory – we can prove that our stuff makes agents more productive and brokerages more profitable. To that end, their CEO Robert Reffkin said today that agents that come to Compass do 24.9% better the year after. We know that agents that adopt Moxi Engage do 39% better, and are happy to walk you through that data.
News like today’s strikes fear in the heart of brokerages, as it probably should. Like every problem, there is a solution. That solution is the Moxi Cloud, which takes Compass head on and gives agents exactly what they need to be more successful than their competition.
I encourage you to contact us – we’d be happy to answer any questions you have, whether it’s about Moxi Works are not. We’re here to help the brokerage.
2018 Business Planning for Agents
By Maddie Jostol
Real estate agents: Now is the time to start your 2018 business plan. The end of the year arrived quickly (as always), which has most of us reflecting on the past year and setting goals for the coming year. As an agent, what’s your plan for ensuring next year is even more successful than this one?
It’s time to start your business plan, set goals, and put the right tools in place that will get you headed in the right direction – towards financial success. Here are a few things you should be thinking about this time of year, including a handful of free resources to help you get a jump start.
Set your GCI goal
Goal setting is a key piece of the planning puzzle. It’s vital for you to know what you’re working towards in order to map all of your efforts towards meeting that goal. Your GCI (Gross Commissionable Income) goal is a cornerstone to your financial plan, so set it early on and create a plan to reach it.
For those of you who are Moxi Engage users, make sure you enter your GCI goal into your Moxi account. This will show you the progress you’ve made towards your goal throughout the year. This transparency allows you to manage your time and finances more effectively. Want to learn more about this? You can in our help center.
Get a system in place
Get all of your processes in place so you can start the year off on the right foot. This includes a reliable accounting system and a smooth process for tax filing. As independent contractors, agents face unique challenges in tracking their expenses and filing quarterly taxes. Make sure you know what tools to use and which deductions to look out for. Want some tips? Download our Agent’s Guide to Stress-Free Taxes.
Our recommendation for 2018 is QuickBooks Self-Employed, an accounting app built specifically for independent contractors. It’s the perfect solution for busy agents. QuickBooks Self-Employed automates expense tracking, mileage tracking, and digital receipt storage and categorization. All of this is done easily on your smartphone, while on-the-go.
To give you a head start, we’ve partnered with QuickBooks to offer you a full year of QuickBooks Self-Employed for 50% off.
Make a plan
Whether you’re already starting your plan, or you’ve never created a business plan before – now is the time.
Join us for a free webinar on Tuesday, December 19th. We’ll have experts including Eric Thompson, Co-Founder of Windermere Leadership Academy and President of Windermere Services CO, and Charlie Snyder, Real Estate Specialist at QuickBooks. You’ll learn about getting started on your business plan, goal setting, saving money on taxes as an independent contractor, and managing your finances and business expenses throughout the year. They’re ready to bring you tools, templates, methods, and tips to help you be financially successful in 2018.
Easy to Set Up Websites for Real Estate Agents
The home buying journey begins when someone takes a minute out of their day to conduct an online search. In fact, 90% of home buyers search online during the process, according to the National Association of Realtors. People are busy and they want to know every detail of a home before they take the time to go see it. That means agents need a mobile-friendly website that allows consumers to easily and efficiently get the information they need.
IDX websites are the new standard when it comes to real estate websites. If a website doesn’t have IDX, it’s more or less worthless. It sounds extreme, but it’s true. IDX search is the peanut butter to the website jelly.
What are IDX websites?
IDX stands for “Internet Data Exchange,” which simply allows agents and brokers to show MLS listings on their websites – a real estate website must. A key part of MoxiWorks productivity is the integration with your MLS. Now with over 200 MLSs, we have a dedicated team that works with MLSs to ensure we have the most up-to-date listing data. We believe agents deserve and need an easy-to-use website, no matter the level or extent of their tech savviness.
Your Website – Easy as One, Two, Three
In our never-ending efforts to make agent’s lives easier, we created a website tool – MoxiWorks Agent Websites – that makes it easy to drag and drop just about anything, anywhere on your site. Not only is it easy to set up, but it also has these key features:
1. Responsive Design
These agent websites are easy to navigate, look great, and work seamlessly on all sized screens. That means whether your future clients are looking on their iPhones, iPads, laptops, Androids, etc., your site will always look flawless.
2. Custom Pages
Custom pages allow agents to give their website a unique twist. Agents want to differentiate themselves & showcase their expertise. Show your in-depth knowledge of a specific neighborhood or area in your city, cater to the typical lifestyle of your clients with new restaurants, sporting events, school districts, and more. The options are endless and you can build out your pages however you’d like them to be.
3. Lead Capture
Just like an agent’s sphere, leads are an integral part to a real estate business. There are multiple ways a new visitor to an agent’s site can connect with the agent, & when they do, they show up in Moxi Engage as a new lead.
And guess what? Our very own moxiworks.com is built on the exact same tool as our agent websites. That’s right. We practice what we preach.
Below is a short video of how easy MoxiWorks Agent Websites are to set up! Watch us build a custom page:
New Service: Comprehensive Moving Concierge Now Available on Moxi Cloud
We’re happy to announce another service that has been added to our open platform ecosystem! MoveEasy is a comprehensive moving concierge service offered to clients directly from your website while saving you valuable time on researching post transaction tasks for them. Basically, MoveEasy does all the legwork while the agent can focus on creating happy memories for their client.
York Baur, CEO of Moxi Works said, “We’re delighted to have MoveEasy on the Moxi Cloud. They provide a unique solution to a common problem in the industry. It’s not an agent productivity app, but rather, a great app for agents to extend to their sphere of influence – keeping the agent in-flow and valued.”
How It Works
1. Help organize the move. Clients can organize their move with a personalized moving dashboard, assign tasks, and get weekly email reminders, with your branding included!
2. Assist in completing moving tasks. From updating utilities and changing their address, to finding storage options and shipping their car. They manage this all in the same place!
3. Connect them with your favorite vendors. Add all your preferred cleaners, painters, and other vendors that you know will get the job done. Clients can find them easily without having to call you. Everything is accessible from the unique dashboard.
4. Stay on top of your client’s mind throughout the entire move. With the entire service branded for you, it’s easy to stay top of mind, even after the transaction has closed.
Moxi Engage CRM Integration
MoveEasy is integrated into the Moxi Engage CRM. When a transaction moves from active to pending, MoveEasy pulls all the necessary details from Moxi Engage into the MoveEasy dashboard. The client can access the dashboard and keep up to date with everything going on and organize schedules for tasks. Everything done on the dashboard is sent back to Moxi Engage, within the activity section.
While the client can access everything on the MoveEasy dashboard, the agent can access everything they need right in their CRM.
Venkatesh Ganapathy, CEO of MoveEasy said, “We are extremely excited to be part of the Moxi Cloud. With so many different tools available for the real estate agents to help their clients, they have to constantly keep learning different systems. Our integration allows agents to continue using Moxi Engage CRM as they normally would, while MoveEasy operates in the background, guiding their clients through the stressful moving process.”
Discover more from MoveEasy and how it can keep your agents consistently top of mind, while saving them precious time when they need it most, by clicking here.
Using Neighborhood Recaps for Lead Generation
As a real estate agent, you’re always looking for lead generation tips that produce high-quality leads while remaining cost-effective. Staying relevant and reaching new audiences can be challenging. It’s easy to get caught up using the same methods, even if they aren’t working for you. So, why not mix it up and try something new?
Try this: Put together a thorough neighborhood recap and promote it via your go-to channels.
Create a neighborhood recap of the transactions in a given area over the past quarter or year to date. The best part? This can all be done quickly and easily for those agents using Moxi Present. All you need to do is create a new presentation, fill in the parameters, and the MLS data will auto-fill. Select a handful of home sales that happened within your chosen area and timeframe to give a market snapshot, comparing properties and showing trends. This ease is what makes neighborhood recaps possible as an efficient lead generation source.
Check out this neighborhood recap presentation to get an idea of what you could include for your local area.
Be strategic about the area you choose as this recap positions you as an expert. Homeowners appreciate the feeling that their realtor knows their aimed neighborhood like the back of their hand. It’s a token of comfort in a taxing process.
Once you’ve created a robust neighborhood recap, it’s time to promote it through multiple channels for lead generation. The presentation can serve as its own landing page using Moxi Present, or you can post it to a blog post. Then drive traffic to it through social media (both organic and paid), paid search ads, and email marketing. Different agents prefer different channels, so select which ones work for you and your audience. Find where your strengths are and where you generate leads most effectively, and leverage those channels with the valuable piece of content you’ve created. If you like more traditional marketing methods, you could also choose a local printer to print a handful of presentations onto fine paper and mail out hard copies.
If someone looking for a home in an area sees your neighborhood recap online, finds it valuable, and learns from it, you instantly become a trusted advisor. You are then someone who can guide them through a thoughtful, educated decision making process because you’ve already proven that you have the know-how and expertise that they need.
It’s a perfect scenario: they’ve been thinking about making a move, are entering a new stage in life, or have been chatting with their spouse about moving, you present the information they need to move the conversation forward. Who should they contact if they want more information? You, of course. So, you meet up with them to discuss the market, the neighborhood, and ultimately, the opportunity for you to find them their dream home.
