January :: 2012 :: REVStaffing

Archive for January 2012

Some Things Change – But MOST Remain the Same!

January 30th, 2012 by REVStaffing

REVStaffing thanks our clients for their long association with our team. As you know, due to the Market Bubble Burst of a few years ago, we have held our rates at the current level for four years.

We are announcing a modest increase to our rates for the first time in that four years. We will be emailing a copy of the revised Client Terms Agreement to all of our active clients this week. The new rates go into effect on March 1st.

We truly believe this nominal increase will have little effect on our clients, but will allow us to continue to grow our services to our clients. We thank you in advance for your understanding and acceptance.

Sincerely,

Deborah Steuer

President, REVStaffing

Categories : REVStaffing, Uncategorized

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A Day in the Life of a REVStaffing Virtual Assistant

January 27th, 2012 by REVStaffing

Occasionally, we hand the REVStaffing blogging reins over to one our capable and spirited virtual assistants. Today, you get a glimpse into “a day in the life” of our own Nadine Lloyd…

Like many parents, I start my day by getting the kids up and ready for school. I roll out of bed at 5:45 am, and my 14-year old is first. I (start trying to) get him up around 6am; anyone who has a teenager knows how difficult that process can be! Next, I have the challenge of getting my 13-year old up. She’s a typical teenage girl who wants her beauty sleep! Then there’s my 11-year old “BEAR” – so named because he truly is like a bear. If he could, he’d hibernate year ’round, and even calls his room “The Cave.” Once they’re up I immediately switch into my paramilitary “Mommy Mode” until they’re on the bus, which I’m sure every mother can relate to! Then I shift gears again and, if time allows, I’ll go for a run, or workout on the elliptical.

Now my work day starts. I truly love project management software, and I’m convinced that it was designed by a mother! Who else could be so detailed regarding multitasking. After I review my projects for the day, I typically begin replying to emails. If I need to make any calls during this time, I generally complete them while completing my assigned tasks. While working on a project for a client, if I notice an area that could benefit the client, I make a note of it and research it. I believe in being proactive, because things are always changing.

By now it’s mid-afternoon, time to refuel. I’m definitely due for a lunch break; depending on how many projects or assignment I have, I may actually cook something for lunch and eat it sitting down! By this point in the day, I may have a webinar to attend, or a REVStaff meeting via webinar. After which I follow up on more emails and phone calls; I also review my task manager to make sure that I’m on track.

At 3:15 on the dot, I shift gears again into mommy mode (NON-paramilitary!). The kids are home, and we take a few moments to discuss and review how each of their days went. They grab a snack, while I check for any updates and emails from our clients. By 5:30 or so I’m closing down my office, and shifting gears to attend to family needs. All in all, an exceptionally productive day!

There have be occasions when family life has caused a ripple…or two…or three…in my day. It’s then that I realize how happy I am to be working as a REVStaffing virtual assisteant. We are truly a team, with outstanding communication between team members. We’re always there for our clients, and for each other.

Send us an email, or give us a call for a free needs analysis. We’ll be happy to discuss ALL of your unique 2012 business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to v isit our website, and “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

REVStaffing 2012^©

Categories : REVStaffing, Uncategorized, Virtual Assistant

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TECH CORNER: Having Issues With the New Facebook Timeline?

January 26th, 2012 by REVStaffing

If you’re a Facebook user and wish there was something you could do to get back to your old Facebook layout, read on. There are various add-ons to the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers that will allow you to control the way you view Facebook. Here are two ways to go retro.

Hide the News Ticker and Restore Your News Feed with Facebook Classic by Michael Donohoe. Add-on for Google Chrome browser. To compensate for the fact that it rearranges the order of your News Feed, Facebook now displays a constantly updated news “ticker” above the chat bar if you have it open, or the top right of your home page if you don’t. This continually updating stream is a source of annoyance to many, while the edited news feed itself makes many Facebook users apoplectic with rage. Facebook Classic will solve both these problems. In addition to nixing the ticker, it reverts your News Feed to chronological order. As a bonus, you can easily toggle it on and off. Find it in the Google Chrome store. Currently has 4.43 stars.
Facebook Ticker Removal by Ashley. Add-on for Firefox brower. This add on removes the new Facebook ticker from the page, whether you have the right-hand side chat window open or not. Find it at https://addons.mozilla.org/. Currently has four stars.

Next month, we’ll share two more ways to “go retro” with Facebook. Although Facebook belongs to a corporation (at least until their IPO later this year!), we believe you should have the option to be in the driver’s seat. These apps will help you do just that.

Categories : REVStaffing, Uncategorized, Virtual Assistant

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Why You NEED to Be Discovered on Social Networking Sites

January 25th, 2012 by REVStaffing

At REVStaffing we understand the importance of self-promotion. Look at it this way: Your user profile and your activity on social networks are a great way of developing brand name recognition. Think of a catalog sitting on your coffee table for weeks or even months. Sure, that catalog might sit there for extended period of time, but one morning when you find yourself prepared to buy something, it’ll probably be at the front of your mind. You’re most likely to jump to that business’s Web page to do your shopping.

Now is the time to start thinking of social media marketing in exactly the same way. Sooner or later (preferably sooner!), you realize that you have to improve on your search engine optimization (known as SEO), and the very first source you think of will be the SEO specialist whose suggestions have already been coming through your Twitter timeline. Similarly, a potential client might be prompted to check out YOUR website, having seen your name appear in their Facebook news feed, simply because of your latest activity. Any memory of your profile on the Internet could convert to a hit aimed at your website, a remark on Facebook or Twitter, or (best case scenario) a new client!

Now, let us ask you a question: Are your social profiles linked to your website? If you want to produce a more powerful brand for yourself, begin by immediately putting your primary social networking hyperlinks on your website. There are a variety of ways to do this. There are straightforward hyperlinks or icons that you can place inside your sidebar. Or, you might might want to utilize WordPress add-ons or plugins. Whatever method you choose, this is a critical first step.

Another excellent spot in which to incorporate your social media profile links is inside your email signature. Consider the number of individuals to whom you send email messages; many of them might not have any idea that you are on the Internet! Incorporate basic text links for your Twitter or Facebook together with your website, or use plug-ins such as WiseStamp to produce a signature with icons linked to your social networking profiles.

Do you continue to struggle with managing everything yourself, or are you growing your business with professional help? Remember, in the real estate business, if you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant. Send us an email, or give us a call for a free needs analysis. We’ll be happy to discuss ALL of your unique 2012 business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to visit our website, and “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

Categories : Real Estate Assistant, Real Estate Tools, Uncategorized, Virtual Assistant

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Three Smart Marketing Ideas

January 23rd, 2012 by REVStaffing

Any successful real estate professional (including your REVStaffing virtual assistants!) needs an eclectic library of proven, strategies from which to draw inspiration. Augmenting your repertoire isn’t just good business – it’s necessary in order to remain competitive in the market. Let’s take a look at three leading-edge marketing ideas.

Before we dig into the ideas, we need to be on the same page. Even the most seasoned professionals often use the terms “marketing” and “sales” interchangeably. It’s important to note that they’re not synonymous terms. Marketing is anything you do to attract potential customers. The sales process is everything that you do to seal the purchase and obtain a finalized contract or agreement. Both are required to make your business a success. By using the following savvy ideas to merge the two efforts, you’ll definitely realize growth…and that means success!

First, let’s look at press releases and blogs. Internet blogs and press releases filled with the best buzz words and phrases (known as search engine-optimized, or SEO, key words) will cause your business web page or a particular property appear when individuals are performing Web searches. For that reason, online press releases are a required component of a successful real estate marketing strategy.

How about YouTube videos? The future is now when it comes to marketing with YouTube videos. Most people prefer an audio-visual presentation above any other media. Why? Is television a huge industry AND an unparalleled application? Yes, it is, and therein lies the answer to why YouTube is on fire “show and tell’ has always been popular with the masses.

Finally, everyone’s familiar with automated hotlines; they’re not a new technology. They have been around and available since the early ’90s. Toll free recorded message hotlines are definitely the easiest and quickest way to start out your marketing plan; it’s a scalable service. The really nice thing about the technology is that it’s available to prospects, customers and clients 24/7. That means it can help you make money even when you are asleep.

Selection of a marketing strategy is just one of many business decisions you make as a busy real estate professional. Another important decision is this: Do you continue to struggle with managing everything yourself, or do you grow your business with professional help? Remember, in the real estate business, if you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant. Send REVStaffing an email, or give us a callfor a free needs analysis.We’ll be happy to discuss ALL of your unique 2012 business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to visit our website, and“like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

REVStaffing 2012^©

Categories : Real Estate Assistant, Real Estate Tools, REVStaffing, Uncategorized

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McDonald’s, Coca- Cola, Yahoo!…and YOU

January 18th, 2012 by REVStaffing

Your REVStaffing virtual assistants know what McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Yahoo! all have in common. They all have:

“Top of mind” awareness with the consumer
A significant, if not lion’s share, of their market
High profile and visibility (don’t you see them everywhere?!)
A finely-tuned, proven, and highly effective sales and marketing system
A succinct, clearly defined message designed to compel a consumer response, (“Two all beef patties”…well you know the jingle; “All the world loves a Coke”, “Do you Yahoo?”)

We call this “branding.” Today, such words as Kleenex, Xerox, and Band Aid are used by the consumer to identify a product which has become synonymous to its industry. These names were at one time exclusive, proprietary brand names. Due to their popularity and high awareness with consumers, these brand names became identifiers of their entire respective industries. Therefore, when you say, “I’ll have a Coke,” your server immediately knows what it is you want to drink.

As a real estate professional, your goal is to become your own brand. To do this, you need to see and think of your personal marketing efforts just like a marathon athlete sees his event; it’s long-distance running. You’ll attain top-of-mind awareness with a marketing strategy designed to make your name “go viral.” Create an epidemic with it; make yourself the undisputed local go-to source for all things real estate (and beyond).

REVStaffing can help you take your personal marketing to the next level. We have the professional skills to help get you running at the top of the social media game. Our digital assistants have ALL the skills that you need! And the best part? We’re happy to do the tasks that free up your time for maintaining real-time conversations with current and potential clients.

Ready to learn more about the ways in which REVStaffing can reshape your day-to-day routine? Drop us an email or give us a callfor a free needs analysis.We’ll be happy to discuss ALL of your unique residential and commercial real estate business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to visit our website, and “like” us on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

2012 REVStaffing^©

Categories : FAQs, Real Estate Tools, REVStaffing, Uncategorized, Virtual Assistant

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Are You Your Own Assistant?

January 16th, 2012 by REVStaffing

REVStaffing Virtual Assistants In the real estate world, if you're not using REVStaffing virtual assistants, then it's a good bet that you are the assistant. It's that plain and simple. Business today moves at a blistering pace; in a matter of minutes, you can now do what used to take days to complete. Take the example of shooting a photograph, then waiting for the film developer to process the picture and getting it back into your hands. Afterward, you may want to send the photo off to friends or business associates by standard mail (now known as'snail mail'). This whole scenario used to take days – or even weeks – to accomplish.

Given the advantage of speed with technology, you'd think that the world would become simpler with less demand on your time. However, the opposite has proven to be true. Today's technology has compressed time; the new normal is 'more done in less time'.

For today's real estate professional, this translates into higher expectations from your clients and customers. The quantum leap in technology has created an environment in which everyone expects tasks to be done near instantly. The example of the photo is a good one, since you can now take shots with a digital camera and in seconds display them on your computer, send them to a friend via email or print them on your own photo printer.

Add to this all of the tools, systems, and programs that are developed and upgraded daily; now you have a massive knowledge base to learn and assimilate. There are flyers, photos, ads to be scripted, blogs to be written, listings to input, signs to order and design, websites to develop and maintain. The list is virtually endless.

Technology best serves the modern real estate professional when you're able to leverage your time by delegating your lower priority activities. Handling paperwork and making telephone calls will fill your day with as few as two or three sales in escrow. In short, you can easily become your own real estate assistant. But it doesn't have to be that way. It costs you nothing to look into REVStaffing's menu of services. We have designed our services for the real estate professional who wants more time for high value activities. We love making you successful.

Make your next step towards better organization to send us an email or give us a call for a free needs analysis. Let's work together! We’ll be happy to discuss the many ways in which we can serve ALL of your unique residential and commercial real estate business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to visit our website, and “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

We urge you to bookmark this page to return for updates. If you need assistance in the meantime, please contact us by email at info@revstaffing.com or phone at 855-738-7821, extension 703.

2012 REVStaffing^©

Categories : Digital Assistant, Real Estate Assistant, REVStaffing, Uncategorized, Virtual Assistant

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Today’s REVStaffing Blog Topic: Blog Topics

January 13th, 2012 by REVStaffing

Your REVStaffing virtual assistants have been focusing a lot of time and energy, and sharing as much information as possible with you, about blogging. Why? Because an Internet blog is one of the proven best ways to market yourself and your business, establishing you as the indisputable local expert.

But whether you’re writing for yourself, or having REVStaffing write your blogs for you, the well occasionally runs dry; no one can be 100% creative 100% of the time, right? Coming up with new and creative ideas can be a real challenge! Today, we want to share a few topic ideas that can freshen things up a little. Remember, there is always something to write about. Your topics don’t need to be (and shouldn’t be!) related to real estate statistics and figures.

Here are some great ideas to keep your readers coming back – and sharing your posts – time after time:

Tips on green living. It’s becoming more and more popular, and there are loads of possibilities for topics within this theme. For instance, you could tell you readers how they can reduce their home’s carbon footprint by installing solar panels.

Hot spots in your market. Talk about places you know – your favorite restaurants, historic places, family-friendly parks, movie theaters…the list is endless. Make it personal by adding short anecdotes about your great experiences in these places.

Your own experiences in real estate. People will love reading about your funniest/best/most surprising experiences!

Pet-friendliness. Write about local establishments that allow pets. Talk about dog parks, and other areas in your market that have benefits for the furry members of the family.

Home staging tips and ideas. It’s that time of year; share your thoughts for easy and affordable ways that people can keep their homes looking great.

These suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg; we have virtually hundreds of ideas for keeping our clients’ blogs fresh and timely. Send us an email or give us a call for a free needs analysis. Let’s work together! We’ll be happy to discuss the many ways in which we can serve ALL of your unique residential and commercial real estate business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to visit our website, and “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

We urge you to bookmark this page to return for updates. If you need assistance in the meantime, please contact us by email at info@revstaffing.com or phone at 855-738-7821, extension 703.

Categories : Digital Assistant, FAQs, Real Estate Assistant, Real Estate Tools, REVStaffing, Uncategorized, Virtual Assistant

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To Blog or Not To Blog? We Have the Answer!

January 11th, 2012 by REVStaffing

Two of the most asked questions our REVStaffing virtual assistants get when talking with new and prospective clients are, “Do I really need to have a blog?” and “Why?” We absolutely, unequivocally, without hesitation reply to the first question with a firm, “YES!” The second question is a little more complex, so we thought we’d take the opportunity to answer it here.

In helping our clients stay ahead in the the ever-advancing world of real estate technology, we include Internet blogging as an essential component of a healthy mix of “must-have” social media tools. When we’re asked whether it’s really necessary, we suggest that our clients ask themselves this: “What would I pay to have a practically unlimited audience of potential and qualified clients who actually want to hear what I have to say?”

We emphasize the idea of making yourself the undisputed local expert. That means that you’re the opinion leader. People value your thoughts and ideas. You’re respected. Many of our clients have 90% or more of their “real world” (offline) market secured, which is great. But that still leaves the potentially huge online mind-share, and that’s where blogging become essential. It’s what garners them recognition as a resource that sounds apart as a leader.

A well-maintained and well developed blog, written about things that you believe in, is an incredibly powerful tool. It’s a tool that literally makes people respond to you. The things that you write about will be unique enough to give you the exposure you need to draw an audience to you.

Think about your real-world marketing success, and what you invested to achieve it. First and foremost, there’s the time element. It can take YEARS to achieve even modest goals. It can take loads of money for physical advertising. It definitely takes unfailing willingness to work harder than most people can imagine. And a major component of that success hinges on the success of your clients.

It takes a lot less than that to realize success through the consistent use of a well-written blog. Consider this. When you’ve got a quality blog that expresses your passion, you’re already doing more than 99.7% of your potential competition. The number of regularly maintained blogs in any given market is low, and it’s projected to stay low because so many blogs are abandoned over time.

A quality blog, addressing the topics your intended audience needs and wants to know about, will create unrivaled exposure. You will be the leading, acknowledged local expert.

Send us an email or give us a call for a free needs analysis. Let’s work together! We’ll be happy to discuss the many ways in which we can serve ALL of your unique residential and commercial real estate business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to visit our website, and “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

We urge you to bookmark this page to return for updates. If you need assistance in the meantime, please contact us by email at info@revstaffing.com or phone at 855-738-7821, extension 703.

Categories : Digital Assistant, Real Estate Assistant, Real Estate Tools, REVStaffing, Virtual Assistant

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Are You A Hootsuite User?

January 6th, 2012 by REVStaffing

Last year, the REVStaffing virtual assistant team began utilizing Hootsuite, the first social media tool to offer message scheduling. They’ve got a nifty collection of tools to streamline the way we schedule updates, select profiles, and broadcast message to your audience.

This is the time of year when our clients are planning – and beginning to implement campaigns. But we all know that things can get complicated when you want to do multiple updates with specific times, dates and messages. Hootsuite offers convenience to social media scheduling with an editorial calendar view allowing everyone – clients AND REVStaffing – to organize updates in advance. Different versions of the application allow you to choose between daily, weekly or monthly schedules. Plus, you can edit schedules by dragging and dropping messages into set time slots; when agendas change, you can easily move your messages to different times.

Hootsuite also offers limited accounts, which is a must-have for REVStaffing’s client teams. Security is critical to prevent abuse and gaffes which can easily damage brand sentiment in a heartbeat. It enables designated team members, including contractors like REVStaffing, to share search streams and compose draft messages, but not to publish without your permission. Instead, messages are held in the scheduling calendar until they’re approved by an authorized teammate. That’s good for a deep sigh of relief!

Hootsuite is one of MANY tools with which REVStaffing can help your business be more productive. Send us an email or give us a call for a free needs analysis. Let’s work together! We’ll be happy to discuss the many ways in which we can serve ALL of your unique residential and commercial real estate business needs; ask how we can give your business a LIFT! Be sure to visit our website, and “like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RevstaffingVAs.

We urge you to bookmark this page to return for updates. If you need assistance in the meantime, please contact us by email at info@revstaffing.com or phone at 855-738-7821, extension 703.

Categories : Real Estate Tools, REVStaffing, Uncategorized, Virtual Assistant

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Archive for January 2012

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