Google Alerts

I am constantly looking for ways to keep on track with the things I'm interested in on the Internet and a great tool that I've used for a while is Google Alerts.

*These alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

• monitoring a developing news story
• keeping current on a competitor or industry
• getting the latest on a celebrity or event
• keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams.

My alerts keywords are relevant to my indusry and market niche- real estate, virtual assistant, agnes ikotun (Me). I set my alerts frequency to as-it-happens and I'm notified as new things get posted on the net.

*source: google alerts homepage

Relay Transaction Management Tool

I wanted to share about the Relay training course I was on recently. This tool is used to efficiently manage sales transaction from start to finish. I found the training course very informative and I am very excited at having taken it, as it would greatly benefit my clients who already use Relay or who are planning to intergrate it into their processes. There is some information that I gathered.


RELAY™ is the easy-to-use Internet tool that lets agents work with clients through a custom transaction website.

The Relay Advantage

• Connect to Your Clients...

Your clients bank, shop, search, and work online. Now they can track their real estate transaction online at their convenience.

Attract new clients by allowing and tracking public document access to disclosures and more.

RELAY™ lets you deliver the attention your clients deserve and desire – all on a schedule which best fits everyone's needs.

• Connect to Your Office...

Spend less tied to a desk, and more time with your clients, hosting open houses, and making new contacts.

Connect to other agents online and keep all transaction information in one place.

With everything stored securely online, you never have to worry about losing a document or knowing what is happening in your transactions.

• Connect to Your Success...
  

Easy-to-use RELAY™ features streamline your business, giving you the competitive edge.

The result is an online tool that has you up and running in no time, connecting with your office and clients in ways never before possible.

The ultimate goal of an agent is to have satisfied clients and create opportunity for referrals. My goal as a virtual assistant is to provide the kind of support that would enable my clients to acheive their goals.

My Relay trainer Cassandra M Davis did an excellent job at taking us through the course, and I found her to be very efficient and a thorough professional. Visit their website at www.rebt.com.

I am also interested in hearing from agents and other real estate professionals about the tools that they favor and why.


By Agnes Ikotun
Licensed REPA

Managing E-mail

Email is a valuable communication medium both for business and personal use. It places high in the ranks of tools today but in mix with the explosion of the Internet, many people are pretty overwhelmed by it and do not to forget the dreaded Spam.

So how do we make email work for us and not us working for email?

Here are my tips on the dos and don'ts of email.

• Have separate email accounts: one for business related work, a personal account for family, friends and acquaintances, and a third which is a miscellaneous account for which you can use for online subscriptions or where you have concerns about spam.

• Check your emails two or three times during the day to prevent being distracted from priority oriented tasks. If you are in the habit of checking your emails immediately after you login...STOP, this can throw your day off balance.

• Create specific folders for your emails to prevent your Inbox form overflowing. Have several act on folders: priority and non-priority, a reply folder, a miscellaneous folder and other folders specific to your work.

• Some emails should be responded to immediately after reading especially if it takes less than or up to 2 minutes to respond and then toss.

• When sending an email always have a good description in the subject line so the recipient can quickly decide on how to respond or categorize.

• When responding to an email, include and edit the sender's email to include only important facts, this helps in streamlining the dialogue. This tip comes handy also when you decide to print a hard copy.

• As much as you can help it, avoid sending emails with attachments, as people are very concerned about viruses. Try including all information in the body of the message.

• If you are writing an email that is has a large content, write it in a document program like MS Word and then copy and paste into your email. Imagine losing an email that you have spent some time writing.

• When you are sending emails be very conscious about using cc and Bcc as you want to maintain healthy and integrity filled relationships with people. Do not carelessly send an email to wrong person!

• The time to respond to an email that upsets you, is not immediately. Sometimes sleeping on it allows you to have a different perspective and the sting of the email is largely reduced.

• Have a concise signature with your name and contact details and remember to also include your website address as well.

• Remember, people first then business; so a kind and personal greeting goes a long way, for example writing in a email "have a great weekend" helps nurture relationships. As does speaking to clients and colleagues on the phone and meeting face to face.

I would love to hear your tips on managing emails.

ByAgnes Ikotun
Licensed REPA

Organizing Your Business

Getting and staying organized in business and in our personal lives is extremely important. Where there is no order there is chaos, confusion and the inability to focus or grow. The inability to organize does not allow one to prioritize, thus not being able to set or meet and exceed ones goals.

Small business owners wear many hats and occupy many different roles within their businesses, so the need to be organized is top priority to prevent very important tasks from not being carried out effectively and efficiently.

Do you want your business to grow, do you want to stay motivated and also allow your creative juice to flow?

Do you want to have a balanced personal and business life?

Then get organized!

SCORE Offers Five Ways to Organize Your Business for Success

Washington, DC—An improving economy offers new opportunities for America’s entrepreneurs to start and grow their own businesses. Small business owners are busy, and it takes organization to create more time to focus on what’s most important to the business. SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” offers five ways to better organize your daily business—to improve overall effectiveness.
By organizing your workspace, you save time otherwise wasted looking through piles or searching for a missing document on your computer. First, establish a plan. Prioritize your list and set a deadline to complete it.

Invest Time Wisely
Spend time on what you do best, whether it’s serving clients, generating sales or setting long-term strategies. Allocate 60 to 70 percent of your time to tasks that have the most impact on your business. Create a daily plan and follow it. When contacting people, leave detailed voice and email messages that state exactly what you need, so the person will be prepared with the information when they respond to you.

Annually Update Financial & Tax Files
Purge last year’s files from your office area and place them in storage. This will make room for this year’s important documents and receipts that may require more immediate access. Files that you do not use anymore, but may need in the future, are best stored in file boxes. Keep your tax returns and supporting records for six years. File boxes can be stored on shelves, in a closet or at an off-site storage center. Organize your files by color-coding, alphabetically, or by type of file.

Make Sense of Online File Folders
Organize the files on your work computer and shared drive to match the structure of your business for easy access by you and your staff. Name your online folders with headings such as marketing, sales and customer service. You may want file folders specifically for real estate, leases, and equipment. Make information easy to find by clearly naming files, saving files to appropriate folders and creating shortcuts on your desktop.

Manage Incoming Mail & Email Contacts
Set aside a specific time of day to sort your inbox. Throw away junk mail, forward mail to the appropriate people when necessary, open and separate the rest of the mail, and file it when appropriate. And, set periodic times to read and respond to email. Concentrate your time on leading the business and serving customers. Establish a routine for these routine tasks, so they don’t waste your valuable time.

Clear Your Desk
An uncluttered desk sends a message to you and your team that you are focused on the most important business at hand. Throw away items you don’t use, and keep only the supplies you regularly use on your desk. Use letter trays and file sorters to avoid piles. Clear out your desk drawers and designate a purpose for each one. To learn more about these and other tips for business success, visit the Learning Center and Business Toolbox on the award-winning SCORE Small Business Web Site at www.score.org.

Also see SCORE's 60-Second Guide to Organizing Your Business


By Agnes Ikotun
Licensed REPA

The Importance of having a Website

The estimated figure of people using the Internet is 10 million and growing daily. People are using the Internet for many reasons: communicating, buying and selling, researching and learning, working, social and business networking, e.t.c. As far as almost 10 years ago, it was determined that the Internet was going to play a huge role in generating income for businesses and individuals, from both online and off line transactions with the primary point being online marketing.

Here are some of the reasons why a business owner or seller needs a website:

• Customers expect to find you on the Internet.
• Competitors already have an online presence.
• It is far less expensive as a marketing tool than print media.
• The ability to reach consumers all over the world.
• Build an interactive and long-term relationship with customers with the use of forums.
• Customers can get first-party real-time and accurate information from your website.
• Improve on customer service from information gathering.
  
• Create a professional image for your business.
• Affiliate with other businesses and networks.
• Sell your product or service.

It is to a business' disadvantage not to have an online presence, having one is as important as having a business name, address and telephone number.

By Agnes Ikotun
Licensed REPA

Marketing

Being a solo entrepreneur, I'm constantly looking for ways to make my business grow. An important point to note is that marketing plays a huge role in getting clients. One has to identify who their target market is, find out what their needs are and how to competitively meet those needs. Also identifying all the available marketing tools and how to use them effectively to reach ones goals.

Being in a fairly new profession of Virtual Assistance has encouraged me to think outside the box. Understanding that in a world that is even changing, ones marketing strategy also has to be flexible.

Here is an interesting article: Create Your Marketing Strategy

Check out this article from Realtor magazine online: What Do Your Ads Say About You

By Agnes Ikotun
Licensed REPA

Real Estate Virtual Assistant vs. Employee

Are you a budget conscious real estate professional deciding whether to hire someone full-time or part-time to manage your businesses administrative tasks?

Are you overwhelmed by the process of hiring an employee?

This article could be helpful.

Factors such as paid vacation, sick days, health and dental insurance, workers compensation, bonuses, training, equipment and office space would stop just about anyone building their business in their tracks.

How does hiring an independent contractor compare to an employee? Is it more or less cost-effective? Is it more or less flexible?

Using the analysis tool from Salary.com

The median total compensation including benefits for a typical full-time Administrative Assistant III in Hartford, CT is $65,373 (68% base salary and 32% benefits and taxes), thus the hourly rate is $33 p/hr. This is excluding office space & utilities, furniture, insurance, hardware, software & licenses, and telecommunication expenses that could take the rate up to $48 p/hr and over.

Virtual Assistants (or VAs) typically charge between $20 and $45 p/hr and higher depending on specialization levels and bear in mind that contracted hours are flexible. Most VAs have retainer agreements with rates that are discounted for clients with set hours ranging from 10hrs or less, 20hrs or more depending on the clients needs which are ever changing. This also allows for a significantly higher productivity level-- close to a 100% as the tasks and time allotted are prearranged.

An important point to remember is that VAs are professionals who not only tackle administrative tasks but are multi-faceted and diversely skilled. VAs can also handle programming & database design, sales & marketing, desktop publishing, web design & hosting and much more.

Is it your goal to reduce expenses, save on time, remove frustration and most importantly increase productivity?

Then its so much easier to decide which to go with!


*Figures are estimates

By Agnes Ikotun
Licensed REPA