A family-owned and operated real estate firm in Massachusetts set out to capture leads in the virtual world by equipping their website with an innovative chat service.

Jack Conway & Co., Realtors enlisted the Toronto-based ReadyChat to provide live chat services that instantly engage visitors to the Conway website anytime of the day or night. The proactive service, company leaders say, arms the Massachusetts company with an advantageous recruitment tool for generating leads and potential business.

After a two-month test period, Conway was set to pilot ReadyChat services with real customers in January 2013. In the first 30 days, the pilot increased real estate leads by 15 percent. After 60 days, quality leads increased by 20 percent. During that same period, Conway closed on two deals delivered through ReadyChat that totaled nearly a million dollars.

“We began a trial with ReadyChat in November 2012 and within 30 days, we had converted two leads into sales totaling $800,000,” said Al Becker, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Jack Conway. “The program presents Conway as a 24/7 organization and that helps us fulfill that commitment to our customers.”

Jack Conway and Co., Realtors is among more than 100 real estate firms throughout North America who have partnered with ReadyChat for online engagement and lead generation tools.

“Conway has built an impeccable reputation based on personal interactions and relationships,” said Justin Shum, President and CEO of ReadyChat. “We regard it as the utmost professional compliment that Conway entrusted us to provide live chat services that can help build their business and maintain their brand and values.”

About Jack Conway & Co., Realtor

Jack Conway & Co., Realtor opened in 1956 and has remained family owned and operated and locally based for nearly 60 years. Founded by the late Jack Conway, the company has grown to 42 offices that stretch from the North Shore to Boston, Cape Cod and the South Coast. The company provides quality one-stop real estate and mortgage services to customers and clients, including residential and commercial sales and leases, mortgage financing, relocation services, appraisal services and property management. Jack Conway & Co., Realtor is a proud member of The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, and was recognized among the top real estate companies in Massachusetts by Banker and Tradesman in 2010.

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry across North America. Founded in 2011 and based in Toronto, the ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information on ReadyChat partnerships, contact Ehson Rahmati, VP Business Development of ReadyChat, at ehson@readychat.ca.

McGraw Realtors of Tulsa partnered with the Toronto-based ReadyChat to provide instant chat services that solidify leads and communications with new and existing clients.

“We had tried to manage our own chat services at different times with varying degrees of success,” said Luke Strawn, senior vice president of McGraw Realtors. “We soon realized that enlisting a professional service would be the most efficient and productive way to build and strengthen our online business.”

Based on McGraw’s input, ReadyChat piloted a custom chat service in the early fall that provided McGraw with a seamless, high-tech way to instantly connect with visitors to the company’s main web site. The program resulted in a 20 percent increase in leads through the chat channel in the first 30 days.

“We saw results early from ReadyChat,” said Strawn. “We made the decision quickly to add chat services to our partner websites.”

Strawn said McGraw immediately added chat features to their mortgage site to encourage customers to start the preapproval process. Today, all three of the company’s affiliate sites feature live chat interactions that strengthen customer service and sales.

McGraw Realtors is among more than 100 real estate firms throughout North America who have partnered with ReadyChat for online engagement and lead generation tools.

“We are incredibly pleased to enter an ongoing relationship with McGraw Realtors,” said Justin Shum, President and CEO of ReadyChat. “From the very start, we worked closely with McGraw to train chat specialists and leverage technologies that generated and converted leads based on the company’s impeccable reputation, brand and values.”

About McGraw Realtors

In 1938, Kenneth Crouch and Dan Davisson joined forces and created McGraw Realtors in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since then, McGraw has expanded and grown from one office to seven and more than four hundred associates, making it the largest independent real estate company in the Sooner State. The seven offices are strategically located throughout Northeastern Oklahoma to help customers find the perfect home in the Tulsa area. McGraw prides itself on exceptional customer service that begins with the initial contact all the way through closing, mortgage and insurance services.

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry across North America. Founded in 2011 and based in Toronto, the ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information on ReadyChat partnerships, contact Ehson Rahmati, VP Business Development of ReadyChat, at ehson@readychat.ca.

A leading boutique real estate firm with an impeccable reputation for personal service recently entrusted ReadyChat to bring that same level of care to the company’s virtual interactions.

Beginning November 08, ReadyChat will partner with Gibson International to provide online chat services that will enhance and build relationships with prospective and new homebuyers and sellers. Visitors to the Gibson website will be immediately greeted by a live chat service that personalizes online interactions and allows for discreet two-way communications.

“We are hoping to offer real-time solutions to customers of our online services,” said Jodi Dirk, Director of Global Marketing, Gibson International. “More importantly, we wanted to do that with the help of an actual person and not an automated system.”

Dirk said Gibson envisions ReadyChat will strengthen the company’s already progressive online marketing presence by screening and transferring qualified leads by email to a designated associate or representative. Dirk said she is impressed, too, by ReadyChat’s ability to monitor and provide instant chat services 15 hours a day, seven days a week.

“ReadyChat came highly recommended by Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®,” Dirk said. “After we did some investigating, we realized that ReadyChat was our best choice for the job with their expertise in real estate.”

Gibson International is among more than 100 real estate firms throughout North America who have partnered with ReadyChat for online engagement and lead generation tools.

“We are incredibly pleased to be working with Gibson International to provide the world-class personal service that current and prospective customers expect from this esteemed company,” said Justin Shum, President and CEO of ReadyChat. “Our mission is to fully leverage chat technologies to transform online interactions into those immediate, high- quality communications that are so critical in real estate.”

About Gibson International

Gibson International specializes in marketing extraordinary homes and matching sophisticated buyers with properties in exclusive neighborhoods. This high-quality real estate brokerage represents the “best of the best,” and is dedicated to providing a full-service experience with every transaction. Established in 2008, the firm serves local, national and international clientele based on principles of ingenuity, discipline, integrity, and uncompromising service.

Gibson International seamlessly combines advanced technology with a personal, service-based experience that is the signature of this boutique, entrepreneurial company. Gibson International is a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, an elite brokerage community with a global reach.

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry across North America. Founded in 2011 and based in Toronto, the ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information on ReadyChat partnerships, contact Ehson Rahmati, VP Business Development of ReadyChat, at ehson@readychat.ca.

Beginning October 01, ReadyChat will interface with The Keyes Company through their website to provide online chat services that can build relationships and generate leads through fast, friendly and informative interactions.

“Our purpose of working with ReadyChat is to engage those customers who we might have otherwise not captured through the current calls to action on our website,” said Wendi Iglesias, Director of Internet Leads, The Keyes Company. “Being the first to engage the customer is such a critical part of creating the customer relationship. We believe ReadyChat offers a great tool to assist with this initial engagement. Keyes wants every customer who visits our Internet sites to feel welcome, engaged and informed. ReadyChat is helping us accomplish this goal.

Iglesias said that Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® facilitated her company’s initial introduction to ReadyChat and led to Keyes’ decision to enlist ReadyChat services. She said her company’s leadership was impressed by the capabilities of ReadyChat to monitor and provide instant chat services 15 hours a day, seven days a week, and to then transfer qualified leads live by phone to a designated sales associate or brokerage representative.

“ReadyChat has a fantastic approach to engaging and capturing the customer,” Iglesias said. “We believe this will be a wonderful add-on to our suite of online tools available to our customers.”

Keyes is among more than 100 real estate firms throughout North America who have partnered with ReadyChat for online engagement tools.

“We’re exceptionally pleased to work with Keyes to provide the first-class, personal service that is so critical when customers go to choose an agent or brokerage,” said Justin Shum, President and CEO of ReadyChat. “Our goal is to fully leverage chat technologies to turn online visits into those personal interactions that are the foundation of any real estate transaction.”

About The Keyes Company/Realtors®

The Keyes Company is the largest family-owned real estate company in Florida with more than 2,000 associates. Keyes provides superior service through a network of more than 25 offices across Florida with national and worldwide affiliates and partners. The company specializes in relocation and luxury homes, commercial leases and investments, and land and business opportunities. As a full-service realtor, Keyes also offers title services, home insurance, and mortgage loans affiliated with Wells Fargo. The company began operations in Florida in 1926 and recently celebrated 86 years of business.

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry across North America. Founded in 2011 and based in Toronto, the ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information on ReadyChat partnerships, contact Ehson Rahmati, Vice President of Business Development at ehson@readychat.ca or 1-888-693-0351.

The website lead generation process can be a daunting task for real estate brokers with little experience in online marketing. After all, the broker is often busy managing a team of agents and a million other things to do with running a productive office/team. However, when it comes to marketing for real estate brokers, common elements of customer service go a long way.

A huge factor in online lead generation is how quickly you can establish trust with a website visitor. We’ve written numerous posts on the importance of humanizing your website with a strong online customer service presence. It is important that your team executes consistently on these customer service fundamentals. Website visitor to lead conversion rates fall dramatically the less trusting your website appears. That is why a strong online customer service presence is essential in establishing trust with a visitor quickly.

There is no better way of establishing trust online than live human assistance. Being available whenever a visitor is interested or has questions about your listings with real-time “live chat” or “click to call” features allow your visitors to get assistance instantly. It’s this instant customer assistance that can differentiate your brand from your competitor’s and gives your online visitors little reason to shop for homes elsewhere.

Unlike most static websites, websites with “live chat” or “click to call” features allow for visitors to connect with a representative from your brokerage in real-time two-way communication. It’s this two-way channel that creates ample opportunity to probe prospective buyers and sellers on their needs, leading them further down the buying or selling cycle.

Being first to communicate with prospective buyers and sellers can go a long way, given 67% of homebuyers will select the first broker or agent who responds to them. Offering real-time customer service through the live chat and click-to-call channel can greatly impact your overall lead generation initiatives and boost the number of sales opportunities that present themselves to your associates.

With more than 90% of homebuyers starting their home search online, Brokers and real estate professionals need to have a professional website to be competitive and promote brand awareness.

Brand awareness can go a long way for real estate firms by instilling confidence in consumers and being top of mind for when the time is right to buy or sell. However, having a great looking website is only the first step to creating a strong online brand presence.

To improve brand presence and awareness online and in your market, Brokers and team leaders should emphasize on their website’s user experience.

4 steps to improving the user experience:

1. Offer something of value.

• A way to stand out is to have a professional-looking website that offers enough value that people will want to come back to repeatedly. A great way to do this is to offer free and quality content for buyers and sellers in the form of a blog articles or eNewsletter.
• Listings are a great way to keep your website users engaged. You should always place yours listings in a highly visible area on your homepage, allowing them to quickly search and browse home that may interest them – offering a lot of value and saving them time in having to search further.

2. Make everything user-friendly.

• Keep things simple. Your website is your primary marketing tool to converting a client. Customers will browse your site only if the interface is easily navigable.
• Managing a website is mostly trial-and-error. Web statistics like Google Analytics can give you specific details on your site’s strength and weaknesses and allow you to optimize features or webpages based on user behavior or patterns.
• For example: with Google Analytics, you can determine when and where users are leaving or abandoning your website. By understanding this, you can optimize the pages where you are finding your visitors are most frequently leaving your website. By lower abandonment rates, creates more opportunity for you to capture visitor interest and leads.

3. Showcase client reviews.

• Have your satisfied clients sell your services for you. There is no better way to establish trust and credibility than an honest testimonial from a happy client. Ask your most satisfied clients to provide feedback from a previous transaction and showcase a snippet on your website for all to see.

4. Provide Superior Customer Service.

• Great customer service starts with being available whenever your customers need you. Always be available to answer questions and provide assistance to your website visitors with a live chat feature.
• Live Chat allows you to connect with prospective new clients and provide information to them instantly from your website via text-based conversations, creating a positive, friendly, and highly personal website experience. And by servicing your online customers in real-time, you give them little reason so go elsewhere (the competition).

CLICK HERE to learn more about live chat for real estate websites.

What’s your conversion rate?

Even the most informational real estate websites convert less than 3% of total website visitors to leads. However, in most cases, a realtor website will convert less than 1% (sometimes 0%) of visitors to leads. Follow me?

This is alarming as 99% of your website visitors are likely leaving with out contacting you for help in buying or selling their home. If this sounds familiar, your website is underperforming and you are missing out on a huge segment in the online home buyer/seller.

How can you improve your online engagement and website visitor conversion rates?

To be blunt, the common problem with most real estate websites is like hiring a seat warmer who are sitting around all day waiting for your online customers to reach out to you. They already made the first move by visiting your website. They don’t want to make a second move by picking up the phone and calling you. If this is your situation, you need a new hire.

How can your website be more proactive?

Imagine if one of your prospective clients walked into your office and your receptionist didn’t acknowledge their existence. No polite greeting, no smile, nothing. I bet you wouldn’t keep that person on your payroll for long. Your website is like your virtual online office and you need to treat your online customers the same way as a physical customer.

To be proactive, you will need to reach out to your online customers, in real-time, and greet them as if they were in-person at your office. With technologies such as live chat, you can reach out to your online visitors, in real time, and engage them in sales-focused live chat conversations about their home buying or selling needs.

With Live Real Estate Chat, you will have the ability to see who is on your website and communicate with your online visitors, all in real-time. This simple feature to your site will dramatically increase visitor interaction rates with you/your brand, and allow for the opportunity for you to transition simple online inquiries to in-person meetings. It is this human element that is missing from your site, and when well executed with proactive chat invitations, your real estate website will become a lead generation machine.

To learn more about live chat for real estate, be sure to subscribe to our blog for frequent updates!

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® has named ReadyChat a preferred service provider, presenting the company’s website chat services to its global network of 550 top real estate firms through LeadingRE’s Solutions Group program.

ReadyChat is a leading provider of live chat marketing services for the real estate industry, with a full range of lead generation, lead qualification, and lead transfer solutions. The company’s proactive live chat services offer website monitoring 15 hours a day, seven days a week.  Qualified leads are transferred live by phone directly to the brokerage’s designated sales associate or representative.

“Studies have shown that 67% of homebuyers will select the first agent or broker who contacts them,” said Justin Shum, president and CEO of ReadyChat.  “Our services empower brokers to be the first to engage with and establish a relationship with online prospects so they have no reason to search elsewhere.”

“ReadyChat’s focus on providing an easy way to capture qualified leads from website visitors makes it an ideal solution for our brokers who want to maximize their online investment,” notes Robin LaSure, LeadingRE vice president of corporate marketing.  “The benefits extend from the consumer who experiences a highly responsive approach to the agent who ultimately receives qualified leads.  The broker is able to satisfy both audiences, while driving more business for the company.”

About Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^®

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® is the largest network of top independent local and regional brand-name brokerage firms in the residential sector of real estate. The 550 firms affiliated with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® are represented by 4,600 offices and 140,000 associates in more than 30 countries worldwide. The organization’s leadership is demonstrated by the fact that its affiliates comprise 15 of the top 25 real estate companies in the country. Collectively, LeadingRE affiliates produced nearly 800,000 home sales valued at $225 billion in the U.S. in 2010. In addition, LeadingRE locally-branded affiliates hold the Number One position in sales in 40% of the top 96 markets in the U.S., more than any national franchise organizations. 

Considering adding a live chat service to your website to boost real estate sales leads?

If so, there is an endless supply of software vendors and service providers for you to consider. Depending on your lead generation goals and objectives, a managed live chat for real estate service may be more effective and efficient. In this post we will examine the major differences between a managed live chat service vs. a “do it yourself” live chat solution.

So, what is meant by “managed live chat”? Managed live chat is a business practice of transferring day-to-day related live chat operations as a strategic method for improved efficiency (i.e. outsourcing the implementation, execution, management and optimization of your live chat campaign/service to a 3rd party). Let’s address some commonly asked questions for you to consider.

How do I choose the right solution for my real estate website?

This would depend on your objectives and the results that you are trying to achieve. What makes live chat such an effective channel for sales lead generation and customer service is the ability to be available to service your online visitors in real-time. Unlike email, you will need to have a dedicated person (either yourself or a staff member) to be available during key business hours and when your website has the highest website activity – which can vary throughout the day or night. One major aspect to consider is will you be available 8-12 hours a day to be able to respond to live chat inquiries from your real estate website? If not, how much would it cost for you or your office to hire and train a team of in-house operators?

How is a managed live chat service beneficial to your real estate business?

As a busy real estate broker or agent, you’re busy managing clients, listings, contracts, marketing plans, and the list goes on. Although live chat can be a highly valuable website feature for improving lead conversion rates, it is a major endeavour to manage and operate yourself. Not only can it be difficult to understand which solution would work best for your needs and objectives, but implementing and executing an effective live chat for real estate system requires a level of expertise in order to achieve optimum results. Having a managed live chat service provider with expertise in real estate will greatly impact website visitor interaction and conversion rates, and your overall return on investment.

How much does it cost for a managed live chat for real estate service?

Costs can vary from one provider to the next. Quality and expertise are major factors in pricing for managed live chat services. We’ve seen service providers’ quote anywhere from $199-$999 / month for managed services – depending on the features and coverage you are looking for (e.g. 8 hours per day / 24 hours per day). Software-only solutions are significantly less as you will need to only purchase the live chat software license, which can range from $40-$400 / month. But then again, there is the staffing and availability factor involved with a self-managed solution.

We hope this article was helpful in answering some initial questions you may have asked yourself when evaluating a live chat solution for your real estate website. If you would like to learn more about ReadyChat’s managed live chat for real estate services, or have any questions regarding the information above, please feel free to give us a call 1-888-693-0351.

ReadyChat was recently selected by one of Canada’s leading tech-savvy real estate brokerages to strengthen their sales operations through online communication services.

Beginning April 23, ReadyChat will provide Search Realty Corp. with chat services that generate leads and add an immediate personal touch to website interactions.

“Search Realty partnered with ReadyChat because we knew their expertise and focus on the real estate industry would make outsourcing our lead generation seamless,” said Sterling Wong, president of Search Realty Corp. “Service is key when it comes to selling real estate, and many websites are missing the personal service needed to form new customer relationships. We believe ReadyChat’s managed live chat service is the solution.Now our customers will have more options to engage with us, which means more leads and sales opportunities for my salespeople.”

ReadyChat was founded in 2011 and serves more than 100 real estate firms throughout North America by providing online engagement tools for company websites. ReadyChat toolsinstantly engage website visitors through chat services, and help companies turn browsers into qualified sales leads that generate top results.

“The conversion rates on our client sites are so much higher than others because our services were created by real estate industry experts withthe consumer’s experience top-of-mind,” said Jacob Reese, VP of Chat Operations, ReadyChat. “We provide homebuyers with first-class, personal service that they will associate with our clients, which iscritical when it comes time for that customer to choose an agent or brokerage.”

About Search Realty

Search Realty Corp. is a real estate brokerage that utilizes the best tools and technology to serve the needs of today’s home buyers, sellers and real estate agents. Each month, more than 15,000 people make nearly 135,000 page views through the 100 websites in the Search Realty network.

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry. The ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information on ReadyChat partnerships, contact EhsonRahmatti, VP New Business Development at ehson@readychat.ca or 1-888-693-0351.