Marketing Services by WAV Group

Where Agents and Brokers Earn Their Commissions
Recently, our daughter Alexandra Lund graduated from Syracuse University with two diplomas – one in Entrepreneurship from the Whitman Business School, and another in Advertising from the Newhouse School. She also received the Cuse Award for outstanding performance and leadership in NCAA Athletics. The dance team had never placed in the top 25 teams in the nation before Alexandra arrived. Her freshman year was a blow-out because of COVID – no national competition. Nonetheless, they still practiced every day. During Alex's sophomore, junior, and senior years, they placed in the top 10 every year. One of her coaches that has worked with her since the age of 9 always taught her: You earn championships in your preparation. You pick up the award at the competition. Isn't the same thing true for real estate professionals? Yesterday, my good friend and business colleague, Mark Mclaughlin, reminded me that in many ways, it's the effort and preparation that drives great brokerage companies and agents to succeed. In his article titled the 3 Rs – results, rules, and records, he writes: Those individuals and companies that focus on perfecting the expression of their value proposition will gain market share. At WAV Group, we define effort and preparation as the sinewy tissue that holds the relationship between the agent and the client together. It's a patchwork of influences that cause agent development – which includes showing up to office meetings, coaching, training, technology adoption, marketing for new relationships, and an incredible effort to stay in touch with people you know. All of this is the preparation that leads to well-earned success, the commission is merely the award. Sure, the antitrust litigation and settlement will change the way real estate commissions are awarded starting in August. Companies and agents who do not put in the work to prepare themselves for change will not be on the podium accepting awards. If firms do not have strong brands and an office full of agents who have deep, well-earned trusted relationships with their clients – they will fail. The days of licking quick and easy transactions off of the grass are fading, if not gone forever. A note to agents: Beware of commission programs from brokerages that are too good to be true. If your firm does not have the income to invest in the brand, the management team, compliance, training, and technology – you will not get the support that you need to succeed. The extra dollars you may earn in the short term are not worth it. Seek out firms with significant listing market share and great support. Top performance and growth across our industry is correlated to market share in your market. Partner with one of the Top 5 firms and you will be fine. The awards will come your way. A note to brokers: If you are not a top 5 firm in market share, become one. Merge with like-minded firms in your area until you get there. Cutting support and technology to save your bottom line will lead to the failure of your agents to get the support they need to compete in a changing market. Grow or die. If you don't know how, click here to buy our book, Acquiring More Profit, for $120, and read it. It's a detailed playbook on mergers. Just follow the steps. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group

[Podcast] Guide to Better Mergers and Acquisitions with Victor Lund
Ready to gain insider knowledge on mergers and acquisitions? Join us on this episode of Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered as James and Keith are joined by Victor Lund, author of Acquiring More Profit and CEO at WAV Group and RE Technology, and advisor to the Broker Public Portal. Learn the strategies behind successful M&A deals from one of the industry's top experts as he guides you through collaboration, culture, proper evaluations, and more. Don't miss out on this essential information! For the definitive and in-depth guide to mergers and acquisitions, check out Victor's book: Acquiring More Profit. Listen to this podcast on: Apple Spotify YouTube Other Visit the episode homepage for show notes and more

Meet Emma, Edina Realty's Marketing Suite
In the dynamic world of real estate, where every listing and every client interaction counts, efficiency and consistency are paramount. Edina Realty, the top real estate sales company in the Midwest for over two decades, has continually sought innovative ways to streamline its marketing efforts while maintaining the highest standards of quality and service. Recently, they've made significant strides in this endeavor with the introduction of their automated digital agent assistant called Emma, powered by Inside Real Estate's (IRE) CORE Listing Machine (CLM) and Design Center. (More information about Emma is at the bottom of this article.) At the heart of Edina Realty's success lies a commitment to excellence and a deep understanding of the market they serve. With 2,300 Realtors spread across 75 offices and a remarkable track record of 18,000 transaction sides and $7.4 billion in sales volume in 2023, Edina Realty stands as a beacon of real estate professionalism in Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, and South Dakota. It takes a lot of marketing automation to produce this level of success. I jumped on a spotlight webinar with Edina Realty to hear first-hand how they are accomplishing so much with Emma. Webinar Panel Ken Katschke – SVP Product at Inside Real Estate David Schmid – VP Product Development at Edina Realty Shannon Bodick – Marketing Manager at Edina Realty Sara Parks – Graphic Designer at Edina Realty The cornerstone of their latest marketing initiative is the integration of Inside Real Estate's CORE Listing Machine and Design Center six months ago. This powerful duo offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to automate and streamline the marketing process, ensuring brand consistency and saving valuable time for agents and staff alike. One of the key advantages of Emma is its seamless integration with Edina Realty's existing systems and workflows. By consolidating marketing efforts within the kvCORE platform, agents can now effortlessly create, customize, and deploy marketing materials directly from their CRM. This integration not only simplifies the process, but also enhances agent satisfaction and adoption rates over other solutions that require agents to SSO into another product. Edina did retain an SSO connection for print; they are connected to Xpressdocs – a long time partner of Edina that the agents love for the combination of price, quality, and distribution functionality. Brand consistency is another area where Edina Realty shines. With a dedicated team of marketing professionals overseeing the process, they ensure that all materials adhere to the company's branding guidelines, from colors and fonts, to sizes and layouts. This meticulous attention to detail not only reinforces the Edina Realty brand, but also instills confidence in clients and prospects alike. Generally, the Edina brand carries the Red theme, but they also support a black theme for their luxury Exceptional Properties. The flexibility offered by the CORE Listing Machine allows for customization at scale. While automated marketing packages are generated for common listing statuses such as "Coming Soon," "New Listing," "Open House," "Price Reduction," and "Sold," agents have the freedom to create custom materials tailored to their specific needs. This balance between automation and customization empowers agents to market their listings effectively, while maintaining a personal touch. Edina believes that marketing support through Emma is a center of excellence for the brand. They maintain a core team at the home office, but enable individual agent support at the branch level with marketing coordinators, office administrator, and sales coordinator. At the branch level, they can log into an agent's account and support unique marketing customization. Branches also have a library for local events. Beyond its internal benefits, Emma serves as a powerful recruiting tool. By showcasing the company's cutting-edge marketing capabilities, they attract top talent looking to elevate their game in the competitive real estate landscape. Additionally, the program's integration with recruiting presentations (CORE Present) and enterprise-wide marketing efforts further enhances its value proposition. Looking ahead, Edina Realty remains committed to innovation and excellence in real estate marketing. With plans to expand analytics capabilities and further optimize agent adoption rates, they are poised to maintain their position as a market leader for years to come. Today, overall adoption rates are 60%. Emma represents an iconic standard in real estate marketing, combining automation, customization, and brand consistency to deliver unparalleled results. By leveraging the power of Inside Real Estate's CORE Listing Machine and Design Center, they have unlocked new levels of efficiency and effectiveness, setting a new standard for the industry. A significant issue with marketing centers industry-wide is loading and programming the marketing materials. The bulk of this work can be performed by the marketing staff at the branches or the home office, but some automated templates need to be programmed by the design team at IRE. Edina reports that turnaround is a day or two for rush orders, and always less than two weeks. There is a paradigm shift emerging in real estate. For decades, brokerage firms would not partner with tech vendors who were providing services to strong competitors. The classic example of that was Booj, who would only offer their product to one, non-franchise firm in any market. Today, firms are realizing that being differentiated with your tech vendor is less important than the product features and functionality. Success comes from engaging with the product, getting staff buy-in, and modifying the tools to reflect your business systems and brand. There are 400,000 users on KV Core today, but each broker can really make it their own. The old adage is true, skills are not measured by the tools you have, it's how you use them. A few last notes about Edina that I could not easily squeeze into this article. They recognize that 5% of consumers in their market are Hispanic. In 2024 and beyond, look to expand marketing in Spanish. The marketing team really loves the ability to unpublish certain content – like seasonal content in their libraries. About Emma Emma Rovick was the founder of Edina Realty. Please take a moment to read her story, and celebrate another great woman of America whose success came from real estate. If you want to listen to the full webinar, visit this link. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group