BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Category: General (page 6 of 23)

May 7, 2009

The Seven Deadly Sins of a Business Relationship: How Not to get Jacked around in the New Economy

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

We’ve all been there.  We’ve done a deal or two with someone that leaves us invigorated happy and ready to do business again.  We’ve also had one of those deals where everyone feels pissed off, beat up fried and angry.   My mission in life is to identify–in advance– the 5% of my customers that cause 60% of the headaches.

Since forever, I’ve been tagging people with pejoratives du jour in ACT.  The tagged?  Folks that suck my soul dry, whose approbation would be an insult and whose company renders me insane.   I probably have too low of a threshold for idiots, but they get “ID/STATUS= Black hole,” etc.  This keeps me sane.   I had 2 recent deals that were brutally bad.  Not the normal bad, brutal.  Life sucking wastes that I had multiple opportunities to abandon and failed to do so.  Would have been better off watching my kid at the jungle gym…or smacking my toes with a ball-peen hammer.  Both were files & projects I opened in December….and expected to finish in January.    Both are still ‘ongoing,’ swimming in a sea of endless revisions.

Reminds me of the days  when  I was a Realtor® and I’d get investors (and also “investors,” fresh off a Mountain Dew fueled epiphany with Carlton Sheets) saying to me, “Hey, if you list my house for free, I’ll give you all this work in the future…but remember, I expect my flier box to be FULL at all times, ads to be running in the local paper version of part of the Internet, and more.  Oh, by the way I’m a Strong Christian, have you made your decision for Christ?”

Yeah, those transactions were never any fun.

I went through my ACT! 6.0 database in conjunction with my move to Daylite CRM (highly recommended and imperfect, will review in a copula days on my own blog).   I did a search on my PC for my pejoratives.  In a database with 911 valid contacts–(1600 total, but most were web form people that never met me)  only 41 were marked as a jerks/wasteoids/etc.

What do they all have in common?  How are Read more

May 6, 2009

The Smell of the Grass, The Crack of the Bat, The Bombs Bursting in Air

by

Realtor, Newlywed

Author website

John McGraw and Connie Mack were talking Baseball a while back.

“I’m looking to add some new talent” McGraw told Mack.

“There’s lots of talent around these days” Mack replied.

“Yeah, but none of them have passion for the game anymore. They’re all just Nancy boys,” John said.

“Well, have you looked at that Cowan kid up in the Northwest league?” Connie said.

“Yeah, he looks promising but I wonder if he has the moxie to make it here in the bigs?”

“Why don’t you bring him down here for spring training and see if he can hit the breaking ball?”

McGraw telegraphed Seattle asking to have Cowan sent down to Phoenix for spring training. When he got to Phoenix, Cowan was as wide-eyed as they come. He sure looked out of place down in the valley of the sun. “I’ve never been to big leagues spring training before” he stammered.

“Well, just keep your eyes open and learn” McGraw said. McGraw and Mack put the entire team through their paces. The practices were hard and they were long. The spring sun was a warm and welcome change from the dreary gray skies up in Seattle. Everyone at spring training worked hard and did everything the coaches had them do.

There were some really talented folks. Many veterans were in camp, and they led the way. Years of experience made the veterans both savvy and polished. The rookies listened, and learned from the veterans. Soon it was obvious that McGraw and Mack had built another winner of a team.

McGraw and Mack called for Cowan after practice late one afternoon. “Kid, we like your style. Welcome to the show,” and then they walked away.

Well, that’s not really what happened but it sure would have been cool if it had. While down in Phoenix for Bloodhound Blog Unchained, McGraw I mean Greg, asked me to contribute here at Bloodhound Blog. I feel like a rookie who just got the call up to the ’27 Yankees. The murderers’ row of writing talent here is without equal. I only hope that I can carry the water for the team. What I Read more

April 30, 2009

We’re going LIVE! – Synchronous conferencing Unchained

by

Realtor, Urban Jedi

Author website

Real time online conferencing. 🙂

April 22, 2009

Go ahead, Google me and see what happens

by

Realtor, Urban Jedi

Author website

Really.  Google “me” in your search bar or Google home page and see what happens.

I was going to post about this yesterday and I’m glad I didn’t, because as of today, searchers who enter only the word “me” in the search box will be given an opportunity to set up or edit their Google Profile.

3465457272_970fe637c6_o

The personal profiles are not new.  I did share some of my thoughts on this in Unchained in Seattle.  They’ve been around for a while now, it just seems that every time I take a look at them they add more features.  First with a curious name verification process, then just last week with custom URLs.  They now support a pretty good amount of info on someone depending on your settings.  Numerous links to sites, an ‘about me’, contacts, and a Flickr or Picassa feed for photos.

None of this might be relevant except for the fact that Googling you is what people do.   Even my wife (against my personal preference) told someone to just look me up on Google the other day.  That person found me in a heart beat.

Profiles are already showing up at the bottom of page 1 search results and for those with common names there G will sport 4 profiles per page.  I suppose the more you share on you profile the better your results.   So far, there’s only one of “me“.

While the big G says they are not having a run at Facebook’s social network action,  google profiles still would be a good place to stake your claim.  Especially if you like using any of their other services, such as Maps or anywhere else your profile will be linked to…

brad

Now if all that’s for nothing, then consider this.  I reviewed my first message via my profile that simply read “Loved looking through your material. When I decide to move back to SF, I’ll give you a call.”

Create your profile

Update:  For promotion, Google is giving away 10,000 sets of 25 business cards to go with your new profile page.  Get em’ while they last.

7506-23285621f74bdbcc_1-1185661780-jpeg-image-338x194-pixels

April 17, 2009

Three songs for freedom, fellowship, and the resistance to oppression

by

Realtor, Urban Jedi

Author website

It’s been ages since we’ve heard any Unchained Melodies and we’re just under two weeks away folks. Don’t you think it’s about time?

All three from Eddie, to me, to you. This one’s for my friend Nick, the Unchained attendees, and believers in freedom.

“Rise”

This ones for The Dean of Geeks, who I’m sure is up crafting the edges of the next scenius. The 2008 theme song.

“I won’t back down”


… and thanks for the gift of admin rights on BHB 🙂

This one’s for young Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover and a story that won’t leave anyone alone, even the main stream media, who otherwise would ignore such a tragedy.

“Don’t be shy”

You all have a good weekend and love one another.

April 17, 2009

Shop Talk: How Are You Collecting on Bad Debt?

by

Database Marketing Expert

Author website

Seeing that 2007-08 were extremely rough years in our industry, we at Top of Mind experienced a significant rise in slow-pays and no-pays.  Ultimately, we found ourselves with high-five figure 90-day+ receivables.  Anyone who’s ever been in this position surely is aware of how uncomfortable it can be calling clients and asking for past due payments.  After all, if we’re doing our jobs right – our clients ultimately become our friends.

There are basically two common approaches to collecting on receivables – and they’re polar opposites of each other:

Approach #1)  The aggressive, finger-pointing, condescending way: I think this is the way most businesses pursue bad debt.  Heck, when I was young and ignorant, I let a few personal account balances go late.  The increasingly frequent calls I received from my debtors became threatening and borderline obnoxious.  Certainly I wanted to make good on my debt, and ultimately I did.  My motivation in paying the debt, however, wasn’t to please these bill collectors – it was simply doing the right thing and paying my bill as soon as I could.  As far as my debtors were concerned, their tactics worked.

Approach #2)  The compassionate, understanding and communicative way: I’d like to share how I’ve handled our bad debt over the past couple years.

  • I do not delegate collection calls to my employees.  In my opinion, this is the kind of s**t work that causes employees to dread coming to work.  It isn’t my employees’ fault that we let some of our clients get behind on their bill, why should it be my employees’ work to clean up a mess management created?  99% of collection calls come from me as the President of our company (with the other 1% coming from my partners).
  • I have one ground rule on how I treat a debtor – if they’ll communicate with me, I’ll bend over backward to help them.  Clients who owe us money aren’t treated as “B-class” clients.  I use my CRM system to take copious notes on all phone conversations and email threads – and I set reminders to check the status at reasonable intervals (depending on Read more
April 1, 2009

An Open Letter of Apology to Chaz Berman

by

Database Marketing Expert

Author website

Ten years ago, as Director of National Accounts for MyPoints.com,  I found myself smack dab in the middle of an eerily similar boom-to-bust cycle we’re experiencing in real estate today.

Back then, MyPoints could do no wrong.   Advertisers were lining up to spend money with us. Investors were throwing millions of dollars our way.  We were partying like AIG executives – it was pretty sick.   Fun, but sick.

My boss at MyPoints was Chaz Berman.  During our meteoric rise, Chaz made promises that ultimately he couldn’t keep.  Promises of increased pay.  Increased responsibility.  I was on track for a VP Title and VP Bucks.  (Important note:  I was already very well compensated and had more responsibility than I could handle.)

Fast forward to 2009, the roles have reversed.  Instead of being the employee, I’m the employer.  Instead of taking directions, I’m giving them.  Here are the lessons I’ve learned from sitting on both sides of the table.

1)  Most employees are ungrateful whiners.

And looking back on my tenure with MyPoints, I was as whiny and ungrateful as anyone I’ve ever managed here at Top of Mind Networks.  Instead of focusing on what earned me promotions, money and praise in the past, I started letting some unrealistic promises made in a 180 degree different environment dictate my work ethic and my demeanor.  I took my job for granted.  I failed to realize that I was truly blessed – making a six-figure income, living in beautiful San Francisco, selling a killer product, etc.  As market conditions deteriorated, so did my attitude.  And for this, I owe MyPoints.com and especially Chaz Berman my sincere apologies.  Chaz, you were in a no-win situation and you were dealt a “Pai-Gow” of a hand.  I’m glad to see you still thriving today – you deserve it.

2)  Most employers stir the pot.

Nothing stokes the fire of negativity within a company more than a lack of transparency and communication.  In hindsight, I believe MyPoints did a poor job of setting expectations with employees – at every level of the company.  Perhaps the fact that we were a publicly traded Read more

March 13, 2009

That’s the night the lights went out in Pike County Georgia

by

Free Market Cowgirl

Author website

lightswentoutpike

The Pike County Chamber of Commerce has decided not to host the annual Fourth of July fireworks this year because of the current state of the economy. You can read the whole story here: C.O.C. decides not to host July 4th event

No fireworks? No Celebrating our Independence? Are you kidding me?

There isn’t any doubt that times are hard. All we have to do is cut on the news, and gloom and doom is broadcast 24 hours a day – 7 days a week. Turn on the radio: Whenever they stop playing songs, the announcer is battering us with how bad things are, with how we’re living in fear and hopelessness. All we have to do is look at our neighbors and see them losing their homes to foreclosure. We all pray quietly that we won’t be next…

Next to lose our home. Next to lose our car. Next to lose our job. Next to lose a person that we love.

There is darkness everywhere.

That’s EXACTLY why we shouldn’t cancel the fireworks. That’s exactly why we need to celebrate our Nation’s Independence. That’s exactly why we need to go boldly into the night.

Fireworks. They are a reminder of a time when royalty tried to tax our people to death with an iron-fist from across the Atlantic. They are a reminder of the brave men and women who laid down their lives to fight for our Independence. They are a reminder of the men who signed their names on a piece of paper – even though many believed they were signing their own death warrants. They are a reminder of the soldiers that have died in days of old and in the most recent days of new. Some of those soldiers lived here in Pike County. Went to school here. Have families here. How can we dare insult their memory by not honoring their service?

Fireworks. They are reminders that we are a people that call ourselves Americans and we don’t all have to agree to get along. We come in many shapes. Many colors. Many sizes. We’re all unique. We’re all beautiful in our Read more

March 7, 2009

Here’s Some Piss Poor Journalism For Ya

by

Database Marketing Expert

Author website

Since Greg welcomed me aboard BHB last week, ideas have been racing through my head.  What would I write about first?

CRM execution tactics? Too predictable.

Skinned cats? I’ll leave that to my favorite cat skinner.

Then it occurred to me last night:  why not dive right in with an example of why BHB and blogs like it are putting the traditional fish rag out of business.

I’m a sports fan(atic).  I find it to be the ultimate in reality television.

But whether your remote is hard-coded to ESPN or not,  you’re surely aware of the ongoing steroid crisis in professional sports.

This week’s Sports Illustrated features an article about a former football player named Tony Mandarich, commonly known as the biggest bust in NFL history.  However, two decades ago, SI ran a story proclaiming Mandarich as “The Greatest Offensive Line Prospect in the History of Football”.  This story was written by a journalist named Rick Telander.

Now, twenty years later, Tony Mandarich Book Deal is ready to say he’s sorry for using steroids.  So he looks up good old Rick Telander Spineless Jellyfish and lands himself a feature article advertisement.

Here’s the article, please keep a barf bag nearby:  “Tony Mandarich is Very, Very Sorry”.

And here’s my favorite paragraph from said article (via Telander):

“… He lied to me.  Lied to everybody… I knew he was using steroids… but all I could do was hint at my suspicions…”

Um, Ricky baby… you knew he was taking illegal steroids, cheating and gaming the system but you, a Senior Writer for the most respected publication in sports were POWERLESS to do more than “hint at your suspicions”?

Telander’s article goes on to reveal that

  • Mandarich was known at his local gym as the “Doctor”

So what Telander’s telling us here is that he could have easily broken arguably the biggest sports-related story of the decade if he simply noses around the gym a little bit to explain how/why…

  • Mandarich magically transforms from a 6′ 3″ HS kid who rode the bench on his JV team into a behemoth that bench presses 585 pounds and “runs like a deer” in college

Wait a second.  This blog is supposed Read more

March 1, 2009

Stimulating Ideas

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I’m just spitballing here but I think two simple (and temporary) actions could stimulate the economy and save the auto industry:

1-Suspend the payroll tax for a period of time. (not my idea but I like it)

2- allow a one-time, tax and penalty-free withdrawal, up to $25,000, from 401-k plans, for the purchase of a new vehicle , until December 31, 2009 (my crazy idea)

COMMENTARY: The payroll tax supports a bankrupt system; social security.  The faster we all accept that fact, the better.  Let’s take what’s left in the plan, commit the balance to everyone over 60, and stop the insanity.  Most anyone under 45 hasn’t expected to receive social security entitlements for ten years, now.

Allowing a one-time 401-k plan withdrawal will certainly “mortgage our future” but we’re doing that already.  The Industrious Eileens will invest in the automakers (through their 401-k)  and the Spendthrifty Sams will jump at the chance to buy a new car.  At least the individuals will be deciding what to do with THEIR money.

February 13, 2009

Keeping It Light For Friday The 13th

by

Associate Broker

Author website

Sometimes You Have To Push The Seriousness Away. Seriously.

Fellow blogger April Winchell posted this little tidbit a few days back:

If you’ve ever read President Obama’s Dreams From My Father, good for you. I couldn’t get past the foreword.

I wish I had. Because today I discovered that there’s a fairly juicy little subplot in the book, involving one of Obama’s high school friends.

Ray, a fellow classmate of Obama’s, was also bi-racial, and also trying to define himself. But what set him apart was his colorful manner of self-expression. Ray cursed like a motherfucker.

This would all be snickerworthy enough, but it turns out that Obama actually read the audiobook version of Dreams From My Father.

And that means he read Ray’s quotes.

And that means you’re about to hear the President of United States using language that would finish Cheney off once and for all.

Warning: Mature Content

http://tinyurl.com/cvrbap

(Don’t shoot me – I’m only the messenger)

January 30, 2009

The Fed Translated…..

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

Tom here….  Sorry for the delay, but better late than never….. (my comments are in bold)

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent. Nothing new there and no surprises.  Can’t go lower than zero and certainly can’t raise them right now. The Committee continues to anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for some time. Here again, no big surprises.  I think the surprise is going to be the amount that rates go up once the economy does recover and inflation becomes an issue.   I’ve been talking to a large number of people who want to use a home equity line (at prime or prime minus .5%) to pay off their mortgage.   They would lower their rate down to around 3%, but my recommendation would be to do that only if they can plan on paying the balance off within 1 to 3 years.   My feeling is that any longer term than that will make it too expensive because of the way rates are going to jump up.   For more thoughts on that, see what I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the “W” recovery.

Information received since the Committee met in December suggests that the economy has weakened further. No surprise there. Industrial production, housing starts, and employment have continued to decline steeply, as consumers and businesses have cut back spending. Furthermore, global demand appears to be slowing significantly. Conditions in some financial markets have improved, Really?  Which ones? in part reflecting government efforts to provide liquidity and strengthen financial institutions; If you look at Bank of America and Citi, you can’t tell that the financial institutions are stronger, nevertheless, credit conditions for households and firms remain extremely tight. The Committee anticipates that a gradual recovery in economic activity will begin later this year, but the downside risks to that outlook are significant. Translated – we hope things get better later this year, but we really don’t know, so don’t blame us if it takes longer.

In light Read more

January 17, 2009

Bloggers. Transparency. Stimulus. and Laxatives.

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

First off, the following blog post is NOT political. PLEASE do not try to turn it political. (If you do, you will be 301 (read: permanently) redirected to the fact that this is NOT political.)

It IS about bloggers trying to improve the world around them by shining light on a political process and making politicians more answerable to their constituents and less answerable simply to the power brokers inside the beltway. It is about my opinion that as long as there are bloggers who care enough to invest the time, they will have influence and authority.

In response to the House of Representatives’ proposal to spend $850 Billion on another stimulus package, a blogger (and a great new media consultant) who founded Kithbridge.com launched a new blog. ReadTheStimulus.org. What does it do?

Glad you asked. Here’s what it does. It takes the PDF documents of the draft spending bills that the government is known for spitting out and it converts them to searchable text and provides a search engine for folks (including the press, if they care to), to search terms and find how much of the bill is stimulative to the economy, how much is stimulative to certain lobbyists vs what is well just laxative so to speak.

Want to know if there is a bridge to nowhere in there? or funds for the mating habits of the iguana? Don’t think that will stimulate the economy? You can now find it within seconds.

I applaud the efforts of these bloggers to get the 335 pages out there, indexed and in a searchable form for the public so that folks on both sides of the political spectrum can debate it openly. (Note: they are going to post the various other proposed bills as well.)

Anyone want to make a bet with me as to how many of the politicians (from either side…again this is not political) have actually READ and UNDERSTOOD the implications of these 335 pages. If there were 10 of them in the whole House of Representatives who had personally read it cover to cover, it would surprise me.

One of the Read more

January 2, 2009

Thinking About This Whole Social Media Thing As a ‘Non Expert’

by

Realtor, Certified EcoBroker

Author website

Ya know, this whole Social Media thing is pretty funny when you think about it.  For a little while now I have just sort of sat back and watched instead of hopping in to create a conversation.  It’s kind of like sitting at the airport and watching how people react to different things.  By no means am I a social media expert, I don’t really think I want to be one ~ I’m just a Real Estate Professional that finds it all really interesting and enjoys meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends.

One of the sites I find the most interesting is Twitter.  It’s amazing how everyday there seems to be another site that helps you ‘use’ it as a tool.  You can go and find out who is following you back-maybe get your feelings hurt when you find out who is not reciprocating or Grade your twitter stream and find out how you rank or if you just pretty much suck at socializing..

All of these tools seem, in my eyes atleast, to make us more vulnerable in so many ways.  It all takes so much time.  Where our blog used to be what we needed the most, folks are saying there is no point in having a blog if you are not on every Social Media site imaginable.

While I love the Social sites, have met some amazing people and truly value all of the Relationships that have formed through Social Media Sites-what is this doing to business?   Are we at some sort of tipping point?

All of this just makes me think about how much time it really takes away from conducting business.   While we may be out there creating opportunities, marketing a listing or other service, prospecting…are all of these ‘tools’ that ‘grade’ us  in a way taking away from what we should really be focusing on?  Are we worrying so much about making others happy in what we say, tweet or update that we are not connecting with people on a real one on one level?

I am totally in agreement that Social Media is a place to be, Read more

January 1, 2009

Upgrade play Part II: Grunion contact form

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

All of the stand-alone BloodhoundRealty.com-hosted blogs (that is, the SplendorQuest.com blogs) are going to WP 2.7 this weekend, with a few changes in our standard line-up of plug-ins. If we host you at BloodhoundBlog.net, your big changes will wait for the release of WordPress Multi-User 2.7.

But the plug-in discussed here, the Grunion contact form, is available to you from any weblog we host. (SQ.com admins may have to Activate it.)

Here’s how you use it: Put the words contact-form between [square brackets]. That’s all. You’ll get a contact form that emails its responses back to you. Very simple, very smart.

So: In the text-input box shown below, tell me how much you like the Grunion contact form:

« Older posts Newer posts »

Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

Media Contacts