Mark Flavin is recognized as a recipient of the 2010 REALTOR^® Technology Spotlight Award in the Pioneer category.   CRT asked a few questions.   Check out what Mark shared with us:

What is your favorite tech tool out there?  What makes it so great? At the moment my favorite tech tool is Dropbox. This free online service allows you to easily share files and folders between computers and even devices. With more email providers actively blocking file attachments and putting restrictions on messages size the Dropbox public folder feature provides an easy way to securely share files with clients by sending them a link rather than an attachment. Finally Dropbox allows you to collaboratively share files with other Dropbox uses which is a great way to work on shared resources without managing multiple attachments. 

Where do you get the latest technology information to keep you ahead of the curve? Each morning I read/skim through approximately 120 different blogs, online news sites and magazines. But the best source of information for me is our members and association staff. I listen to what they are trying to do in the field or what pain-points they are encountering in a transaction and then I proactively look for the tools and services to address these challenges. Since our members are always trying to stay inline and ahead of the consumer this naturally pushes me forward.

As a tech thought leader – what kind of information are you looking to get your hands on? At a high level I try to keep informed of changes in consumer behavior and emerging technologies. This information along with our annual strategic planning process is critical for me to identify the right opportunities for new services or tools our members can utilize in their business. The resources from NAR including the field guides, NAR insights and member surveys are items that I regularly review and share. Ultimately though keeping in touch with agents and brokers and understanding their unique challenges from a business and service perspective is without a doubt the most critical information resource I have available to me.

What is the biggest trend you see developing in real estate right now – tech or otherwise?  Right now we are seeing a convergence between smartphones, video, mobile broadband and social networking with the smartphone becoming the unified messaging and multimedia creation platform. This is impacting consumer behaviors in fundamental ways which are causing agents and brokers to make service and marketing decisions they have not been forced to consider since the emergence of the web. Consumers are expecting their agents to be available around the clock and be able to respond to requests for information across a variety of different channels. This is forcing the Brokers and Agents into new learning curves from choosing the best device to selecting their platform and how they are going to integrate these new tools into their service catalog. For example all estimates point to 2015 as being the year when mobile devices will outnumber desktops yet at the moment Brokers and Agents are just now starting to consider how their web-presence looks on these devices.

Finally, which do you like best – iPhone; Android; WindowsMobile; Blackberry; Other?  Why? My two favorite devices are the iPhone and Android. With the exception of some unique platform specific features both devices are comparatively similar. The three reasons I prefer iPhone and Android are unified messaging, web display and application availability. The Blackberry does a great job at responding to emails but the iPhone and Android make it much easier to respond across a variety of channels including email, text, voice and instant messaging. Both devices provide a web experience which is largely similar to desktop whereas with the Blackberry and Windows Mobile the mobile web experience is entirely different and often times much worse than the desktop experience. Finally the infinite expandability and customization via different applications make both the Android and iPhone highly efficient multifunction purpose tools. For example you can take a video with the built in camera make some changes and upload directly to your website without ever touching a computer.

There are a lot of homes on the market currently in the Bedford NY area.  The National Association of Realtors (NAR) considers six (6) months of available homes to be equilibrium (a balance between buyers and sellers).

The numbers below are the available homes divided by the average homes sold per month (absorption rate)  .The towns in our area currently rank as follows.  It will take this many months to sell off the inventory at the current sales pace.

Armonk                      9.80

Bedford Village      18.02

Bedford HIlls            21.08

Pound Ridge           13.16

Chappaqua              10.11

Katonah                    10.58

South Salem             16.66

North Salem              19.92

Bedford Corners       10.07

A low number is a stronger market while a high number is weak.

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The First-Time Bedford NY Homes market are homes selling under $500,000. Sales in this market are up 21% over the last six (6) months compared to the same period in 2009.

In 2010 the average First-Time Buyer home sold was 1748 square feet, took 167 days to sell, at $237 per foot. The Median Price in this category is $415,000 and the average home sold at 94.09% of asking price.

In 2009 seventy (70) homes sold. The average home was 1741 square feet, took 154 days to sell, sold at $230 per foot. In 2009 the Median Price was $382,000 and was sold at 93.33% of asking price.

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Customer loyalty matters, because selling more to current customers is easier and cheaper than finding and selling to new ones. Loyal customers tend to buy more, more regularly. And they will frequently recommend your business to others.

A Clear Eye for Branding     . Successful marketing also requires being relevant and unique, which brings us to Tip 2. 

Here are 10 tips for you to consider if you are sincerely interested in having a business that is notable for its customer loyalty and referrals. I propose that these tried-and-true tactics with interpersonal strategies can deepen relationships with customers, establish greater levels of trust, and build stronger customer loyalty.

1. Understand the true purpose of marketing

Effective marketing is in large part about building trust and developing relationships.The purpose of marketing is to “create and maintain a strong feeling with customers so they are mentally predisposed to continually choose and recommend you,” according to Tom Asacker, author of

2. Identify and build your brand

We’re not talking about your logo, marketing “look,” or tagline, although you should have those tools in your marketing kit. Branding that builds genuine customer loyalty goes beyond what the eye can see. It’s branding at the emotional, sensory, and gut-feeling level.

Your brand is what your business is known for, how you engage with customers, and what people can depend on you to consistently deliver. It’s a compilation of your most-important strengths.

What should a customer who is referring someone to your business say about you? “They go out of their way to find resources and solutions for me.” “The staff is warm and caring; you can feel it the minute you walk through the door.”

Identify your brand, and leverage it to see customer loyalty and referrals increase. Don’t be shy about showcasing your uniqueness and strengths.

3. Tap into what customers want

To appeal to a customer’s needs or desires, you must first understand their motivations, values, and priorities. Each customer has unique needs and wants.

Being tuned in to what customers want and being sensitive to their evolving needs will help you become more resourceful and innovative over time. That is an excellent way to set yourself apart from other businesses and help you build memorable, lasting customer relationships.

4. Understand what customers actually are paying for

We like to believe customers are paying for our expertise. Yet most clients or customers cannot evaluate our expertise and so they simply assume we are experts by virtue of our brand credentials.

What customers can assess is whether they experience positive outcomes, if the relationship they have with you is meaningful, if they feel valued, and if they receive a high level of service. If you’re selling a service, you’re selling a relationship.

5. Outcomes matter

Practicing good interpersonal skills and maintaining solid customer relationships are important for developing customer loyalty. But what really matters to customers are results they can see, count on, and talk about.

Customers might come to you a few times because you have the right product or service for their needs, but they won’t keep coming to you based on your business personality alone. Customers must trust you to help them; they must see results and learn something from you to make it worth their while to continue as your customer.

Remember, customers refer friends and family members with comments such as “I’ve never seen such great service before”—not “Customer service staff are great conversationalists.”

6. Integrity leads to trust, which leads to a relationship

Integrity involves fundamental behaviors such as keeping your word, being honest, providing a consistent level of service, and being reliable. Businesses that demonstrate a high degree of integrity are seen as trustworthy.

Building trust requires the businesses to continually put the customer’s interests ahead of their own and display a genuine “other” orientation. You demonstrate that by being interested rather than interesting, and by not treating every interaction as an opportunity to share your message.

All that adds up to doing business with integrity. Without integrity, there is no trust, and without trust, there is no enduring relationship.

7. What have you done for me lately?

One of the most common mistakes businesses make is focusing primarily on the early part of the sale. They wrongly assume that once a customer is happy, that customer will stay happy and continue to use the services.

Each customer’s experience is the sum of every small experience that customer has while in your place of business. Ask yourself, If I were this customer right now, what would I really want in terms of product, care, and service?

Remember, your customer is always thinking, What’s in it for me? What you do (or fail to do) at every point during a customer’s course of care makes an impression.

8. Never take loyalty for granted

A successful external marketing campaign will encourage people to try you out, but only good outcomes and an authentic relationship with you will keep them coming back.

Customers’ willingness to return to your business depends only partly on their need for your product or services. They can easily choose another business or provider, or even a different product, if they are not happy with what they experience.

Never take loyalty for granted. Never underestimate the power and value of the one-to-one relationship customers have with you and your staff.

Customers return to where they feel connected, where they have a sense of belonging, where there is mutual esteem, where they are treated with respect, and where their care results in positive outcomes.

9. Word-of-mouth marketing isn’t new

Third-party endorsement or customer referral has long been the foundation of marketing.

What is new is that the bar for what customers expect in the way of service is higher today. Being good isn’t good enough to get customers talking about you. Outstanding is the new good.

Polls repeatedly show the quality of customer service is on the decline across industries. When you consistently exceed expectations, customers become “raving fans.” Those are the customers who refer their friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers.

10. Know and appreciate your ambassadors

In his bestselling book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell says people who refer fall into one of two categories: connectors or market mavens.

Connectors are social. They have a gift for knowing people and naturally make connections among their network.

Market mavens are people who have “the goods.” They have a desire to be of service and influence others. They are databanks of information, they know how to get the best deals and the best service, and they share information with enthusiasm.

According to Gladwell, “Word-of-mouth begins when someone along the chain tells a connector or a maven.” Learn to recognize those customers, cultivate them, and express your appreciation accordingly.

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dford

County Executive Rob Astorino was peppered with questions about his proposed $1.78 billion 2011 budget at Monday night’s Bedford Armonk Rotary meeting, even as he was exiting the room to attend another community meeting in Somers.

Though the atmosphere was not as charged as previously held public hearings on the budget, attendees challenged Astorino on several proposed cuts—including reductions in child care subsidies and the elimination of $1.3 million in funds to the Cornell Cooperative Extension—and demanded explanations on costs associated with employee contracts.

Astorino’s proposed operating budget calls for a decrease in spending of $33 million from the $1.819 billion budget of 2010. If no cuts were made, this year’s budget would have increased by a projected $116 million. When crafting the budget, he and his staff focused on providing essential services, he said.

Approximately 85 people attended the meeting, hosted by the recently formed Bedford Armonk Rotary Club and held at St. Matthew’s Church in Bedford.

Astorino presented his plan in broad strokes and outlined major cost increases expected in employee health care costs and pensions—they’ll go from $55 million to $163 million in four years, he said.

“We’re only one of four counties in the state where the employees pay nothing toward their health insurance. You—all of you in this room—pay 100 percent of county health care costs,” said Astorino.

He was asked about the current terms of the Civil Service Employees Association contract. “The CSEA contract is in year five of six,” he said. “They got a four percent increase this year, plus step and longevity increases, so it’s like a six percent increase in some cases,” he said.

He added that, if the contract expired and new terms had not been negotiated, the four percent increase remained. According to state law, health care costs can be negotiated but pensions are constitutionally guaranteed.

His budget proposal includes laying off 226 workers from county positions to save money. Buyouts would be given to 465 additional workers and 14 positions that are currently vacant would be eliminated from the budget—combined, the reductions represent about a 12 percent workforce reduction.

In addition to cutting positions, Astorino’s budget eliminates millions of dollars in social services and non-profits (explained further here), including cuts to the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in Valhalla, through which community education on nutrition, agriculture, sustainability, emergency preparedness and gardening takes place in partnership with Cornell University.

The county contribution equals about one-fourth of the total funding to run the program—if made, state and federal funds make up the rest.

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