The Future
If you have visited this blog before you know I am the Director of Sales Technology for Grand Canyon Title here in Phoenix Arizona. In a world of “title reps” I like to consider myself a “beta rep”. Less postcards and flyers, pitching escrow officers and service and more technology; WordPress, Search Engines, Pay Per Click Campaigns, CraigsList, Indexable IDX, SEO, Video.
I believe there is a rude awakening coming for many in the real estate space. Not just title companies but real estate agents, real estate companies, lenders and loan officers alike. A realization that they have, like Blockbuster and Tower Records, failed to keep up with a SHIFT in consumer behavior. A shift towards the Internet. A shift towards technology.
The Vision
Grand Canyon Title saw a vision when most title companies didn’t – and still haven’t. It started with the realization that the way we do business, learn, search, buy, etc has changed. When is the last time you bought a physical album instead of downloading a song? When is the lat time you physically bought software instead of an instant download? Real estate has changed as well. The way consumers find properties for sale, real estate agents or learn about the home buying or selling process has changed as well. In response to this SHIFT in consumer behavior, Grand Canyon Title formed a team. Not your average sales team but a technology team. A team where every member has a core skill or competency. Not a jack of all trades but a master of one. We have a sales team, a damn good one too – the technology team’s job is to add another dynamic to their sales abilities. Our sales team can handle almost anything a real estate agent would want or need. Almost. If and when the conversation or need turns to technology, one of us is brought in. “Us” is Ben Ashley, Dave Mason, Dale Stouffer, Michele Simpson and myself. I believe we represent the title company of the future.
Ben Ashley in addition to videography, Ben is our mobile technology guy. His background is mobile marketing. Chances are you have a smart phone. And chances are, when you have an immediate need you don’t wait to use your laptop or desktop – you use your mobile device: iPhone, iPad, Kindle, HTC, Droid, etc. If you want to know about mobile marketing Ben is your guy. Ben also shoots Green Screen.
Dave Mason is our WordPress guy. WordPress is fast becoming the industry standard in the real estate space. 16.7% of the worlds largest websites are using WordPress and 22% of all new websites are using WordPress. Notable brands using WordPress include: CNN, Yahoo, Flickr, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Lexus, Pepsi, US Army, Mozilla FireFox, Ebay, SONY, Ford, Samsung USA, General Electric etc. As you might have guessed, MyTitleGuy.com is WordPress. You know those confusing terms like CPanel, PHP. MySQL, WHM, CSS, HTMl, plugins and themes? Dave is right at home with them. Dave teaches beginner and advanced WordPress classes as well. Dave is also proficient in PhotoShop, ScreenFlow, Dreamweaver, FinalCut.
Dale Stouffer is our SEO guy. Just like everyone wants to know a guy in Vegas, everybody wants a good SEO guy and Dale is that guy for us. Most of the stuff I know, which pales in comparison on Dale’s knowledge, I learned from him. I’ve heard him described as an SEO Ninja. Not Black Hat stuff {things Google frowns upon} but White Hat – using the webs best practices. If you want to know how to get found online, Dale can certainly teach you. Titles, Tags, Metadata, Keywords, permalink structure, keyword research are part of his regular vocabulary.
Matt Melrose is a videographer. Matt shoots, edits, optimizes HD real estate tours as well as our Green Screen videos. Matt is also a former Golf Pro. In addition to homes and Green Screen, Matt has an amazing ability to bring out the lifestyle in Golf Courses in AZ
Ryan Nelson is a videographer. Like Matt, Ryan shoots, edits, optimizes HD real estate tours as well as Green Screen videos. Because Ryan has no real estate experience, he is very good at getting into the mind of the consumer and what THEY value.
Me, Stephen Garner. I’m a video guy as well. If you want to know why you should be using video in your real estate business, I can tell you. Even better – I can show you. I own 2 Canon DSLR’s, 2 Go Pro’s, Zi8’s, Flip Mino’s and all kinds of other toys to compliment them – Sliders, Cranes, Tripods and Monopods, Wireless Mics and Teleprompters. I, along with Ben, Matt & Ryan run our Green Room where Green Screen or “ChromaKey” videos are created. I teach classes on everything from Video Production to Video Editing, Video Optimization to Video Syndication. I am proficient in editing programs such as Final Cut, Apple Motion, Camtasia and ScreenFlow. At the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, YouTube and CISCO said “90% of all web traffic will be video”, we are preparing our clients for this reality.
Michele Simpson is our sales manager. In addition to knowing much of the information listed above, she is a visionary. She saw where the real estate industry was going and took the steps to build our technology team.
Consumer behavior has changed, as a real estate agent you will need to learn HOW to not only communicate with them but help them find you when that real estate need is present. Consumers are not looking for a real estate agent in their mailbox, billboard, banner ad, magnetized sports schedule, grocery cart, bus stop bench, fly swatter, TV, Radio or even email. When the need is present, they will likely do as you do – head to the Internet. Grand Canyon Title’s technology team can help you be the agent they find. It starts with creating valuable content. Not why you are the best real estate agent in the world or why a GRI is better than an ABR or why ABC realty is better than XYZ realty – consumers could care less about that, they are looking for homes for sale – by address, landmark, subdivision, close to employers, freeways, within 20 minutes of Sky Harbor Airport, Short sale vs foreclosure. We can help you grow your real estate business, all you have to do is fill out the form below.
