Why do more people vote for the winner of American Idol than who is going to be the next president of the United States? Well some might say that if you could vote from your phone for the president of the United States than more people would vote. I would say more people vote for two reasons:

1. They make it easy to vote
2. They make you feel like your vote really matters

Now I am not trying to discourage anyone from voting for the president by any means nor am I saying that voting for the president doesn’t matter but let’s look at how you can make it easy for people to vote for your listing and build up the importance of your listing.

Like American Idol we have to appeal to as many people as possible, we have to make people feel important, and we have to make it as easy as possible to get to “vote” or in our case submit an offer or request more information. So just how do we go about doing all three of these things for each and every listing? Well let’s look for some technology solutions to help us out.

1. Make sure your listing can be found in as many places as possible - there are tons of great places to make sure that your listing is online and many of them are free or you may place an ad with a company like the Real Estate Book that sends your listing to places like Truilia, GoogleBase, and others. You want to make sure that your listing is where buyers can find it and the Internet of course is a great place to be.
2. Make it easy to request more information - I say give them 4 different ways to find out more information about the property if they are standing in front of your property. Each one will appeal to different buyers or your next seller.
   1. Your Phone Number - Don’t have the main office line have your desk line or team line on your signs.
   2. A website sign rider - make sure they know they can visit you online from the sign to get more information.
   3. A 24 hour recorded phone number - these are great and they are working when you sleep. Make sure you have an up to date description and you give the user the ability to connect to you.
   4. Text to Phone - An additional sign rider in the lawn of a home you are selling increases contact rates by 20% and you want to make sure that people can text for information right to their phone.
3. Let people know you need their help - this is one that real estate professionals often forget to do because they get caught up in their business. They forget to let their friends, family, and past clients know that their help is needed. Just like Ryan Secrest asks America to call in to vote and says that “their fate is in your hands” you need to let your friends and families know that you need their help.

Take a tip from American Idol and make sure that you get people to see and vote for your listing. After all you want to be the one to get all the votes as you help your seller sell and that only leads to you repeating as America’s agent of choice! Good luck and happy selling.

Get the system that allows anyone to get information on your listing directly to their phone. You can even get a free CD when you sign-up and no set-up fee. Visit www.OnlineRealEstateSuccess.com/TextMyMLS for information on this system that will change the way you market your listings.