ActiveRain’s Multitude of Benefits - 2022

ActiveRain’s Multitude of Benefits - 2022

I have been pondering this all month long - in fact, longer than that - since Carol Williams proposed this challenge! I wanted to share my #1 best story from the Rain but, there have been so many, I thought I would share ‘the best of the best.’

#1 - The Friendships = Family

As we so often say, ‘back in the day,’ things were different! We had a TON of very active members - I remember hijacking posts and talking for hours on the phone with groups of other members! RainCamps and meet-ups were frequent and FUN! Now, the meet-ups are even more coveted than before - we are often in smaller groups but, the lovely part about that is that we are more focused on one another.

I’ve enjoyed meet-ups in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Fort Meyers, Los Angeles, Orlando, Raleigh, Seattle & Vegas and those friendships are ever-lasting - even with members who are no longer active. I can’t say enough about the wonderful people who have been and still are, a part of this amazing platform.


Of course, one of my favorite parts of this platform are the friendships and I have enjoyed building on those with our weekly ZOOM meet-ups. We have a great time together but, we also leave each meeting with a valuable nugget for our businesses or our personal lives. I could write an entire post about the amazing members who do so much for those calls each and every week. Perhaps I should write that post!

Social Media

While the rest of the agents across the country were resisting ‘the Internet,’ our ActiveRain leaders encouraged us to embrace it. With SixDegrees & My Space being the only real social media sites, many of us never even thought about participating. With the onslaught of FaceBook, LinkedIn, YouTube, del.ici.ous, Photobucket, Flickr & WordPress, one-by-one, Brad Andersohn & Bob Stewart led the way to getting ActiveRain members to dive in and take charge on these platforms…and we did! Later these platforms were followed by Twitter, Tumbler, FourSquare,  and of course, the hashtag, selfies and emojis! Instagram & Pinterest, Snapchat & Google Plus came later but, we still worked together to learn those platforms as well.

What I love the most about the Rain is that if Brad or Bob or any of the staff was unavailable, there was always someone who would step in and help other members learn to set up profiles and how to participate on these platforms. The benefit for me, extends beyond AR- to private groups, reconnecting with friends from primary school & college and keeping up with family who live hundreds of miles away or in other countries. For business, my clients private message me their friends on FB and many of those referrals have mentioned checking out my posts and know a LOT about me before we ever even speak. 

Agent Referrals

I’ve enjoyed receiving well over a dozen referrals from ActiveRain members over the years - one agent and I have exchanged 6 of those! It has become a running joke that we have one another on speed-dial (an old Seinfeld joke!).

As well, I’m extremely thankful to have a laundry list of amazing agents to whom to send my valued clients in their cities. As wonderful as the referral fee is, it’s so comforting to feel like we know the AR member in the destination city and we know that those clients will be taken care of, just as we do.

One recent referral from a wonderful AR member has already referred TWO clients to me!

Monthly Market Reports

These are a ‘staple’ in my business and I do send links to these to clients who live in the area each month. While my reports are rolling, I do make small notations monthly so, there is a little different verbiage in each one for them. I get rave reviews and oftentimes, questions about particulars on the reports.

Need I say more Hannah Williams?

Branding

For years, I have received calls from my blog posts here in the Rain. When asked where the caller found me, the funniest, and probably the most common response from those who have found me here in the Rain, is “On Acid Rain!” 

Just last week, I was making my top-50 calls and one of my clients indicated they are going to start looking soon. So, we set up a time to meet and in the meantime, they sent me an email saying, “Coincidentally, we were researching neighborhoods on Google and came across one of your articles - https://activerain.com/blogsview/4935720/discover-popular-charlotte-neighborhood-in-southpark---barclay-downs.” How cool is that?!

We have learned to brand ourselves from the best - one of my favorites, Barbara Todaro, has been guiding us for years! While she is no longer active in the Rain, we have a plethora of posts from Barbara that are evergreen and will never go ‘out of style!’ Even if we aren’t always about our ‘brand,’ our signatures reflect our brand on each and every post. Many thanks to Craig Daniels for the many tutorials and encouragement over the years to get our signatures done.

Marte Cliff taught us how to write amazing bios but, the best one for me IS the one Marte wrote for me! I just submitted it to one of my sites and have already received compliments on it. Branding is not always about the logo - there’s much more to it than that. I could write a book about that!

Lessons Learned

Back-in-the-day, we had a challenge for the best listing presentation. I shared mine and then took bits and pieces of other members’ presentations. Almost immediately following that challenge and the hours I put in tweaking my presentation, I received a call from a prospective seller. It was going to be the highest dollar sale I had sold at the time - $1.725M. This was during the recession and the great thing about this listing was, it was NOT a short sale; the sellers were in no rush but, REALLY wanted to sell. We connected and they hired me to list their stunning home. 

When I explained absorption rate to them, they understood that it was going to take over 3 years to get their home sold. They said, “Let’s do it!” It took just over 2 to get it sold but, they stuck with me because I had been upfront and as other agents had done, I hadn’t promised them something I couldn’t deliver.

This was among the many clients that the sellers found me here in the Rain! In fact, this was one of those people who thought the site was called ‘Acid Rain!’

Leading with Heart

I believe my favorite story of all from the Rain was within the past year. I referred a buyer to another member/agent several years prior and the buyers absolutely loved the agent - he was everything they hoped he would be - and more. Moving to a brand new area, they were nervous and had absolutely no guidance from anyone but, him - and he positively nailed it! We kept in contact and they updated me daily on their journey with this agent - and afterward, they shared how much loved their home as well as the area they were located within a large metropolis.


Fast forward 2-3 years later and those same buyers needed a multi-generational home in the same area. Of course, they called the AR member I referred them to. Mind you, we didn’t have an agreement for the other agent to pay me a referral fee other than on that original sale. So, imagine how shocked I was when he asked me for my company’s W-9 - he was sending me another referral check. I told him he didn’t have to pay me and he insisted, saying that he would never have met those wonderful buyers, if not for me. THAT is the kind of people we know and love here in the Rain - and that is what makes this platform so darned special - the PEOPLE!

Speaking of people...many thanks to Carol Williams, Aura Alex & Leanne Smith for hosting this month's fantastic challenge. Like everyone else, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the entries! Thank you all again!

© Debe Maxwell, CRS | The Maxwell House Group | RE/MAX Executive | SavvyBroker@me.com | ActiveRain’s Multitude of Benefits - 2022