About Kevin Hawkins

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So far Kevin Hawkins has created 328 blog entries.

Is there a hidden downside to lead generation?

Real estate lead generation research tells us only about 1 or 2 percent of all purchased online leads become transactions. Another way to say that is 98 out of 100 times, an agent fails to turn a lead into a client, or 98 times out of 100, they are being rejected. Yet, the conventional wisdom in real estate is that you only need to turn one lead into a transaction to pay for all the leads you’ve purchased this year many times over. But is there a problem with this logic? Is it looking at only one side of the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:27-07:00December 16th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|1 Comment

Millennials, Shmillennials: Why aren’t we marketing to the over 50 crowd?

Advertising contrarian Bob Hoffman gave a talk at Matt Beall's Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers' Worthshop 5 conference last week, which is a wake up call to real estate agents and brokers everywhere. Why are we spending so much time, energy and money marketing to 18-34 year olds when the greatest, wealthiest, most powerful spending group in the world in nearly every major product category is 50+ years old? Remarkably, Bob helps us answer that question and a more important one: How should we be marketing to the over 50 crowd? Full disclosure up front: The majority of the marketing [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00December 16th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment

7 Surprising Facts from NAR’s Newest Research on Buyers and Sellers

Each year, the National Association of REALTORS releases a study of homebuyers and sellers, which is my favorite REALTOR research publication. The NAR Research Group publishes publishes excellent research  -- including its superb daily Economists' Outlook -- but this one is especially chocked full of golden statistical nuggets, which is ideal for a data junkie like me. These are the kinds of facts I love to pull from research because these data points are what help tell a story, and that’s a great way to earn the attention of a reporter who covers our industry. Here are seven facts from [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00November 11th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|2 Comments

5 Hot Trends in 2016 to Look for at NAR

This year’s REALTORS® Convention & Expo in San Diego traces its origins to the first Chicago meeting of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges held May 12-14, 1908. One hundred and seven years later, some 20,000 real estate professionals will visit the San Diego Convention center where more than 400 organizations will display their offerings and pitch their products. 2016 promises to be a pivotal year of rapid adoption of sweeping innovations and the emergence of new powerhouses in the residential real estate matrix. Here are five hot trends to look for and listen at the workshops to learn [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:29-07:00November 11th, 2015|Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on 5 Hot Trends in 2016 to Look for at NAR

Tech Helpline Now Available to Orange County Association of REALTORS®

Some 13,600+ Agents Get Unlimited Tech Support from “Friendly” U.S.-Based Staff  Orlando, FL., (October 28, 2015) – California’s Orange County real estate agents are more dependent on technology to help them buy and sell homes than ever before, and now when a computer crashes or a smartphone glitches out, they can get immediate assistance. Tech Helpline, the real estate industry’s #1 tech support service, is a new, included member benefit available to more than 13,600 members of the Orange County Association of REALTORS®. These Southern California agents and brokers join nearly 400,000 REALTORS® throughout the U.S. and Canada that have [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:31-07:00October 28th, 2015|Main category|Comments Off on Tech Helpline Now Available to Orange County Association of REALTORS®

Millennials and Home Buying Revisited

The great statistical debate continues on the impact of Millennials today on home buying. About a year ago, I wrote about the conflicting data (“Millennial Marketing Madness”) that argued Millennials were not going to drive the majority home sales in 2015 despite what marketers and self-interested parties were claiming. Fast-forward today, and it looks like the hardcore data was accurate and the marketers missed the mark. Today’s headlines have taken quite a turn from those we saw last year. Now those pundits who said Millennials would be driving today’s housing market are scrambling to explain why they are not or [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:32-07:00October 27th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment

3 Ways to Leverage Your PR

A potential client called recently to engage the services of WAV Group Communications. Typical to most initial conversations with many potential clients in the real estate industry is the misunderstanding of what public relations is. I assured him it was much more than simply writing a good news release and publishing it on a paid wire. That topic alone is another column. But the conversation reminds me of how little time PR people take to educate our industry about what PR is. To help in this effort, let’s explore a crucial area that shows how powerful strategic PR can be [...]

Heading to CMLS? Know your BBQs

It was Wilbert Harrison in 1959 who sang “Kansas City, here I come, I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come . . . I'm gonna be standing on the corner 12th Street and Vine, With my Kansas City baby and a bottle of Kansas City wine…” (song is here) I don’t know about Harrison, but I’m going to Kansas City for CMLS and some barbecue. If you’re going to Kansas City too, I thought you might want to brush up on your barbecue. So I did a little research on the different types of BBQ, because I [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Main category|Comments Off on Heading to CMLS? Know your BBQs

7 Things every executive must know before taking questions from reporters

One thing that most executives are not trained for is talking to reporters. Some have a natural talent for it, but most learn the hard way. Having spent more than 25 years coaching executives on how to best work with reporters, here are the seven most important thing that all executives must know before they talk to the press. Getting ready The first thing to remember when a reporter calls is that most of them are writing on a deadline. Even though you may have sent them the material days ago, and they may have already contacted you with a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Main category, Our Services|Comments Off on 7 Things every executive must know before taking questions from reporters

Brokers need full data transparency and unified standards, not self reporting

The room was filled with brokers, eager to hear how the real estate industry is beginning to make great strides in wrangling Big Data to the benefits of everyone: Brokers, agents and consumers. The three panelists on stage represented a broad spectrum of the industry: Rainy Hake, a well respected brokerage leader who oversees the Technology, Marketing, Training and Strategy departments for Alain Pinel Realtors; Trent Gardner, the CEO of ListTrac, known as the “Google Analytics for Listings;” and Jeremy Crawford, the dynamic MLS leader who heads up RESO (Real Estate Standards Organization) and the chief evangelist for the Data [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Broker Technology Research, Main category|Comments Off on Brokers need full data transparency and unified standards, not self reporting

Form Simplicity adds new paperless management tools for real estate brokers

Features allow broker compliance workflow to be digitally managed Orlando, FL – September 30, 2015 – One of the real estate industry’s most popular and advanced paperless transaction solutions, Form Simplicity, has added Broker Transaction Management into its cloud-based platform. Broker Transaction Management creates a single place inside Form Simplicity for real estate brokers to manage, review, approve, track and store every agent’s transaction activity from beginning to end. Form Simplicity’s new Broker Transaction Management tools allow real estate brokers to reduce their risk through a customizable, automated, paperless review process that helps safeguard brokerage transactions to remain compliant. Brokers [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:35-07:00September 30th, 2015|Main category|Comments Off on Form Simplicity adds new paperless management tools for real estate brokers

My Florida Regional MLS provides 40,000+ members ListTrac listing analytics

Helps agents monitor, compare listing performance on real estate websites Maitland, Fla. – September 23, 2015 – My Florida Regional MLS, Florida’s largest Multiple Listing Service (MLS), has become the first MLS in Florida to allow its agents and brokers to monitor and compare how their property listings are performing on real estate websites in real time across the Internet, helping agents to monitor their success and strengthen their marketing efforts for sellers. My Florida Regional MLS now provides ListTrac, known as the “Google Analytics for Listings,” to its 40,000+ member real estate agents and brokers in the 14 central [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:35-07:00September 23rd, 2015|Main category|Comments Off on My Florida Regional MLS provides 40,000+ members ListTrac listing analytics