Article from Florida Realtor® Magazine
Published by the Florida Association of Realtors®

Tom Scaglione says his Microsoft Office XP software suite plays a key role in gaining new listings in his market area. For instance, in February, Scaglione, a sales professional with Avalar Realty of Tampa Bay, Realtors® in Tampa, put his integrated software tools to good use when preparing for a listing presentation for a $394,000 home in Tampa’s West Chase area.

Because the listing had expired, Scaglione first downloaded the seller’s contact information from the MLS into Microsoft Access, the database component of Office XP. Using a template in Microsoft Word, the word-processing component, Scaglione quickly dispatched a personalized letter and a seller’s marketing plan to the owner.

After getting a positive response from the owner, Scaglione took his Toshiba laptop computer to the listing appointment and used Microsoft PowerPoint, the presentation component, to illustrate the advantages of using his service.

Office-management software such as Office XP — which also includes Excel (spreadsheet) and Outlook (e-mail) — makes it easy for Scaglione to efficiciently conduct his marketing and communications tasks, allowing more time with clients and customers. “I get full use of Microsoft Office,” he says.

A real estate professional since 1965, Scaglione has used stand-alone word-processing and spreadsheet software since the mid-1980s. He switched to the Microsoft Office suite in the early 1990s and has upgraded several times since. Early in 2003, he bought a new Dell desktop computer and upgraded to the professional version of Office XP, which includes Access as well as Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

Here are some of the ways he uses his Office software tools:

1. Build Contact Lists

Scaglione uses the database-management features of Access to keep up-to-date records of his active clientele, usually 40 to 50 people, as well as previous clients and customers, prospects, referral sources and other members of the community. He gathers contact information — name, address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address — following a phone conversation, e-mail inquiry or face-to-face meeting. Access also lets him enter follow-up and tracking information, such as the date he received an initial inquiry. “When working with Internet buyers, I send a reminder every three months to see if they’re still planning to move to the Tampa Bay area,” he says. “I don’t want to be a ‘spammer’ [one who sends unsolicited e-mail], so I re-obtain their permission beforehand.
 

2. Integrate Client Data

Access gives Scaglione a convenient starting point for integrating client and customer records with Office’s word-processing, spreadsheet and e-mail applications. For instance, when it’s time to send a new issue of his electronic newsletter, he exports the mailing list from his Access database in Excel spreadsheet format, and then uses ColoradoSoft’s WorldMerge software to send the newsletter to his target audience.

3. Effectively Sort E-mail

Scaglione, who teaches an advanced e-mail class for real estate professionals, uses Outlook to organize in-coming and outgoing e-mail into different folders, such as articles received from online news services or messages from colleagues.

But he says the biggest benefit of Outlook is the ability to create a master “client” folder to organize online client correspondence. Within that folder, he sets up separate folders for individual clients and customers. “As I receive e-mails, I move them to their folders,” he says. “I also answer their messages from those folders, so my response stays there.” After a closing, Scaglione archives e-mail folders for long-term record keeping.

4. Write Personalized Letters

Using Word’s template function, Scaglione created a variety of form letters. When he wants to contact past clients, customers, property owners or other individuals, he quickly customizes correspondence with the person’s name and address. “Each morning, I can send out 10 to 12 letters in a few minutes using my Word templates,” he says.

5. Prepare Closing Cost Estimates

Scaglione finds that Excel’s spreadsheet templates provide an ideal way to prepare closing-cost estimates for buyers and net-proceeds estimates for sellers. First, Scaglione prepares a template that includes individual costs, fees and other items along with automatic calculation functions that total all the items in one column. Then, he simply inputs the person’s name, property address and contract amount, and Excel does the math.

Scaglione then prints out the spreadsheet for in-town buyers and sellers or uses Adobe Acrobat presentation software to create a portable document format (PDF) that can be e-mailed to out-of-town buyers and sellers. “Excel is an efficient calculator that enhances my ability to do business,” he says.

6. Make Effective Presentations

Scaglione uses PowerPoint to create effective listing presentations — both in person and online. “I can sit down with clients in their homes or e-mail my presentation to them,” he says. “I also include a PowerPoint slide presentation on my Web site for prospects to download. That feature alone puts me in front of people 24/7.”

Scaglione used a custom template for his PowerPoint presentation and tailored it to his needs. “My presentation — about 130 slides highlighting my services, company and marketing program — covers everything from the initial listing to the closing,” he says, “so sellers know what’s involved.”

“One of the best features of any integrated office suite software is that it’s easy to learn, and all the commands and menus are similar ... that’s a time-saving benefit,” says Scaglione.

This column, designed to offer examples of how salespeople and brokers are using software in their offices, won the 2000 and 2001 Best Regular Column from the Florida Magazine Association. The column is for general information only. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the views by Florida Realtor magazine or the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR).

Questions, comments or suggestions on this article? Send us an e-mail: flrealtor@far.org.

© 2003 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS