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Integrating Tools & Services with Moxi Works
By Tiana Baur
2017 was a BIG year for us Moxians. We added heaps of amazing partners to our Moxi Cloud open platform that now has well over 30 different tools and services. We also hit over 100,000 agents this year that use these tools and services! Because we’re always looking to provide the best-in-class to our brokerages, we’re constantly on the lookout for new tools and services to add to the Moxi Cloud. Here’s a glance at the tools and services already in the Moxi Cloud:
Joining the Moxi Cloud Open Platform
If you’re a technology or service provider in real estate, how do you work with us? There are two ways to integrate with our Moxi Cloud open platform:
1. SSO
The single sign-on (SSO) integration allows partners to use Moxi Works to grant access to the partner applications. This allows you to avoid managing end-user accounts and to provide a more seamless integration between Moxi Works sites and partner tools.
2. API
The Moxi Works API allows partner developers to access Moxi Works data, product features, and functions to enhance the user experience in the partner application and streamline interactions between systems.
We’re proud of the ease of integration we’ve built and the partnerships that have allowed us to offer brokerages best-in-class tools. Here’s feedback from some of our amazing partners:
“The team at SnapNHD really enjoyed working with the Moxi Team and API. Their API is undoubtedly the most well documented API in the real estate industry enabling our team to integrate within a week. Among my favorite features is Moxi’s ability to turn on new brokerages at the flip of a switch.” – Will Caldwell, Founder, SnapNHD & Dizzle
“We’re thrilled to partner with MoxiWorks to create a great experience for our clients. We recently launched a powerful integration between Imprev and MoxiWorks for a few large brokerage customers. Through the integration, the MoxiWorks REST API exchanges data with the Imprev platform to sync agent, listing, and contact data real-time—making agents’ lives much simpler. The MoxiWorks team was awesome to work with throughout the entire development process; thanks to MoxiWorks’ agility and support, we were able to solve challenges quickly and deliver outstanding solutions to our clients.” – Paul Cooley, CTO, Imprev
If you’re still curious what it is like to work with us, watch this video of Melissa Kwan over at Spacio (also below) – we think it will illuminate what the partnership will look like!
Interested in joining the Moxi Cloud? Fill out the form at the bottom of this page and we’ll be in touch!
How to Automatically Track Your Mileage and Save Hundreds on Taxes
By Maddie Jostol
Taxes are a pain. Real estate agents face unique challenges as independent contractors because you’re running your own small business. This makes taxes an even bigger pain.
It’s really common for agents to miss out on deductions because the tax filing process is so time consuming and frustrating. Especially when you file on a quarterly basis, the accounting responsibilities of running your small business start to take over. Have you ever thought about how much savings you’re missing out on because you didn’t take full advantage of the deductions available to you?
A few of the many deductions to look out for:
– Mileage tracking
– Business-related technology subscription fees
– Meals and entertainment when you meet with clients
– Home office (or desk fees)
We’re going to focus on mileage tracking because that seems to be a common one for agents to miss out on. We understand why… it’s a huge annoyance to write down your mileage and then remember what that trip was for later on. We all end up with endless images of our car dashboard on our phone. That’s not exactly what you want to see as you’re scrolling through photos of your niece’s soccer game last weekend. When it comes time to file your taxes, it isn’t even worth trying to sift through pictures and records of trips you took for business. That means you’re missing out on some hefty deductions, though.
The good news? There’s a better way. We came across QuickBooks Self-Employed a few months back and realized it’s the perfect tool for busy agents. It’s an accounting tool built specifically for independent contractors, so it tracks your mileage for you so you don’t miss out on any deductions. Tracking your mileage and filing your taxes has never been easier… trust us.
When you have QuickBooks Self-Employed downloaded on your smartphone, it will track your trip every time you drive (yes, it knows when you’re in the car). Go into your app, scan your recent trips, and simply swipe left for business or right for personal. QuickBooks Self-Employed will categorize those expenses accordingly, making tax filing a piece of cake.
It also tracks and categorizes your expenses, making filing Schedule C deductions easy, you can also snap a photo and file away receipts, and see a snapshot of your business finances at any time.
Want to try out QuickBooks Self-Employed? Users are finding an average of $4,340 in tax savings per year. Since they’re a partner of ours, we’re offering you 50% off your first year. Click here for more details and to get set up!
You can also find out more about QuickBooks Self-Employed below:
How Advertise Your Listing Earns More Listings
By Maddie Jostol
Win more listings by marketing your current listing. What’s that mean? Your marketing efforts do more than just promote a given listing, they contribute to the long-term growth of your business. That may sound a little convoluted, so let’s break it down.
Win a listing, market that listing, impress your clients, grow your sphere, win more listings.
Facebook is the largest social media network, with a higher user count than the population of China. Using the network, you can quick reach tens of thousands of people, inexpensively. Now imagine showing your client that you put their listing in front of that audience. The truth is, ads boost client satisfaction, which increases repeat and referral business. Of course, advertising your listing will help to sell the home quickly, as it will be exposed to thousands of people. However, there’s more to it. Your marketing is no good if your client doesn’t know about it. Your clients want to see that you’re a digital-savvy agent who is going the extra mile to get their home sold.
Digital advertising can be time consuming and frustrating to navigate though. The complicated process was built for digital marketers, so it can be a huge burden for busy agents. We created Advertise Your Listing to make promoting your listings on Facebook a breeze. Agents can advertise a listing on Facebook in just five minutes, by following three easy steps, directly from their Moxi Works account. Sound easy? It is. You can easily up your marketing game, without dedicating extra time or investing in training.
Do you need to be a social media marketing expert? No. Do you need to have a Facebook business page? No. Do I need to connect it to my personal Facebook page? No. In addition, you get to select your own budget, target audience, and the duration of the campaign. Since it’s part of your Moxi Works account, your MLS data is integrated, which means when you go to start a new ad, you select your listing and all of the information and images auto-fill. Just swap out photos or adjust text as you see necessary.
When you use Advertise Your Listing, automated reports are sent directly to your clients (you can even change the settings to select how often you’d like them to receive reports). Your clients will see the effort you’re putting in and appreciate that you’re going above and beyond. At the end of the day, it’s all about making your clients happy because, in turn, it’ll grow your business.
Why should you be expanding your pool of repeat and referral business? In today’s competitive market, sphere selling is gaining importance each and every day. When you nurture a sphere that leads to repeat and referral business, you are able to rely less on low quality purchased leads. Sounds ideal, doesn’t it? Click here to learn more and try Advertise Your Listing!
How to Set Your Business Goals for 2018
By Tiana Baur
The year is coming to an end and it’s time for a moment of reflection. How close are you to hitting your goal this year and where were you this time last year? Are you guilty of setting lame, mediocre goals? There is a right way and a wrong way to set your business goals. Matthew Ferrara, real estate mogul, keynote speaker, and consultant, has some serious tips for how to go about and set your business goals. These best practices for goal-setting will help get you to where you envision yourself and your business to be, because when you care, you succeed.
First, take time to clarify your goals.
Matthew says, “Don’t start with a dollar figure. But, instead ask yourself, ‘What is the reward for all of your hard work?’ Maybe there are personal goals like saving for your retirement or putting your kids through college. Maybe it’s a professional goal such as being the best in your market place. Whatever those goals are, and they might change over time, you need to sit down and clarify those goals.” Focus on rewards first.
Next: What will it take to reach that goal?
This is where your numbers start to come in. How much revenue do you need to generate? What about in units? How many sellers/buyers does that mean? What’s the price point? Once you’d figured these out, you can find the system that helps make them a reality. As Matthew says, “The right system will go to work for you.”
The right system will…
- Take a look at historical data
- Analyze your current pipeline of contacts and prospects
- Give you a current status
- Help you build out a plan for success
You can expect some of the plans for success to include how many people you need to add to your sphere or actions the system can take care of for you like automated emailing or creating marketing tools. “The best systems don’t just organize your information. They need to activate them and help you work through that information using a process that is aimed at your goals.
Bring focus: Accountability starts with you
You need to be able to see your goal every single day. You need to see how the actions you’re making are generating the results necessary to reach the goal. Also, the technology you use should show other steps needed in order to attain said goal if you aren’t doing enough as is. This kind of information helps you with: Budgeting and planning, managing expenses, highlighting gaps in your projections, comparing current performance to previous time periods, and focus on tasks and goals.
To summarize
- Goals are critical.
- Focus on the rewards then determine revenue necessary. Then take a look at the work required to generate the revenue.
- Connect your goals to your systems. Make sure your plan is driven by the right data that guides you step by step to the goal.
- Always be measuring progress. Make sure your system helps you keep an eye on your own progress, not just daily tasks.
If you’d like, you can watch the entire video below on how to set your business goals for 2018:
For those Moxi Engage users reading this, you can now review your previous years’ goals in Moxi Engage and compare and contrast how things are going in your business. This enables you to better choose your goals for the future.
If it’s financial guidance you’re seeking, we have a recorded webinar for you to watch here.
So, what are you waiting for? Hit the ground running in 2018 with goals and grit beside you! Trust us, your future self will thank you for doing this.
My Proudest Moment as a Moxian
By Regina Kelley, Senior Manager, PMO & Quality Assurance
I love what I do here at Moxi! I have been a Moxian for almost five years and have had the opportunity to wear many different hats in that time. My role has morphed and changed, year over year thanks to my amazing and supportive manager, Mark Carlson, who continues to believe in me, challenge me, and give me the opportunity to do what I love – being a leader at Moxi Works.
My proudest moment being a leader here at Moxi has been helping a fellow Moxian grow his own career and watching him become a strong and successful leader. Andy’s journey these past nine months is worth sharing and could perhaps inspire others to grow their own careers as well!
Be an expert or demonstrate knowledge
Andy started his career as a summer intern while he was still in college and rocked the testing world right out of the gate. His performance and attitude earned him a full-time position when he graduated, and over the next six years Andy expanded his knowledge and perfected his craft. He worked hard to grow his testing and technical skills, quickly becoming our team’s go-to-guy!
Find a path, make a plan
In the first quarter of 2017, we were beginning our Quarterly Review Cycle and were talking about his goals and what was next. Our discussion lead me to ask Andy what he enjoyed most about his job and what he does daily here at Moxi. His answer came fast: He enjoyed the technical aspects of testing! He also mentioned enjoying helping his fellow teammates… So we went with it!
I approached our VP of Technology and pitched the idea of this new role on the testing team and after getting the thumbs up we created a new role just for Andy to drive and work toward – a technical lead.
The testing team had never had a lead before, so I asked Andy to do some research and define this new role and with that, a path was created. He created a plan and off he went to work toward achieving this new goal. I am a big believer in employees taking control of their own careers and this is a great example of how to get started. Find a path, and make a plan!
Create opportunities for growth
In order to grow on this new path, to become this new Technical Lead, I had to create new opportunities for him to step up. The more responsibility Andy took on and succeeded at, the more his passion grew for what he was doing, so much so that he even began creating his own opportunities for growth. It didn’t take long for Andy to reach that goal and we had ourselves a Lead.
He was doing so well and gaining so much momentum in his new role, I started asking, what’s next? How do you feel about Leadership and Management? Again, with the quick answer – I’m not interested in that, I like the technical side. But I could see that he did enjoy helping his fellow teammates and mentoring – and he was natural at it! So, I suggested to him a new growth opportunity – to mentor/ manage an intern. Although reluctant at first, he jumped in with both feet.
Check In
After that our weekly check-in meeting dynamic began to change. As the weeks went by it shifted from strictly a test status update to more focused conversations about leading and mentoring on the team. We talked about the best ways to get things done, how to grow his mentee and help others on the team continue their growth. Every week Andy walked away with new objectives and opportunities for him to stretch himself in a different way, a non-technical way.
After a couple months went by I asked Andy how he was feeling about his mentorship, and his answer didn’t come quite as quickly as before – surprisingly, he was really enjoying it! I could see the great leadership potential Andy had, he just needed to see it in himself.
Strengthen what you love
Andy and I will continue to rock the testing world here at Moxi together, and we will continue to push him and give him new opportunities to try different things – even things he may not know he will enjoy.
If you take one thing away from this story, know that you can do this too. Start by asking yourself what you love most about what you do every day, and go with it! Share that with your manager or mentor and look for new opportunities to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and take chances. You won’t know until you try, and you may find a new passion you didn’t even know you had!
How INRIX Drive Time® Wins Business
By Maddie Jostol
We dedicate a huge portion of our lives to commuting. Commutes continue to get longer, hugely affecting where people choose to live.
The average American commutes over 25 minutes each way to and from work, according to Business Insider. This is the longest it’s been since the Census began tracking commute time in 1980, having grown 20% since then, as reported by Washington Post.
Agents are challenged to take this into consideration when finding a client their perfect home. Buyers need to know what their commute will be before putting in an offer on a house. The good news? This is really easy for those of you who are Moxi Present users. Every MLS listing on a client’s list can be shown with the actual driving commute time to any location.
Where is the property in comparison to my office? My kids’ school? Using data integration, Moxi Present’s Drive Time feature shows the buyer what their commute will be like during the home search process. Each Moxi Present presentation is powered with MLS data integration, delivering information to your client and updated in real-time. This integration means that each and every time your client opens the presentation, the property information is up-to-date, no matter when you created it. This feature is in addition to functions that allow agents to add rich media, such as video, customize pages, show financial comparisons, and much more.
When looking for a new home, it’s important for homeowners to be able to imagine themselves there – how will their furniture look in the home? What’s the community like? What school district is it in? And, of course, what will their everyday commute be like? Offering presentations with Drive Time lends a personal touch that achieves this. Your client is automatically given context regarding what their life would be like living in a given home.
Trust us… Your clients will love it. Moxi Present is built to enable agents to give their clients a personalized, unique experience. Agents can deliver data to their clients that is continually up-to-date and a user experience that is unsurpassed.
Having Drive Time in your presentation gives it a personal touch, which is key during this process. These are the details that add up and make for happy clients. The better experience your clients have working with you, the more likely they are to generate referral business for you. Growing your repeat and referral business and strengthening your sphere means you’ll be able to rely less on low quality purchased leads. Exceeding expectations is vital in today’s competitive market – use tools that will not only meet client expectations, but will blow them away.
Want to see for yourself? Check out a sample presentation here.
Introducing: PadStyler, Virtual Home Staging Experts
By Tiana Baur
Moxi Works has partnered with PadStyler to give agents another way to boost their selling potential by helping buyers visualize the home in a better light. As visual home staging experts, PadStyler truly is the quintessential addition to the home staging efforts agents are currently doing.
Sell the vision
PadStyler isn’t necessarily meant to be a home staging replacement – although it can be. It’s meant to help agents up the game of their listing with amazing virtual staging. Why is this so necessary? It’s often hard to envision what a home could look like with different furniture or even a remodel. PadStyler brings the buyers’ visions to life in more ways than one.
Virtual furniture replacement
PadStyler can transform poorly or outdated furnished properties into stunning homes, so buyers can get a more realistic idea of what it will be like when they call the house “home.” This is especially good when trying to give the home a modern feel to it, without having to update the actual house.
Renovation vision
Kitchens might need a little updating and it could be a reason a home isn’t sold straight away, regardless of how amazing the in-home staging is. Some buyers just have a harder time then others when it comes to seeing what a house can be vs. what it is today. With PadStyler, buyers can visualize a beautiful renovated kitchen right in front of them. This goes for other rooms, paint color, flooring replacement – you name it.
Curb Appeal
Bad roof, dry nasty grass, or poorly tended to plants? No worries, PadStyler ups curb appeal in a major way by showcasing the exterior property photos in the best light.
Integration
The best part about this new Moxi Cloud service, is that it is fully integrated in a way that makes it a piece of cake for agents using it. All initiated via their Photo Gallery and Listing Management, here is what it will look like:
If it wasn’t obvious already, we’re extremely excited about this addition to the Moxi Cloud! We love PadStyler because it works for agents that are not currently doing home staging of any kind, but also for those that are home staging hooked. It is the perfect addition to all home staging efforts.
Happy to have you, PadStyler!
15 Ways to Stay in Flow With Your Sphere
By Tiana Baur
Staying in flow with your sphere is possibly the single most important piece of maintaining a successful real estate business and personal brand. How you choose to go about sphere marketing is what helps define your personal style, brand, and keeps people coming back for more (or doesn’t).
We’ve put together a list of 15 ways you can stay in flow and tackle sphere marketing. By no means is it necessary to start allocating all of your time and resources to do every one of these, but it is highly advised to incorporate at least five – that is if you haven’t already.
1. Instagram
Are you on the gram? Do you post regularly? If you said yes to both of those, congratulations are in order because you are far ahead of your peers. Just don’t forget the 80/20 rule. 80% of your posts should be educational and entertaining, and only 20% should be promoting your business i.e. posting listing photos, just sold, open houses, etc.
2. Use Google Alerts
If you work in a city, chances are you have some pretty successful clients who are corporate big dogs. Set up Google Alerts (which are free) so you get an email every time certain words or names pop up in news. If they get a promotion or their company is in the news for something awesome, drop them a quick email congratulating them. Just go to google.com/alerts to set them up.
3. Neighborhood News
If you’re a Moxi Engage user, Neighborhood News is the perfect set it and forget it touch point. It sends automated market snapshots, personalized for each subscribed contact in an agent’s account. These monthly emails keep your sphere up-to-date on the market in their area.
4. Moxi Insights
Moxi Insights enables you to know your sphere better, faster. It is a prospect insights tool that instantly supplies you with access to extensive public data about contacts in your sphere. Here’s 100 ways to use Insights for your sphere marketing.
5. Snapchat
We really only advise you to try out snapchat for your client marketing if you’re mainly working with millennials. That said, if you are, this can be a great way to stay top of mind. Send a snap when you’re walking through a house you think they’d love or maybe you’re at Home Depot and they’re having a sale on holiday decorations. A quick snap is short and sweet.
6. Facebook
If you aren’t already on Facebook, shame on you. If you are, are you posting enough? Once a week isn’t enough. Make sure you’re remaining active on all of your social channels, especially Facebook. It’s where the most people are – two BILLION people to be exact – and where you need to be posting your open house info, but more importantly what is going on in your life. This will help people establish a long-term connection with you.
7. Moxi Present
For those of you using Present, it’s not just for listings. Since they are infinitely customizable, you can make a presentation or nice slide deck around practically anything. Try making one about new, exciting things going in on your specialized area or their neck of the woods.
8. Be helpful
Everyone is busy. Everyone has a full inbox and too many balls in the air. Focus on what your clients need. Is it ideas for organizing their new home? Market news? Anything that lets them know you’re thinking of them and want to help is a good way to stay in touch.
9. Birthdays
Birthdays should be a regular touch point. With Moxi Engage you can use special dates stay in flow. If you can’t think of something to give them, send them a gift from Loop & Tie. It lets you send gifts from curated selections. Simply choose a price point and let your client pick from the amazing array of gifts. By selecting a private price level, your client gets what they want and they never see the pricing.
10. House-iversaries
Just like birthdays, you can set house-iversaries as regular touch points. Celebrate the purchase that turned the house into their home every year.
11. Actual anniversaries
Spread the love. Whether it’s a 2 years, 10 years, or 36 years, sending flowers or a nice bottle of wine is the perfect touch for a couple that is celebrating their special day. Don’t underestimate the impression this will make.
12. Reconnect via direct mail
When it comes to your most important clients, reconnecting with direct mail is never a bad idea. Choose something relevant to them and their area.
13. Monthly E-News
E-Newsletters can be a really great touch point if you put in the time and effort to make them to be. Family-friendly events coming up, a new restaurant, etc., in your specialized neighborhood/area.
14. Do something nice – out of the blue.
A gift or card is nice on an anniversary or your birthday, but it’s even better when it’s unexpected, on a random day of a random week. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to send cards and gifts on anniversaries and birthdays and you should. However, a LOT of people are going to do that. A sure way to always be thought of fondly is to do something nice for them, just because.
15. Leave comments
Part of me felt like I didn’t need to put this on the list. The truth is, it’s not just enough to exist on social media. The entire point is to connect and participate. Comment on their posts (not every time, that would be creepy) when it’s something you can congratulate them on, relate to, or can add to the conversation.
Regardless of how much sphere marketing you’re already executing, it’s always good to set new goals, especially in a new year. Try adding one of these ways to stay in flow with your sphere in order to create longer, stronger relationships for more repeat and referral business.
Compass: What Goes Up, Must Come Down
By York Baur, CEO of Moxi Works
If you’re reading this, you have no doubt seen the news about Softbank (the world’s largest tech investment fund) investing $450 Million into the tech brokerage Compass – emphasis on the brokerage. This morning I sent out a note to all of our employees here at Moxi Works, and have decided to share them here. As a true “techie,” I’m sure it surprises no one to learn that I have some opinions about this.
For starters, Compass is a brokerage, not a tech company. However, like Redfin (who has continually overpromised and undelivered), they’re being valued as a technology company, not a brokerage, which means it’s valued at several times the valuation of brokerages.
This fundamental disconnect will work for a while, but gravity is pervasive, and the valuation will fall back to earth soon enough, particularly when there is a real estate market correction.
In short – this is the Greater Fool Theory at work.
What does this all mean?
To quote Inman, “Compass touts itself as “the first modern real estate platform, which reduces the friction and frustration associated with selling, buying, or renting a property by providing real estate agents with a set of powerful tools to increase efficiency and sales volume.”
They have to pay off agents with large sums of money to consider leaving their current brokerage for Compass and their platform. Hence, they are a brokerage, not a technology company.
Here’s a fact: You don’t have to with a true open platform and the technology that embodies it.
There’s nothing Compass has that we don’t already have or that isn’t available today from our more than 35 partners. Our success, the success of the Moxi Cloud open platform isn’t a theory – we can prove that our stuff makes agents more productive and brokerages more profitable. To that end, their CEO Robert Reffkin said today that agents that come to Compass do 24.9% better the year after. We know that agents that adopt Moxi Engage do 39% better, and are happy to walk you through that data.
News like today’s strikes fear in the heart of brokerages, as it probably should. Like every problem, there is a solution. That solution is the Moxi Cloud, which takes Compass head on and gives agents exactly what they need to be more successful than their competition.
I encourage you to contact us – we’d be happy to answer any questions you have, whether it’s about Moxi Works are not. We’re here to help the brokerage.
2018 Business Planning for Agents
By Maddie Jostol
Real estate agents: Now is the time to start your 2018 business plan. The end of the year arrived quickly (as always), which has most of us reflecting on the past year and setting goals for the coming year. As an agent, what’s your plan for ensuring next year is even more successful than this one?
It’s time to start your business plan, set goals, and put the right tools in place that will get you headed in the right direction – towards financial success. Here are a few things you should be thinking about this time of year, including a handful of free resources to help you get a jump start.
Set your GCI goal
Goal setting is a key piece of the planning puzzle. It’s vital for you to know what you’re working towards in order to map all of your efforts towards meeting that goal. Your GCI (Gross Commissionable Income) goal is a cornerstone to your financial plan, so set it early on and create a plan to reach it.
For those of you who are Moxi Engage users, make sure you enter your GCI goal into your Moxi account. This will show you the progress you’ve made towards your goal throughout the year. This transparency allows you to manage your time and finances more effectively. Want to learn more about this? You can in our help center.
Get a system in place
Get all of your processes in place so you can start the year off on the right foot. This includes a reliable accounting system and a smooth process for tax filing. As independent contractors, agents face unique challenges in tracking their expenses and filing quarterly taxes. Make sure you know what tools to use and which deductions to look out for. Want some tips? Download our Agent’s Guide to Stress-Free Taxes.
Our recommendation for 2018 is QuickBooks Self-Employed, an accounting app built specifically for independent contractors. It’s the perfect solution for busy agents. QuickBooks Self-Employed automates expense tracking, mileage tracking, and digital receipt storage and categorization. All of this is done easily on your smartphone, while on-the-go.
To give you a head start, we’ve partnered with QuickBooks to offer you a full year of QuickBooks Self-Employed for 50% off.
Make a plan
Whether you’re already starting your plan, or you’ve never created a business plan before – now is the time.
Join us for a free webinar on Tuesday, December 19th. We’ll have experts including Eric Thompson, Co-Founder of Windermere Leadership Academy and President of Windermere Services CO, and Charlie Snyder, Real Estate Specialist at QuickBooks. You’ll learn about getting started on your business plan, goal setting, saving money on taxes as an independent contractor, and managing your finances and business expenses throughout the year. They’re ready to bring you tools, templates, methods, and tips to help you be financially successful in 2018.
