Steve Studley, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development from The Hasson Company in Portland, OR discusses how The Hasson Company has provided their agents with new tools and training that are necessary in today’s market.

What areas are you still investing despite the economic climate and why?

At The Hasson Company, we pride ourselves on being surrounded by the best of the best. Mike Hasson has never strived to be the biggest company. His goal is to offer agents the best services so that they in turn can provide their clients with the best possible real estate experience. We invest heavily in strong management to support our associates.

We recently added an Administrator of Agent Services. With so many agents being forced to eliminate their paid assistants, we saw the perfect opportunity to implement a service we have been talking about for many years. This new position acts as a paid assistant per listing or per project by providing the agent with marketing support, transactions service, open houses service or even by creating a CMA for the agent to present to a potential client. Our agents no longer have to worry about hiring an assistant back until business picks up to where they can financially support one.

We continue to offer top-notch education to both new and existing agents. Our Continuing Education Opportunities (CEO) program provides agents with new tools and training that are necessary in today’s market. We are helping agents get back to the basics as well as continue to teach them how to use technology to enhance their business opportunities. From building websites to holding open houses to asking for business in person vs. using the internet, we are dedicated to education.

Lastly, not only are we embarking on a new generation of advertising to reach the largest pool of buyers, we are creating the best user experience possible when someone visits www.hasson.com. In 2008, Hasson.com was recognized as the 6th best real estate website in America by Real Trends and 1000Watt Consulting, based on detailed attention to search, our use of video and our area guides. They also shared with us innovative ways we can improve the user experience. Our dedication to technology keeps us persistent in building the best tools and always being ahead of the curve.

How will real estate advertising dollars be spent in the future? How will real estate marketing be different?

As we see newspapers folding across America , we remain committed to identifying solutions for promoting our properties and our brand, with an aggressive online strategy designed to capture website traffic and maximize our sellers’ odds of success. Our branding dollars are focused on motivating and capturing the largest pool of buyers in our marketplace through a mix of media, including radio, web and various newspapers, magazines, and visitor guides. We are also testing social networking platforms as a tool to get in front of a targeted demographic and deliver a specific message, and thus far, this medium proves to work well for branding as well as communicating value to our agents.

Our website is all about differentiating our company and associates as leaders in our market. As we promote our differentiation in our marketplace, we are continuously evaluating our success by measuring traffic, agent and client feedback as well as leads and closed sales. Ultimately, the focus is on educating the public about our exceptional service and capturing those who visit www.hasson.com through the stickiness of our site and our registration program.

What have been the best cost saving measures you have taken?

Companies in today’s economic climate must find cost-saving solutions while ensuring that agent services are not compromised. Now more than ever, The Hasson Company has found opportunities to reduce costs while creating mutually advantageous solutions for the firm and our suppliers. From office products purchased from specific vendors to leases on equipment and buildings, our upper management has worked endlessly to ensure we remain profitable while delivering on our agents’ expectation.

Not every CEO, President or independent operator has the time, experience and know-how to comb the ledgers, review every line item, revisit every contract and make smart decisions when it comes to the bottom line. This is why having a trusted staff of experts is key. In one case, we successfully reduced our copiers, faxes and paper expense for 2009 by $65,000.

Posted by: Steve Studley, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development
The Hasson Company, Portland , OR