Page 1

Fab Four2011 Featured Agent Branding Program

Detailed FAQs

Page 2

General Q&A

Q. What’s changing from last year?

A. This year’s Featured Agent Branding Program includes FOUR of the industry’s top websites: Realtor.com, Trulia, Yahoo Real Estate and Zillow.

 

Q. What is included on the Agent Branding Pages of these Websites?

A. The Agent Branding Pages includes the agent’s name, photo, phone number and link to their personal website.

 

Q: How will my leads be handled on these Agent Branded Pages?

A: All leads will go Direct to Agent and there is no 15 minute claim time.

Q.  What time period does this cover?

A.  Coverage ends on March 31, 2012.

 

Q.  When can I sign up?

A.  The sign up period begins on March 7, 2011. However, keep in mind, the open enrollment discounted price of $149 is only good through April 1, 2011.

Q.  Can I purchase only one site?

A.  No – this is a package and all four sites must be purchased together.

 

Page 3

Cost

Credit Card Transaction Date Cost

From: 3/7/2011 To: 4/1/2011 $149

From: 4/2/2011 To: 4/30/2011 $229

From: 5/1/2011 To: 5/31/2011 $205

From: 6/1/2011 To: 6/30/2011 $180

From: 7/1/2011 To: 7/31/2011 $160

From: 8/1/2011 To: 8/31/2011 $145

From: 9/1/2011 To: 9/30/2011 $120

From: 10/1/2011 To: 10/31/2011 $100

From: 11/1/2011 To: 11/30/2011 $75

From: 12/1/2011 To: 12/31/2011 $55

From: 1/1/2012 To: 3/31/2012 $30

Q.  How much does it cost?A.  If you commit to this program during the open enrollment period, which is between March 7, 2011 and April 1, 2011 the price is $149. The following details the subscription charges after April 1, 2011:

Page 4

Detailed FAQs

• What is claiming and how does it work?

• Can our listing agent claim their listings using another email besides the Trident email?

• Claiming and co-listing agents

• Can another agent fraudulently claim my listing?

• What happens if an agent has an existing deal?

• What happens if we recruit or acquire an agent with an existing deal?

• Will agents show up in agent directories?

Page 5

What is claiming and how does it work?

• Zillow/Yahoo and Trulia (Z/Y&T) allow agents to logon to the web sites and “claim” listings as their own. Claiming does not exist on Realtor.com.

• Z/Y&T will automatically claim Coldwell Banker’s listings on behalf of our listing agents, based on the daily feeds we send them.

• Currently, an agent claims a listing on the Z/Y&T web sites by– registering and creating an account on the web site– manually finding and choosing the listings that are theirs, and– continually going back and tagging all new listings

• Now Z/Y&T will automatically match and claim listings for our agents.

• Trulia will create an account for every agent that buys the FAB 4 product. – Agents can access their account by registering with their email address that is in

Trident

• Zillow/Yahoo will create accounts for every agent with a listing.– Agents can access by registering with their email address that is in Trident

Page 6

What is claiming and how does it work? (cont.)

• While it is possible for agents to logon to Zillow and change information on their listings, the information sent nightly by Coldwell Banker will update and overwrite any changes.

– It is best for agents to make listing changes in their MLS or on CaliforniaMoves.com. This way the changes will be applied to their listings on all partner sites, not just the listings on Zillow or Trulia.

– Regardless of any changes made by the agent, leads will always be routed through LeadRouter.

• For existing agent accounts:– If the agent created the account using the email address in Trident, their listings

will be automatically tied to their existing account.– If the agent used a different email address to create the account, they should add

their Trident email to their Zillow profile so that the system will automatically tie their listings to the existing account.

Page 7

Can our listing agent claim their listings using another email besides the Trident email?

• Yes, it is possible for a listing agent to create a new account on the Z/Y&T using an email that is different from what we have in Trident.

• The agent can then manually go out and claim all of their listings. They will, however, have to continue manually claiming all of their new listings.

• If an agent wants to use an email that we are not feeding Z/Y&T from Trident, what the agent should do is:

– Logon once to the site using the Trident email address, and then add the desired email to the account. The account profiles can accommodate multiple accounts.

– The agent can then use the desired email to logon and receive information from Z/Y&T.

• Alternatively, if an agent previously created an account with an email address other than the one in Trident, they can simply add the Trident email address to their existing account and all the listings will be tied to it.

• Again, note that all leads from the Z/Y&T sites will go to the primary listing agent’s LeadRouter email address and this can not be changed.

Page 8

Claiming and co-listing agents

• Will co-listings and team properties be automatically added tied to the listing?– No, a listing will only be tied to one agent, the primary listing agent.

• Can a co-listing agent claim an agents account?– Yes. The same process that allows our agents to add additional emails to their

Z/Y&T account, will also allow another co-listing agent to claim the listing. – While the listing will then show up under the co-listing agent’s listing inventory,

note that• the co-listing agent’s profile information will not display on the listing• NRT will continue to be the sole source of listing information and updates• all leads will be sent to the LeadRouter email address of the NRT agent

• Only the primary listing agent can change information on the listing (e.g. an agent photo, contact information, etc), whether an agent has purchased Featured Agent Branding or not.

• Remember any data that is manually changed by agents on the Z/Y&T web sites will be over-written by the next daily listing feed from NRT.

Page 9

Claiming and co-listing agents

• Any time a co-listing agent claims a listing – an email will be sent to the primary agent informing them that someone else has also claimed the listing.

• Example from Trulia:

Page 10

Can another agent fraudulently claim my listing?

• Yes. The same process that allows our agents to add additional emails and allows co-listing agents to claim listings does also open the door for a competing agent to fraudulently claim a listing as their own.

• While this does sometimes happen it is very uncommon.

• Any time anyone claims a lead (whether it is the listing agent themselves, a co-listing agent or bad actor), the primary listing agent will receive an email informing them of the action.

• Note that another agent can not change an agent photo, change contact information, or redirect leads on NRT listings, whether an agent has purchased Featured Agent Branding or not.

• If an agent finds out that another agent has wrongly claimed their listing, the agent or their manager should reach to the offending agent or their broker to get them to stop. We often see examples of agents who were either mistaken or didn’t understand what they were doing, are apologetic, and quickly fix the situation.

• Any agent who fraudulently claims listings and refuses to correct the situation is violating legal, ethical and Association standards. The office manager should report the offending agent the local board and the agent should inform Zillow or Trulia. Zillow and Trulia both react very quickly to fix these situations and ban offenders.

Page 11

What happens if an agent has an existing deal?

• If agents have an existing paid relationship with either Trulia or Zillow, the following will happen to that relationship when Featured Agent Branding program begins:

– The agents existing deal will remain in force – it will be not be terminated by Trulia or Zillow.

– This is because ZY&T’s agent products offer more services than the Featured Agent Branding program will provide and so agents may want to leave it in place.

– Zillow’s agent packages can provide: • Featured Listings, Buyers Agent List, Enhanced Property Listing Page,

Showcase Ads, Premier Agent Logos, E-mail Showcase Ads.– Trulia’s agent packages can provide:

• Featured Listings, Quick Connect Lead Generator, Enhanced Property Listing Page, Prioritized Customer Support, Contact Info on Search Page, Dedicated Customer Success Team and Client Email Tracking

– The FAB 4 product only provides Featured Listings and Enhanced Property Listing Page.

Page 12

What happens if an agent has an existing deal? (cont.)

• Should an agent wish to terminate their paid relationship with Zillow or Trulia, they can, but the companies will not refund any paid fees.

– While this is generally a non-issue for agents on a month-to-month deal, this could be a bigger issue for agents with an annual package.

• Once the Featured Agent Branding program begins, we technically control whether an agent’s personal branding shows up on their listings; Z/Y&T will no longer control this.

• If an agent has an existing pre-paid annual deal with either Trulia or Zillow, and the agent does not wish to pay for Featured Agent Branding, we will end up in a situation where an agent that has paid hundreds of dollars will not have their personal branding on the site.

– This is not acceptable

• If this scenario occurs, the agent should get proof of the existence of their existing deal and forward it to their manager. We will then exempt the agent and turn on agent branding for which ever site the agent paid for and leave it on through the remainder of the program year.

Page 13

What happens if we recruit or acquire an agent with an existing deal?

• If, after the start of the Featured Agent Branding program, we acquire or recruit agents, we will offer the “existing deal exemption” to agents that are on existing one-year deals.

• After the agent has been exempted for that first program year, the agent must pay the branding fee for Featured Agent Branding to keep their personal branding in place.

• This exemption deal will not be extended to agents with existing monthly contracts or agents who engage in any kind of contract with Zillow or Trulia after the start of the program.

What happens if an agent has an existing deal? (cont.)

Page 14

Will agents show up in agent directories?

Agents will show up in the agent directories on the different FAB 4 sites under different circumstances:

• Realtor.com– All agents who are members of NAR will be in the directory IF they have entered

their NRDS # into their agent control panel.– Agents who have purchased Featured Agent Branding will show up more

prominently and with more information.

• Trulia– All agents buying FAB 4 will be in the agent directory

• Zillow– All agents buying FAB 4 with active listings will be listed in the agent directory

• Yahoo– Does not have an agent directory.