A veteran agent with over 17 years of experience, Todd L. Crosbie of Coldwell Banker Devonshire in Denver knows a good thing when he sees it. Read on to see how his commitment to a virtual partnership with REVA Teams resulted in an immediate pay off of more time, peace of mind, and forward momentum for his business.

Dear Michael,

When I attended your seminar several months ago and heard you speak about the concept of virtual assistance and REVA Teams, I realized immediately this could be the answer for me. I contacted REVA Teams right away and 3 months later I’m amazed at how quickly everything has fallen into place. On a simple cost basis – I’m spending $500 a month on VA services, as opposed to $2800 a month for onsite services. This is saving me over $2300 monthly in assistance costs for the same amount of work. In my opinion, I truly believe that I’ve accomplished more with my VA team in 3 months than I did with my onsite assistant in 6 months.

The difference virtual assistance has made to my business is huge. I’ve had onsite assistants in the past and felt like I was a manager and a psychologist at times. Working from a distance is a lot more efficient and there’s a lot less headache because you take away the personality issues and the little face-to-face extras that involve time throughout the day. My last onsite assistant was capable, but one day as I watched her take yet another break– and couldn’t remember when my last break was, I wondered what happened to the idea of having an assistant to free up my time. It simply wasn’t happening. With a Virtual Assistant, I know that I’m only paying for actual time worked, which is much more efficient.

The biggest thing is that it’s allowed me to do the projects I’ve been putting off for years. My marketing materials were already created, but nothing was being done with them. My team now handles mailings to my sphere, sending out brochures, and systematic Just Listed/Just Sold postcards. All of this was dependent on me to do it before, and I just couldn’t get to it. 95% of my business comes from past clients and friends, but I hadn’t been good at reminding them that I’m here in the real estate business. Now my name is in front of them at regular intervals.

My virtual team also maintains the listings on my website. I have a great website and loved it except for one thing – I couldn’t get my listings on the site and therefore I didn’t promote it because it wasn’t up to date. The idea of someone going to my website, clicking on my listings page and not finding anything was a source of potential embarrassment to me. With no evidence of listing activity, the next thought would likely be “what’s this agent doing in the way of business?” Now there’s a great record on the website of my past and present activity that speaks volumes.

Some things have turned out to be a little different than my perception coming into the virtual partnership. I thought that I would just designate a project to be turned over and that would be it – but I’ve found you do have to stay involved in the management to some extent. There are some details back and forth about projects, but this is OK because of the overall time efficiency; the amount of wasted time is gone. People have asked me about trust issues, such as giving out sensitive information like account access to someone I haven’t actually met. This is part of the package – you have to be willing to trust, and having a good personality fit with your Team Lead is essential for a great working relationship. I feel more comfortable putting my trust in REVA Teams and my Team Lead than I would an onsite assistant.

I want to encourage you to keep on spreading the good word about virtual assistance. For agents considering an assistant, I wholeheartedly recommend choosing virtual assistance over an onsite assistant.

My thanks to you for the push in the right direction!

Todd

Todd L. Crosbie
Coldwell Banker Devonshire
105 Fillmore Street, Ste. 300
Denver, CO 80206
Phone: (303) 887-9992
Fax: (303) 377-4733
Email: TLC@ToddLCrosbie.com
Web: www.toddlcrosbie.com

Thank you Todd, and congratulations for taking the initiative and that "leap of faith" in utilizing the awesome power of virtual assistance! 

To explore the possibility of whether your business is ready to be supported by a Virtual Team, simply CLICK HERE to complete the free online business assessment —it will likely be the most important thing you ever do for your career.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't miss Todd as one of my featured panel members during the "Meet The VA Of Your Dreams!" session on November 5, 2004 at the upcoming NAR annual convention.  This issue's ANNOUNCEMENT covers all the details.

Because Todd is our success story of the month, he will receive his choice of the three valuable tools below:  (BTW, he selected Imprev --an awesome choice to boost your business via professional quality multi-media marketing materials)
 

Remember, even if your story isn't chosen you still win because you get to see how other top performers do it. Besides, you can always try again!