First Instant Leads, now comes part two
Last week, Trulia.com announced “Instant Leads,” a lead notification system powered by Twilio.com that automatically calls the agent’s mobile phone when consumers leave their phone number, which instantly connects both client and Realtor on a phone call.
On the heels of the announcement, we were the only outlet to notice the breadcrumbs leading up to today’s announcement that Trulia is unveiling their own version of Realtor ratings.
Trulia is announcing “Social Search” which Trulia’s Head of Communications, Ken Shuman tells us “is a simple way for consumers to discover trusted real estate professionals by searching their Facebook social network for agents their family, friends and acquaintances recommend.”
Betting on digital social endorsements
The new feature allows Realtors to “boost their ranking in Trulia’s Social Search index can begin by asking their clients to submit recommendations on Trulia immediately. When agents gather recommendations on Trulia, the Social Search index helps them generate online word-of mouth referrals by connecting with their clients’ social graph,” Shuman said.
Robert Watson, VP, Regional Manager of Atlantic & Pacific Real Estate (CA), Inc. said, “Very cool. The integration and posting of a recommendation from Trulia to Facebook is amazing. Trulia continues to provide the real estate community with some if the best free lead generating tools in the industry.”
Trulia execs weigh in
“Finding a reputable agent is one of the most critical parts of the home search process that consumers face. Trulia Social Search equips buyers and sellers with an extraordinary way of discovering local agents that their friends and family know and trust,” said Pete Flint, CEO and Founder of Trulia. “Consumers prefer endorsements from a family member or a friend over anonymous reviews or ratings. Agents can now utilize happy clients and gain referrals from their network whether consumers are searching through Trulia’s Find a Pro directory or through Facebook News Feed.”
“Real estate professionals have long since cited word-of-mouth and referrals as one of their primary sources of business. Trulia Social Search provides a more efficient way for agents to receive digital referrals from their clients, maximizing their reach with each recommendation they receive,” said Georg Gerstenfeld, SVP of Business Services at Trulia.
No word of commission shopping option
We speculated the coming rankings and noted the competitive commission element still possible, but we have not received word of whether or not Trulia will ever implement the option for consumers to shop for agents on the site that are willing to offer competitive commission rebates.
UPDATE: Click here to see what Trulia said about commission rebate shopping.
jay Great Falls Virginia
July 28, 2011 at 8:40 am
Has the agent recommendation feature been enacted yet?
If they put an agent commission rebate search tool on the site I will wage war against Trulia with 1000s of other agents to pull advertising, etc.
Agents who regularly give rebates as a business model are almost never the best negotiators and therefore buyers using those agents end up losing $$$ under the guise/scam of saving or making money. It is truly ANTI-CONSUMER and if Trulia goes there we will take them down $$$.
John
July 28, 2011 at 10:14 am
Come on agents don't negotiate anything they just want a deal to go through to take their skim. Real estate Agents are about as useful as travel agents.
Rudy
July 28, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Hi Jay!
Yes, Recommendations are LIVE. You can see the feature on your profile and on the Find-a-Pro search directory pages. Please take a look at it in action:
trulia.com/profile/shortsalespecialist/recommendation/
Best,
Rudy from Trulia
rmw26
July 28, 2011 at 1:11 pm
So when this happened on Zillow I noticed it was only a matter of time before the number and average rating showed up below the 4 slots of agents that gets pulled per listing. We already knew that system banks on playing agents against each other, because if thats not your listing then… who the heck are these other three agents? And what modification and/or PURCHASES do we need to make with Zillow to ensure the wrong agent isn't contacted?
Zillow has always used fumbling hands when trying to reach into agents pockets.. aggressive ad sales on the phone, and tools like Zestimate that always seem to venture into fantasy land in order to attract more consumers..
I just hope this is really for the consumers benefit and not Trulia chasing Zillows steps, not even sure if they have a reason to, am not up to date on the IPO.