VendAsta Moves In

Many of you reading this will already know that group of Ex P2ers have started our own company.  You can read about it at www.VendAsta.com .  That said, I realize that you really can’t tell from our website what it is we are up to.  There is some speculation in the blogosphere and some initial reports here and here.

So while we aren’t really saying much yet there are a few clues I can give you.  We sent four people to Inman New York and were busy for four complete days.  Busy as in no spare time.  However, “no spare time” doesn’t equate into “no fun”.   For example I had a lot of fun at the Google party dominating the foosball table with foos partner Russ Capper.  Or, for that matter, getting a great tour of the new New York Times building, which is fabulous (thanks, Andy, Lloyd, Cheryl and Brendan) and then attending their party.  Oh, and the two late nights we spent at Don’t Tell Mama with  the Inman crew, Lending Tree and the Aussies from realestate.com.au simply can’t be classified as “no fun”.  In fact, all in all, the entire trip can be classified by the words fun and success!

So if you guessed that VendAsta was going to have a real estate play, I would say that you were on to something.   One more thing.  VendAsta is the name of our consulting company, not the name of our real estate initiative. I would say more but I promised Jay that he would be one of the first to know.

So today, was the first day for the VendAsta crew in a our new space.  We are located in a fabulous high tech business center called Innovation Place  ,which incidentally, just won an award as one of the best places to work.

Tommorow (I hope)  I will post pictures and a bit more about what we are up to. 

Mistakes, Responsibilities and Opportunities

Sometimes “stuff happens” and things go wrong, it can and will happen to event most diligent people and organizations.   In my mind it is how these situations are handled that define the people and the organization.  This is just a little story about “one of those times”.  

So the Point Agent Academy had a spectacularly successful training session with Michael Russer, aka Mr. Internet.  These sessions are run by Lorena Del Frari who does a wonderful job of arranging, organizing and executing the sessions.  Some might say that Loren is a little bit “anal” but in fact she is just thorough.  The Russer session had the most members subscribe in the short history of the P2A Academy, with over 1000 people signing up.  Of course as Murphy’s law would have it we ran into a few problems.  Because of the volume of attendees a different conference call number was needed and some of our early email communications went out with the wrong number.  We worked diligently to re-email the correct phone number but it arrived too late or wasn’t checked by many members.  Many called in we opened and manned additional lines to get people into the conference call. 

 Lorena also emailed all attendees and took full responsibility for the error and offered a free neighborhood for a quarter to all those involved and posted a copy of the call at http://p2a.point2.com/academy/archive.asp . It should be up there in the next week or so and if you haven’t heard the call you ought to listen to as Michael Russer provided some great insights and education for real estate professionals or sales people of any kind.   In any case I thought I would include a few of the responses to Lorena’s email apology that turned a Mistake into an opportunity.   Here they are:We are all human (hopefully) and accidents happen, no big deal. I have always considered Point2Agent a class act and your response has reconfirmed my assessment. I like an organization that is human, considerate and responsive. Who knows I might be human some day toooooooo. You Are The Best. Say hello to the rest of my friends at Point2Agent.  Daniel FooteGrowth
Opportunity Realtyhttp://www.growthopportunityrealty.com/ 

 ***********************************  Thank you for taking care of this issue and for the neighborhood.  Most people would only re-schedule… the free ‘neighborhood’ is another reason that your service continues to be the best in the market and anther reason I reccommeded your service to my broker.  (So far he has signed up 6 more people…)    Michelle R. Krinsky, PAAvalar Florida Real Estate Services Inc.http://www.4tampabay.com ***********************************   Thank you for all you are doing.  I look forward to getting the recording and hope I can listen in next time and appreciate the free neighborhood  You’re the best.  Nancy R. Craige, ABR, SRESwww.NancyCraig.com *********************************** 

  Just wanted to let you know that I missed a few minutes at the beginning of the session until I got the right phone number - but it was absolutely worth the effort of getting the right number.  This was THE BEST telephone session I have been involved with and I wanted you and Michael to know how much I enjoyed it.  I think it’s the first time I haven’t been reading a book while listening to the speaker.  I would love to attend again the next time you do this. Renee Good, Broker & Accredited Staging Professionalhttp://www.reneeg.com/ 

 ***********************************  You probably feel bad. But don’t worry. You are so professional that nobody is going to think the less. Things happen.  Jim Broline,
Hinsdale Real Estatehttp://jimbroline.point2agent.com/ ***************************************  Thanks so much for the great customer service. NEVER have I received so much info, knowledge and instruction from an online company!  Great job and follow-up!!  Juanita Simkins,
Colorado Springs Real Estatehttp://www.juanitasimkins.com/ ****************************************

 Sorry about the mixup for the Russer session today !  Please don’t take the snafu too personally.  We all make mistakes and recover from them, as will you.  Your efforts to re-schedule, offer a neighborhood, etc are beyond what is necessary.  I guess what I am trying to say is that from my experience you bring an incredible talent to a very tough position.  Through it all you are always upbeat, focused, and sooo professional.  Just keep doing what you do so well.  Maybe a laugh and a beer.  An appreciative customer.  Bill Gillhespy, Bill Sells
Fort Myers Beachhttp://www.billsellsfortmyersbeach.com/  ****************************************************** 

Thank you for your Customer Service pertaining to this issue… I look forward to listening and then attending another session by Mr. Russer. John Palmay, The Palmay Grouphttp://johnpalmay.point2agent.com/ ****************************************  Lorena, this is very generous. I did try to get on and missed the program, but I should have checked my other emails, so part of the blame is on me.  I would love to have a recording of the session! You are an excellent ambassador, representative and spokesperson for Point2Agent, and I am most impressed with your company! Eve Busse, RE/MAX Results Realtyhttp://evebusse1.point2agent.com/

  ***************************************************  You really are a very kind person.  It’s great to work with people like you.  I’m glad I was able to “plug in” even after it had started.  It was a great opportunity and I want to thank you for it.  Thanks also for those “goodies” you offer us on behalf of “human being mistakes”.   I’m sure you must be under a lot of stress to try and put these trainings together, so for my part thanks again a whole lot!!! Toni Kuilan, Brokers/Owners, PR Ideal Realtyhttp://www.kuilanpr.com/ *********************************************   Thanks for handling this snag so well – I certainly do appreciate all that you have pulled together for those of us who missed all or part of the call. I am looking forward to listening to the full call, and will check out some of the neighborhoods. Lynn Karlin, Broker Associate,Boulder
County Real Estatehttp://lynnkarlin.point2agent.com/  ***************************************  Thank you for your offer it very nice of you and I will take your offer. by the way you do an outstanding job things like this sometime happen you still#1 in my list, have a wonderful week end. And thank you once more. Javier Salgado, Century 21 Realtyhttp://javiersalgado.point2homes.biz/ 

Seth Rocks

Any ideas on how we can get people to sneeze about Point2Agent like this? http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=181