Instead of the 17th episode of flexmls feature friday we’re announcing the 1st non-flexmls feature friday. No need to worry it’s for good reason. With good reason comes a bad title – amazing ARMLS announcement.
I can’t remember where I first heard the term freemium, but it applies here. To me freemium is the mutation of a free product with a non-free or premium product. You get to use something for free with the hopes you’ll be so happy with it (or you’ll get so accustom to using it) that you’ll want additional features. Additional features = the premium plan = monthly or yearly subscription fee. It’s a brilliant business model that has spread like wild fire on the web. Personally, I’ve happily signed up for 2 or 3 premium products that resulted from using free stuff.
Back to the A³, Buyer Acquire has just rolled out a freemium product to all ARMLS subscribers. The free part of the service provides you with a telephone number you can call to receive partial information for any active listing. I can see this being extremely handy if you have buyers in your car playing the Price is Right for listings you pass by that are not designated stops on tour. In order to access the partial listing information by telephone – you need to…
1. Register for an account here.
2. Dial the ARMLS Property Hotline.
3. Input your secret code.
4. Follow the prompts.
The listing address, year built, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, lot size, square-footage, roof type, heating/cooling info, garage size and price will be spoken and text’d to you. In my opinion, that’s well worth the price to play.
If listing agents would like to purchase sign riders (riders get different number than the ARMLS Property Hotline) then non-ARMLS-subscriber-passerbys (aka Mr. and Mrs. Buyer or Mr. and Mrs. Nosy Neighbor) will be able to dial up and get information about the listing as well.
As I know it, when they call the sign-rider number to get more information – a general text message will be sent to the listing agent notifying them someone inquired on their listing. (Insert the premium product…….now!) If the listing agent would like to know the contact information (ie phone number) of the person inquiring on the listing, they’ll have to be signed up for the premium service.
This new product gets to be categorized as an amazing ARMLS announcement because of the ARMLS Property Hotline. I’m in no way endorsing the pay for product. If you are comfortable using the wireless version of flexmls® Web, this new free product is not for you. But if you don’t have a smartphone or haven’t figured out how to access listing info from your smartphone – I’m betting the the ARMLS Property Hotline will serve you well.
Happy non-Flexmls Feature Friday!
[...] ARMLS section) leads to the ARMLS Property Hotline registration page. We introduced you to the new Property Hotline a couple weeks back. Buyer Acquire has set up a local phone number that you can call to receive [...]