Richard Silver

Lessons in Customer Service: Holland America’s Onboard Internet Service.

While on a Holland America  Cruise recently, I messaged my Facebook and Twitter friends that I was enjoying the "Techspert" classes that they had on-board.  Like a lot of Companies today, Holland America , is monitoring the Blogosphere and Tweetosphere and I heard back quickly that they "were happy I was enjoying myself". My response was to tell them that although I was, I thought that their Internet charges ($100 for 250 minutes) were excessive in view of the poor service (back to...Continue Reading...

Toronto Real Estate Board: Upcoming Social Media Primer November 19th, 2009

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009 Time: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm Location: Toronto Real Estate Board's Auditorium # of CE credits: 3 Cost: $42.00 (GST included)   As Social Media and Networking become more popular, many REALTORS® are jumping on the bandwagon, writing Blogs, Twittering, and appearing on LinkedIn, and Facebook. This class will ask some basic questions that need to be addressed before heading down this road on the Information Highway; then the class will move down the road and discuss the most popular options.  ...Continue Reading...

Social Media: Gary Vaynerchuk Strikes Again!!

If you have not noticed before, I am a big fan of Gary Vaynerchuk. I heard him speak at Inman Real Estate Connect New York and was very impressed. He is living proof that Social Media and Web 2.o work and that they are not going away. In this video he echoes a lot of the frustration that a lot of us who "get it" feel when we have to spend so much time convincing those that don't. It is...Continue Reading...

What I Learned at Inman Connect NYC 2009!!

I am nursing my third coffee this morning and sitting in the Atrium of the Marriott Times Square NYC and trying to organize my thoughts about the last 4 days. I love these Conferences. They are stimulating, new ideas, new people, new technology products but at that same time exhausting with some of the same issues coming back up like last night's dinner... actually dinner was great! (more...)Continue Reading...

Where Should The Real Estate Marketing Dollar Go When You Sell Your Home?

I received an interesting email this weekend that I thought I would share with you. A couple was referred to me and are looking for a REALTOR to work with. They wanted to know if I was the type of REALTOR who would just put their house on REALTOR.ca and forget about it. They were convinced that advertising their $900,000 house in the Toronto Star weekly was the way to go. They were also upset that there were few ads in...Continue Reading...

Dealing with the Online Consumer: Gabrielle Jeans

A few days ago I contacted someone who I've always had a lot of respect for...she has been a REALTOR, Manager and teacher for 30 years (or more???) and like me she relishes in change...it does not get her down but she relishes in a challenge. She has been a very successful coach as well as developing the web site format that I presently use. It is very consumer centric and REALTOR friendly. (more...)Continue Reading...