About Kevin Hawkins

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So far Kevin Hawkins has created 342 blog entries.

FBS and ARMLS: 10 years done, more to come

When you are a technology provider and can say you've had a client for more than a decade, you've really have achieved something remarkable. FBS has been providing its Flexmls software to ARMLS, the largest MLS in Arizona, and its more than 38,000 subscribers for the last decade. When you also announce you've just signed a new multi-year contract extension with that same client, you've achieved something exceptional. That's the news from Fargo, North Dakota today and Michael Wurzer, CEO of FBS, Creators of Flexmls. According to their news release, what has made the relationship long-lasting is leadership that are [...]

By |2017-12-11T13:14:52-08:00December 11th, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on FBS and ARMLS: 10 years done, more to come
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FBS Acquires Solid Earth

If 2018 does indeed turn out to be “The Year of Consolidation” in the MLS world, then the stage was set today in the MLS technology world by FBS. One of the most respected and innovative tech firms serving the real estate industry just helped with the consolidation trend. Michael Wurzer, who heads up FBS, creators of Flexmls System and the API that started it all (Spark Platform), announced today the acquisition of Solid Earth’s Spring software platform and the hiring of the Spring team, including its CEO Matt Fowler. This marks FBS first acquisition. Ever. Considering the company was [...]

By |2017-12-04T07:05:02-08:00December 4th, 2017|Clients, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases, Technology|Comments Off on FBS Acquires Solid Earth
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An Invitation to Broker-Owners and Other Top Brokerage Execs

How confident are you in the US economy? That’s just one of the questions that for the last six years Imprev has asked top executives as part of its annual Thought Leader Real Estate Confidence Survey. Its 2017 Survey is now underway, and if you are a brokerage industry Thought Leader, Imprev wants you to participate. The Survey is designed expressly for broker-owners, and C-level executives – Chief Executive Officers, Chief Operating Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Revenue Officers, basically every title that begins with a “C” – who manage real estate franchises or brokerages. You can [...]

By |2017-11-29T14:36:55-08:00November 29th, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on An Invitation to Broker-Owners and Other Top Brokerage Execs
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Consolidation: What PR Tactics Can Help?

2018 could very well be the “Year of Consolidation” in the MLS industry. With the recent NAR move towards an “MLS of Choice” policy, we are likely to see a huge momentum build towards consolidation, especially in the second half of next year. That’s because smaller MLSs are going to find profitability under their current pricing model impossible. The simplest (and most often the best) solution will be to merge. By failing to plan for the role communications and PR plays within a consolidation, you are planning to fail. That’s because an effective communications and PR plan is vital to [...]

By |2017-11-29T14:27:53-08:00November 29th, 2017|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Consolidation: What PR Tactics Can Help?
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Hits and Misses from NAR Chicago

Chicago is a baseball town. Even with the Cubs disappointingly not returning to the World Series this year, you can’t escape seeing someone wearing a Cubs or White Sox hat or shirt every day in Chicago, even in November. McCormick Place, home to this year’s REALTORS® Conference & Expo, sits just two-and-a-half miles north of Comiskey Park, where the Sox play – their South Side team. So you get an idea of how far away this convention center is from the heart of downtown. And the proximity to a pro baseball park also gives me the perfect excuse to use [...]

By |2018-07-01T00:07:23-07:00November 7th, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on Hits and Misses from NAR Chicago
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What’s on your NAR Chicago Checklist? A Pre-NAR must read

My theory about conventions is this: if you plan your schedule well, your convention will go well. If you don’t, it won’t. It’s as simple as that. With Second City, our next destination, good planning could make or break how you measure the success of your NAR experience in the Windy City. Each year before I head out to the largest annual gathering of real estate agents and brokers, an estimated 20,000+ from across our nation, I like to look for some of the golden nuggets tucked away in the schedule and on the Expo floor. I cull through the info [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:35-07:00October 30th, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on What’s on your NAR Chicago Checklist? A Pre-NAR must read
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Managing PR Risks Throughout Consolidation

The MLS industry faces rapid consolidation within the next few years. In just the last couple of years, the WAV Group estimates that the number of Multiple Listing Services firms have shrunk by about 15 percent, from about 750 to some 650 today. And that’s just the beginning. This is not a new business phenomenon: the energy industry over a 20-year period, from 1995 to 2015 has shrunk by half. In travel today, 16 cruise ship brands are owned by just three firms, as are the nine major rental car company brands. Only 7 hotel conglomerates own the 80 hotel brands that dominate [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:36-07:00October 24th, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on Managing PR Risks Throughout Consolidation
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CRMLS, MetroList and High Desert all Go Platinum

When RESO - Real Estate Standards Organization - announced the release of Data Dictionary 1.6, the group that is fueling future innovation in real estate unveiled the biggest update in the history of the RESO Data Dictionary. Hundreds of new data elements and massively important new capabilities were added. Data related to Accessibility, Showing Data, Saved Searches, Prospecting, Internet Tracking, Structure Types, and standardized Universal Identification of Organizations can all be delivered through this new Data Dictionary standard. It truly is real estate's Rosetta's Stone. Now three of the top MLSs in the nation -- and not surprisingly all out of California [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:39-07:00October 13th, 2017|MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on CRMLS, MetroList and High Desert all Go Platinum
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Great Content Should Still Be King

The lines in the world of communication are blurring, between content that is paid for and content that is earned. Think about it. Is the last content you just read sponsored content or earned content? Do you know for sure? Did you check the source? Are you familiar with the writer?

By |2018-08-20T08:01:46-07:00October 3rd, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on Great Content Should Still Be King
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It’s the Biggest Marketing and PR Mistake

Stay on message. Those three little words sound so simple. But it amazes me how difficult it seems for companies – and their messengers – to do this. It should be the core of their marketing and PR compass. Consistency and repetition: That’s what every well-crafted marketing and PR program adheres to over the long haul. Unfortunately, most companies forget these crucial tenets and they stray. Or worse, they veer so far from their original course, they completely undermine what they have already have accomplished. Building brand awareness takes time, often a very long time. Building brand loyalty (a.k.a. understanding [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:39-07:00September 18th, 2017|Main category, Sales Advisory, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on It’s the Biggest Marketing and PR Mistake
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$25,000 in Cash for Tech Startups via New RESO DataComp

It’s the first RESO DataComp, a data competition sponsored by Realtors Property Resource®. Prizes total $25,000, courtesy of prize sponsors that include FBS, the creators of Flexmls and Stratus Data Systems, Inc. It’s set to begin on September 17, at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time. It will end with live demonstrations before a distinguished panel of industry judges from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in San Diego on October 17  during the RESO fall conference, October 17-19, being held at the uber-hip Pendry. That’s right, unlike a Hackathon, this data competition will last a month, and unlike many other real estate data events, this one is [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:39-07:00September 14th, 2017|Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on $25,000 in Cash for Tech Startups via New RESO DataComp
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Using Twitter as a PR Tool

Twitter is probably one of the most ignored social media channels in real estate marketing and PR, which is remarkable considering its breadth and depth: 328 million monthly active users and 67 million of them in the U.S., a half-billion Tweets per day, and 80% of users access Twitter on their mobile devices. Okay, admittedly, Twitter also has 20 million fake users, and the profile of a “typical” Twitter user is (unfortunately) not a primary target for most brokerages: A young woman, with an average of 209 followers, using an iPhone. In fact, 37% of all Twitter users are between the ages [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:40-07:00September 5th, 2017|Twitter for Real Estate|Comments Off on Using Twitter as a PR Tool
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