Getting Started With RealeSeller™
Where do I start?
After installing RealeSeller the first questions that usually come to mind is
"where do I begin?" or "where do I start in order to figure this out?" The
simple answer is that you need to set up the program with all the data and
pictures that describe you and your company. RealeSeller will use this
information to fill in the blanks with your name, designations, phone numbers,
pictures, logos, etc. When all of this exists, everything you create using
this program will look completely custom for your special needs.
Different versions of Outlook:
One of the reasons that creating a program like RealeSeller is a serious
task is, there are currently four different versions that have enough default
abilities to give an agent a nice working interface when RealeSeller
super-charges Outlook. All earlier versions of Outlook before Outlook 2000
just aren't powerful enough to bother with. But, this does have its own
set of issues. The first two versions, Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002
(sometimes referred to as Outlook XP) have a very similar look and feel but have
gotten to the point that we have to move past them and on to the two latest
versions, Outlook 2003 and 2007, because they have gotten to the point that they
are no longer being supported by Microsoft.
The two new versions do not
give third party programmer's access to modifying the icons that make up the
new "Bars." We can barely change that section of Outlook for our own purposes so
that the user sees the new added features and recognizes immediately what is
new. Our solution was to add our list of new folders to the "Shortcuts"
view in Outlook 2003 & 2007. See below image:
Looking at the above image you can see several views with RealeSeller folders,
but the only way you can tell they are our folders is to read the folder names.
The Mail folder selection, see red check mark on Mail bar and notice the folders
listed and those marked 1 through 4. These are RealeSeller folders.
The same goes for the Contacts view and the Folder List view. The Folder
List view will show all folders, ours and the normal Outlook folders. Some
of the RealeSeller folders are highlighted with green numbers next to them.
All of these "views" can be selected with the bars noted with the red check
mark. If all of your bars are not showing, you can select a view in the
"overflow" bar at the bottom. Note the small double arrows and
the small down arrow in the red circle at the bottom of the image above.
Even more folder selections can be displayed and selected by clicking that item.
Feel free to use any of these views to use RealeSeller, but you may find that
they don't allow you to move rapidly from one RealeSeller folder to another, and
some RealeSeller folders may not be shown at all. To solve this issue, we
created a "RealeSeller Shortcut" view. See below image:
The RealeSeller Shortcut view can be displayed by using either the shortcut icon
at the bottom of the window bar, or selecting the "Go" menu and selecting
"Shortcuts" from the drop-down list. Hopefully this quick explanation of
Outlook 2003 will help you figure out where RealeSeller may have disappeared to
when you started Outlook the day after you installed RealeSeller. Since
the release of Outlook 2007 we have dropped support for Outlook 2000 and Outlook
2002 / XP. As this help file is updated in the future, more screen shots
using Outlook 2007 will be used. Since most things work exactly the same
in the 2003 and 2007 version, you shouldn't have any serious issues arise using
this help file. If you do, you can always ask for help.
Setting up RealeSeller
™ Default Information
Step 1, The RealeSeller Folder:
Next, select the Agent selection. As with the company,
there is usually only one agent in the list. After you select the agent,
you should see something like this:
Step 2, Checking Out the Features:
Until you have several properties added, trying the CMA feature
is pretty pointless. The first chance you get after you add a couple of
properties, you should try out the CMA wizard. Each of these examples is
fully covered in other sections of the RealeSeller help file. These are
just the basic things that should be done to make sure things appear the way
they are supposed to.
If you have Outlook contacts you would like to convert to use the
RealeSeller view, you can import them into a Prospects folder. As each
prospect is added, you can also have RealeSeller create a property from their
address information. This property and prospect will be linked together so
that they can reference each other's information. Keeping separate
property data that can be linked to prospects allows you to have as many
properties related to any prospect as you want. They may only be
interested in the property, and when you complete your business with them, the
property can be left attached to the prospect as a purchase, or the link can be
removed because they didn't buy or they decided they were not interested in that
property. Any property can have links to multiple prospects. This is
a very powerful feature if used. I'm sure you will think of many ways to
put these linking abilities to good use. To start importing your Outlook
contacts, go to the Outlook menu, File, then RealeSeller Import, Outlook Contact
Import. See the image below:
One of the new specialized folders that are used by nearly every part of
RealeSeller contains your company and agent information. They are separate
because RealeSeller can be set up to recognize multiple agents and multiple
companies.
Select the RealeSeller folder, noted with a RealeSeller icon -
When you do, you
will see a list of agent and company items. In a normal situation there
will only be one agent and one company listed.
For now, choose the Company
selection. You should see something like this:
First, make sure that your address information is correct. Second, you
need a default business phone number. Having a phone number here isn't
absolutely necessary because most extended features, like Flyer's, pull the
phone number from your agent information. Third, if there is a default
business email address, enter it. Fourth, enter the company web site URL.
Fifth, and very important, you need to add all of the company logo's and any
other company images you might be likely to use when making a flyer or branding
a calculations page for emailing or printing, etc. This is a very
important step to ensure that everything displays correctly.
Warning! After
you register RealeSeller, you
should never try to change the company name or agent name. There are
several safety features that won't allow you to do that without entering a new
key. The trial will allow you to change either one, but once registered
you need a new key to change this information.
First, if the company isn't listed in the box, press the Company... button.
You can't type in this field, you can only select from a list of companies.
Second, make sure you enter all of your professional designations. These
are usually used in your signature line. Third, if you have a slogan be
sure to add that information. Currently it can only be a single line of
text. Fourth, make sure you add all of your phone numbers. These also show
up in your signature lines. Fifth, your email address should be entered.
If you have more than one, you can press the down arrow button next to the email
address field and select one of five email address views. Sixth, make
sure your web site information is listed. You can press the Web Page...
button and a browser is launched. Browse to any site, then close the
browse window. The URL will be added to the box. You can type in a
URL if you want... browsing to the site using the web browser is not necessary.
Once the URL has been added, you can simply click the link and your default
browser will be launched with that URL. Step 7, and the last of the really
necessary things to do, pictures. Every agent should have more than one
photo. Some should be very large, others small. Most features in
RealeSeller that require a picture will resize the image to the largest possible
size that can be displayed in a given space. This is automatic. If
the picture is smaller than the space, it is just centered in the area provided.
If it is larger, it is resized and centered. You can never have too many
pictures of yourself to choose from. The more professional looking the
better.
This step, like the one above, involves doing several things. You need
to go to the Flyer folder and make sure everything looks and displays correctly,
especially your company and agent information. 
A wizard will take you step by step through the process of importing all your
Outlook contacts so they can be used with RealeSeller. More detail about
this import feature can be found by clicking this link:
How to use the Outlook Import Feature
You are pretty much set and ready to go. You should also read about
RealePlans. It will save you a lot of time if you start using a plan that
can be created and applied to each prospect and/or property. Basically it
is a list of tasks and/or appointments that can all be applied at one time.
They will remind you to do important things and help you take care of your
business by reminding you about things you need to do. You can forget
about them once they are set up. Outlook will remind you and remember what
you need to do. You can free your mind for selling and other tasks that
can't be performed by a computer... namely selling.
Here are some links to other things in the help file that were covered here, but
have more in-depth information available:
Using the Tools Option Menu
Your Agent Information View
Your Company Information View
The Flyer Creator View
The Calculations View