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CASE STUDIES:

Judy McCutchin: Not a Techno Wizard, But an Internet Success Story

The numbers tell it all for Judy McCutchin, who posted her own Web site four years ago. The top producing agent in Dallas, McCutchin has five people working for her, and 10 computers networked in her home office. Her personal Website, www.dallashomes.com, brings in five to ten leads a day via e-mail, from an average of 160 daily visitors. Of $24 million in sales in 1997, $5 million was from the Internet. McCutchin expects that to grow to $10 million this year! Not bad for someone who describes herself as "no techno wizard."

An expert at innovative marketing and advertising and a risk taker, McCutchin saw the Internet's potential to reach buyers around the world. Her targets are relocating to Dallas. After six months of "blood, sweat and tears," her first homespun Web site was one of the first real estate sites anywhere. Aside from Chamber of Commerce-type information about Dallas, she included stories written by her dog, Chester B. (Barker) Chatsworth for a light, entertaining touch. Her site also showcased her personal listings, and the rest is history.

The key to McCutchin's Internet success has been the value added content of her site, though Barker is still the star. Her site features slide shows of listings, general information about the area, links to the online Dallas MLS, and interactive forms such as a "request for a free relocation packet" that buyers can submit via e-mail.

Rich graphics, animation, and audio are used as a kind of demographic screen. "People who come in via the Web are savvy, intelligent buyers. They can afford high-end computers and they've done their homework on the Web," she says. McCutchin pre-qualifies all leads by phone and then refers them to a lender for further pre-qualification. When she finally meets them in person, they're well along in the buying process.

McCutchin is doing so much business via computer, it's not surprising that her company is truly wired. She herself uses a sub-notebook with an Intel Pentium processor which connects to a fast 266 MHz Intel Pentium II processor-based network server in the office.

When she's out of the office she connects via PC Anywhere [she has a great story about writing a contract while in the Cayman Islands using PC Anywhere]. Her associates use three notebooks, a 133 MHz Pentium processor, 166 MHz Pentium processor, and one "old dog of a 486." All the computers run Intel processors,

McCutchin says, because some years ago a consultant discovered one of their computers didn't have an Intel processor. "We had so much trouble with that machine, we nicknamed it Weirdo,'" she says. "We've been all-Intel ever since."

What's the future of the Internet in real estate? "It's a wonderful, global medium for advertising, and will continue to enhance our industry," McCutchin says. "It's only a problem for the inexperienced, the not-so good agents. They're the ones who are terrified of the Internet, and it will drive a lot of them out of business."

Coming Next Week:
Case Study: John L. Scott

Contributing Author
Michael J. Russer
Michael J. Russer, President of RUSSER Communications, is an internationally recognized speaker, writer, and strategic consultant for the real estate industry about the Internet. His 22 years experience in the real estate field include the development of marketing and software systems as CEO for a high-tech mortgage consulting firm he co-founded. Also an authority on Internet risk management, he recently authored the industry's first comprehensive Internet policies and procedures manual for those companies that have agents active on the Net. He can be reached at (805) 882-1170 or mrusser@russer.com.