Nicole Ocean

It is definitely true that some BPO (and even REO and Asset Management) companies have either closed their doors to accepting new BPO vendor applications or will still let you apply but it may be quite some time until you hear back from them with your first BPO order.

The ironic thing is that I had experienced this too when I first got into the business over 2 years ago. The difference with me is that I didn't take their "We are currently not accepting new vendors at this time," as if it were set in stone. To prove this point I signed up with FARVV about 2 years ago when I was signing up for multiple other companies and I received an email from them 1 year after I registered asking if I still wanting to work for them....crazy huh!

Some of the same companies that are still turning away new people even turned me away 2 years ago when I tried to register with them. That didn't stop me though, because I have worked with over 30 different BPO, REO and Asset management companies in the 2+ years that I have been doing BPO's full-time.

Here are the Top 3 Reasons that I've found as to why they may not be accepting new vendors:

1. Too many new people applying and they are overloaded....it would just be a matter of time before they'd get to you, but it could take quite awhile (It helped me to follow up with them by calling them after submitting my application and checking in with them about what I was facing and what to expect. By doing this extra step I received work the same day I'd call in. This little but very necessary follow-up sure helped me stand out from others.

2. The person applying simply does not have enough experience or time in the business. Some companies required that I have at least 2 years in the real estate and/or the BPO & REO business, while others required that their agents have REO listing experience in order to join their company as a BPO/REO vendor. (Some companies focus on having a selling point in that they do not have inexperienced vendors working for them so that their potential clients that would give them BPO/REO work over another company that may not be as strict)

3. The companies are happy with their existing relationships that they have with their current vendors and are satisfied (enough) with the quality of work that they are doing for them. Plus, it is always harder to start from scratch by working with someone new where they don't know what type of track record or accountability a new vendor offers.

To wrap this up, you can't wait for the various companies to call or email you. You've got to be proactive and go out there to get business. Just like you do in your real estate sales side. Plus as I am sure you are already aware of both industries are highly competitive thus anything you can do to stand out from your competitors is bound to get you closer to what you are working hard to achieve.

Best wishes to you!

Warmly,

Nicole Ocean

nicolesdreams eBooks

www.nicoleocean.com

One of my past customers wrote me a note after questioning what the advantage was of joining my BPO and REO forum. After replying back to him about how my BPO forum is different......

**(I've got over 140 BPO and REO topics, over 995 comments. Plus I do not accept any outside advertisements like most of the real estate forums that are online today and lastly it is no longer a free forum where just anyone can access it. I'm looking for people who want to participate and share by having a positive, active voice) **

My past customer also made a mention of another real estate forum named www.agentsonline.net where some pretty negative comments were said about my decision to change the policy on my BPO and REO forum that is located at my website: www.nicoleocean.com

(Here's a quick FYI here about the policy change: my BPO and REO forum at my website used to be free, it is no longer. Keep reading to learn more about why I decided to make the change and what my opinion is of the negative comments that were said about my decision on agentsonline.net)

I went on to tell him that "I do know what some people were saying about my decision about the forum and about me as a business owner/real estate agent and BPO trainer.

Unfortunately, most of the people that were complaining within BPO/REO and Foreclosure section of www.agentsonline.net were doing so because I revoked their membership to my forum and/or were unhappy because I changed my forum policy. Most of these very same people who commented were guilty of joining my forum to keep tabs, to take advantage without participating or giving back and in the end I feel are two faced. I'd rather not help those type of people.

Although, it was hard for me to hear such harsh criticism from people that I've never met or spoken to and vice versa, and most of these people didn't purchase any of my products thus I feel couldn't speak intelligently about the quality of my material, I accept it for what it is though, it's their own personal opinion. I am completely ok with other people expressing their opinions, reactions and feeling towards my decision and if anything I am trying to fill a void with my forum because it has always been an accepting, positive and non-judgmental place for people to help each other and ask any question without fear of retaliation. I feel that the BPO/REO and Foreclosure section within www.agentsonline.net is filled with some extremely fearful, harsh and negative people who are afraid of anyone who will be their competition.

So I take this situation as a learning experience and am moving forward. I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished overall and feel blessed to have been able to share my knowledge of the BPO business to all those that have in turn gotten into the BPO and REO business and experienced very rewarding opportunities because of what they learned from me and my BPO products.

I hope that after reading through the posting for yourself and learning first hand about both sides of the story that you see the value of joining the forum. I would like to recommend that if you do join my forum that you should feel free to ask any question you want without fear or hesitation of experiencing any type of backlash!"

Thanks again for everyone who has supported me over the past 2 years! I welcome any of your comments about this blog as well!

p.s. Activerain is another forum that is fantastic! Thanks for making such a great tool available to everyone!

Respectfully Yours,

Nicole Ocean

nicolesdreams eBooks

www.nicoleocean.com

Call me at: 360-223-2482

sales@nicoleocean.com

Greetings!

I've decided that it's time to speak out about explaining why some people don't get BPO work right away after signing up with various BPO, REO and Asset Mgmt companies.

Over the past 2 years I've spoken with handfuls of other real estate professionals who are wanting to get into the Broker Price Opinion business. Times and opportunities are getting tougher for those who are just coming into the BPO and REO business.

A lot of people that I speak with don't understand just how important it is to be educated about the current status of the BPO industry as well as be informed about just how much competition there is within their current local market. You can go to www.reonetwork.com to see who your local competitors are.

From my experience the BPO industry has become even more competitive than a year ago and for good reason. In the past few years there has been an explosion and impeding implosion within the lending industry ("the sub-prime mess," where the clean up process will be around for awhile.) Plus, many real estate markets across the U.S. have suffered from declining markets, REO and short sale driven markets as well as homeowners and homebuyers being affected by the economy.

With all of these factors staring us all in the face, more and more real estate professionals turned to and found out about BPOs and REOs and thus decided to dabble in BPO work. Many people decided to do BPO work to help supplement their income while others may be doing them to get REO listings (this is where BIG money is at) and then there are those that are just trying their hardest to simply stay in real estate. I commend all of you, no matter your motivation! You are smart for seeking out opportunities and alternatives that are only going to help your real estate career. Give yourself a pat on the back!

Here are some of the suggestions and explanations I share with people about why they aren't getting BPO work?

**Existing competition with more time and experience in the business**

**Not enough volume of work to support the current amount of BPO vendors**

**Companies became a lot more strict about only hiring people with experience**

**Some companies have closed their door on accepting new vendors**

**The person applying to be a BPO vendor didn't do something to "stand out," from other or given the companies that they are applying to a good reason to hire them.**

**These same people stop pursuing the possibility of becoming a BPO vendor for companies because they only take the time to sign up at their website and do no other type of follow up**

Lastly, I would recommend that if your expectation is that you can sign up with a new company today (10/20/2008) and think that you will get work tomorrow you need to adjust your expectation level. Not to say this kind of thing doesn't still happen for some people, but for most you have to treat your BPO business venture just as you do your real estate sales career.

I think the key to anything is to be as educated as possible about anything that you want to master. So, as you jump into the BPO world with both of your feet planted firmly on the ground, don't be afraid of having to sweat a little bit to get what you out of the BPO and REO business. You can do it! Hopefully, with this blog you understand more about why it is harder to get BPO work and you can take this information to help you achieve your immediate need to get BPO work.

Plus, if you have a need to ask some pretty specific, hard to get answered questions, feel free to give me a call 360-223-2482 or visit my website: www.nicoleocean.com Plus, I've got a wonderful resource where you can read through over 140 different BPO and REO related topics, it's called the, "BPO Student Forum," check it out at my website!

Best of success to you!

Warmly,

Nicole Ocean

nicolesdreams eBooks

www.nicoleocean.com

www.nicolesdreamsebooks.com

360-223-2482

Protect Yourself from Fly-By-Night, Copycat Companies That Offer BPO Products by Nicole Ocean

Hi there, thanks for taking the time to learn more about how to protect yourself from fake, fly-by-night, copycat type companies that currently offer various BPO products for sale through the internet.

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Buyer Beware: All BPO products are not created equal!

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In the last two years since I first opened my eBook business, nicolesdreams eBooks, I have seen a HUGE transformation from the amount of competition that offer similar products as mine. Just in case you don't know about me yet or my company I own nicolesdreams eBooks and my website is located at: www.nicoleocean.com

My name is Nicole Ocean. I am a Realtor, BPO Trainer and eBook author that is located in Bellingham, Washington. I do BPO work myself and have worked for over 30 BPO, REO and Asset Management companies in the past 2+ years. I also offer my services as a private BPO Trainer as well.

Let me focus back on why I am writing this blog. If you are like me you definitely do your research when you are about to make a big purchasing decision. So, I wanted to take a few moments to let you know that I have noticed the need to differentiate myself from the pack.

Plus, I wanted to help educate you more about steps you can take to best protect yourself when making a purchasing decision and exactly what to watch out for as you are getting ready to purchase a BPO product no matter who you purchase it from.

I am completely aware of who my competitor's are and most of what they offer. I enjoy the challenges and rewards that come with having competition. I learned this skill from a young age because I have played sports all of my life so I feel that having competition is a very healthy and rewarding experience overall for me. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know how my products are different than my competitors and in the fact that I was one of the first companies to offer eBooks on the BPO business. I sold my first BPO based eBook in January 2007.

Let's move on to my main issue. One of my biggeest concerns that I have now is that when someone is interested in purchasing material on BPO's. They typically go to Google.com and put in keywords, such as: "Broker Price Opinion" and "BPO's." When I last did this myself I found plenty of people and companies that were offering either eBooks or some type of product on the topic.

I have purposely researched many of my competitor's extensively and even purchased a few of their items. Most of them have purchased my eBooks also. Sadly, I have found that many of my competitor's are indeed some of my past customer's who purchased one or more of my eBooks and they are now offering a very similar item for sale. (THIS IS VERY CONCERNING TO ME) The fact is that some of these people have stolen my content and are trying to sell it as their own. I have had to deal with this one a half of dozen of occasions personally because of someone infringed on my copyrighted material whether it be reproducing my BPO Manual or copying and pasting information from my website and my eBay auction ads. I will talk more about this and list those people and companies that have done so within the next blog I write.

Let's continue to move forward. Although, I feel that it is always good to have more choices than less when it comes to purchasing a product. There are things that buyer's need to be aware of before they make their purchase. The first is the fact that not all companies offer good quality material. I have seen quite a few "fly-by-night," copycat companies pop up out there in the last 6 months to 1 year.

From past conversations I have shared with customers they let me know their opinion on the various other programs on BPO's that they saw online and/or ones that they had purchased and had found them to be inferior to mine. They shared with me how frustrated they were with receiving a lower level of customer service then what I had provided to them. I am always grateful to hear such kind words and as such it is nice to see all of the pride and hard work that I put into my business truly does pay off!

My main concern and the reason for writing this blog is two fold; that some of my competitors are coming across to potential customers as being something that they are not. Many of the products that are out there are being sold by an affiliate or a reseller. So the people that sell someone else's material are not able to provide a personal approach or understanding into the business themselves. Some won't even post their contact information on their websites. If the customer decides to purchase one of these products, then they will likely encounter an issue. I think that this is where the problem starts for most of these unsatisfied customers. They may have purchased a product and found that they cannot do anything to remedy their situation or even get a refund back.

Here are a few things to watch out for when considering purchasing any online product and especially one that has to do with the BPO business.

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WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR:

*Does the company have a money-back guarantee?

*Do they have their contact information posted on their website that includes their company name, phone number and email address.

*Can you reach a live person when you call them?

*Are they the actual author or their product or are they simply a reseller or affiliate out to make a quick buck from someone else's product?

* Have they actually done or are doing BPO's or REO's themselves currently?

*Do they offer support, consulting or private training to their customers?

* Do they offer their product in more than one place (Ex: I sell my paperback through Amazon.com,

*Do they email you back within 24 hours when you inquire about their product(s) or have a question after you made a purchase through them?

*Do they have ‘actual' customer testimonials posted on their website that are not fake people's names, photos and testimonials that are just copied and pasted from another site (To date, I've had two of my competitors use my own customer testimonials on their website as if they were their own).

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Many of my competitors do not offer many of the same items that I have listed above. I offer every one of those items as well as believe in providing the highest level of customer service possible. I love to exceed my customer's expectations!

Before you make a decision on which BPO product you want to purchase please do me a favor and consider the above items.

Plus, I'd like to recommend a few websites that you can use to learn more about the person and/or company that is offering a BPO product you may be interested in purchasing.

Better Business Bureau

(To see if they have any complaints on file or if they are rated to be a trustworthily company) http://www.bbb.org/

WhoIs

(Use this website to learn more about the person behind the product. Stay away from them if their domain information is kept private and they do not provide a contact phone number). http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp

Real Estate Licensing Board or Real Estate Commission

(Put the above keywords into a Google search. Use the state that the person lives in to check to see if they are actively licensed real estate agent or broker).

Google

(Put in the person/companies name into a search query to learn as much as you can) www.google.com

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Thanks again for taking the time to read my blog! I'd like to personally invite you to come check my website as well as that of all of my competition. I hope that you come back to me because you have truly done your research and you see the value in what I have to offer to you!

Best of success to you,

Nicole Ocean

Realtor/BPO Trainer

nicolesdreams eBooks

www.nicoleocean.com

360-223-2482