When Bea Richford got the idea for an online buyers' seminar, she didn't know if it would work, but she had to give it a try. It wasn't the first time she had broken Internet ground, and she vows it won't be the last.

Richford was already known in Canada as a technology leader when she approached her home office about an online seminar for buyers. Hers was the first Coldwell Banker brokerage to go online five years ago. This year, the Moncton, New Brunswick broker was honored with the Coldwell Banker Website Award for leadership. Richford's company boasted the highest percentage of listings posted on the national website, and the highest percentage of salespeople with their own home pages on Coldwell Banker's Canadian website.

Richford's first seminar, "How to Find and Finance a Home on the Internet," was in March, making it the first chat of its kind in Canada. She enlisted the aid of NBTel, the primary Internet service provider in her area, and asked the Bank of Montreal to co-present the seminar.

"I went to all the local banks, and I got lists of their buyers, and called them for their email addresses. I got a lot of people who wanted to go to the seminar," says Richford. Working with Coldwell's Ontario webmaster, Richford advertised the seminar on Coldwell's front page for two weeks prior to the event.

Richford designed a two-part format, beginning with an educational meeting in person to be held at the Bank of Montreal's City Hall Building. Home buyers were invited to register at the brokerage site to attend the City Hall seminar. The night of the seminar, Richford and the other presenters introduced home buyers to Internet-based programs and services, including elements of the local MLS, the Coldwell Banker website and it’s unique property search feature, Personal Retriever(tm).

The second part of the program was a live chatroom, scheduled a few days after the in-person seminar. Recalls Richford, "The evening of the seminar, people could dial in to the home page, click on a button and presto - they were into the chat room with other would-be buyers, myself and a lender." 

The in-person seminar netted 35 attendees, and between 20-30 buyers participated online.

"The weather was bad, but that was good," says Richford. She is pleased not only with the immediate results of the seminar - several buyers who became clients and bought homes, but with the residual effects. "I got significant credit from people around the city. I've been asked by organizations to speak about finding homes on the Internet. I'm becoming known as an expert on homes and the Internet."

Richford's small community has about 110,000 people and she does approximately 20-30% of her business from the Internet. She closes over 75 transactions per year, with gross commission sales of approximately $140,000 per year. "My office is more Internet-enabled than most," says Richford.  

Richford plans more seminars in 2000 to take advantage of the additional exposure the Coldwell listings will receive as the first Canadian franchise to feature listings on MSN Homeadvisor. "We are learning a lot," says Richford. "and eliminating glitches all the time."

"It's a neat way to do business. You don't have to be formal. Nobody knows where you are, yet you are conducting a real business session. I have been on chats before, so with the right kind of advertising and promotions, you can do these on a regular basis. Besides, most people are Internet capable now. They want to do business with people who do the same thing."

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Published: December 15, 1999

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