• WHAT: A service designed for the real estate industry, but indicative of what can be done for other businesses, too
• WHY: Most real estate agents are stuck in the dark ages of technology and their clients suffer for it
• COST: $29/month for realtors, free to clients (carrier text messaging charges apply)

After spending some time in the real estate business I can tell you one thing for sure: No real estate agent on the planet can sell your home.  That's right - nobody can sell it because homes aren't sold, they're bought.  Next to getting married, the purchase of a home is the most emotional decision you are likely to ever make.  So if a real estate agent (who makes an obscene amount of money, in my opinion, for the work they do in selling, or "listing" a house) can't sell it, what, then, is their job?  Simple - their job is to market the property to as many prospective buyers as possible, generate "traffic" (that's realtor-speak for visitors to your house who might be interested in purchasing it) to it and negotiate the terms of the contract when the time comes. 

And seeing as marketing is such a large part of their business it's important to note that most agents do a lousy job at it - they don't take advantage of the latest technology, they don't spend enough money advertising it and typically do the same marketing that they were doing for a home 50 years ago (newspaper ads, postcards, open houses). 

So, what's all this got to do with wireless?  Simple - there's a very helpful, easy to use service that sends information about a property directly to a prospect's cell phone that's so simple to set up even a real estate agent can do it.  In the big scheme of things it costs next to nothing for a real estate agent to have this service and could make the difference in whether a prospective buyer sees enough information about your home to entice them sufficiently to request a "showing" (meaning they want to see the inside). 

The service is called "House4Cell" and works simply:  You (the real estate agent) subscribe to the service and choose a code that becomes your text message reply address.  If your company name is ABC Realty you might try to get the code "ABC," for example.  You then assign your listings to various subcodes so that if you have three homes listed you might have "ABC1," "ABC2" and "ABC3" as your codes.  When you get a listing you upload a text description and photos of the property.  On your real estate sign put a brief ditty on it like "More info and photos to your phone - Send "ABC1" to 67890". 

When a prospective buyer sees that they're likely to send the message because it will deliver photos - just like a flyer but without the realtor having to leave flyers in a box attached to the sign post - and a description, which might be better than calling a number for recorded information because the prospect will be able to re-read it, forward it to others, look at it at their leisure, etc.  It costs them nothing (well, the cost of a text message) and costs the real estate agent $29/month for three codes (for three houses).  There are overcharges if you go beyond a certain number of queries every month but if you're getting that many inquiries about a property you're trying to sell you'll be happy to pay the charges.  

The indications here are huge for other businesses.  Imagine seeing billboards with a text address to get a preview or trivia question about a new movie, or a fast-food restaurant that has a special that is only accessible via a text message query and offers a discount if you bring your phone in and show them the "virtual coupon" that day.  Or a mortgage company that has a billboard offering the latest rates via a text message query.  The technology for all of these scenarios is there now... there may be some services already doing this that just haven't been sufficiently publicized yet for people to know about - but mark my words... they're coming. 

Texting queries is fast, cheap and accurate.  It's an easy way for companies to provide great service without having to put a human operator on the phone (unless you text someone to call you!) and for users to get instant information without having to go through a lengthy phone decision tree.