Cendant Launches Innovative Lead Management System for Its Real Estate Brand Network Brokers Company's Proprietary LeadRouter(TM) System Has Patent Pending; Customer Service Tool Converts Internet Text Inquiries into Voice Calls to Sales Associates' Mobile Phones for Customer Follow-Up Within Minutes PARSIPPANY, N.J., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cendant Real Estate Franchise Group today announced that it has launched the LeadRouter(TM) system, an innovative lead management platform for the brokers within its Century 21(R), Coldwell Banker(R), Coldwell Banker Commercial(R), ERA(R) and Sotheby's International Realty(R) brand networks. Cendant has a business methods patent pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its LeadRouter system. LeadRouter is a software-based system that captures Internet leads from homebuyers and sellers, then matches the lead information with the most appropriate sales associate according to business rules established by the local broker/owner. Converting data to voice, the LeadRouter product instantly informs the sales associates of the lead via a call to their cell phone. This enables sales associates to respond to consumers within minutes of receiving the request. "We believe our LeadRouter platform is head and shoulders above any lead management system available in the real estate industry today," said Alex Perriello, president and CEO of the Cendant Real Estate Franchise Group. "Cendant's investment in LeadRouter technology will help the brokers and agents in our brand networks increase their response time and effectiveness in managing homebuyer and seller leads." The National Association of Realtors' 2004 Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers shows that the majority of homebuyers and sellers who use an agent typically use the first agent with whom they have contact. "Considering these statistics, we believe LeadRouter has the potential to increase our lead conversion rate, which should result in a larger number of transactions for the brokers and agents across our real estate brands," said Perriello. The Century 21(R), Coldwell Banker(R) and ERA(R) brands successfully piloted the LeadRouter system during an eight-month test period with a total of 38 franchisee brokers, spanning more than 250 offices and 7,000 sales associates nationwide. Effective today, all of Cendant's real estate brands are making the LeadRouter product available to their affiliated brokers who meet brand-specific eligibility criteria. According to a recent Realtor.com study, nearly 50 percent of online inquiries from homebuyers and sellers go unanswered after 48 hours. In contrast, the brokers in the LeadRouter pilot groups reported an overall agent response rate of 82 percent in the first 24 hours for Internet leads, with 52 percent of those responses to consumers occurring in less than one hour. In analyzing the origination sources of Internet leads for the brokers in the LeadRouter pilot, the Cendant real estate brand Web sites (http://www.century21.com/, http://www.coldwellbanker.com/ and http://www.era.com/) combined to rank as the leading overall source of online leads to the pilot brokers (27 percent). The brand sites were followed by the pilot brokers' own company Web sites (23 percent) and Realtor.com (18 percent). Cendant's proprietary software system also provides office managers and administrators with oversight tools for managing all customer leads as well as Internet leads from any Web site. It also creates daily, weekly and monthly reports along with an integrated system that enables brokers to track the source of all their business. Additionally, sales associates must follow up on customer inquiries in order for them to continue to be eligible to receive leads from the LeadRouter(TM) system. About the Real Estate Services Division of Cendant Corporation Cendant Corporation is primarily a provider of travel and residential real estate services. With approximately 90,000 employees, New York City-based Cendant provides these services to businesses and consumers in more than 100 countries. Its Real Estate Services Division consists of the Real Estate Franchise Group, representing approximately 13,500 residential and commercial franchised real estate offices and more than 286,000 sales associates affiliated with the Century 21(R), Coldwell Banker(R), Coldwell Banker Commercial(R), ERA(R) and Sotheby's International Realty(R) brand names; Cendant Mobility, a global leader in corporate and government employee relocation with over 2,000 corporate clients; Cendant Mortgage, one of the nation's largest retail mortgage originators; NRT Incorporated, the nation's largest residential real estate brokerage company, and Cendant Settlement Services Group, a leading title and closing services provider. For more information on Cendant's Real Estate Services Division as well as expert commentary on emerging trends in the real estate industry, visit the Cendant Media Resource Center at http://www.cendant.com/media/. DATASOURCE: Cendant Real Estate Franchise Group CONTACT: Mark Panus of Cendant, +1-973-496-7215, Web site: http://www.cendant.com/ http://www.cendant.com/media http://www.century21.com/ http://www.coldwellbanker.com/ http://www.era.com/

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