Too Many Choices

With constant advances in technology, the most difficult question facing the average real estate agent today seems to be which technologies they should take advantage first, which come last, and which might be a waste of time altogether.

Should you invest your money in upgraded hardware or buy new software? Will you make money with accessories like scanners and digital cameras? How much, if anything should you commit to the Internet and email communications?

It would not be too difficult for most of us to make a to-do list of the top 100 ways to spend money on technology. However, who would have the time and money to implement that list? Lot's of people spend money on technology. How many really make more money by wisely investing in it?

Investing In Technology

If you really want to make more money with the new opportunities that technology offers, then you need to start thinking about it as an on-going investment and budget accordingly. Successful business people invest in education, marketing and technology on a continual basis. Like it or not, technology is an ever growing part of our future, and the future is not something you buy once and then possess for years on end.

How much to invest every year is going to depend on where you are on the technology curve right now, where you want to be, and when. As an extreme example: I personally invest more on computers and related technology each year than on I spend on my car; and that's including maintenance and insurance. While this may seem preposterous to many business people, my rate of return on these dollars is greater than any other investment I have ever made. The car doesn't even come close.

However, not every dollar spent on technology is going to be a guaranteed great investment. I've made some pretty poor choices in investing both time and money in technology that did not reap any real rewards - but mostly it's the time that is the most expensive investment. As you may already know, it's very easy to spend 20 hours learning a $20 program and not have any real productivity gains to show for the effort.

What To Do & When To Do It

The following groups represent the most logical order of technology growth for most sales people. There is no set order within each group, as this will vary from person to person. However, for the vast majority of agents, completion of the "A List" should occur before even considering investing in the "B List." Additionally, there is no reason to believe that you must, or even should, do all of the following. This is simply a ranking of what technology investments are most likely to result in increased production, and therefore yield a positive return.

The A List:

These represent the core technologies that any salesperson who takes the future seriously must take full advantage of. Each of these tools are just about guaranteed to be worthwhile investments, as long as they are thoughtfully, and aggressively used.

Notebook Computer - For most salespeople, the days of needing a desktop computer are over. Today's notebooks have more than enough power to run entire businesses, and can also plug into all of the commonly desired accessories such as: monitors, keyboards, printers, scanners, back-up drives, etc.. As long as you're running a Pentium class machine of at least 166 mhz and have an "active" display, you can operate as a truely mobile professional.

Contact Management - This is the must have software for sales productivity. These are the programs that enable you to keep track every detail regarding your prospects, sphere of influence, geographical farm and past clients. Managing thousands of contacts is amazingly simple and the ability to mass mail personalized prospecting and follow up letters is just the beginning of their power. ACT!, Top Producer, Prep and others are examples of effective contact managers.

Internet Access - While we mostly hear about the Internet's non-business related attributes, it's power as a timesaving source of information for business people is unmatched. It takes some discipline to avoid being sidetracked, but with most local, state associations, and of course the National Association of REALTORS, being online, you no longer need to worry about saving your trade magazines. When you've got a real estate related question, more and more the answers are available 24 hours a day on the Internet. For a list of some of the Internet's most useful sites for real estate agents, visit my site at: www.canale.com and look for my "favorite links" under the "Online Articles" section.

E-mail - Any technology that enables a salesperson to contact more prospects while providing better follow up communication to clients is a valuable one indeed. The telephone, pager, fax machine voice mail and cellular phone have all been examples of how technology can improve productivity. Properly utilized, email has the potential to rival the function of all of these devices combined. It is essentially free, immediate in delivery and can be "bulk" mailed to great numbers of prospects or clients at once. It is the tool of the technologically advanced; and on it's way to becoming an absolute business necessity.

A Personal Web Page - In short, web pages provide an amazing return on investment. For a fraction of the cost of a quality classified advertiseing budget, you can have an effective web page on the Internet. As long as you include your page's "address" in absolutely all of your marketing materials, (so that the readers of all your marketing material know how to find your web page) you really cannot fail to receive value on this kind of investment. You should not expect to make a living solely off of Internet leads, though some do. For the money, you can easily generate far more business from this than from any other form of advertising.

Fax Software - One of most underutilized technologies is the fax/modem. Most agents simple use it for MLS access, but with software like WinFax, this piece of hardware becomes a prospecting and productivity powerhouse. All you need to understand about the fax/modem is that under a Windows operating system, it is treated as just another printer. If you've created a flyer, letter or contract on your computer, you can "print" it to someone else's fax machine just as easily as your personal printer. With a list of fax numbers, you can print a copy to an unlimited number of other's fax machines - and even delay the transmission to occur late at night when rates are cheap and you're less likely to get busy signals. This allows you to send highlight sheets to local agents or current interest rate updates to all your buyers without ever printing a single copy yourself.

Color Printing - While laser printers will usually print better looking graphics and have a higher page output, using color in your printed materials and letters adds impact and demands attention. The technology has advanced to the point that for under $400 you can print great looking documents that will enhance your professional image dramatically. I have just one warning: use color sparingly. Often the temptation is to over do it, and instead of adding value, the finished product looks very unprofessional instead.

The B List:

The next tier of technology investments may add just as much productivity as the "A-List" but generally not until you've fully integrated the previous level of technology into your business activities. Technology is like most other aspects of life in that learning to walk before you run will usually make you a faster runner in the end.

Presentation Software - More and more of today's real estate professionals are successfully taking their technology into the field. Armed with a notebook computer and the real estate presentation software available from either Top Producer or PREP, any agent can easily utilize outstanding presentations for their buyers and sellers. The value to the agent is that both of these software packages come with over a dozen top-quality presentations that can be easily customized. This drastically reduces the amount of time required to prepare for client appointments and makes a professional statement that cannot be matched by paper alone.

Phone Directories - The days of using a printed cross-reference are over. Pro CD Select Phone is just one example of an electronic directory that contains every business and personal address in the country, cost less than $100 and can be updated quarterly if you like. Not only is it faster than using a book to look up others by phone number, address or zip code, but you can print out search results on standard label sheets as well. While the Internet is great for looking up one number at a time, the real power of this software comes from mass searches. For example, within five minutes you could lookup and print labels for the 500 neighbors closest to your new listing. As if this wasn't impressive enough, you can also export this information to your contact manager software! Every serious real estate agent needs this kind of marketing and prospecting power.

Digital Cameras - Few technologies are a satisfying to use as the digital camera. Not only does it save both time and money, but it also represents one of the few technologies that can directly impress your customers and clients as well. When you tour a prospective listing taking digital photos, and then import them into a marketing flyer right before the seller's eyes, you're building a lot of credibility in the process. And, when you e-mail a photo of your new listing to an out of town buyer, the same day the home comes to market, they're going to be impressed!

Portable Printers - If you're going to go portable with your technology, then a portable printer is a eventual must-have purchase. While showing buyers and seller property flyers and MLS searches in their living room is a great use of technology to enhance customer service, nothing matches the lasting professional impression made by actually printing color copies to leave behind. When you realize that a good portable printer can be had for under $300 and that that these units really are portable, it doesn't take much calculation to realize their true value to today's mobile professionals.

Financial Analysis - Most agents seem to shy away from offering financial advice, instead simply referring financial inquiries to a loan officer. Unfortunately, this runs counter to growing consumer demands for one-stop shopping and expert advice from all of their business contacts. While no one is saying that agents need to become mortgage underwriters, having accurate answers to all of your consumer's questions and offering un-iased and expert advice certainly goes a long way towards adding value to your services, and creating satisfied customers. The financial software programs from both Top Producer and PREP both make the task of mortgage counseling extremely simple, effective and accurate. If any agent doubts the vaule of adding such software to your current lineup, simply consider the proposition from the customer's perspective. What buyer wouldn't want to know the real financial differences between choosing a fixed-rate or an adjustable rate loan? Who wouldn't want to understand the true impact of paying discount points? How could your buyer not be impressed by a simple, yet accurate, demonstration of the long-term impact of making small additional principal payments on a monthly basis? Finally, the real question is how will the buyer feel about the professionalism and value of the person who can provide then with this valuable information?

The C List:

The last grouping of technologies all have value, but are far below the "A" and "B" lists in terms of what they can add to the typical real estate agents income, productivity and time savings. This is not to say that you should avoid these technologies, just that they should not be addressed until you have fully exploited the more important, and productive, technologies above.

Scanners - In terms of creating the "paperless office" the scanner cannot be beat! However, most agents can still function for quite a while to come with good old-fashioned paper files and folders. As long as you're using a digital camera for your photography, a scanner can wait.

Desk Top Publishing - One of the biggest technology traps that seems to ensnare real estate agents is Desk Top Publishing, (DTP) software. Whether you're considering PageMaker, MS Publisher or another DTP program, don't. Few agents are competent graphic artists, and fewer still can spare the precious hours needed to become competent in creating effective marketing pieces. Given that Top Producer and PREP both come with comprehensive, and customizable, marketing flyers, brochures, postcards and even door-hangers included within their software, there's little to be gained from pursuing desktop publishing.

PDA's & HPC's - While Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and Hand-held Palmtop Computers (HPC) are wonderful next generation technologies, they don't offer much in the way of productivity enhancements for the typical real estate agent. If you're an agent with multiple assistants who schedule your events and appointments for you, then one of these miniature computers might very well be a great tool for you; most of the rest of us should wait a while longer.

Mapping & Demographics - One of the great benefits of the computer age is the ability to purchase electronic information. Every day the availability of software for mapping, demographics, school information, and public records increases. While all of these categories lend themselves to providing greater customer service and personal efficiency, they do not represent products that provide the immediate return on investment that most real estate agents are looking for. Additionally, these types of information can often be found on the Internet, and at not cost.

Electronic Forms - Quite a few companies now offer software that will convert you paper documents, typically sales agreements and the like, into "electronic" forms. This type of software represents a great use of technology, and can be a real timesaver to be sure. But, until you're adept at using a notebook computer with a portable printer, the added value is questionable; at least when compared to the other more productive technologies available.

As you plan your new year, whether for yourself or your associates, I sincerely hope that you will reflect on the above to-do list in order to determine how effectively you are using technology, and to set realistic goals for implementing newer technologies into the future.

On a final note, regardless of where you are on the technology curve, realize that the shift to technology for enhanced productivity and production is an on-going process, and that without effective training, results will typically be marginal.

Published: December 29, 1998

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Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Stephen Canale only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.