Hainge's Rule Of Computing #12 states: "Ideally, you should spend very little time at a keyboard!" By this I mean that your job is listing and/or selling real estate, not spending your time setting up and implementing your technology. That task belongs to your technical consultant, someone whose job it is to carry out the technology concepts you decide to implement: using a digital camera, using multimedia, running your business with a database, etc.

Along those lines, I got this query from my newsletter subscribers Chad & Laura Smith of Seattle, WA : "What capabilities should we look for in a tech assistant? How do we set up interviews so that they can display their tech ability?"

My answer depends on what type of tech assistant you're bringing into your business. Are you hiring a full-time assistant, one whom you want to be able to be primarily responsible for implementing technology in your business as well as handling other duties, or are you hiring a part time "on call" tech assistant?

Let's look at the first type of assistant. You need a full time assistant (providing that your market area is large enough to warrant one) if:

• You did more than 25 transactions in the past 12 months
• You are perceptive enough to realize that this business is being dominated by those who have personal assistants and that you'll have to have one in order to survive. In other words, if you want to capture any significant market share and still have a life outside of real estate, you are going to need a personal assistant.

Suppose you decide to hire a full-time assistant.  Ideally, you'll hire someone who not only keeps you organized and does all the tasks that free you up to spend more time in front of buyers and sellers (delivering papers, answering the phone, etc.) but who also knows technology. If I'm looking for that type of person, I'll look for someone who has the following:

• A relatively new IBM compatible computer
• He or she is connected to the Internet and knows how to use email
• Someone familiar with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

I want someone with their own computer (and, hopefully, other tools such as a fax machine, etc.) if the assistant is to work from his or her home, as mine does. If he or she has these things, I've saved money having to buy them. I want someone who is already familiar with the Internet, and I definitely want someone who is familiar with email, since my business runs on email these days. I want someone who knows Microsoft Word so that they can handle my printed correspondence and presentations, and I want someone who knows PowerPoint so that they can build multimedia presentations for me to use in front of buyers and sellers. Finding someone who already knows these programs means that I won't have to spend time and money training them in these areas.

How to find such a person? The best method I've found in my area is to place an ad in the small community newspapers. The last ad I placed read: "Personal assistant wanted for national real estate speaker. Must have excellent organizational skills. Must have IBM compatible computer and a working knowledge of Word and PowerPoint. Email resume to allen@afhseminars.com."

Note the last sentence: no telephone or fax number for resumes! The only people who will respond to my ad are those who know email and who know how to digitize a document and attach it to an email. Saves me a lot of time during the interview process!

The second type of assistant would be someone whose sole job is to implement the technology I want to use, someone who is usually not a full-time assistant but who is rather "on call" when I need him or her. This person's job will be to learn things like the following: how to use a digital camera, how to use and setup my real estate database, how to put together multimedia presentations, how to install any new hardware or software I get, how to use software such as Know The Neighborhood, PhotoShare and Picture Works. The assistant's job is to learn these tools, then to sit down with me and teach me what I need to know about them, thus saving me an inordinate amount of time. I can't compete in today's market without using these tools, but it shouldn't be my job to spend all the time learning everything about them. All I need to know is how to use them to make money. Make sense?

The best method I've found for getting this type of person is to call the local high school (or community college), talk with the computer science instructor and ask him or her for recommendations of students who want to earn extra money. I'll interview the student and throw out enough questions to satisfy me that he or she knows what they're doing. I'll ask them about the main functions of Word they use, ask to see a multimedia presentation they've done or have them build one in front of me on my computer, ask them how they'd transfer data from one computer to a newer one, etc.

Allen F. Hainge CyberStar(tm) Wynne Achatz of Marine City, MI brought this second type of tech assistant into her business five years ago after hearing me recommend it during a seminar I did at the NAR convention. She gives her "techie," Aaron, a local high school student who was 14 when she hired him, a lot of credit for the growth of her business. Whenever she gets a new piece of hardware (a digital camera, a p.d.a., etc.), she gives it to Aaron to learn. When she gets new software, Aaron learns it then teaches it to her. Whenever technical problems arise, Aaron is the one who spends time on hold with tech support, not Wynne.

The main message I want to get across is that finding a good tech assistant is easy....and that it's essential in today's world of real estate if you want to capture increased market share!

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Published: June 24, 1999

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Allen F. Hainge is a nationally known real estate technology speaker and author with a difference: he builds his seminars and articles around concrete, practical experiences he learns from his CyberStars(tm), a group of top agents nationwide who use today's technology to dominate their marketplace. He is the author of "Dominate! Capturing Your Market With Today's Technology." Allen's seminar schedule and offerings may be found www.afhseminars.com. Subscribe to Allen's Newsletter by Clicking Here