Keeping Abreast of Technology for Realtors Doesn't Need to Be Costly, Difficult or Time Consuming
Technology is just a tool in real estate to allow us to do what we always have, should and will do every day but now with speed and hopefully ease.
This post is dedicated to some tech tips that should accomplish just that for you and your real estate business.
Statistics say email takes up on average 28% of a person's day. That is CRAZY! We need to figure out a way to take this time back and use it to build our business.
Why does email control such a large part of our day?
We have all somehow and somewhere subscribed to so many email lists creating something called the Email Monster and our own email overload without even realizing it.
In an attempt to help control the "Email Monster" and to hopefully bring a higher level of efficiency to your work and personal life I want to share some tech tools I have found helpful in my own life.
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- One of my personal tools is something called www.unroll.me which does 2 things for you...1. It allows you to pull out and unsubscribe to all the email lists and emails that you always wanted to stop receiving.
2. With the lists you want to stay on, instead of receiving multiple subscription emails throughout the day, you can receive just one. The Rollup combines your selected subscriptions and organizes them into one convenient daily digest email. - Once we have cleaned up our email then you can use www.mailstrom.co that allows us to organize multiple saved emails by categories, topics etc.
- Google is and will continue to be the driving force of the online world. Setting up a gmail account has become more and more important.
- Once you set up your gmail account with Google you will want to use an application called Xobni (inbox backwards) what Xobni does is find and connect anyone who has emailed you in the past and connect with them in gmail.
- I like using Google Documents for sending presentations, spreadsheets and documents to clients and the Google Calendar is a great place for you to share calendars with others like your family and office assistants without the expense of an exchange server.
- For most of us, myself included, the days of Internet Explorer are numbered. Google Chrome is the #1 internet browser and the next generation of surfing the internet. Chrome now has cloud applications that help us avoid the times our hard drive crashes and didn't have time to back everything up. Chrome also allows you to synch across to more than one computer.
- Another one of my cloud applications you should check out is www.jolicloud.com and use this as your complete cloud desktop.
- For agents who don't have their own website or don't like the costs of the website you currently have why not check out www.follr.me and www.about.me and create your new website for free and make it your social business card with QR code links, video, biography and client sections on the site. This is a great way to increase your online presence without a large cost.
- For those of you who have put off or can't imagine the work and effort it would take to connect with your real estate database of clients on the social media realm. Check out www.alternion.com and www.ming.ly for the tools to find and connect with your real estate clients on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin without too much work at all.
- So many agents ask me how and where they can get marketing material for little or no money? Many don't have the large reserves required to market in a way to compete with the top producers. If this is you then check out www.breakthroughbroker.com for free real estate brochures, presentations, tools and marketing materials to give you and your business a boost without spending the big money that you don't have (yet).
- The Online consumer still represents 94% of point of first contact for agents today. Do you have a vehicle that seamlessly and quickly shares with the online consumer your pre buyer and pre listings presentations? Or your Listing, buyer and pricing presentations? Why not check out www.slideshare.com and keep your online and offline experiences with your consumers consistent and readily available worldwide?
- Last but not least did you always wish you could find more information about your clients before you first meet? Some information to connect quicker, deeper and get some commonalities to share with each other rather than just talking about business for the entire appointment. Check out www.pipl.com which is a reverse directory that will provide even more information about your clients than a simple google search.
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Remember these are just tools, don't get hung up on any of them. A house builder who only spends his time buying and admiring his tools will never actually build a house. Pick the tools you feel will help you be more efficient and effective then get out there and do some "work".
I hope some of these tech tips will be useful for you and your business.
Wishing you continued success.
Strength and courage,
Wade
Please Share, Tweet or Email this article to someone who needs it... I'd love to hear some or your favorite tech tools... leave a comment below to share them with the gang.
