If you sell homes, you must know tech

REALTOR® magazine has an interesting article in their September issue called “Tech It Up a Notch…”  Its purpose is to offer suggestions on how real estate agents can better leverage technology without necessarily using more technology.

Some of the points are bits of basic knowledge that we should already know (Bookmarking favorite sites?  To answer tech questions, google it?  Post more than a few photos on your homes for sale?  Just play around and learn? If you don’t have these down today, the rest of the article is years beyond you and it’s time to sell the Vega and replace your bag phone).  But there are some interesting points included that make this one useful reading for a typical, somewhat tech-savvy agent.  Here are a few examples.

Social Networking

  • Create a page for your business and the communities you serve.  Carpenter Realtors® has been training on this for a couple of years now.  In this case, Facebook  isn’t just about telling your friends you listed a house.  That’s a nice thing to share your enthusiasm, but why don’t you start a page for the neighborhoods you’re farming?  When I perform a long-tail search and find that you’re the expert on my neighborhood because of your community page and blog posts, I’m pre-sold that you’re the one for me.

Tech Training

  • First, if classes are available, take them, utilize them, ask questions.  Then – friend the geek.  I married one and it’s done me wonders.  Getting quick, correct advice when you’re looking for apps, shortcuts and more is a huge bonus.

Increase the exposure for your homes for sale

  • Looking at most listings, I’d suggest everyone hire a writer.  We’re too into facts and abbreviations like BRs, EIKs and WICs.  Get into the websites and edit your copy into something that engages me, the buyer.
  • If you can get reports on traffic, share every one of them with your home sellers.  If you’re not getting the traffic, you can improve your description and photos. If you’re getting traffic but no offers, you have a seller who needs a price reduction.  There’s little they can’t find on their own, and there’s so much they want.  Share with them.  Review it with them.  You’re a team, remember?

Blogging

  • You can blog for free and become an expert.  Look at me.  I’m just rearranging words here and there, and I have you reading each one of them.  Remember that you want to be the “expert” on your farming areas.  Blogging a great way to appear to be the most knowledgeable and most involved.  It’s great pre-listing stuff to send potential clients the links that help them see you as their first choice … before you even present to them.

We can’t avoid changes in technology and we must keep up on it.  Unless you’re Amish and that’s one of their big rules, ain’t it?  But let’s use it intelligently.  Remember when emails were all the rage in instant communicating?  Think they still are?  Ask your twenty-something friends when they last checked their email.  Remember that cool new “flip phone” you got that could ring and vibrate when a call came in?  Do you still use it?

Get on board, Grandpa.  Read the article and learn better ways to communicate with home sellers and buyers the way they want to be communicated with.

Posted by: Jim Newell

Comments are closed.

 
AGENT LOGIN

Equal Housing Opportunity. Equal Opportunity Employer.