When Too Many Real Estate Tools Are Overkill

Let's talk technology real estate tools. This includes hardware, software and online tools. Do you find yourself trying to find enough room in the car for both your clients and your tech stuff? Or, do you find that you're so busy with your fancy online and software tools that you don't have time to do some prospect contacting? That's even when one of your super tools is a fancy CRM, Customer Relationship Management, system.

Real estate agents are constantly bombarded with advertising for:

• the greatest smartphone
• super tablets and desktop computers
• high-resolution cameras and video equipment
• voice note recorders
• CRM software or online CRM systems
• image and video editing software
• time management systems
• task management
• transaction management
• electronic home measurement
• ...there is so much more

The first question is, how did we ever sell real estate before all of this stuff? The second is how much tech stuff is too much? The truth is that we really did sell real estate before the fancy tech stuff, and just as much as we sell now. This brings us to the third question: is all of this making us more or less efficient at our job?

Rule #1: Get Back to Basics

Take some time and think about how you did your job and the deals you closed before that last tech thing you bought. Then think about the same thing for the tech resource you bought before that. Keep working backwards.

Truth #1: Toys are Mostly Toys

Much of the tech stuff many of us buy is fun to use, and then we use logic to justify the purchase. We need to prove to ourselves that the money we spent and the learning curve time invested is a good investment and delivering efficiency and more commissions. Think about it, and then think about it again realistically.

Rule #2: Tech Is Addictive

Yes, you do need a mobile phone, and yes, a smartphone lets you do more on the go. However, when is the last time you counted the apps you've installed and how many of them do you use regularly?

Truth #2: Do a Tech Assessment

This isn't just about counting hardware, apps, software and online solutions. It's about looking at each one of them and checking how much you use it and exactly what it does for you. What it does for you should include an assessment of the time you spend managing the app versus the time it saves you and the value it delivers.

Rule #3: Variety Can be Redundant

There are a huge number of technology, software and online vendors who target real estate professionals with sophisticated tools for their work. They see that a productive real estate professional can make a lot of money, and they want to find a way to tap that income for their business. The problem is that each has their niche product, and even though it is pretty impressive, the value it delivers often overlaps the value of another closely-related niche.

Truth #3: Consolidation Delivers Value

When large corporations merge, it's often about combining the best of both and shedding the less valuable services and operations they each have. They see value in overlapping products or services, and they merge to take advantage of that overlap.

If you take the time to check out the overlapping features, benefits, and value of your various tech tools, how much overlap will you find? You can do your own analysis, and if you have a number of tech real estate tools, it's almost certain that you'll find overlaps. These take your time in learning the tools and in using them, and it's a waste in most cases. This is especially true of software and online services.

As technology advances, these many overlapping tools become redundant and you can almost always find that getting rid of some is possible through checking out the new services offered by others. This is particularly true of website providers, as some have integrated sophisticated CRM tools into their website backend.

Take an hour or two to become more efficient and do some tech real estate tools mergers.

To view the original article, visit the WebsiteBox blog.