The problem with tech support

More and more I find myself the go to guy in the office for specific real estate sales related tech support. To that end I've decided that maybe I should post more technical blogs once in a while.

The problem with tech support is (where do start)....

• Unlike the real estate industry there are no specific designations. Sure a guy or gal can tell you they've written a website or that they fully understand Wordpress. They can even tell you they're Microsoft certified in (xx), but where the list of designations that proves they're qualified to create the best possible site for the money in any specific field. Wouldn't it be better if when I was interviewing a web support person they could say to me, I am IDX certified with blank blank and blank companies. 
  
  
• They don't understand what we do? If you write a site for an online merchant you measure success by sales. If you write one for a brink and motar store you measure success by an increase in walk in traffic. How do we measure it? Part of the time we use our site to convince aprospect we've already met that we are technical and cutting edge. This might be the client who is deciding between two real estate agents to list their house. So we may have met them in our sphere but now we need to prove to them we're the best choice.  The rest of the time, it's sort of like we've thrown a hook in the water and we're sitting around waiting for a bite. 
  
  
• The don't understand how to do it? As real estate agents we're blessed with thousands of listings which when done correctly become thousands of pages on our website, or if you prefer thousands of hooks in the water. Better to have a few hooks in the water or thousands of hooks? Most of your tech support really don't understand that they have to build the sites in such a way that the search engines find each unique page and index it, and it's not that tough. 
  
  
• Tie it all together. Every single seminar someones going on and on abour referrals. Truth is if all your friends are somehow interconnected and your service level is high then your referrals will be high. Think of every post and site as a friend and that your job is to interconnect them. Here's a self serving example of what I'm talking about. Since I'm on my rant about technical support I started a facebook page called Real Estate 4 Agents. Now what I've just done is hyperlink this post back to my facebook page. I've interconnected my friends. Maybe one day I will get a real referral because of it, maybe meet a local business person, or grab a little side work helping out a fellow agent with their web presence. When you interview for technical or web support, make sure to ask specific questions related to your goals on the internet.

 Don't miss Bob's webinars. He'll move you in the right direction.  And please help me build my      facebook page Real Estate 4 Agents by clicking on it and liking the page.