With a market more challenging today then five years ago, I've noticed that many real estate agents have a tendancy to make (sometimes frivolous) purchases of new technology, tools, educational programs, and other gadgets or gizmos to enhance their careers. I can appreciate anyone trying to stay ahead of the competiton by implementing new tools into their business but when income is down, all good business owners, including real estate agents must get expenses under control. So, how do you get the best of both worlds... new tools with no money?
1. Evaluate What Your Office or Franchise Offers - Most of the big franchises offer great intranets with some amazing programs. For example, at RE/MAX we have RE/MAX Mainstreet which is home to RE/MAX University, Design Center, and Lead Street. That means that RE/MAX agents have education, marketing programs, and lead generation avenues that WILL NOT COST THEM MORE MONEY if they learn to properly utilize them. As much as we try to encourage agents to embrace the tools on this site I still think they are completely underutilized. If RE/MAX University, Design Center, and Leadstreet were all re-packaged and sold at a premium... most agents would probably buy them in a heartbeat. I think we sometimes associate FREE with NO VALUE.. but in this case there is a tremendous value that's just sitting there right under our own noses.
2. Understand What Your Current Subscriptions Offer - I just had an agent who purchased a new program which gives them school profiles and community information in a beautiful presentation booklet. This is all well and good except that this same agent has been and remains a subscriber to Top Producer which has this same exact feature. Had this agent taken some time to check out everything he already had available to him he could have saved himself $19/mo. Make a list of all the programs you're currently subscribing to and take 20 minutes a day to learn something new about each program. Write out lists of what the features are and stop buying products that you're already paying for.
3. Read up on Technology Tips available through the Realtor boards. They offer some fantastic technology tools and educational programs for free. I've been really enjoying some of the free tools I found through our state board of Realtors. One tool called www.YouMail.com is a FREE voicemail service which identifies each caller and answers the caller by first name. It's got a ton of other neat features as well. It's so cool and so free. Another fun tool is www.HouseFront.com. This allows you to text a property address to a programmed number and you immediately get public record information about the property texted back to you.
Anyway, the point is that in a challenging market it's tempting to invest in every new tool, program, gizmo, gadget, etc. in hopes of gaining that leading edge out in the marketplace. However, the truth is that you are just as likely to find your edge without dipping into your pockets.
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