Good Evening, folks!
Our Chicago Real Estate Team, you know, was one of the first here on the North Side of Chicago to have an individual-agent website.
Ahhhh! I remember it well. Ten Pages. Templated. Loads of stuff about US. A little about our listings. Nothing about other agents' listings. Links and pages to Chicago Points of Interests on other sites, without regard that these pages were actually sending people AWAY - to other places.
Terms like Pay Per Click. Search Engine Optimization. Proper Keyword Usage. Years away! And, for the moment - irrelevant!
After all, we had our "E Billboard" extolling our virtues. And, all was right in our e-world. Prospective clients loved it. They thought we were Cutting Edge!
The year was 1996!
We each had other high-tech goodies, too! The very first Palm Pilot PDA's. High-speed 9600-Baud Modems. Double High Density Floppy Disks for our Desktop PC - even a Zip Drive - in the days before Flash Drives Changed the World!
A home office with its very own FAX Machine and Dedicated Phone Line. Adobe Photo Editing Softwere(the "light" version - $1,000 for Photoshop in those days - way too rich for our blood!)
We even had e-mail - and, unlike many of the other somewhat-e-savvy agents of the time, we actually checked it regularly, and promptly responded to the few serious inquiries we received.
Our Team was one of the first around here to switch to a toll-free main contact number. To add Agent Partners to handle showings in moderately distant suburbs. To use a laptop computer and Power Point Presentation in a listing appointment. To employ Top Producer Contact Management Software. And to sport our own "Custom Domain."
Wooooohhhhhh! Cutting Edge! High Tech . . . yes?
Fast forward a short 14 years.
Having an email account? Passe! A website? It better be response driven, IDX-enhanced, and Keyword Optimized to be effective at all.
You don't send out text messages to your clients? You work way too slowly! You're a dinosaur - and, you know, dinosaurs aren't around anymore.
Do you post multiple photos for your listings? Not good enough anymore! You need at least 50 stills. Plus a top-line Virtual Tour! And an Interactive Floor Plan!
Blogs? You gotta have one - or two, perhaps three! And they better be relevant to the market in which you work, have news value, and that all-important "hook."
A GPS in your car? Even if you know your own hometown like the back of your hand, you'd better have one - to advise you of traffic delays and alternate routes. And it better be updated with the latest community maps, or you just might miss that newer subdivision way out in the distant burbs!
The problem now, folks - using the latest whiz-bang Tech Tools doesn't make you Cutting Edge anymore. Nor unique! Everyone has them. Everyone is improving them, daily, hourly, minute by minute, even.
Technology in Real Estate used to provide a way for you to differentiate yourself from the competition. Now, you either get it all, or choke on the dust of the whole rest of the industry who has them.
Remember that guy, back in the mid-90's, who thought that the Internet would never have a lasting impact on the way practitioners handle their real estate businesses? Everyone over the age of 25 knows at least one guy like that!
Here in Chicago, you'll find his bones on display down at the Field Museum of Natural History - right next to the intact skeleton of Sue, the T-Rex, and various other long-extinct creatures.
The latest technology - it's the "New Normal!" You're dug in a hole without it!
You agree? Ever feel somewhat overwhelmed?
Please share!
DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
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