REALTORS® CORNER
By Paul Silverman, MIRM, ABR, GREEN, ePro, CSP, SFR, Director of Professional Development for Heritage Texas Properties.
Paul can be reached at psilverman@
heritagetexas.com or
www.facebook.com/ agentmobile.
The technology that we use on a daily basis not only helps us keep our worlds in sync, but also provides for a better consumer experience. As we dive into the world of these wonderful tools, one of the biggest areas is the ability to go mobile and not be tied to an office. This ability not only saves time, gas and effort, it also helps us do our job more quickly and with more proficiency.
L
Among the mobile agent options there is a clear ring leader—the iPad. This small and compact business tool can serve so many functions, yet the number of owners who actually know how to use them on a regular basis is slim.
One significant reason is the real lack of training for agents trying to go mobile.
Most of the training that is in the marketplace focuses on exposing the student to a multitude of apps with little or no instruction on usage. There are a large number of attendees at these presentations who watch the class in excitement, go home and download all of the apps, and then look at them hopelessly wondering what they could do.
They are in fact “appoholics”—people who are addicted to downloading apps with no clear vision of how to implement them into their daily work tasks.
So here are a few suggestions to ease the transition and turn an appoholic into an app user.
24
ooking back on the last decade of being a Realtor, there is one clear area that has made our profession so much easier and efficient.
Are You an App-oholic? 1. 2.
implementing it into your practice.
Only download one of each type of app unless you are looking to replace the
one you currently use. There is no reason to have four apps that modify a PDF document when one will do the job. Oftentimes iPad owners purchase similar functioning apps and then have no idea which one to use.
3. 4.
Download apps for every part of your practice, not every part of your life. It’s a
big enough learning curve trying to implement into your business life, mix in 20 more apps that stream sports scores, recipes, play radio, movies, etc, and you will never learn what is most important.
Once these goals are defined and a plan is implemented, separate your business
into segments that apps could make more efficient. These areas should include email, composing contracts, digital signatures, file storage (cloud), client presentations, video email and other applications that can improve your efficiency, gain the ability to find valuable information for your clients and impress them with your technical ability.
By following these suggestions and a dedicated plan for implementation, you can start to enjoy the benefits of going mobile. No more late night trips to the office for files, dragging around heavy bags with computers and files, or printing reams of paper. Most importantly, you gain the ability to quickly deliver contracts to secure property or sales for your clients.
MARCH 2012 | HOUSTON BUILDER | GREATER HOUSTON BUILDERS ASSOCIATION – BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE
Commit yourself to learning one new app per week. Practice the functionality before
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48