The current business environment and the trends indicate that the technology expansion will be worldwide soon. To be successful in the real estate industry, one must utilize technology to its fullest and incorporate automated processes wherever possible. After all, automation saves money and, thereby, surges earnings.
According to a recent study, about 68 percent of real estate agents are under the age of 35. This stat simply proves that the real estate industry of the current era is controlled by the new-age agents that grew up with technology. This generation uses technological products in their daily lives.
For the rest of the professionals, and sometimes the new-generation agents as well, adopting technology and automating their work process can be challenging.
Here’s a guide to technology that will help your business:
1. Digitization
You can be a real estate broker or a supporting agent who is still pushing papers, maintaining files or must be manually entering the sensitive data of each client.
If this is the case, then you need to change the way you are working. You can go paperless by incorporating effective transaction management systems. That’s not to say legacy systems were bad, but there is no harm in catalyzing the work processes to reduce labor and save a hell lot of time.
There are systems in the market that are known for their user-friendly interface, such as transaction management systems from Reesio, Web-based systems like Highrise, Salesforce and related tools.
2. Social media prowess
There are two things here that are of utmost importance to any business. The first thing is inbound marketing, which can be one of the efficient tools for brand awareness.
According to research by HubSpot, inbound marketing costs more than 60 percent less than outbound marketing, which includes mailers, print ads and billboards.
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Hire people to write blogs and e-books on behalf of your company or realty agency.
- Dig the Internet and search for classified-based or real estate portals.
- Get associated with real estate portals that have fill-up forms, and as a broker you can register and display your listings.
Another powerful tool that one can use is social media. Smartphones and social media profiles are simply a part of your life these days — put them to use. You can create your pages or independent profiles and create a network of any size. Facebook and Twitter run in the veins, and nothing could be better than tapping that pulse.
3. Innovative applications
There are applications such as blueQub, which was created by the real estate technology firm Blueroof360. It’s a multipurpose and an extremely versatile tool that can be used by both brokers and clients.
The application is said to have well-designed consoles for lead and contact management and has excellent search features. There are also other popular applications, such as:
- Evernote
- Xpenser
- Thunderbird with Gmail backups plus transaction email archives and printing
- Google Drives and Dropbox
These applications don’t require extensive setup, and you can easily install them on your smartphones. Moreover, these can also be uploaded on your computer systems, and you can save the information on the cloud. Usage will save time and awaken you to the fact that technology can make life so simple.
4. Virtual assistants
This is something that can benefit your business, save time and work a little smarter as well — hire a virtual assistant. These assistants are collegegoers or fresh graduates who have administration skills and management capabilities.
The location of the virtual assistant doesn’t matter as this support system is a part of the large crowdsourcing business that works in a remote location. Secondly, the tasks that these assistants can help with are:
- General administration services
- Database and website development
- Sales support
- Client presentation preparation
- Telephone answering
- Bill payments
- Bookkeeping and much more
These are some of the easiest and trendy ways that can help you automate your business. Technology is something that can save your time, make your life simpler and can lead to more profitable opportunities. It’s time to be a pro, shun the old processes and walk toward success.
Vineeta Tiwari is a keen writer on global economy and realty market. She is currently professionally connected with 99acres.com. Reach her on Google Plus.
Inman Connect San Francisco is right around the corner — register now and save $200!