Technology is constantly evolving, so it is not surprising that many real estate agents are finding it difficult to keep up. According to the 2013-2014 Realtor Technology Survey from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), 27% of agents spent between $501 and $2,000 on technology. And nearly half of agents indicated that keeping up with changing technology is a challenge in a recent NAR study.
Keeping up with technology is an important part of growing your real estate career. While some agents recognize the importance of technology, others are hesitant to embrace technology because it keeps evolving. So if you fall into that camp, here are five simple ways you can keep up with evolving technology:
Build a Website or Blog
When seeking out web solutions for building a personal website or blog, there are plenty of solutions geared for real estate agents. They have rich tools including specialized website templates and a built-in IDX search engine that will display MLS listing on your site. By starting out with a template and actually building a personal website or blog yourself you will learn about the different types of technologies behind website development without having to learn a single line of code. This will help real estate agents become more comfortable with emerging technologies.
Use Actionable Data to Improve Communication Efforts
Actionable data is everywhere, from the analytics on your website or blog to the open rate of your email marketing campaigns. Many real estate agents don’t understand how to analyze this actionable data to improve their marketing efforts. One way to do this is to integrate a client relationship management system (CRM) with your site. This will unlock important information such as neighborhood, properties and price points your clients are searching for on your website. Actionable data can helps agents suggest homes buyers are more likely to be interested in.
Look out for the Consumer Space
Numerous recent innovations are occurring in the consumer space, especially in what could be widely referred to as mobile. Agents should be aware of the consumer space given that everything (from the iPhone to personal cloud storage) gets its start in the consumer space from where it migrates to the enterprise. Real estate agents can watch new technologies that appear in the consumer space as one way of keeping up with the evolving technology.
Widen your Reach to International Buyers
Apart from providing you with new knowledge, international buyers help improve your technological skills considering that you will be applying numerous modes of technology to communicate with them. Given that the U.S. real estate is in high demand abroad, it is becoming increasingly necessary for agents to expand their network on a global scale, and this helps to embrace new technologies.
Read Engadget
Engadget helps cover the occasional development of enterprise. It is among the best sources for news such as development and evolution of technology, among others. The amount of news it generates can be overwhelming. Additionally, you can consider The Wall Street Journal, which although produces a less exhaustive overview of the enterprise and consumer technology, is equally important.
photo credit: Ryan Hyde via photopin (license)
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