It's not a trick. There really is only one tech tool you can't do without. It's your brain. Why is your brain the most important tool? Because it's the only tool that can make sense of pertinent incoming data about how you do your best work to serve your clients and then enable you to use that data to create and automate meaningful processes. Nothing works like the brain when it comes to specifically handling your world. Nothing.
Many of you could be running your company or department with more focus on the power of technology and how it positions you to compete better, but technology has to come out of the back room. It's your technology that should enable you to give better customer service than anyone else. It's your technology that gives you the speed to make things work smoother and with greater accuracy. So why should all of this stay in the background? Frankly, it shouldn't. Please, please don't say; "Oh I'm just not technical," or "I just don't get it," or "I leave that to someone else." If you're going to be in commercial real estate, you need to use your brain when it comes to technology.
As I'm out meeting and speaking with people in the commercial real estate industry, I'm frequently asked why/how we got involved in technology. For me the quick answer is easy. Commercial real estate is hard to describe without photos, and before the Internet, sharing images was a challenge. So that was our start nearly 15 years ago.. we built software that put photos with text to describe real estate better and faster. That simple idea combined with a roadmap for how to accomplish it, launched our company into technology.
In talking to people, I think there are two main reasons they say things like, "Oh, I just don't understand all that tech stuff." First, they somehow believe it makes them sound more personable and strategic, (because after all, we all know anyone who likes technology is boring and is relegated to the bottom of the flowchart in most companies). Or secondly, because they don't understand it, it's a little frightening, and they don't want anyone to know they have fear of anything. Because I like people and technology, I typically brush past these types of statements looking to see what's behind them. Only then can I assess if someone just wants some insight. If so, I give it. If someone wants help getting something done, I do it.
So what if you are one of those who want to take advantage of the best tech tool around and you're willing to invest in the equipment to participate? You're the type that is smart enough to put that good old gray matter that is yours and yours alone to work. Here are a couple of tips to get you started.
1. Talk to people who do what you do, examine what you like about what they're doing - those "tech" things that help them successful - and mimic how they did it.
2. Focus all your efforts on how to make things better for your customer. Even if its internal operations you're automating, make sure everything comes down to an improvement for those you serve.
3. Map out the whole process, a sort of customer workflow. A good way to do this is by starting at the beginning and examining the process from prospecting to client satisfaction. You need to identify the problem and what you do to solve it and how to make that process easier. Draw the process. Don't' type it out. Using a whiteboard is okay, using pencils is okay, but you'll get bonus points if you use crayons with lots of color. You're looking for a map with lots of arrows and lines going in lots of different directions.
4. Once this is done, make circles around the areas that take place using technology you don't fully control and/or understand. Make X's through things you can eliminate by automating.
5. Make circles in a different color around all the parts of the workflow that you fully control (your website, your virtual office, email, your blog, and so on).
6. With the drawing complete, you can map the direction you want to go and start to plan for getting the help you need along the way. Just keep thinking about your clients. Think about the value you can bring to them. Let that guide all your decisions. If you implement the correct technologies, it will be fairly seamless to those who utilize it. And remember, just because the technology you implement is in the background doesn't mean it's not adding immense value. Trust your brain.
We have one filter that we use in our company - Streamlining Commercial Real Estate. We use it as our tag line so it stays in the forefront of everything we do. People in commercial real estate make money when something is completed. Whether it's a sale that closes, a lease that is consummated, a loan that is booked, a market study or appraisal that's delivered, a new user successfully moves into space or any multitude of processes. Until the process is complete, the money doesn't hit the bank. Streamlining how that process works puts money in the bank faster, and I don't need to tell most of you, the sooner the money goes in the more value it has. It is the best indicator that we're doing a good job serving our customers.
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