You would be hard-pressed to find a real estate professional who doesn’t use and love email. It is the way business is done quickly and efficiently…or is it? In today's rapidly evolving remote environment the simple truth is your income is directly tied to your technology enablement level.
To increase your income and thereby increase your profits you must first identify what level of technology are you using?
1) Level One: Mobile Phone, Email, Spreadsheets, local contacts in local markets only, brochures, and a personal website.
2) Level Two: Everything in Level One plus a basic CRM, one listing service like Loopnet, one data platform like Costar, and a single social media presence like LinkedIn.
3) Level Three: Multiple platforms with limited connectivity and a lot of data entry and monitoring. Listing services such as Loopnet, CREXI, and Quantum Listing, consistently active with high-value content on social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and data platforms like Costar or MLS.
4) Level Four: Tech enablement from end-to-end through the CRE Collaborative platform providing end-to-end seamless integration between all your technology. Speeding up your proven processes with added insights allowing you to operate faster, further, and with more confidence than ever before.
The majority of the industry works 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday with one 2 week vacation a year.
An average day of a real estate professional looks something like the 7 items below;
- Check Email Start of Day
- Check technology platforms for needs; properties for sale or for lease, comps, prospects, etc.
- Call clients, vendors, or partners on current properties/deals
- Meet with clients or partners; execute agreements, negotiate, updating
- Prospecting for new clients; cold calls, mail
- Check Email End of Day
- Networking Event
Now, for those of us who work 9-5 with holidays and a 2-week vacation, we have 1,860 hours a year to close real estate transactions.
Let’s break down an average day again in more detail on how you can optimize efficiency.
- Checking Email
- “On average real estate professionals spend an average of 3.2 hours a day on work email? That’s 514 hours a year, or almost 30% of golden deal hours” says Bob McComb Commercial Real Estate trainer, Expert Coach. That is almost a third of your time spent on one to one, or one to many communications, where all the knowledge or know-how for actually communicating is within the brain of the professional using it.
- Check technology platforms for need
- On average most real estate professionals log into 9 different platforms every day. Assuming 20 minutes per platform, an average 3 hours a day is lost checking/updating multiple platforms
Before checking in with clients, vendors, or partners, you have already spent 90% of your allotted hours!
It’s no small wonder that the Commercial real estate industry is slow to adopt the technology. Time is the one thing we can’t make more of and clearly, it’s in scarce supply. So how do we close 10x more business this year without the ability to network and meet people face to face?
- To solve the inefficiency in email:
- Studies have shown that checking your email on a set schedule improves your productivity tenfold, by removing interruptions to other tasks.
- Use technologies like Digsy.ai to consolidate and streamline your email and contacts into one, simple to use dashboard. This will then combine the workflow from checking email and calling clients, vendors, and partners. There are many other Client Relationship Management tools available, depending on your needs, however, when it comes to simplicity, Digsy.ai takes the prize. It is worth noting that Digsy doubles as its own Listing Portal.
- See a list of CRM Providers by clicking here
- Checking technology platforms for needs:
- Eliminate redundant workflows or platforms. Ensure your notifications and alerts from systems you use are set up in a way to eliminate your need to constantly search for or update systems.
- Technology like CRECollaborative; a 2.0 Technology Market Network, will take your data and connect you to all your platforms, allowing you a single point of entry, or source of truth.
- See a list of technology providers in the CRECo.ai Marketplace click here.
- Call clients, vendors, and partners:
- If you maintain constant contact via phone and email, you can shorten the time needed to meet with clients, vendors, and partners in person. Your fingers can walk much faster than you can. Having a good system in place by phone is essential.
- Technology like AgileCRM allows you to telephone your contacts, note their files, and schedule future events, all while managing the transaction pipeline related to the call.
- Meet with clients, vendors, and partners:
- The more hands you shake, the more business you close. Spending time with your contacts is unavoidable. How do you optimize the time needed to prepare for and have these meetings? In today's world, shaking hands means digital meetings using technology such as Zoom.
- If you have followed the two suggestions above, your meetings and data you have already been streamlined for you into a simple dashboard that syncs with your calendar.
- Prospecting for new clients, cold calls, mailers:
- Nothing will replace a business letter with your business card or handwritten note sent through regular mail. This is the most effective way to get your brand in someone’s hands and on their desk.
- Technology like ProspectNow provides a wealth of information on potential clients and property owners that you can use to prospect.
- ZipAnalyser can help you understand the economic indicators in any market across the United States. Find ZipAnalyser reporting within CRECo.ai's property detail page in our latest search engine by clicking here.
- See a list of assorted technology providers broken down by category in the CRECo.ai Marketplace by clicking here.
- Check Email
- Make a point to clear out your end of day emails, so you can prioritize any issues for the next day. Also, check off that the day’s needs have been met.
- Using “swipe to schedule” features within email lets you have an email redelivered to you the following morning instead of handling the issue at that moment. Additionally, using a service like Boomerang lets you schedule emails to send later, and or helps remind you to follow up on messages that don’t get a reply.
- Networking
- Digitally shake hands, invite peers, make new connections, be memorable on social media. Business opportunities are uncovered when you network online and/or in-person.
- Dropping those cards on a desk or signing up for LinkedIn, never to be heard from again makes the endeavor of networking useless. By using the "My Social" tool in the CRECo.ai platform you can easily engage your potential clients, customers, and consumers across all types of social media opportunities and needs to ensure you never miss out on a transaction. You can schedule posts, monitor competitors, and analyze traffic to ensure your messages are being heard by the right audience.
In summary, your technology level will directly impact your income in 2020 and beyond. At each level, your gross income is already increasing however so are your expenses and demand on human capital. Using CRE Collaborative's platform CRECo.ai you can advance to level 4 with zero drain on human capital and in most cases a significant reduction in your capital expenses for technology. CRE Collaborative will handle your technology for you, support your team while they use it, and in conjunction with your datasets drive deeper insights than your competitors.
To learn more about how you can become technology-enabled listen to this week's 20-minute CAFFEINE BREAK discussing this article and the article on Apple Podcast, IHeartRadio, Alexa, or anywhere you listen to your podcasts or by clicking here.
**Actual results may vary based on your individual business models and execution**
To schedule a meeting please send me a few convenient times to connect or call us at 203-307-2242.
Written by;
By Andreas Senie
Founder & CEO CRE Collaborative Inc
Co-Host FriedonTech/FriedonBusiness
203-307-2242 | Andreas@CRECo.ai
www.CRECollaborative.com