Technology is continuing to change the way we do things in all industries and real estate is no exception, with more new tools at our disposal than ever before.

In years gone by, agents and property managers might have been concerned about losing their jobs to technology. However, as the industry evolves it’s becoming more clear that real-life interactions with people aren’t going anywhere, and that technology can never replace real estate agents. Rather, technology exists to assist agents and make them more productive and better at their jobs.

If you’re thinking about ways to improve your agency or business, here are three reasons why now might be the perfect time to invest in technology.

Efficiency within the office

On any given day, an agent's attention is typically pulled in many different directions. You have to speak with leads, manage negotiations, complete the back office work, talk to buyers, plan marketing campaigns and attend open homes. The list goes on.

With so many high priority tasks needing to be done urgently, you will find that time in the day quickly escapes you.

Technology offers a means to become more efficient and maximise the limited time that real estate agents have. In order to succeed, agents need to be looking at ways they are able to remove themselves from the day-to-day runnings of their business, so they can focus on the top revenue-generating activities. To do this they must remove themselves from mundane, repetitive tasks that can be allocated to someone else, or automated by technology.

Implementing quality technology within the office not only creates efficiencies within your operations, but also within your budget. By adapting tech that helps your businesses day to day functions run smoother, you'll also be able to eliminate functions that no longer serve your business and cut costs. Discover further cost cutting tips that every real estate agent should know by reading this blog. 

Creating every efficiencies is how an agency or an agent can regain their time and take their business to the next level. Start by firing yourself, and incorporating technology to remove yourself from repetitive work.

A better customer experience

Everyone wants a piece of you as an agent and when a vendor or buyer gets in contact, they invariably want everything right away. This is to be expected as real estate is ultimately a sales and marketing job and dealing with people is a large portion of what you do.

Problems usually start occurring when an agent has grown his business to such a point that they can no longer keep up by themselves. It’s only then that they start falling away in certain areas. One of the first areas to slip is response time. A sign that you may be scaling too quickly and need extra support is that you don’t get back to people and your level of customer service begins to decrease.

Adopting great technology is one of many ways you can continue to give high-quality service and spread your time further. Being able to reach people by text message or email, as well as storing details in your CRM will immediately improve your ability to handle customer service, and better understand your customers. There are also ever-improving tools like chatbots that act as an assistant of sorts that can help direct enquiries.

The ways technology can improve your business are unlimited. These days, there’s no excuse for poor customer service as any bottlenecks that you’re personally facing can usually be solved with better processes, more team members and better use of technology.

Easy scalability

When we break down our week, no matter how smart or hard we work we always run into the same barrier in the end which is our time. After all, there is only a finite amount of time in each day.

If you’re working by yourself and selling your time for money, you will eventually hit a plateau with your earnings and also put yourself at a higher risk of burning out. That’s when we need to find ways to better leverage our time.

Technology is a great resource and with the potential to make a significant impact on the way we spend our time, allowing us to more effectively leverage the free time we do have.

A great example is the power of a quality CRM. Great real estate CRMs are custom built for the industry and tailored to suit your exact needs. Previously, real estate agents were limited by the number of leads they could contact in a day. With advancements in technology, and Prop Tech specially, agents can acquire and nurture more leads than ever before.

Utilising real estate technology allows you to do a lot more with your time, reach more people and ultimately scale your business. If you can’t scale your current operations, your business has a ceiling and is limited within its growth.

If you’re looking to move into the upper echelon of top-performing agents, then finding ways to scale your operations is essential.