The Great Technology Divide

I see agents trip up over technology all the time. Nowhere is the Digital Divide more apparent than in real estate.

The Digital Divide is real; it's about those who know how to use technology and those who don't.

Many realtors think that they must have a degree in IT to make their life easier online!

That may be because they still struggle with simple tech like email or passwords.

Agents Are Wary

So they're telling themselves that they're 'tech idiots'. I've even heard it directly from one of my own agents.

They are blaming themselves for being slow whenever they see 10-year-old kids playing with their smartphones like ducks taking to water.

Well, I'm telling you, it's okay. You're better at many things they struggle at. Here's the good news; technology, like most things in life, gets better with use. The more you use it, the easier it gets!

Yet agents always secretly admire anyone with IT savvy. They go 'WOW' whenever they see young people showing off their tech wizardry. They even buy all these shiny new gadgets that they may not know how to operate. They buy because they have the money (compared to those youngsters).

But when I ask my agents to automate their time-consuming but low-piad tasks, they struggle.

And it was the same thing with my 55-years-old agent Fred Teo, from Knight Frank.

One day he just gave up trying to add his credit card online.

But that didn't stop him from selling 3 Homes in just 5 DAYS.

Not 5 months or 5 weeks. 5 DAYS!

How did he do it?

The secret is, ironically, in technology! Allow me to explain.

My Agents Don't Let Technology (or Lack of it) Stop Them

What this means is that he focused on the ONLY thing that really matters: Clients' Satisfaction.

Why is that?

Fred recognised something what many amateur agents don't; that technology is just a TOOL. It is not how powerful the tool is, it about how you USE it that matters.

But here's something for you to think about...

The Future IS Technology

We're already witnessing the exponential rate of advancements in Technology. And in the future, we're going to rely even more on technology. For the first time in human history, technology is solving real world problems, that was not possible barely a hundred years ago.

In real estate, we're seeing faster transactions made possible because of technology. The real estate purchase cycle is going to be halved, which means faster commission cheques in future. Manual, time-intensive paper work is going extinct.

But I still don't see agents being too happy about this.

Why are agents still afraid of technology? I think it's simple. Fear. They're afraid technology will take their jobs away!

Many realtors are watching the rise of DIY platforms with great fear. There are technology platforms that undercut their services, undercut their commissions. And they're not going away anytime soon!

So they're even more afraid.

That's understandable.

But here's the thing, my friend. You're forgetting the fundamentals behind technology. Let's talk about that.

Let's Revisit the Fundamentals

Why is technology so important?

1. Technology makes the impossible possible. 50 years ago, many careers and disciplines or fields of study did not exist. Even 20 years ago, there were no smartphones!
2. Technology enables automation. It is used to amass and track volumes of data which would be impossible to organise by hand. E.g. Compiling Housing Statistics or Aggregating Sales Data. That frees up our time.
3. Technology speeds up existing process. It invents new ways to do things, like applying for mortgage in real-time. It builds upon itself. It gets better and better.
4. Technology allows duplication. Repetitive tasks can be done easily, precisely and without errors. Like posting the same property on multiple platforms.

So, you see, we're only going to increase our reliance on technology in the future, whether we're ready or not.

Whether we like it or not.

But there's even better news for you...

What Technology Can Never Replace: the Human Touch

Here's why.

As long as there are humans, there will always be a need for housing. Everyone needs a roof over their heads. As long as there are humans, there will always be a need to buy or sell homes.

There will always be a human buyer.

There will always be a human seller. (We have yet to discover aliens, so aliens won't be selling houses soon!! 😂 😁 🤣 )

And there will always be a realtor to introduce the buyer to the seller.

Will the technology change? Yes.

The way buyers and sellers buy and sell homes will change? Yes

Will agents be obsolete? No.

Not as long as a human touch is required.

Not as long human thought, judgement, intuition, empathy and interaction is required.

Artificial Intelligence is still nowhere near us humans, and has decades of improvements left.

Which means, that, property agents are never going out of their jobs in the next 100 years!

So the question is, what should agents do right now?

Embrace Change or be Left Behind

You see, the very thing to improve your agent life actually scares you.

And it certainly scares many of my realtors too.

You must realise that there is no other way; you have to change and adopt technology.

Technology is not the enemy of progress; resisting change is.

Here's How I Solved This for Fred

My team set up Fred's fully customised, automated systems which sent him inquiries by SMS.

All Fred had to do was to follow up quickly enough with all the leads I supplied him with.

The rest was entirely up to him.

He didn't have to change his habits or go out of his comfort zone.

By doing this, technology freed him up to do things he was good at, letting us worry about all the technology.

Now, that's a win-win!

Let's hear it directly from Fred himself...