Real estate is notorious for its inefficiencies when purchasing and selling a home. Technology has helped, to some degree, to streamline the housing search and transaction, but in general real estate often lags when it comes to adopting new tech and processes compared to other industries. The real estate brokerage model is no different. As the homebuying and selling process becomes more complex, it is hard to imagine agents have the necessary resources to efficiently serve all the needs of their clients on their own.
With complexity increasing within real estate transactions, agents need to find reliable partners to help run their businesses. If it takes Chipotle several people to make a burrito, it is hard to imagine one agent handling multiple deals at once without feeling overwhelmed. Streamlining the process and building operational systems is critical to efficiently grow your business. Finding reliable technology and people is not an easy task, but it is now a requirement for today’s modern agent to stay relevant and, most importantly, thrive.
Overall, the takeaway here is that agents should find reliable partners and technology to outsource many of administrative functions. Real estate agents are good at dealing with people, and this is why they excel at what they do. Accounting, marketing and payroll can be a daunting task for a lot of agents to do on their own.
Here are three tips to help you establish segregation of duties to become more efficient:
1. Automate your marketing before and after the transaction
Thankfully, technology has reached a point where there are a plethora of marketing tools agents can easily and affordably incorporate into their business. Focus on delivering content that your current and potential clients want to hear. You can easily target potential clients with the latest market comps and deliver that information straight to their phone.
2. Do not use Excel to run your finances
Online bill pay, accounting and payroll allow for you to seamlessly run your business from your computer. Unfortunately, I see far too many agents running their business off Excel, which often translates into more headaches and anxiety. There is a myriad of finance and accounting software out there for you to use. A lot of them are even free.
3. Understand your weaknesses
It is important for you to understand where you are not completely confident. The better you can understand your weaknesses, the easier it will be for you to find the right people and tools to help you — ultimately making you more efficient and able to sell more homes. Remember, you need to invest time and money into yourself to reap long-term success. You cannot do it on your own.
Real estate agents excel at dealing with people. It is important to remember that is your main value proposition. Trying to do it all on your own is only setting you up for failure. Chipotle does not have just one person make your burrito, so why should just one person handle the entire housing transaction process?
Will Caldwell, a San Diego resident, is the CEO and co-founder at Dizzle, a mobile real estate tech company that helps Realtors generate more word-of-mouth leads.
