More Paperless Magic

In a recent Playbook, we covered some of the ways agents are incorporating their iPad or other tablet into their listing presentations.  We’d heard about and tried some of the basic elements including showing your presentation to your prospective clients on your iPad and minimizing the number of trees you had to chop down before the meeting.  Also, Fusion works well on the iPad, and you can even go through and sign the listing agreement right there on your tablet as well.

But a few weeks ago, attending a webinar on becoming a paperless agent, we saw a couple more tricks that aren’t simply the duplication on screen of what we can do on paper.  The webinar showed how the adept paperless agent can use their iPad in different ways to show both their leading edge technical mastery as well as their unique approach and professionalism in the real estate business.  Who wouldn’t want to differentiate themselves from the stodgy old competition?

The first new wrinkle was simply taking some pictures of the home, using their iPad, as they toured it with the prospective seller.  But snapping a few shots wasn’t the point.  Using the app Evernote, the agent then annotated—right there with the seller—the photos showing either great features of the home or, more importantly, specific items they wanted the seller to know needed attention.  As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, hopefully a healthy commission too! 

The second, and more fascinating, wrinkle, was when the paperless agent sat down with the seller and asked that fairly typical question of what they loved about their home and the neighborhood.  But here’s where that iPad set them apart.  The paperless agent then brought up a map of the area and took a screenshot.  Then, as the seller told them about their local coffee shop or their kids’ favorite playground or the neighborhood pool and clubhouse, they annotated the map using Evernote to create what they called a “Lifestyle Map.”  The greatest element here was that the prospective client is drawn in and participates with the paperless agent in creating something that will become a part of the marketing of their home.

Impressive!

At any rate, this paperless trend will certainly continue and grow over the next few years.  In fact, in ten years, we’ll all probably be laughing about our current tablets and smart phones, and how clunky and inept they were compared to the technology we’ll have then.  Do you even remember what cool personal technology tools most folks in business used ten years ago?  Does anyone use pagers in the normal course of business today?  And more to the point, remember how cool we were when we showed off our sparkling new…Palm Pilot!!  Yes, we no longer needed that bulky day planning folder the size of a phone book.  So cool, and yet so vanished today.

As you consider your goals for 2014, be sure to include some planning to improve your use of leading edge technology.  Your coach and our training staff will be there to help and guide you.  Oh, and leave the Palm Pilot at home!

David M. Hassler

Director of Coaching