To-Do

The A List:
These represent the core technologies that any salesperson who takes the future seriously must take full advantage of. Each of these tools are just about guaranteed to be worthwhile investments, as long as they are thoughtfully, and aggressively used.

• Notebook Computer - For most salespeople, the days of needing a desktop computer are over. Today's notebooks have more than enough power to run entire businesses, and can also plug into all of the commonly desired accessories such as: monitors, keyboards, printers, scanners, back-up drives, etc.. As long as you're running a Pentium class machine of at least 166 mhz and have an "active" display, you can operate as a truely mobile professional.
• Contact Management - This is the must have software for sales productivity. These are the programs that enable you to keep track every detail regarding your prospects, sphere of influence, geographical farm and past clients. Managing thousands of contacts is amazingly simple and the ability to mass mail personalized prospecting and follow up letters is just the beginning of their power. ACT!, Top Producer, Prep and others are examples of effective contact managers.
• Internet Access - While we mostly hear about the Internet's non-business related attributes, it's power as a timesaving source of information for business people is unmatched. It takes some discipline to avoid being sidetracked, but with most local, state associations, and of course the National Association of REALTORS, being online, you no longer need to worry about saving your trade magazines. When you've got a real estate related question, more and more the answers are available 24 hours a day on the Internet. For a list of some of the Internet's most useful sites for real estate agents, visit my site at: www.canale.com and look for my "favorite links" under the "Online Articles" section.
• E-mail - Any technology that enables a salesperson to contact more prospects while providing better follow up communication to clients is a valuable one indeed. The telephone, pager, fax machine voice mail and cellular phone have all been examples of how technology can improve productivity. Properly utilized, email has the potential to rival the function of all of these devices combined. It is essentially free, immediate in delivery and can be "bulk" mailed to great numbers of prospects or clients at once. It is the tool of the technologically advanced; and on it's way to becoming an absolute business necessity.
• A Personal Web Page - In short, web pages provide an amazing return on investment. For a fraction of the cost of a quality classified advertiseing budget, you can have an effective web page on the Internet. As long as you include your page's "address" in absolutely all of your marketing materials, (so that the readers of all your marketing material know how to find your web page) you really cannot fail to receive value on this kind of investment. You should not expect to make a living solely off of Internet leads, though some do. For the money, you can easily generate far more business from this than from any other form of advertising.
• Fax Software - One of most underutilized technologies is the fax/modem. Most agents simple use it for MLS access, but with software like WinFax, this piece of hardware becomes a prospecting and productivity powerhouse. All you need to understand about the fax/modem is that under a Windows operating system, it is treated as just another printer. If you've created a flyer, letter or contract on your computer, you can "print" it to someone else's fax machine just as easily as your personal printer. With a list of fax numbers, you can print a copy to an unlimited number of other's fax machines - and even delay the transmission to occur late at night when rates are cheap and you're less likely to get busy signals. This allows you to send highlight sheets to local agents or current interest rate updates to all your buyers without ever printing a single copy yourself.
• Color Printing - While laser printers will usually print better looking graphics and have a higher page output, using color in your printed materials and letters adds impact and demands attention. The technology has advanced to the point that for under $400 you can print great looking documents that will enhance your professional image dramatically. I have just one warning: use color sparingly. Often the temptation is to over do it, and instead of adding value, the finished product looks very unprofessional instead.

Stephen M. Canale, CRB, CRS, GRI, RAM is a real estate educator and trainer from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In addition to serving on the GRI faculty for the Michigan and Tennessee REALTOR Associations, Stephen offers a wide variety of seminars on sales, technology and marketing.  For more information on his educational offerings visit: www.canale.com or contact him at either 734-481-9000 or Stephen@Canale.com