More and more these days, when doing product demos and trainings, I am hearing from real estate agents how expensive it is to be in business and how whatever piece of technology they happen to be looking at is just going to be an additional expense.

I agree and disagree with this statement. First off, I am keenly aware of how expensive it is to be in business. I am, at the end of the day, responsible for all my employees, the company overhead, and ultimately, making sure our company is going down the correct path. This is incredibly stressful at times, as I am sure running a real estate practice can be.

What I completely disagree with, though, is technology being looked at as an extra expense. Technology should never be looked at as an expense. It should always be looked at as an investment. There are multiple reasons I think this, but the most important one is that if you look at any piece of technology as an investment, you are instantly going to begin thinking about what your return on investment will be (e.g. how much more business is that piece of technology going to allow you to do?), and at that point, thinking of things in those terms, you can never lose.

First, For The Doubters

So if you are wondering why technology is nothing more than just another expense, like your car or a laptop, let me explain it to you like this:

You most likely have some sort of assistant working for you. It could simply be a transaction coordinator, or maybe a full fledged assistant. Those people do things for you when you aren't there, out out of the office, focusing on other things. These things they do for you make you more productive and therefore give you an opportunity to do more business. Clearly you wouldn't consider these people an expense. They are people. They are people that are contributing to the growth of your team. You are investing in them and they in turn are investing in the growth of your real estate practice.

Technology works the same way. If you are looking at a piece of technology and it can't do the same types of things above, then it's not really a technology platform worth considering. If it does do those types of described things, even though it's not a human, it is something that you are investing in, that will be working towards the common goal of making you more successful.

The Devil is in the Details

So you can see that not just any technology will work out for you. You have to choose the right technology. You need to find the tool that is going to work WITH you. A tool that is going to allow you to do more, without letting things slip through the cracks. A tool that is going to grow your business.

Here are some things to consider when choosing what type of technology to invest in. If you spend time going through each one of these steps during the evaluation process, you can't go wrong:

1) You Must Be Willing to Use It EVERY DAY

The only way your real estate assistant can help you grow your business is by regularly hearing from you as to what is going on, so they know how to jump in and help you. You should look at technology the same way. It can do a lot of things for you, but it CANNOT read your mind. If you are unwilling to use it regularly, don't subscribe to it.

2) Before You Start, Make a Plan

Just as you put a business plan together when you started your real estate practice, or just like you put together a job description for your real estate assistant when they first started working for you, you HAVE TO have a plan in place BEFORE you start using your new piece of technology.

On paper, clearly define your goals and guidelines for how you want those goals to be achieved. These are key things you will need to get set up on your technology platform BEFORE you start using it, in order to get the most out of it.

If whatever platform you are looking at has tons of other features available, don't fret about it. Just get started and get your core needs covered. As you get more comfortable with the system and your time is more free, you can easily start instituting additional features.

3) If You are on a Team or a Broker, You Have to Be the Champion

User adoption is the number one way technology products fail for agents. If you are going to invest in any technology platform, you have to be willing to promote it to your team or brokerage. You have to be an avid evangelist. The easiest way to determine if you can pull this off is to consider tip number one.

The more people that are regularly using the platform, the more successful your team or brokerage will become, the more money everyone will make and therefore the more people will stick with, and use the technology platform. It's as simple as that.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.