Every week I run into technology savvy Realtors who immerse themselves in Google Juice, Social Media, and mobile technology but feel trapped in brokerages that don’t offer adequate technology training or tools to help them stay up to date and ahead of the curve in a tough real estate market.

Conversely, real estate brokers are fighting tooth and nail to try to learn ever-changing technology trends, while being tasked with helping their active agents stay productive and keep the agents they have, in a hostile environment where some companies are trying to recruit away their agents by any means necessary.

Though everyone can gain from learning new things and embracing technology, its not always the broker’s job to do and be everything.  The broker’s job is to provide the tools for agents to be successful and here are a few ways they can make technology tools and training more accessible without having to play catch-up with tech savvy brokers.

Create a Committee

If you have a tech savvy agent in your office, see if they would be interested in being the head of a ‘Technology and Online Marketing Committee.’ This committee would be composed of tech savvy agents who know technology and who are having success, AND seasoned agents who have had long term success but may be lacking in tech. This would promote balance and show that the brokerage appreciates the value of both technology and successful longevity.

Consult with a Tech Savvy Agent - No Strings Attached

While Tech Savvy Agents are looking around, the are also bombarded with emails letters and phone calls from brokers just like you who are looking to recruit them.  How about a Guerrilla technique?  Ask them to have lunch to pick their brain and see what their vision for the future of real estate looks like and ensure them that this is not an attempt to recruit them.  Nerds love to talk about the future and nerdy Realtors are no different. Take notes and consult with your in house committee to see what they think about those perspectives.

Ask for Referrals

Sales 101! Everyone wants to refer, no one wants to be sold.  Tech savvy agents know other tech savvy agents because nerds love to share info with other nerds after all, no one else ‘understands’ them!  Asking “who do you know” rather than “work for me” is a great technique that works well in recruiting especially if you get a direct introduction.

Partner with a consultant

Real estate agents are in the business of helping people buy and sell real estate.  Technology is just one set of tools to help them do it more effectively. Partnering with an expert who handles regular training and consultations with agents in your brokerage can be a time efficient and cost effective way to keep your tech savvy agents on the path of improvement while still being able to do what they’re good at: Real Estate!

So the bottom line is that as a broker, you don’t have to be the most technical, you just have to be resourceful and provide affordable, reliable tools that agents can access and integrate relatively smoothly into their real estate business.

To my broker friends, what are you doing to add value to your brokerage through technology?

Do you feel that being tech savvy is essential or is providing a good set of resources equally effective?