Technology is the Key
When I first joined a brokerage as the VP of Business Development, I had a relatively narrow view of what my responsibilities would look like; I would help generate business for the agents, recruit for the offices, and potentially evaluate, analyze and structure growth and/or acquisition opportunities. Coming from the software world, I assumed the title reflected the responsibilities of the position. However, the last year showed me that no position can live in a bubble – they must all work together to share the recipe for success. And I believe that technology infrastructure is key to that success.
Traditional leadership positions are no longer as simple to define. Sales Managers, Recruiters, Coaches, Trainers, Business Development, Marketing – they all have core responsibilities, but they also have one very large common denominator: They have to be comfortable with technology and always thinking about how to leverage it to increase their brokerage’s bottom line.
The days of a CTO having the sole responsibility for technology infrastructure is no longer applicable in the real estate world. All positions are responsible to increase the bottom line. They are all responsible for finding ways the company can use systems and integrate platform data to create a recipe for success that can be replicated from agent to agent within the brand.
York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks, explained this concept quite eloquently last month at the LeadingRE conference in Las Vegas. And I paraphrase:
The success of a brokerage is directly connected to recruiting and retention and agent productivity is the key to recruiting and retention. If agents are productive, they won’t look for greener pastures at other brokerages, and their success will also appeal to outside agents making it easier to recruit. Productivity is tied to a specific methodology or system, which is nothing more than documenting, training, and coaching to a specific set of tasks or activities to succeed with your unique value proposition, in your unique market. And technology must be leveraged to reinforce those systems with the agents, managers, trainers, and coaches. At the end of the day, the success of a brokerage is directly connected to the company’s ability to leverage technology to reinforce the systems that will help agents sell more real estate.
Reflecting on the Annual LeadingRE conference, I’m humbled at the diverse expertise top leaders throughout this industry hold. What’s clear, is that they all have comfort with technology and don’t shy away from it. They embrace technology to support their brand, not replace it.
I say this often and will likely say this many more times – technology will never replace the agent, but an agent with technology will replace one without.