Around the Clock Online Access Tools That Are Essential for Commercial Real Estate Brokers
As technology shifts and changes there are always more applications that we can use as agents in commercial real estate brokerage. Given that most of the time we should be out of the office attending meetings or connecting with new people, there are some highly effective applications that can help us get the job done.
Why Do Your Business Communication Online and Cloud Based?
The focus here is that through this new technology we can lodge notes, send messages, create documents, and deal with issues remotely in a timely way. Tablet computers and mobile cell phones all give us the ability to handle information and take action away from the office for use at any time.
Why is this so important? Well there are no excuses now for an agent or broker to be sitting in the brokerage office unless they are doing a deal or important meeting is underway. Why would an agent want to be in the office anyway? You can’t earn commissions easily by sitting at your desk.
Very Effective Business Tools
Here are some very effective online business tools (apologies to iPhone users as this is all Google based) that can help any commercial real estate broker get their job done effectively and remotely:
- Google Drive – Most android mobile cell telephone users would well understand the convenience and functionality of Google Drive. The size of the online storage available is significant and real. You can create and edit documents easily. You can also share your important documents using file links and folder storage. When you are working with many different real estate clients, this strategy is very helpful particularly with the larger documents that don’t easily move through the email system.
- Business Email – There is a business option and facility in Google Mail to integrate and access your business email online. That is now a very worthwhile approach given that most of the time you should be out of the office. All of your business emails can be readily controlled and accessed at any time. That also then allows you to store all your files on Google Drive adding the extra cloud based security for important documentation. It directly follows that you can use the Google Calendar to control your business life and keep relatively under control from a meeting and time perspective.
- iBooks – If you have an iPad (it is a very useful business resource in our industry) use the installed iBooks app for the storage of display of property material and property market updates in pdf form. You can set up categories and keep dozens of documents organised and accessible. The quality and convenience of the iPad allows you to draw on your finest documents in a clear and concise form at any time. In any coffee meeting your documents are at your fingertips.
- Tasks – Choose one of the most broadly used tested and effective mobile task apps so you can get into your current issues across a number of platforms. One of the apps I use all the time is Gtasks. It integrates into Google Drive and the Google Mail; on that basis is something that can keep your activities well under control.
- Dropbox – One of the most common file share and file access systems used in business today is Dropbox. There is a small fee for using Dropbox however it is a well-tested high performing online file access and storage system. You can tap into it from any standard computer and online mobile device.
- Evernote – For a simple low cost annual fee Evernote offers you a note keeping process that is highly searchable and safe. All your valuable listing information and client conversations and meeting updates can be stored logically for access at any time..
As a final note and if you are into building your personal marketing online, you can add some blogging tools and strategies to the list. The best blog tools to use would be WordPress and or Blogger. If you have something constructive to say about your property market, use the blogging strategy to tell the world what you think.
Every strategy mentioned here is effective and specific. For a small outlay you can build a better set of business tools to help you grow a strong commercial real estate business.
