Real estate technology products have been around for more than 30 years. After three decades of development, career real estate agents are burnt out from learning to use the next shiny thing. As real estate brokerages look for the next competitive edge to help them with recruiting and retaining agents, new technology rollouts become a key part of every brokerage's annual events. 

Every year I attend different events hosted by brokerages at their annual all-company meetings where new technology implementations are a key focus of speaking events and trainings happening in offices around the country. While the brokerage is usually excited about the prospect of rolling out a new tool that will give their agents a competitive edge or drive more business to the company, agents are often weary, fearing that this next new tool is going to be difficult to learn or use. 

Technology, for lack of a better word, is no longer as sexy as it once was when it comes to attracting new agent talent. I regularly hear technology used with a negative connotation from REALTORS® who just want to focus on getting their next listing or finding a buyer for their clients. Many real estate agents feel technology is a distraction from their core business because it's just something else they have to dedicate time to learning — and who knows how long that tool will be available to them?

One issue the industry has perpetuated is that most brokerages won't keep the same tools in place long-term. Over the past 30 years, how many different CRM programs, CMA builders, or marketing tools have your agents had to learn again and again as contracts with tech vendors expire or you look for the next new tool in the marketplace? This issue isn't on the brokerages looking to make technology switches. I actually blame the technology providers who gain an immense amount of market share but then allow their tools to become stagnant, causing an ever-growing cycle of companies needing to move on from their stagnant product to the next new tool that will inevitably be out of style within five years. 

I say all this to provide more context on the issue. Why would an agent spend hours upon hours learning about a new technology product when in all likelihood, that tool will only be available to them for a few years before it's on to the next product? It's important for brokerages to be able to build trust with their agents and say with certainty that whatever new tech implementations you roll out for your agents is going to be one they know they can have access to for not just two years but for the far foreseeable future. Brokerages can only build that trust with their agents if they have found a technology provider that they can trust to continue to innovate on their product so they don't feel the need to make a switch long term. 

That promise to your agents that this is the last time they'll need to learn a new CRM program or the last time they need to learn how to use an email marketing program will provide a base to make the agent open to looking at the next tool you want to roll out to them. Once you have them open-minded to attend training to learn about this new tool, you'll then need to make sure you have an ironclad approach to educating the agents regarding the new tools without making it feel overwhelming. 

I'm guilty of it myself. I've stood in front of rooms of agents and ranted about 10, then 20, then even 30+ new features and amazing bells and whistles of a technology tool thinking the agents would be wowed by all of the great things automated technology tools can do for them. But the reality is, when you rapid-fire feature after feature to the agents, they immediately lose interest because any tool that can do a lot of different things feels like it's going to be complex to understand. 

As sales author and public speaker Simon Sinek once proclaimed, "Sell the Why, not the What." Introducing any new technology tool to your agents needs to begin with why you are making the change in the first place. You're selling your agents on making a move that will be somewhat disruptive to their business. Agents aren't going to buy into the fact that your new CRM has five new features your old one didn't. Agents need to buy-in from your company leadership on why the decision to make a switch was made. 

If the goal was to cut costs, then you need to find a way to sell that story. Cutting costs by moving from an expensive tool like a website provider to a less expensive one could free up your budget to invest in other areas of the business. Maybe you're losing one feature that your agents never used to gain access to new ones that you know they've asked for. The conversation should never revolve around the features themselves, but rather getting the buy-in from your agents that the new tool you are implementing was vetted by your leadership. Clearly articulate the immediate impact on their business they're going to see, and inspire them to walk out of that first introduction feeling inspired and motivated to attend a training, not dreading the fact they have to sit through one. 

I understand that simply saying, "Go inspire your agents and everything will work out" is a bit unrealistic. What I have heard over and over again from brokerage events that I attend and speak at is that career REALTORS® who work at a brokerage, and take the time to attend company events, are usually at the brokerage for one key reason: They love the owner or leadership at the brokerage. If the agent doesn't believe in the company's mission and love the company ownership, then they aren't going to care about technology tools, fancy offices, or other benefits you bring to them. 

By far the best technology deployments I have ever been a part of begin with the CEO, President, or Broker-Owner being the one to introduce the new tool to the agents. If there isn't belief from the top of the organization in the tool, then it will never gain the traction you want. 

Agents work for companies that inspire them, and they will be most receptive to change when it comes from the absolute top of the organization. While of course, oftentimes marketing directors, technology directors, and administrative staff are doing all of the leg work to implement the product, you should have assets that involve the owner of the company promoting belief in this new tool.

Recorded videos, live speaking on stage, direct quotes about the product, and press releases will go a long way to make this new tool feel like something that's part of the company culture and not just another tool in the toolbox the agents will never use. Love him or hate him, look at the success Gary Keller has managed to churn up with the Keller Williams Command program. When they launched their new all-in-one platform in 2018, it was Gary himself who stood on stage and boldly proclaimed that they were not just a real estate company, but a technology company. You know what? His strategy worked, and Keller Williams brokerages have adopted the Command program at rates that far exceed most other CRM platforms. The agents use the tools because they are inspired by the leadership at the top of the company and believe in their mission.

If you want to make technology less scary for your brokerage, I believe it begins with those two key items: A promise to your agents that these tools are here to stay — so they need to attend training to learn them — and an introduction (and repeated re-introduction) to the technology from the leadership of the organization. If you aren't repeatedly selling the value of the products you're paying for, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to get agents to believe in the tools you have provided.

Finally, you need to be telling a story to your agents that is about why you choose to provide them with specific tools. It's not about what the programs can do; it's about what it will do for their business, if it makes their life easier, if it gives them time back in their day, and whether it creates marketing that will help them stand out. The value the tool provides is so much more important than what the tool can actually do. If you want to make technology less scary for your agents, it begins with learning how to inspire your agents through effective communication and trust building.