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Technology vs. Skill: Which is More Important in Real Estate?

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What technology should you be using in your business? How much time should you spend with technology? How do you know if you’re wasting your time and money on technology? As Vice President of Coaching and Membership at Buffini & Company, I’m asked questions like these all the time. And, the answer to all three is, it depends.

I have the privilege of working with 50 of the best Business Coaches you’ll ever meet. One thing that every great Coach provides is perspective; the proper use of technology is about perspective. So, here is my perspective about technology.

Technology is a tool.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, once said, “The first rule of any technology used in business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify that efficiency. The second rule is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify that inefficiency.”

Put another way—don’t use a hammer to drive screws.

How does that apply to Working By Referral? If you have mastered the basics of the Working By Referral System, if you have the daily habits of contact, care and community in place, if you are already efficient in your lead generation, then technology, when properly applied, can help you be even more efficient.

But, if you don’t, all the technology in the world will not help. In fact, it is likely to make you less efficient. You’ll find yourself wasting time, energy and money, and receiving little results or benefit. Instead of mastering your tools, you become a servant to them. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “Men have become the tool of their tools.”

A tool is useless if you don’t have the skills to use it.

When it comes to technology, all too often, I see people place far too much importance on the tool over skill. The truth is rarely will a tool make you more skillful. It is in acquiring top skills that you become a master of the tool.

Imagine this scenario: You have the opportunity to play a round of golf with Jordan Spieth or Lexi Thompson, the best golfers in the world. To make it fair, Jordan and Lexi agree to play with a cheap set of hand-me-down clubs and you get to play with a set of custom clubs fit especially for you.

Who would win that round of golf? Nine out of 10 (and likely 10 out of 10), the best skilled player with the worst tools, will beat the less skilled player with the best tools. Tools are useless without the skills to use them.

A couple final thoughts on technology.

Albert Einstein once lamented the use of technology, saying, “I fear the day that technology surpasses human interaction.” That is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make in the utilization of technology in their business (and even their lives). People are using tools like Facebook, email, and text messaging to avoid good, old-fashioned, voice-to-voice and face-to-face communication.

Technology definitely has its place in our business, if it is used properly. The key is to choose the right tool for the right job, and to realize that the tool is only as good as the user. With so many technological tools available today it is important to be selective. It’s important to ensure the tools you use will magnify your efficiency, not your inefficiency. In the words of Steve Jobs, sometimes, “Deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do.”

For more information on how to make technology work for you and not against you, check out our MarTech Trends™ event, coming to a city near you!

Dave

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