ASK MR. INTERNET

Psychology 101
Expand Internet Usage by Making Users Special

Creating an elite group of online users can help motivate your entire sales force to improve their Internet skills.

Dear Mr. Internet,
As a broker, how do I motivate my sales associates to take full advantage of this wealth of new customers available through the Internet?

Ginny Hughes
Coldwell Banker Premier
St. Louis, Mo.

Dear Ginny,

The issue of how to turn real estate sales associates into effective, Internet-savvy practitioners has been plaguing brokerage owners and managers since the first days of the Web. Until recently, it has been an exercise in frustration, with some managers convinced they’ll never get most associates past using e-mail.

But today, 70 percent or more consumers use the Internet as part of their real estate buying/selling process, according to a recent California Association of REALTORS® study, “Internet vs. Traditional Buyers." So not having your sales associates fully up to speed on the Net is no longer an option.

There is an answer to this dilemma, however, and it has a lot more to do with human nature than technology.

Just Like Herding Cats
As you well know, real estate people are very independent and getting them to do or learn new things as a group) is a lot like, well... herding cats. (In case you need a reminder of just how difficult that is, click here to view a hilarious video on the subject.) But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. The first step to successfully transition your entire sales force to being excited and effective on the Internet is to identify who the three types off "cats" your organization are:

• Cool Cats love and embrace change. They are hungry to learn everything they can— including new technologies--to further their career. This is the group that you work with first.
  
• Tom Cats are the "fence sitters," the ones waiting to see how it works for someone else before they commit to anything new. Sales associates in this group will eventually come around (curiosity always kills the cat), but until they do, just leave them be; don’t force them to take any kind of Internet training.
  
• Fat Cats are the top producers who know the score and are often quite comfortable with the hard-won methods they’ve used to generate large amounts of business. Once again, just leave this group alone; they’ll either eventually adjust or retire.
  
  The key to getting everyone in your company to embrace the Internet as a powerful way to do business is to train your "cool cats" and ignore the rest. As counterintuitive as that might seem, it has been shown to work time and time again for brokers who have embraced this approach. It works because these “cool cats” become the Internet leaders. And just like in real herding, if you get the leaders going in the right direction, most of the rest of the pack will follow.
  
  But to get the leaders going in the direction of sophisticated Internet use, you have to structure your program to reinforce the idea that being tech savvy is cool. In addition to providing comprehensive Internet training, you want to find ways to set these cool cats apart, to make them feel liked the technology elite of your company both to themselves and to your other, less-high-tech associates. Think in terms of creating your own "Navy Seals" of Internet-savvy associates. Make this elite group hard to get in and easy to get kicked out of if you don’t keep up.
  
• Screen individuals for entry into your elite group. Look for people who embrace change and are high energy.
  
• Get a written agreement from each group member outlining their commitment to complete the training and share their knowledge within the group. The agreement should have accountability requirements along with consequences if they fail to meet the agreement.
  
• Provide regular, in-depth training on the Internet and other technologies that can enhance customer service and productivity.
  
• Set specific standards for online interaction competence—such responding appropriately and in a timely fashion to e-mail queries and having a personal Web site.
  
  The elevated status of our cool cats should come with certain privileges and responsibilities. For example, this group is with the best skills for handling online leads generated by your company’s Web site, so one of the " perks" could be exclusive access to this source of new business. However, to be part of the group, they must also respond to these leads within a certain time period. Otherwise they lose their privileges.
  
  Soon you’ll have everyone clamoring to join and ready to acquire the online skills to be part of the process. The first group will probably be about 5 percent or 10 percent of the company. And each time you add another 5 or 10 percent of your sales force. Eventually you may even have to set up several elite groups of Internet-savvy associates focusing on different aspects of technology. And the best part is, you did it without begging, cajoling, or threatening your sales associates in any way—effectively removing all frustration from the process.
  
  While this basic approach to elite Internet groups may get your company where it needs to go technologically, the devil is always in the details. I first wrote about the idea of using elite core groups of Internet-savvy real estate associates as a means of introducing technology to brokerage in 1991. (To view a PDF version of “white paper” written for Intel on the impact of technology on the real estate industry, click here.)
  
  However, I soon realized that most real estate companies needed more than a conceptual framework to set up a group of Internet-savvy practitioners. So in 2001, I created a program for real estate brokerages called "ePOWER Groups." This plan essentially handles all the details of starting, running, and leveraging the power of elite core groups. It also includes a comprehensive 18-month Internet training curriculum.)
  
  Brokers who implement the idea of elite groups of Internet users have realized just how easy it can be to get sales associates eagerly using the Internet to do business. And when Internet use increases, satisfied customers and a more profitable business are almost certainly the byproducts.
  
  Tip of the Month
  
  How do you know that the e-mail you send to clients, prospects, or other salespeople is really being read? Without special tools, you don't. E-mail read-receipts are completely unreliable because they depend on the recipients to send them back. And in today's world where important messages can be easily deleted along with the bushelfuls of spam everyone receives, even if the e-mail gets there, it doesn’t mean it’s been read.
  
  If you’ve ever called clients to see if they received your e-mail, (kind of defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it!), you’ll love ReadNotify.com. This awesome service affordably and comprehensively solves the problem of knowing whether your messages have been read. I now personally use it for every individual e-mail I send.
  
  In fact, ReadNotify is so powerful, it will also tell you when your message was read, how many times, if it was forwarded (when and how many times), and even indicate if (and when) any links in your message were clicked on. In addition, it offers many more advanced tracking options, such as self-destructing e-mail that would give the user only a set period of time to read the message after opening it and encrypted e-mail.
  
  The best part is that ReadNotify is highly affordable—only $3.99 a month for 350 sent e-mails. And it will work with virtually any kind of e-mail software. You can even try it out for free. Once you do, you will never be left wondering again.
  
  ________________
  More Resources:
  For tips on developing a company Internet policy, click here.
  Put Your Operations Online , Michael Russer, April 2000
  Twentieth Century Practitioners Give More to Consumer , Michael Russer, January 2002.
  
  Previously by Ask Mr. Internet:
  Raising Your VA Comfort Level
  Contact Info in a Click
  How Good Are You?
  Make Your E-mails Look Great
  
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