With constant advances in technology, the most difficult question facing the average ­REALTOR® today is exactly which technologies they should take advantage of first, which come last, and which ones might be a waste of time altogether.

It would be easy for most of us to assemble a “to-do” list of technology that we would like to begin using this year. Unfortunately, that list would most likely exceed both our budget and our ability to implement.

Rather than thinking about buying all the technology you need at once, you should consider technology as an on-going investment, and budget accordingly. Successful ­business people invest in education, marketing and technology on a continual basis. Like it or not, technology is an ever growing part of our future, and the future is not something you buy all at once.

How much to invest every year is going to depend on where you are on the technology curve right now, where you want to be, and when. As a rule of thumb, I’d suggest that you budget as much on computer-related technology­ as you spend annual on your personal communications, meaning the total you spend on your business phone line, long distance, cell phone, fax and any paging or messaging services combined.

The following lists represent the most logical order of technology implementation for most salespeople. However, there is no set order within each group, as this will vary from person to person.

For most, completion of the “A List” should occur before investing in the “B List,” though there is no reason to believe that you must, or even should, implement all of the following. What follows is simply a ranking of what technology investments are most likely to result in increased production, and therefore yield a positive return.

The A List:
“ The A List” represents the core technologies that any salesperson who takes the future seriously must fully exploit. Each of these tools is just about guaranteed to be a worthwhile investments, as long as it is thoughtfully, and aggressively used.

Notebook Computer — For most salespeople, the days of needing a desktop computer are over. Today’s notebooks have more than enough power to run entire businesses and can also plug into all of the commonly desired accessories such as: monitors, keyboards, printers, scanners, back-up drives, etc.

Portable Printers — If you’re going to go portable with your technology, then a portable printer is an eventual must-have purchase. While showing buyers and sellers property flyers and MLS searches in their living room is a great use of technology to enhance customer service, nothing matches the lasting professional impression made by printing color copies to leave behind. Cannon, HP and Pentax all make excellent portable printers.

Contact Management — This is the must-have software for sales productivity. These are the programs that enable you to keep track of every detail regarding your prospects, sphere of influence and past clients. Managing thousands of contacts is amazingly simple and the ability to mass mail personalized prospecting and follow-up letters is just the beginning of their power. ACT!, Agent Office and Top Producer are good choices for effective contact managers.

SmartPhones — Now that most major wireless carriers support at least one Palm Operating System based Smart Phone, it’s time to take this technology seriously. The benefits­ that come from combining a cellular phone with a fully­ functional Palm OS are endless. Kyocera, Palm, Handspring and Samsung all make excellent models with a wide range of features.

Professional E-mail — Any technology that enables salespeople-to contact more prospects, while providing better followup communication, is a valuable one indeed. The telephone, pager, fax machine, voice mail and cellular phone have all been examples of how technology can improve productivity. With professional e-mail software such as Eudora Pro or Outlook, e-mail has the potential to rival the function of all of these devices combined.

A Personal Web Site — In short, Web pages provide an amazing return on investment. At a fraction of the cost of a quality classified advertising budget you can have an effective Web page on the Internet. As long as you include your page’s URL in absolutely all of your marketing materials (so that the readers of all your marketing material know how to find your Web page), you really cannot fail to receive value on this kind of investment. You should not expect to make a living solely off Internet leads, though some do. For the money, you can easily generate far more business from this investment than from any other form of advertising.

Digital Cameras — Few technologies are as satisfying to use as the digital camera. Not only does it save both time and money, but it also represents one of the few technologies that can directly impress your customers and clients as well. And, when you e-mail a photo of your new listing to an out-of-town buyer, the same day the home comes to market, they’re going to be impressed with you and the service you have to offer. Any digital camera will get the job done, but you’ll find the best results with those that offer wide-angle lenses.

The B List:
“ The B List” is the next tier of technology investments. These may add just as much productivity as the “A List” but generally not until you’ve fully integrated the items on the previous list into your business activities.

Scanners—In terms of creating the “paperless office” the scanner cannot be beat. Keep in mind that it’s actually­ the document management software included with your scanner that really helps you get organized and become more productive. To begin cutting the ties to paper and files, consider scanning a copy of all of your standard ­listing and sales forms. Combined with a portable printer, you can truly ­become a more mobile professional. However, for a ­paper-intensive business such as real estate, make sure that ­whatever model you purchase comes with an Auto-­Document Feeder. This will allow you to scan stacks of paper all at once, as opposed to a single sheet at a time.

Document Management Software — While scanners serve the purpose of getting copies of paper into your system, how you organize this information will make the difference between enhanced productivity and computerized disorganization. For the average small business user, nothing is more effective than ScanSoft’s PaperPort Office Pro software. Spend a week with this program and you’ll find it hard to organize “paper” any other way.

Spam Protection — If you’ve gotten to the point that unwanted junk e-mail is interfering with your productivity­ (and not everyone has), then you’ll be happy to know that there are plenty of technology solutions that can help solve this problem. Unfortunately, most offerings have too high a rate of “false-positives” (where legitimate e-mail is ­inadvertently deleted as spam) to be acceptable for ­business use. Other systems rely on initially denying delivery until the sender responds to a “challenge-request” verifying that they are a legitimate sender. This also poses problems for business users as it will almost guarantee that your competition is able to respond before you even receive a prospect’s e-mail. Fortunately, effective and accurate solutions for business users exist. Companies like http://OnlyMyE-mail.com and Postini are both effective without interfering with legitimate e-mail.

Broadband Internet Access—Services like AOL are clearly­ popular among consumers, and Internet Service Providers (ISP), provide stable dial-up internet access from just about anywhere in the county. However, the fast expanding rollout of cable and DSL now makes high-speed access a highly­ desirable option for business uses. Even if these services are not available where you live, two-way satellite access is now available for practically any location in the Untied States. The added speed of any broadband connection may not seem necessary, until you start to use one.

Wireless Networks—If you have an existing computer network in your office, or multiple computers in your home, you know how inconvenient managing information and sharing accessories can be. When you can group all your systems together wirelessly, you can now print to any printer­, share a broadband Internet connection, and move and manage files on any hard drive, all through a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) network and thin air. While setting up, configuring and securing a WiFi network can take some patience, the boost in both productivity and flexibility make this well worth your while.

In addition to instructing GRI programs for a number of state associations, Stephen Canale has spoken at hundreds of conventions and seminars in 45 states over the last several years; covering a variety of subjects relating to real estate, sales and technology. For information on seminars, software or Canale’s Tips & Tricks newsletter, visit: www.canale.com.