Technology TransactionsHow to Hire a Tech Assistant
Hainge"s Rule Of Computing #12 states: "Ideally, you should spend very little
time at a keyboard!" By this I mean that your job is listing and/or selling
real estate, not spending your time setting up and implementing your
technology. That task belongs to your technical consultant, someone whose job
it is to carry out the technology concepts you decide to implement: using a
digital camera, using multimedia, running your business with a database, etc.
Along those lines, I got this query from my newsletter subscribers Chad & Laura Smith of
Seattle, WA : "What capabilities should we look for in a tech assistant? How do
we set up interviews so that they can display their tech ability?"
My answer depends on what type of tech assistant you"re bringing into your
business. Are you hiring a full-time assistant, one whom you want to be able
to be primarily responsible for implementing technology in your business as
well as handling other duties, or are you hiring a part time "on call" tech
assistant?
Let"s look at the first type of assistant. You need a full time assistant
(providing that your market area is large enough to warrant one) if:
You did more than 25 transactions in the past 12 months
You are perceptive enough to realize that this business is being dominated
by those who have personal assistants and that you"ll have to have one in order
to survive. In other words, if you want to capture any significant market share
and still have a life outside of real estate, you are going to need a personal
assistant.
Suppose you decide to hire a full-time assistant. Ideally, you"ll hire
someone who not only keeps you organized and does all the tasks that free you
up to spend more time in front of buyers and sellers (delivering papers,
answering the phone, etc.) but who also knows technology. If I"m looking for
that type of person, I"ll look for someone who has the following:
A relatively new IBM compatible computer
He or she is connected to the Internet and knows how to use email
Someone familiar with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
I want someone with their own computer (and, hopefully, other tools such as
a fax machine, etc.) if the assistant is to work from his or her home, as mine
does. If he or she has these things, I"ve saved money having to buy them. I
want someone who is already familiar with the Internet, and I definitely want
someone who is familiar with email, since my business runs on email these
days. I want someone who knows Microsoft Word so that they can handle my
printed correspondence and presentations, and I want someone who knows
PowerPoint so that they can build multimedia presentations for me to use in
front of buyers and sellers. Finding someone who already knows these programs
means that I won"t have to spend time and money training them in these areas.
How to find such a person? The best method I"ve found in my area is to place
an ad in the small community newspapers. The last ad I placed read: "Personal
assistant wanted for national real estate speaker. Must have excellent
organizational skills. Must have IBM compatible computer and a working
knowledge of Word and PowerPoint. Email resume to allen@afhseminars.com."
Note the last sentence: no telephone or fax number for resumes! The only
people who will respond to my ad are those who know email and who know how to
digitize a document and attach it to an email. Saves me a lot of time during
the interview process!
The second type of assistant would be someone whose sole job is to implement
the technology I want to use, someone who is usually not a full-time
assistant but who is rather "on call" when I need him or her. This person"s job
will be to learn things like the following: how to use a digital camera, how to
use and setup my real estate database, how to put together multimedia
presentations, how to install any new hardware or software I get, how to use
software such as Know The Neighborhood, PhotoShare and Picture Works. The
assistant"s job is to learn these tools, then to sit down with me and teach me
what I need to know about them, thus saving me an inordinate amount of time. I
can"t compete in today"s market without using these tools, but it shouldn"t be
my job to spend all the time learning everything about them. All I need to know
is how to use them to make money. Make sense?
The best method I"ve found for getting this type of person is to call the
local high school (or community college), talk with the computer science
instructor and ask him or her for recommendations of students who want to earn
extra money. I"ll interview the student and throw out enough questions to
satisfy me that he or she knows what they"re doing. I"ll ask them about the
main functions of Word they use, ask to see a multimedia presentation they"ve
done or have them build one in front of me on my computer, ask them how they"d
transfer data from one computer to a newer one, etc.
Allen F. Hainge CyberStar(tm) Wynne
Achatz of Marine City, MI brought this second type of tech assistant into
her business five years ago after hearing me recommend it during a seminar I
did at the NAR convention. She gives her "techie," Aaron, a local high school
student who was 14 when she hired him, a lot of credit for the growth of her
business. Whenever she gets a new piece of hardware (a digital camera, a
p.d.a., etc.), she gives it to Aaron to learn. When she gets new software,
Aaron learns it then teaches it to her. Whenever technical problems arise,
Aaron is the one who spends time on hold with tech support, not Wynne.
The main message I want to get across is that finding a good tech assistant
is easy....and that it"s essential in today"s world of real estate if you want
to capture increased market share!
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