Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

1.6. Step Six: Master the Tools of Your Trade

When I was first starting out as a real estate agent, I needed only a few tools: a car, a phone, and a calculator. To remain competitive in today's marketplace, I still need those three basic tools, but additional, more powerful tools have become necessities, including my BlackBerry, a laptop computer with Internet access, web sites, blogs, e-mail, an Internet lead-generation service, software for managing drip e-mail campaigns, a fax machine, a contact-management program, a computer network, and a host of other computer hardware and software.

Although all of these technological tools require an investment of both money and the time required to master them, they allow you to become more productive and improve customer service.

1.6.1. Identify the Best Tools and Technologies

Before you decide to adopt a particular tool or technology, consult with other salespeople in your industry to identify the tools and technologies that they have found most useful. Nothing is more discouraging than investing in a particular device and then finding out that a superior product is available.

If your industry has magazines or journals, subscribe to them and read them regularly. These publications often have articles and advertisements for the most useful tools and technologies that offer tips and techniques on how to make the most of them.

1.6.2. Adopt New Technologies Gradually

Attempting to master all the tools of your trade immediately can become ...