from Florida Realtor Magazine, December 2007 | page 12

Is that an Etch A Sketch®?

Maggie Simon boarded a plane, heading to a meeting with a commercial sales associate in San Francisco. She settled into her seat, pulled out her Tablet PC and decided to do some work before takeoff.

“I was looking up info on my Tablet before everyone was told to shut off their electronic devices,” recalls Simon, a sales associate with Tierra Verde Realty in Tierra Verde (a small island south of St. Petersburg Beach). Then it happened again. A fellow passenger, puzzled by what she was seeing, asked the question that Tablet PC owners often hear: “Is that an Etch A Sketch?”

With its flat, slatelike surface, the device does resemble the popular drawing toy from the 1960s. And you can write and draw on it—with a digital stylus pen. But with an average price tag of $2,000, the Tablet PC is no toy. Weighing about three pounds, it’s a small version of a laptop computer (with a swiveling screen and a clip-on keyboard). People typically don’t know what it is because it’s not sold in retail stores, says Simon, who bought her Tablet PC directly from the manufacturer, Motion Computing, three years ago for $3,000.

“I told the woman on the plane that I was a paperless sales associate, and she said her daughter was looking for a [sales associate],” she says. “When we got to our destination, I [met her daughter] and got a new customer on the spot!

“My Tablet PC is a huge marketing tool that gets me a lot of work,” Simon adds. “I rarely go anywhere without someone asking, ‘What is that thing?’

“I recently picked up 22 listings from a company that does short sales. They chose me because of my technology and the speed at which I work. Now, I’m so busy I don’t know what to do with myself!”
Simon says the advantages of using her Tablet PC include:

1. Say Goodbye to Paper
“It’s amazing how quickly one piece of paper turns into a large file,” says Simon. “With my Tablet PC, I’m no longer a paper pusher.”

If she wants to jot down a reminder or a phone number, for example, she doesn’t have to use Post-It®-style notes like most people. “I use [the] sticky notes [tool] right on the Tablet screen,” she says, boasting that she hasn’t even bought a ream of paper in three years. “[Sales associates] usually have to print out their forms before they fax them. Not me! I print to a virtual printer that then allows me to sign on the screen. I’m a lot more streamlined because I’m not dealing with the clutter. I’m actually doing more business instead of playing catch-up.”

2. Easily Access Applications
Simon says her Tablet PC runs all the same applications as a desktop or laptop computer. “Anything you can do on any other computer, you can do on the Tablet PC. I can send e-mail, fax and even access the Internet. The best part is that you can use a [stylus] pen that turns your handwriting into text. So, I can handwrite an entire document and press a button, and it turns into type. I can also quickly handwritee-mails as if they were a personal note and send them.” 

3. Instantly Submit Offers
Simon recalls the time when a buyer with whom she was working fell head over heels for a home and wanted her to submit an offer ASAP. As luck would have it, three other buyers were there, and they each wanted to make an offer. “As the three other [sales associates] rushed off to their offices to do their offers, I wrote [my customer’s] offer right on my Tablet PC screen, e-mailed it to the [listing agent] and it was accepted,” she says.

Being able to write and submit offers instantly has been a real boost to Simon’s business.

4. Wow Buyers
Thanks to her Tablet PC’s built-in Wi-Fi capability, Simon can easily access the Internet when taking buyers out on “look-see” property tours. “Most [sales associates] have to print out the MLS [information] ahead of time, but I can access it right on my Tablet,” she says. “I can make notes right on the page with my [stylus] pen and highlight any comments that the customer may have about a particular home and then e-mail it to him or her [for reference]. People are so blown away by it.” 

5. Peace of Mind
For added security, Simon’s Tablet PC is equipped with a fingerprint identification sensor that lets her instantly protect the device and all its contents. Each time she wants to log on to a program or open a document she simply swipes her index finger over the screen and, voilà, she has access. “I can click on [any] file and make it fingerprint encrypted so that no one else can access it,” she says, adding that she no longer has to remember multiple passwords.

Simon is so gung-ho about the Tablet PC that she now trains other real estate professionals on use of the device. “If I had to go back to the [old way of doing business], I’d quit real estate,” she jokes. 

This column, designed to offer examples of how salespeople and brokers are using technology in their offices, won first place in the 2006 Best Column category from the Florida Magazine Association. The column is for general information only. Opinions expressed here don’t necessarily reflect an endorsement of the views by Florida Realtor® magazine or the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR).Maggie Simon boarded a plane, heading to a meeting with a commercial sales associate in San Francisco. She settled into her seat, pulled out her Tablet PC and decided to do some work before takeoff. 

“I was looking up info on my Tablet before everyone was told to shut off their electronic devices,” recalls Simon, a sales associate with Tierra Verde Realty in Tierra Verde (a small island south of St. Petersburg Beach). Then it happened again. A fellow passenger, puzzled by what she was seeing, asked the question that Tablet PC owners often hear: “Is that an Etch A Sketch?”

With its flat, slatelike surface, the device does resemble the popular drawing toy from the 1960s. And you can write and draw on it—with a digital stylus pen. But with an average price tag of $2,000, the Tablet PC is no toy. Weighing about three pounds, it’s a small version of a laptop computer (with a swiveling screen and a clip-on keyboard). People typically don’t know what it is because it’s not sold in retail stores, says Simon, who bought her Tablet PC directly from the manufacturer, Motion Computing, three years ago for $3,000.

“I told the woman on the plane that I was a paperless sales associate, and she said her daughter was looking for a [sales associate],” she says. “When we got to our destination, I [met her daughter] and got a new customer on the spot!
“My Tablet PC is a huge marketing tool that gets me a lot of work,” Simon adds. “I rarely go anywhere without someone asking, ‘What is that thing?’

“I recently picked up 22 listings from a company that does short sales. They chose me because of my technology and the speed at which I work. Now, I’m so busy I don’t know what to do with myself!”
Simon says the advantages of using her Tablet PC include:

1. Say Goodbye to Paper
“It’s amazing how quickly one piece of paper turns into a large file,” says Simon. “With my Tablet PC, I’m no longer a paper pusher.”
If she wants to jot down a reminder or a phone number, for example, she doesn’t have to use Post-It®-style notes like most people. “I use [the] sticky notes [tool] right on the Tablet screen,” she says, boasting that she hasn’t even bought a ream of paper in three years. “[Sales associates] usually have to print out their forms before they fax them. Not me! I print to a virtual printer that then allows me to sign on the screen. I’m a lot more streamlined because I’m not dealing with the clutter. I’m actually doing more business instead of playing catch-up.”

2. Easily Access Applications
Simon says her Tablet PC runs all the same applications as a desktop or laptop computer. “Anything you can do on any other computer, you can do on the Tablet PC. I can send e-mail, fax and even access the Internet. The best part is that you can use a [stylus] pen that turns your handwriting into text. So, I can handwrite an entire document and press a button, and it turns into type. I can also quickly handwrite
e-mails as if they were a personal note and send them.” 

3. Instantly Submit Offers
Simon recalls the time when a buyer with whom she was working fell head over heels for a home and wanted her to submit an offer ASAP. As luck would have it, three other buyers were there, and they each wanted to make an offer. “As the three other [sales associates] rushed off to their offices to do their offers, I wrote [my customer’s] offer right on my Tablet PC screen, e-mailed it to the [listing agent] and it was
accepted,” she says.
Being able to write and submit offers instantly has been a real boost to Simon’s business.

4. Wow Buyers
Thanks to her Tablet PC’s built-in Wi-Fi capability, Simon can easily access the Internet when taking buyers out on “look-see” property tours. “Most [sales associates] have to print out the MLS [information] ahead of time, but I can access it right on my Tablet,” she says. “I can make notes right on the page with my [stylus] pen and highlight any comments that the customer may have about a particular home and then e-mail it to him or her [for reference]. People are so blown away by it.” 

5. Peace of Mind
For added security, Simon’s Tablet PC is equipped with a fingerprint identification sensor that lets her instantly protect the device and all its contents. Each time she wants to log on to a program or open a document she simply swipes her index finger over the screen and, voilà, she has access. “I can click on [any] file and make it fingerprint encrypted so that no one else can access it,” she says, adding that she no longer has to remember multiple passwords.

Simon is so gung-ho about the Tablet PC that she now trains other real estate professionals on use of the device. “If I had to go back to the [old way of doing business], I’d quit real estate,” she jokes. 

This column, designed to offer examples of how salespeople and brokers are using technology in their offices, won first place in the 2006 Best Column category from the Florida Magazine Association. The column is for general information only. Opinions expressed here don’t necessarily reflect an endorsement of the views by Florida Realtor® magazine or the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR).