Moving to a new firm? How to deal with your new tech challenges

Change is a challenge that often opens up new opportunities, but making a new transition is rarely easy. When it comes to moving from one brokerage firm to another, it is often even more complicated today because of technology. While technology is supposed to make agents' lives easier – and it does – few brokerages use all of the same technology. That means making the transition from one set of tech tools to another can get complicated and frustrating for agents.

Making the move

Helen Keller had it right when she wrote, "A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn." To help agents make that turn more smoothly, there's Tech Helpline, the real estate industry's #1 tech support service that's available to more than 60 percent of the Realtors in North America.

Making the move from one brokerage to another means more than just learning about different technology and how to use it to help you build your business at your new firm. It's also about making sure you are able to keep your current clients' contact information and not lose the ability to stay in touch with a client list you may have taken years, if not decades, to create and nurture.

What do you need to do first? How do you export your contact files? What format should they be in? How do you get them off your computer in the first place? How do you import them into your new system?

That's where Tech Helpline can help walk an agent, step-by-step, through what needs to be done. Our U.S.-based staff offers assistance in both English and Spanish, and it is available by phone, online chat or email. The best part is Tech Helpline services are unlimited and free for real estate agents through their participating association, MLS or brokerage; there is no limit to the number of calls an agent can make. Moreover, because the service is provided to agents as a benefit, there are no direct costs to agents.

What could go wrong?

Experts at Tech Helpline provide a wide range of technical assistance covering a broad base of mobile and desktop devices. That's important when an agent is moving to a new brokerage, as a lot of technical needs often emerge all at once, including:

• New computer setup
• New email settings for a desktop and smartphone
• New email signatures and logos to set up as default for emails
• New Wi-Fi connections
• Connections to new printers
• New procedures to sign into new systems
• New apps to install on mobile devices
• Resolving conflicts in software systems

Getting a fresh start also means making sure the transition is a clean one, meaning all spyware and malware that may be hiding on your laptop needs to be removed before you hook into your new network. Assisting with virus removal and protection is one of the top reasons agents contact Tech Helpline. The last thing agents want to do is transfer a virus into a new system.

Then there is Murphy's Law – anything that can go wrong, will go wrong – which seems to occur around a transition, like moving to a new brokerage. Having easy access to Tech Helpline can lessen the frustration from when things go wrong. Uniquely, Tech Helpline helps solve technical problems because our experienced team deeply understands what Realtors need and are able to work as effectively with a non-technical agent as with a tech-savvy agent.

Making things go right

From the first contact made, to the last, agents notice a big difference because of the no-nonsense technical advice and warm, friendly, customer service Tech Helpline provides. Agents are stressed out enough when they move to a new office, so they don't need to be stressed out when calling in for tech help. By having a 100% U.S.-based team with a combined nearly 300 years of experience, the focus at Tech Helpline is on making agents want to call for help, not to dread calling tech support.

That means the best way to make your transition from one brokerage to another go as smoothly as possible is to let the experts help you with the technology piece of your move. That way, you can focus on all the things that you are the master of: building your business.