Guide · Technology
What tech stack should a brokerage give its agents?
The tools brokerages give agents, from what eight brokerages' recruiting postings include: a CRM, transaction management, a coordinator, a website and marketing tools, and how to keep it from becoming fifty logins.
Why does the tech stack matter?
For recruiting, because technology and tools are one of the four things agents weigh before they move, alongside leads, training and splits. For keeping agents, because systems hold them: when I was recruiting, some agents wouldn't move because they'd used the same software for ten years and didn't want to start over. Once your agents run their business on your systems, leaving means starting over too.
What do brokerages give agents?
Here's what eight brokerages say they include, from the recruiting postings we wrote for them this year:
Three things are close to standard: a CRM (Follow Up Boss more than any other), transaction management software (SkySlope or Dotloop), and someone to handle the transaction from contract to close. An agent website and design tools are common extras.
How does your stack compare?
Tick what you give your agents today:
How do you keep it from becoming fifty logins?
Every tool you add is another login, another app and another place to look. Agents feel it:
“In real estate you've got to log into fifty different websites. If you can get most of it in one place, that's a win, and that's what you're doing.”
Ryan WireNEXT BrokerageFewer tools you set up properly beat more tools you hand over. One posting we wrote put it well: “We don't hand you logins and walk away. We implement it with you.” Record a short video for each setup step, and use the orientation call to make sure everything works and that agents know where to go. The agent onboarding checklist covers it step by step.
Then give it a front door: one place, on the agent's phone, with every tool one tap away. That's what a brokerage virtual office is for. It doesn't replace the CRM or the transaction software; it puts them on one home screen with everything else the brokerage shares.
How do you use your stack to recruit?
Name it and show it. Agents can't picture “cutting-edge technology”; they can picture Follow Up Boss and SkySlope set up for them on day one. Put the named tools in your posting and on your recruiting website, and on the call, open them on screen. More on the posting in how to recruit agents on Indeed.
Where does Capped fit?
Capped's virtual office is the front door to your stack. Your admins set the tiles every agent sees, linking your CRM, transaction software and anything else, and each agent can add their own. Around them are the roster, events, announcements, training and resources, in your brand. Two of the eight brokerages in the chart above list a virtual office or an agent portal in their recruiting posting, under their own name. Both are Capped. The office is one flat monthly fee for your brokerage, with every agent included.
Questions brokers ask
What technology should a real estate brokerage provide?
A CRM, transaction management software and help with transactions are close to standard: most of the eight brokerages whose recruiting postings we wrote offer all three. An agent website and design tools like Canva are common extras.
What CRM do brokerages give agents?
Follow Up Boss more than any other in the postings we've written: four of eight brokerages name it. Lofty and unnamed CRMs make up most of the rest.
Does a virtual office replace a brokerage's CRM?
No. The CRM, MLS and transaction software stay where they are; a virtual office puts them one tap away on each agent's home screen, alongside the brokerage's roster, events and resources.
How do you get agents to use the brokerage's technology?
Set it up with them rather than handing over logins: a short video for each setup step, and an orientation call that puts everything on their phone.
