All too often the gusto agents and brokers feel for new technology and strategies stoked by conferences, articles and blog posts wanes in the absence of a practical execution plan or someone who’s been there to walk them through their practical applications.
That’s the concern that motivated real estate speaker and author Stefan Swanepoel, along with brokerage and technology experts Michael McClure and Jack Miller, to launch T3 Experts, a real estate education and consultancy firm.
T3 Experts, they say, is out to provide brokers and agents with step-by-step guides, webinars, interactive Q-and-As, podcasts, and other resources that will help them understand, choose and execute new technologies and business tactics.
T3 Experts includes a membership model that gives individuals access to educational content, including webinars with titles like “Web Presence Strategy,” “The Key to CRM” and “Tech Gear Every Agent Needs,” and podcasts with high-profile agents like Kelley Skar, J. Philip Faranda and Kendyl Young.
The “T3 Experts MBA Membership” goes for an introductory price of $37 per month or $324 per year.
“We’ve developed a whole program to help brokers and agents stay current with trends and technology in the real estate industry,” Miller said.
Other firms competing in the real estate technology consulting space include 1000Watt, WAV Group, Clareity Consulting, and Larson/Sobotka Business Advisors LLC.
Swanepoel, who will serve as chairman of the new endeavor and contribute part-time, gives real estate-focused motivational talks on technology around the country. He also hosts an annual “T3 Summit” technology conference, publishes an annual report on real estate trends, and has authored more than 20 books, including “Surviving Your Serengeti.”
After working together at the Austin, Texas, brokerage The GoodLife Team — named the most innovative brokerage of the year in 2010 by Inman News — McClure and Miller are taking on T3 Experts as a full-time venture.
Stefan Swanepoel (left), Michael McClure and Jack Miller
McClure, who was named one of Inman News’ most influential real estate leaders in 2009, will serve as chief operating officer, and Miller, who made Inman News’ 100 most influential list in 2012, as CEO.
McClure will also continue to run his other real estate ventures, which include a Plymouth, Mich.-based brokerage he founded in 2003, and the real estate agent certification firm Verified Professionals LLC. McClure, who also runs the popular Facebook Group “Raise The Bar in Real Estate,” says he still has plenty of time for T3 Experts because those other operations don’t take as much of his time now that he’s built them up.
Miller served as chief technology officer for four years at The GoodLife Team where he designed digital strategies for agents and brokers and helped them implement them. Before joining the firm, he worked as an independent consultant to brokerages, helping them adopt new technologies.
McClure said he and Swanepoel had been interested in working with each other after getting to know one another while working on the 2013 Swanepoel Trends Report, which McClure co-authored. When Miller left the GoodLife Team in August, McClure suggested to Swanepoel that he might be a good person to start an endeavor with.
At the end of many industry conferences where exciting technology and operational ideas fly around the room, the collective enthusiasm of agents and brokers reaches palpable levels but often dissipates as they leave the room, wondering how to implement the magic they’ve just heard about for the last few hours into their daily lives.
