"Anything with a three-letter acronym like 'IDX' or 'VOW' sends shudders down their spines. When we started talking about 'IDX' with agents, (only) about 20 percent of them understood and embraced it. But when we called it 'online broker reciprocity', (more of them) understood it. It is not a question of understanding the value of broker reciprocity and other tehnology tools. Technology types just need to package them in a fashion that's easy to grasp"So, for those of us wanting to understand the generational gap and diffusion of technology, there is a lesson here to exercise caution in the naming of an application or technology that may sound 'cool' to a younger generation, but literally frightens off what might be an accepting older generation. The Dragon did notice the care that Mr. Bien exercised in describing these two new technologies as "online broker reprocity". It is a good thing he didn't call it "OBR".
Three Letter Acronyms Contribute to Technology Gap?
The artcle in DreamHomeTour.com is over two years old now, but the author identifies a generational gap within the real estate agent community as being divided by those under 35 and those agents who are older than 35. Tech Gap Looms in Listings Avenues, published October 28, 2002, points to a level of resistance to change from traditional lead generation to Internet Data Exchange (IDX) and/or Virtual Office Web sites (VOWs)...particularly in the agent group above the age of 50.
Of particular interest to the Dragon, was a quote by Daren Bien of Keller Williams in Austin, Texas: