Elements of the traditional real estate business model continue to be used in modern sales businesses. While many key aspects of our industry have remained unchanged, there are countless things we need to let go of. Many of which are hindering our ability as an industry to increase real estate efficiencies.
With existing and emerging software add-ons and Proptech applications, advertising platforms and new business models saturating the industry, our customers and agencies are being pulled in different directions. Every office and franchise across Australia has a different approach to marketing and interacting with their customers meaning the experience can often be overwhelming. For the role of an agent or principal this also over complicates a process that should be simple.
In order to stay competitive and enhance our approach, we need to let go of our outdated ways and come together on one platform. This will allow our industry to progress and improve the services we provide.
The Death of Traditional Offices
Traditionally, buyers searched office windows and newspapers before looking at properties from an agent’s car. There was no such thing as internet advertising, let alone major portals with 3D walk-through inspections. The profile of the office in regards to the window, newspaper and brand advertising was important.
Customers are now less concerned with the brand and more about the properties they like. They list with the agent who builds a relationship with them and deliver timely, relevant information before they sell. The individual agent is now the key for the customer, not the office or brand.
This has created a huge power shift toward the agent however many are yet to grasp this concept. While an office space is important for company culture and sales outcomes, the concept has evolved. This is allowing agents to start their own business in a way that is more suitable to their personal and team requirements. Maximising the usability of a space with hot desks and collaboration areas are the future of offices. Taking advantage of these changes and adapting to a more flexible working environment will be ideal in optimising your agency.
The way we think about an agency beyond its office will be a part of this transformational process to increase real estate efficiencies.
Inefficiency is Consuming us
The industry is dominated by small offices, often with only the principal licensee and a few agents. No one brand governs our industry and this trend is only increasing. Customers continue to trust their local agent and this is unlikely to change into the future.
This is apparent with over 46,000 small businesses in the Real Estate industry today. The largest franchise group owns less than 1000 of these offices in Australia which totals less than 2% of the market share.
The problem for many principals is not the size of their team or branding, but adapting to the constant changes occurring in the industry. Traditionally, a single administrator could manage most of the day-to-day operations of the business but this has changed. To attract new agents wishing to succeed, the agency must provide the latest software tools. Not to mention the ever-increasing list of add-on applications to manage the demands of our new world.
Marketing to a New Audience
Marketing today is more than putting an advertisement in the local paper. It now requires a digital marketing team operating the latest CRM-integrated tools to make the business stand out. A personal media team is also required as “content is king” in this jungle we call real estate. H aving marketing employees is no longer an option if you want to succeed.
Outsourcing support roles is now the key to success for more and more teams.
For principals willing to manage a team and create a culture, there is still massive profitability and success in running your own office. However, for those still trying to keep up with technology and marketing, their success will be undermined. You simply can no longer afford to do things on your own, no matter the size of your team.
We need to embrace technology and increase real estate efficiencies to improve our services. This will see a corporate style business model supporting sales teams while qualified professionals take care of the rest.
Expectations Exceed Reality
The agent’s role should be purely focused on building relationships and making sales. This, however, seems more like a dream than a reality. Our industry expects salespeople to manage business systems beyond their job description and capacity.
Managing a customer’s experience is an emotional and resource-heavy process. It is unique for each person, whether they are selling or buying. Keeping that in mind, it is next to impossible to manage a personalised property journey on top of business systems and processes. An agent’s time is precious and should be spent on the right things. But this doesn’t always happen due to the real estate industry’s lack of support for their agents.
As an industry, we need to have the right tools in place to ease the agent’s workload and allow them to focus on the right tasks. Customers have the ability to gain instant information about listings and, as a result, expect service at the same rate. While this may never be achievable, there are business decisions and features we can implement to make the process seamless.
The Platform Built to be Flexible
The Property Platform supports businesses of any size and structure. This gives Partners the freedom to create their own individual culture and business model. It also allows them to progress in the direction they wish, while supporting the integration of real estate efficiencies.
The Platform focuses on maximising the Partner’s time with customers. This ensures the business management tasks are taken care of by qualified professionals. Without eliminating the weaknesses created by the traditional sales model, we are opening up our industry to disruptors who know nothing about what we do or stand for.
Our mission is to enable agents to be agents, doing the work they joined the industry for. Partners will have the ability to run their business as they wish and reap the rewards of their hard work, while being backed by the corporate efficiency of an industry platform we control.