With the emergence of new technology, finding a new home from the comfort of your current home is becoming more popular. In the May 2015 issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine’s Publishers Desk, John Featherstone, the magazine’s CEO and publisher, discusses the importance of Realtors leveraging technology to be more productive while still maintaining a human element with their customers. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 90% of home buyers are going to the web to search for homes, meaning the importance of building strong relationships between Realtors and their clients will continue to grow as technology pushes the envelop.
What does this mean for Realtors?
It means they not only have to continue to be constantly networking and building relationships in the field, but they also need to have an online presence where their potential clients already are: on the web, on their mobile devices and on the go while searching for the right home.
Along with technology, an emerging business function has become Customer Success with the growth of recurring revenue SaaS (software as a service) business models that are booming in the real estate industry. From mobile property search, online mortgage calculators, google maps, document scanners, to mobile document signatures, real estate agents can carry their entire office around in their pockets with help of a few apps, and a few dollars.
Great! So…what is missing?
If consumers have all the data they need to do their search and all the tools online they need to complete the business transaction, what’s missing? The most important part of the equation: the relationship between the Realtor and their clients. Working in Customer Success- this is always on the top of my mind. How am I interacting with clients? Is what I am providing them adding true value? Sure, I’ve given them a great tool and I’ve shown them how it can add value to their lives (and in their pockets), but do they know how to use it? Do they have a place to go when they don’t know the answer? They were once engaged, but are they still engaged and are they still seeing value?
When it comes down to it, my focus with any customer I’ve had in my career has been communication. Here at HomeSpotter it’s communication with the multiple listing services, brokers, agents and agent clients who use our products. This translates directly over to the real estate industry and focuses on where and how the conversations between clients and agents are being had. It’s in this exchange where business gets done and relationships flourish.
