The agencies who will come out of this cycle stronger than they entered it are those who are proactively and critically assessing their people.
Using processes and technology, they are taking care to implement changes and future-proof their business.
Want to be amongst their number? An area you should interrogate is your underlying business systems.
It can be a daunting and complicated process for most principals to ‘lift the hood’ on this aspect of their agency.
Agents aren’t generally IT experts, and they naturally shy away from putting their tech under a microscope.
Rather than thinking of your CRM or business system as an overwhelming world of code and digital wizardry, think about the functionality it offers.
Does it give you a true single view of your customer?
Imagine the business opportunities your agents could uncover and the efficiencies your agency would gain by having your whole business in one system.
Historically, principals have relied on specialist software for their sales and property management activities.
As the industry has evolved, real estate agencies now understand that having these unnecessary silos in their business may not be the smartest way forward. What opportunities are being missed due to your client and property data being spread across multiple systems?
What opportunities are being missed due to your client and property data being spread across multiple systems?
Here are four familiar scenarios that highlight the issues a siloed approach to business data presents.
1 Missed sales opportunities
How many of your rental properties end up on the market with another agency?
Why does this happen?
How many of your sales listings could be purchased by an eager investor who is a current landlord?
2 Missed leasing opportunities
How many of your sales listings are sold to investors?
What proportion of these are you then gaining as a landlord for ongoing property management services?
3 Not tracking your ‘client for life’ metrics
Are you monitoring opportunities and setting targets for keeping clients for life?
What operational tasks should be implemented to help achieve these goals?
4 Poor client experiences
How often does your sales or property management department deliver a poor client experience that impacts your ability to list that property in the future for sale or lease?
Without a total view of your business, it can be difficult to answer these questions or put in place processes to ensure these siloing issues are addressed.
All these factors can spell significant discomfort for a business, as they are external factors broadly beyond your control.
What you can manage during these agent-making times are your internal systems, ensuring you aren’t missing opportunities under your nose.
So how do you get the total view of your business and proactively work it to deliver growth and improve efficiencies?
The answer is to bring your business platforms together – a challenge that you can’t go alone.
The benefits you will gain from your business transformation will translate to growth and efficiency gains, so it is well worth the effort in a challenging market.
