One of the trickiest things to do in real estate is get your foot in the door with a would-be seller.
The market is tight and securing listings is becoming increasingly challenging.
Viewed as buoyant just a couple of years ago, the real estate market is now grappling with increased competition and the uncertainties of sticky inflation, fluctuating interest rates, and rising living costs.
There are also more agents vying for business in this challenging environment than ever before.
With what some economists are forecasting as a potentially slow spring on the horizon, the challenge now is to look beyond traditional prospecting methods in an effort to get ahead of your competition.
Let me be clear – there’s no such thing as a silver bullet when it comes to lead generation in real estate.
But, if you picture a ladder you need to climb to the top of, there is an assistant that can help push you a couple of rungs higher than the other agents, if you make it work for you.
At Propic we call her CLAIRE, but at various agencies around the country – think Place, Stone Real Estate, Barry Plant, McGrath and more – our AI concierge is known by various monikers.
What’s the same is CLAIRE’s innate ability to sniff out a potential vendor lead.
Last month, a handful of our clients achieved what many would presume unthinkable in the current property market climate – 8500 vendor leads.
Those leads came from 21,000 buyer enquiries and more than 46,000 conversations CLAIRE had with potential clients.
When you boil it down, that means every one in three buyer enquiries could be your next seller.
CLAIRE also saved that client more than 1000 hours processing the enquiries coming from the portals and their website.
It would take a full-time, human team member about 26 weeks to complete the same work as what CLAIRE did in a four-week period.
I won’t get too much into the ‘tech speak’, but put simply, CLAIRE (and other Gen AI technology) can do things with speed and accuracy that surpasses any human.Â
Examining inconceivable data points, external sources, and market insights, enables the technology to quickly and accurately uncover information that the consumer may not have provided, delivering superior results far more efficiently than any human could achieve.
With CLAIRE, that might be the homeowner’s address, email and mobile number, whether their property is already on the market or not, if it’s for rent right now and other insights.
Armed with this information it’s now up to the agents what they do with it and how they make it work for them.
As I said, there’s no silver bullet but, with the right nous, you can put yourself at the top of that ladder.
Here’s how.
Do what you do best
CLAIRE not only saves you time by handling more of the essential, but often mundane tasks, she gives you back time in your day to prospect, list, negotiate and sell.
Use that time wisely and focus on the most dollar-productive activities, tasks and conversations and you’ll be able to build your business and, fingers crossed, your bottom line.
It’s all really just about having the confidence to zero in on the right tasks, which are the ones only you can do!
Conversation enhancer
Knowledge is power when it comes to liaising with would-be vendors and CLAIRE can provide you with the background details you need to have more engaging interactions with potential clients.
And as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility, so it’s not about ringing up and saying, ‘I know you own 27 Smith St, Hawthorn’, but using that knowledge to your advantage.
CLAIRE helps by gathering and providing detailed information. But it’s up to the agents to use this data effectively.
Database integrity
Stripping things back to bare basics, CLAIRE isn’t just about lead augmentation, she can help you add relevant, up-to-date data to your CRM.
Not only can you increase the data you have in your CRM, you can improve accuracy and make it relative to things you can action.
Right now, that might be your hot list, but in time it could be using that information to create a better experience for a would-be vendor further down the line.
If you can ‘remember’ that someone inquired about 101 George St a few months ago but weren’t quite ready to sell and would really prefer a five-bedroom home compared to four and a study, you’re likely doing better than most of your competition.
Saving time
This one’s pretty straight forward. CLAIRE not only saves you time responding to enquiries and working out who is a potential lead and who isn’t, but more importantly, she helps provide you with a better understanding of who they are and their potential motivations.
One extra time-saver one of our clients revealed is that they no longer need to have their team check every enquiry against data search portals, which saves roughly 10 minutes per enquiry.
Added up over the course of every sales campaign over a year, that works out to be hundreds of hours.
Increase the client experience
You often hear coaches and agents talk about the importance of distinguishing between buyer and seller work.
Typically, this differentiation is driven by market conditions rather than being a natural part of an agent’s standard operating rhythm.
However, with CLAIRE constantly enhancing your buyer data—leads and enquiries—you can achieve more meaningful conversations and better results, as you’re equipped with superior information about your customers.
This capability can be a game-changer, enabling you to establish an always-on, effective buyer management program.
In your appraisal or listing presentations, this advantage can translate into a powerful message:
“Mr and Mrs Seller, we understand how crucial this sale is to you.
“In today’s market, every potential buyer is vital in securing the best outcome for you.
“That’s why we engage with all buyers 24/7, responding instantly while striving to comprehend their motivations and gather information that will help us achieve the best results for you.”
And that’s what every agent wants to do for their clients – deliver exceptional results.
To discover more about CLAIRE and how she might work in your business click here.
