Revamp Your Brokerage's Brand by Investing in Technology that Matters

Technology is changing how real estate does business

Have you been Keeping Up with the Kardashians recently? Dumb question, neither have we. How about some of the technological trends and advancements taking place within the real estate industry? Advances in technology are changing the game in every industry, especially real estate.

In a customer-focused industry that relies heavily on making people happy in order to be successful, it can be difficult for brokerages to keep up with the latest trends. According to the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) 2017 Real Estate in a Digital Age Report, staying up-to-date with changes in technology is one of the biggest challenges firms will face in the next two years. Additionally, keeping in touch with prospects is another challenge many brokerages face. The process of buying and selling a home is changing because of technology—and by adapting to necessary changes and using the right tools and software, your firm can maximize its profit by simplifying this process.

What are some of the trends taking place?

• Improved site design/cleaner interface
• Routes/lead management
• Social media and email marketing
• Blogging
• Increased engagement using an effective CRM platform
• Virtual reality
• Using drones for property listings

If your brokerage is behind in the times, you may want to consider introducing some new changes in how you use technology and encourage your team to adopt new methods of using technology to ensure optimal success between both the agent and lead. It's not enough to simply make the investment in updating your tech software, but to truly embrace these changes and utilize all the tools available to improve lead engagement and transaction management. Making the change to go digital allows brokerages to be more efficient, while staying current with the latest technology available in your industry is fundamental to staying ahead of the competition.

Keeping up with the latest trends in real estate tech can be a whirlwind; however, with the proper tech software and consultation from seasoned, real estate tech professionals, you can better focus on providing a more positive transaction and relational experience to both your agents and their leads, without sacrificing time spent dealing with technicalities.

If you're interested in making the change and rebranding your brokerage, consider:

• Updating your online presence
• Investing in a CRM platform with IDX/VOW, routes/lead management, transaction management, intranet, e-mail marketing, and other essential integrations
• Allowing seasoned, real estate tech professionals to handle the technical stuff

Updating your online presence

Nearly everything can be accessed digitally as people are becoming more mobile and better connected through their smartphones and tablets. Searching for homes on the web is the new norm for homebuyers due to increased mobility, ease of access, and a plethora of information available to consumers online. This allows consumers to become better educated and feel empowered through their home search.

When consumers search for homes online, photos and detailed property information often take precedence in terms of what factors are most valued through this process; however, consumers are have the ability to view property history, mortgage statistics, neighborhood info, and much more with relative ease—and be just about anywhere while they do it! Gone are the days where you have to be tethered to a desktop—a handheld device with a solid internet connection in many cases is all that's needed.

According to NAR's Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2017:

Over 50 percent of buyers from all generations frequently used the internet to search for their home. 93 percent of buyers 36 years and younger frequently used the internet during their home search process. As a result of searching for homes on the internet, buyers most often walked through the home that they viewed online.

Consequently, more companies are adopting a cleaner, minimalistic design for their websites. Not only are websites now faster, and better designed than before—they're also easier to navigate, which substantially impacts a new visitor's user experience.

As Real Estate Tech News mentioned:

Consumers favor easy-to-navigate menus over tabs, a search option, and content categories. Visuals are taking precedence. New design practices place important content on a single, scrollable page instead of spread across the numerous pages.

Offering a mobile-friendly web platform is key to better user engagement and experience. In fact, Google updated its search algorithm last March, increasing the importance of having a mobile-friendly site; sites that aren't mobile-friendly are being penalized by ranking lower in Google's mobile search results.

Since consumers now have everything they need at their fingertips, not only is it important to consider 're-vamping' your website—but to provide readability, an intuitive interface, and a unique image specific to your brokerage's employer/brand culture to convey the tone you want to set for your prospects.

In a competitive industry, setting yourself apart is the best solution to enhancing your online presence both internally (employer culture) and externally (prospects). Read more on this post from our archives explaining why it's important to have a good company website. In addition to having a mobile-friendly site for your brokerage, considering how your site is designed is especially imperative (as our designer, Jason, further explains the importance of storytelling in your site's design here).

As you can see, the importance of a well-designed site does more than add aesthetics: it's an expression of your brand and culture and explaining why prospects should choose you. When a prospect first visits your site, their initial perception of your brokerage (and whether they'll want to continue searching for homes with you) may be determined by how easy it is to navigate through pages, view information, search properties, and how quickly they're able to connect with an agent. If you're interested in rebranding your brokerage's persona (specifically in terms of appeal to millennials/Gen-Y prospects), a well-designed site with a simple and clean interface is an excellent starting point.

An effective CRM platform is essential

Staying in touch with prospective leads is a challenge many brokerages face. Investing in the right software can help eliminate this trouble—specifically software that integrates CRM, customized lead routing, transactions, and other integrations for brokerages to maximize efficiency, lead interaction, and more importantly—your sales! Having an effective CRM platform allows you to easily engage with prospects and ensure prospective homebuyers have a positive experience, from search to close.

An effective CRM platform stores all your leads' contact information in one place, enables agents to stay in touch with their leads effortlessly, keeps an electronic "paper trail" of all communications sent between agents and prospects, enables agents to view their lead's property search activity, and (with the right integrations) allows you to manage your brokerage's data and agent transactions in one place.

Ready to make that change?

For many brokerages, investing in the right technology remains in question—some believe it's an unnecessary expense, or that doing so won't provide any value in ROI, while others still cultivate an old-fashioned, "if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it!" mindset that prevents them from making the jump in upgrading their systems. In either case, falling behind the latest technology only hinders your chances of being a viable competitor in an ultra-competitive industry.

In a world where change is inevitable and technology only continues to improve, keeping up with technological advances in the industry is imperative to your brokerage's growth and success. Going digital allows brokerages to be more efficient and staying up-to-date with new technology is imperative to stay ahead of the competition. New tech calls for new methods—time to move forward.

To view the original article, visit the Tribus blog.