Innovation in the Constitution State’s 21st century real estate market isn’t just about technology; it’s about technology that improves service to clients.
eXp Realty was born of the idea that in the modern era, through technology, a brokerage could give agents and clients all of what they want and need at a much lower cost and with more convenience, through technology. The company was launched by Glen Sanford in 2009 and today has 3,000 agents in 200 U.S. MLS markets in 41 states, including Connecticut.
“We hit 3,000 agents a few months ago,” CEO Jason Gesing said. “We have a transaction team of about 16 people. A typical setting would require close to 200 people to facilitate that many transactions. We recognize the same efficiencies in virtually every other area.”
eXp Realty has also reduced overhead by limiting brick and mortar locations to those required by individual state licensing boards. The company is as paperless and virtual as it gets; those savings on overhead are funneled into technology that recruits, rewards and retains their agents.
Prior companies attempting complete virtualization were challenged by addressing a need for agents to feel connected to each other over long distances. eXp Realty has an online avatar-based system, where agents on opposite sides of the country can virtually “bump” into each other in the online hallway and strike up a conversation.
“The challenge has been community,” Gesing said. “We dance at our Friday meetings. We have a company band who performs live at our annual events. I think real estate agents on the whole are people people. It restores the office atmosphere.”
Generating and nurturing leads is something eXp does invest in.
“It’s always been at the foundation of the model,” Gesing said. “Initially, we would do daily classes about how to generate leads, but most agents don’t put in the time to cultivate them. Two years ago we entered into a relationship with a lead generation company. It not only generates leads, it helps agents cultivate them with dashboard that tells the agent you’ve got six calls to make today.”
Keep The Focus On The Consumer
Lead generation is especially important to new agents, who have fewer referral sources, said Jeff Chalmers of REsults Consulting. Chalmers is a mortgage loan originator with Mortgage Network Inc. who trains real estate agents how to get more business.
Chalmers keeps his pipeline full and trains agents to do the same by turning every client into a raving fan who will not only come back to him every time they need a mortgage, they’ll send their friends as well.
“My whole business is referral-based,” he said. “I’ve never bought a lead. The amount of money people throw away on buying leads is ridiculous. The typical mortgage agent is knocking down doors selling themselves, whereas I’ve built my business on integrity and helping my clients and my business partners. It’s old school karma: it always comes back.”
Chalmers said most real estate agents would find more success if they stopped focusing on getting the listing or getting the commission and focus on creating and nurturing relationships with clients and referrers.
“Don’t focus on making money, focus on helping people out,” he said. “The business has become like a one-night stand. Agents have to spend time to get to know the potential client. Millennials don’t care about how many awards you won or how long you’ve been in the business. They care about relationships.”
The key, he said, is to find and use technology that makes you more efficient, more transparent, and gives your clients better service.
“It ain’t rocket science,” he said. “People make it more complicated than it needs to be. Our job is to take the complex transaction and make it simple. You don’t want to add to their frustration, you want to simplify it and if you’ve done your job right, they come back to you.”
Very few agents understand the value of branding, Chalmers said. Agents who understand branding and can leverage it have a big leg up on those who can’t.
“Branding isn’t a website or a logo, it’s who you are and what you represent,” he said. “It’s what people think of when they hear your name. Too many agents use email addresses from Yahoo or AOL. I work with an agent named Lisa Biggar. Her website is her name, her email address is through that site and her tag line is ‘Biggar is Better.” That’s how you make sure people remember your name.”
And agents should absolutely be using technology to reach Millennials through the thing they pay the most attention to: their smartphones.
“I’ve trained agents who use software to ping people on their smartphone as they driving past an open house,” Chalmers said. “Millennials are searching for homes at the gym and the grocery store and if you’re not adopting this technology you’re going to lose business. They’re not always going to come to you; you have to make it about them and reach them wherever they are.”
Technology Helps Agents, But Can’t Replace Them
A 2013 Oxford University study on employment found that real estate agents had a 97 percent chance of being replaced by technology.
The key to agents’ long-term success – and longevity – is to harness technology to provide better service, said Gesing. Twenty years ago, consumers needed agents to find out which houses were for sale. Now that information is literally at their fingertips and agents need to constantly look for ways they can add more value to their clients.
“Consumers are on the path to greater independence, but it’s an emotional process in nine out of ten transactions,” Gesing said. “There’s some navigation involved, so there will always be a role for a human being. The question is: How do we add value? We’re trying to create as advantageous position as possible for our agents to provide the very best experience we can. We try to stay ahead of it and equip our agents to succeed.”
Chalmers agreed agents will probably always have a role, but he stressed that role of technology in real estate transactions will continue to grow and successful agents will be the ones who use and understand it to their client’s benefit.
“There always has to be that touch,” he said. “Technology can’t cover that, but it might make transactions less expensive.
Commissions might go down. The industry will be disrupted. Look at what happened to travel agents. Look at what you can do online today without talking to a person.”
This story has been updated to identify the company for which Jeffrey Chalmers is a loan originator.
