Do’s and Don’ts of Real Estate Technology
7 Ways to Succeed with PropTech
As real estate development companies move into the digital — whether that’s integrating Online Sales Consultants, utilizing tracking for new marketing initiatives, or bringing captivating new buyer experiences into the showroom — developers and their teams need to be having conversations about the utilization and optimization of those technologies.
Technology tools are designed to make our lives and work easier. But this is only possible when your team goes in with a clear understanding of what the tool can contribute to their business, and how it fits into the overall strategy.
Without that understanding, even the best of technologies will just be an added budget and bandwidth burden.
If you’re thinking about incorporating a new digital tool into the sales of your next new development project, first consider these do’s and don’ts of real estate tech.
DON’T: Go custom just because you can
Many real estate developers haven’t yet had a great deal of experience with this technology, and so often believe there is nothing suitable out there — or they’ve had bad experiences with old and clunky legacy software.
This creates the misconception that building a platform themselves is the only path from A (not having anything) to B (having software that actually supports their campaigns). While this is definitely a solution, it’s certainly not the best one.
The situation is analogous to custom cars. With enough time and budget, anyone could build and outfit their dream car. But it’s just not efficient. For most, buying a mass produced car, and purchasing add-ons and customizations where necessary, is the most cost- and time-efficient way to get what they need. This method also allows you to maintain a standard of long-term service, support, and workability.
It’s the same with software. Yes, it’s possible to build out your own software for real estate — and some do — but in terms of time spent creating, maintaining, and updating the software, it becomes a massive sinkhole of time and money that could better serve the organization elsewhere.
DO: Perform a detailed scope of available platforms and customizations
Digital technology software for real estate, whether for new development or resale, is actually flush in the industry.
Year over year, there’s been a massive influx in the amount of money invested in proptech around the world. This means that there are many companies creating innovative technologies specifically for the real estate industry, and plenty of people who believe that it’s a worthwhile investment.
If you’re considering bringing on new technology to support your sales and marketing efforts, take the time to seriously evaluate the available software. The odds are, there is one available made to do what you need.
For example, new development teams are often known to use a mish-mash of different software. Or they start with initially-simple spreadsheets that grow massive and unwieldy over the course of project sales. With a bit of research into what you need, you would find that there are plenty of software platforms that can help manage buyers and inventory, as well as some specifically made for new development.
Do your due diligence when it comes to new development software. Not only will it save you from the headache of trying to build out a custom solution, you’ll save time and resources over the long term and get the tools you need to support the sales and marketing strategy for the upcoming development.
DON’T: Stop before you’ve even started
For some, on-boarding real estate software can be intimidating — whether because the team has been using the legacy solution for years, or because they’ve simply never attempted to integrate it into their new home sales process before.
Don’t let this stop you or your team.
Real estate is a very traditional brick-and-mortar industry, but especially in new development, understanding people and urban trends are the crucial other half of the puzzle. Buyers are constantly reinventing how they interact with the world, including how they find information, make decisions around real estate, and make those purchases.
New home sales is one of the few areas of real estate that’s right on the edge of newer consumer technologies, and our new home sales efforts need to rise to match buyer expectations around the digital experience.
DO: Take advantage of the market
New home developers have the biggest opportunity in recent memory to establish their brand and grab hold of the ever-shifting real estate market. In some places, the market is slowing — and with the right sales and marketing software, developers have the chance to learn why and use it to their advantage.
Tracking marketing campaigns, running analytics on legacy data from previous projects, and maintaining consistent communication with potential buyers are all vital elements of a strong new development marketing strategy. Instead of being intimidated by implementing new software, take this as a chance to turn over a new leaf. Use software to mine valuable data from your new development projects, to establish the developer brand, and to create strong sales and marketing campaigns based on what you’ve learned.
DO: Do your own research
Not all software is created equal, and your company does not need all software.
It can be a fatal trap to buy into every new proptech or buzz-worthy software that crops up on the market — especially in new development, where profit margins are tightly guarded and, in a downturning market, often at risk due to outside factors.
Doing your research not only means taking due diligence in understanding what software is available, but looking at the organization and figuring out what you need, what you want, and what would be nice to have.
Every piece of software is created differently, even if they’re marketed the same. Two real estate CRMs can have entirely different brand values — perhaps one wants resale agents to have a simple method of tracking past and present buyers, while another is more directed towards new development teams who need a birds’ eye view of data. These won’t appeal to the same set of clients simply because their target is different.
To figure out what your real estate team needs, layout what you need the software to do, as well as the kind of value and ROI it will bring back to the organization. This will guide your search, and also give you the numbers to back your decision later on.
A software that strikes the right balance between usability, functionality, and ROI is, without fail, the piece of technology that brings real value to your organization.
DON’T: Assume the team will automatically learn the tool
When implementing new tools, it might seem that you can just leave it to your team to read through the training materials and then naturally accept it as part of their workflow.
This is a harmful, costly misconception.
Like any new tool, you need to have a solid on-boarding plan to ensure that your team can make full use of the software from day to day. Training, and a solid strategy around implementation, goes a long way towards ensuring a smooth on-boarding process.
Especially for software like a CRM, which a real estate team will be using every day, a brokerage owner or sales team lead needs to ensure that individual agents have what they need to adapt the tool seamlessly into their workflow. Part of that comes from doing preliminary research — ask questions during your software demo to ensure that the technology is right for your particular real estate portfolio and team workflow, and that there are support measures in place to help ease the transition.
When you simply turn on the software and add team members to it, you’re setting them up for failure — and essentially wasting the software fees. Like any other tool, software is best utilized when the users know what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it.
DO: Take advantage of training
When you have a new software, the immediate desire is to have it up and running as quickly as possible — especially when you have a project launch or showroom opening right around the corner. Especially for product launches, having a CRM set up allows your team to get an early start on lead generation and buyer management.
Most modern software technologies will offer training as part of the ongoing package — some will even provide ongoing support and customer success options to help your team use the software to its best utility.
Get your entire sales team on a training session, to make sure that they have a solid grasp of the tools of their day to day. For an administrative or management team, training also essential because it can help them to manage the sales team, as well as get an idea of the types of data and reporting that they can pull. In both of these situations, initial on-boarding and training sets the foundation for success down the line.
Take advantage of this. Schedule adequate training for your team to give them the advantage of a running start.
Conclusion
Real estate technology has come to a slow start because of a few reasons.
The traditional brick-and-mortar mentality of real estate is one — the sudden influx of technology causing consternation among the industry is another.
But as major real estate developers and project marketers jump on-board with technology, especially in the new development space, getting a good understanding of what is available is vital to the overall health of your organization. With the right software and an appropriately thought-out strategy, real estate technology can have a major, lasting impact on the success of an organization moving forward in an increasingly digital world.
What are your top Do’s and Don’ts for implementing new real estate technology? Let us know, and remember to leave some 👏👏👏 if you liked the article!
