Post by shati106 on Nov 1, 2024 22:49:57 GMT -8
The current situation on the market is not as positive as we would like: only a few have switched to full digitalization, and most developers continue to use Excel tables and WhatsApp messaging.
Digital Developer talked to Anastasia Sumina, product manager at Profitbase, to understand the situation on the real estate market
Digital Developer: Let's start with what is currently happening in the agency sales market in terms of digitalization. How is the interaction between developers and real estate agencies structured, what solutions are there? What is your opinion on the state of this market segment at the moment?
Anastasia Sumina: Communication with agents via instant messengers, reporting in Excel tables and the constant "Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V" from WhatsApp to the CRM system of sales managers remain a typical story. The only process that has more or less gone digital is creating a form on the website to register a client. Although just recently we faced a situation where agents needed to formalize the first step of securing a client on paper and take the document to the developer's office. In 2023, this seems unthinkable. Nevertheless, it is there.
In the agency sales segment, the digitalization of processes is slow. You could say it is just beginning. Everything I described above may be inconvenient, but familiar.
Those who are ready to automate interactions with agents are mainly those who are focused on regional sales, increasing the agency channel, or those who currently have sales through agents of 50%. As a rule, either a custom development or an acquired SaaS service is used to go digital.
There are several points here that we discussed with developers. Firstly, this is the unwillingness to change, and the position: I don’t need the best, I need the same as always. Secondly, agents know the social media marketing service developer’s projects superficially, and have no particular motivation for closer communication that would allow them to immerse themselves in information about the properties they sell.
DD: But now services are appearing to digitize the relationships between agents and developers. We pay attention to them in the study, but it turns out that this is still the very basic level of process automation?
Anastasia: Of course, there are top companies that have gone far in terms of digitalization. For example, PIK completely abandoned the agency sales channel, they simply no longer needed it. From the agency side, you can look at Etazhi: they have completely digitalized all stages of the transaction. But these are isolated cases. The full transition to digital is just beginning. It seems that developers do not yet see any specific benefit for themselves.
DD: Why?
Anastasia: Firstly, it seems to me that agency sales are not being heavily relied upon, especially now, when buyers already have an increased demand for primary housing. If there is no focus, there is no modernization of processes. Although, I think this is wrong, because partnership interactions have great potential for the developer’s growth.
DD: Tell us in more detail, where do you see this potential? And how will digitalization help to realize it?
Anastasia:The potential is that the entry threshold to the real estate business is low. Accordingly, the number of realtors on the market is growing. And for the developer, this is an excellent opportunity to increase the flow of leads, expand the geography of sales. Potential buyers often turn to agents when they have a situation "I want to buy, but I don't know what." If the agent knows the projects of the developers he works with well, naturally, he will actively offer these projects to his buyer. This is where the need for digitalization arises: the agent needs to have constant access to up-to-date information about the project, the range of the developer's properties. The faster and easier he receives information, the more sales opportunities it will open. The human factor of any seller comes into play, who will tell better and sell not just through dry facts, but through meta-messages, intonation, emotions. If the agent knows the developer's properties well, it becomes easier and faster for both of them to interact. Of course, this affects sales.
Digital Developer talked to Anastasia Sumina, product manager at Profitbase, to understand the situation on the real estate market
Digital Developer: Let's start with what is currently happening in the agency sales market in terms of digitalization. How is the interaction between developers and real estate agencies structured, what solutions are there? What is your opinion on the state of this market segment at the moment?
Anastasia Sumina: Communication with agents via instant messengers, reporting in Excel tables and the constant "Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V" from WhatsApp to the CRM system of sales managers remain a typical story. The only process that has more or less gone digital is creating a form on the website to register a client. Although just recently we faced a situation where agents needed to formalize the first step of securing a client on paper and take the document to the developer's office. In 2023, this seems unthinkable. Nevertheless, it is there.
In the agency sales segment, the digitalization of processes is slow. You could say it is just beginning. Everything I described above may be inconvenient, but familiar.
Those who are ready to automate interactions with agents are mainly those who are focused on regional sales, increasing the agency channel, or those who currently have sales through agents of 50%. As a rule, either a custom development or an acquired SaaS service is used to go digital.
There are several points here that we discussed with developers. Firstly, this is the unwillingness to change, and the position: I don’t need the best, I need the same as always. Secondly, agents know the social media marketing service developer’s projects superficially, and have no particular motivation for closer communication that would allow them to immerse themselves in information about the properties they sell.
DD: But now services are appearing to digitize the relationships between agents and developers. We pay attention to them in the study, but it turns out that this is still the very basic level of process automation?
Anastasia: Of course, there are top companies that have gone far in terms of digitalization. For example, PIK completely abandoned the agency sales channel, they simply no longer needed it. From the agency side, you can look at Etazhi: they have completely digitalized all stages of the transaction. But these are isolated cases. The full transition to digital is just beginning. It seems that developers do not yet see any specific benefit for themselves.
DD: Why?
Anastasia: Firstly, it seems to me that agency sales are not being heavily relied upon, especially now, when buyers already have an increased demand for primary housing. If there is no focus, there is no modernization of processes. Although, I think this is wrong, because partnership interactions have great potential for the developer’s growth.
DD: Tell us in more detail, where do you see this potential? And how will digitalization help to realize it?
Anastasia:The potential is that the entry threshold to the real estate business is low. Accordingly, the number of realtors on the market is growing. And for the developer, this is an excellent opportunity to increase the flow of leads, expand the geography of sales. Potential buyers often turn to agents when they have a situation "I want to buy, but I don't know what." If the agent knows the projects of the developers he works with well, naturally, he will actively offer these projects to his buyer. This is where the need for digitalization arises: the agent needs to have constant access to up-to-date information about the project, the range of the developer's properties. The faster and easier he receives information, the more sales opportunities it will open. The human factor of any seller comes into play, who will tell better and sell not just through dry facts, but through meta-messages, intonation, emotions. If the agent knows the developer's properties well, it becomes easier and faster for both of them to interact. Of course, this affects sales.