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Younger agents could lean towards a less personal approach to customer service due to a confluence of factors, including COVID, technology, and the quiet-quitting phenomenon, an agent has said.
Shelter Real Estate founder Zali Reynolds made the observation ahead of REB REInnovate in Melbourne later this month, adding that these factors could disrupt real estate.
Quiet quitting is an application of work-to-rule, where employees work within their defined work hours and engage slowly in activities within those hours, with some referring to it as “acting your wage”.
“I feel like because of the pandemic and the glorification of quiet quitting, our industry is ripe for disruption because I don’t think there’s going to be that personal approach,” she told REB.
“Real estate is one of those jobs where to be successful, you need to work hard and put in a lot of hours and communicate with people.
“But the younger people are less inclined to make the phone calls and meet people for the appointments that are required. These things have always kept real estate a people industry rather than an automated one.”
Ms Reynolds’ comments preceded the REB REInnovate conference, where she will participate in a panel session about how agents could take advantage of the opportunities presented by the COVID-induced market disruption, how the pandemic brought a new lens on the work/life balance, and how they could streamline operations by using technology to reduce the burden caused by the Great Resignation.
Mulling over how agents could balance automation with maintaining a personal connection with clients, Ms Reynolds suggested that those who specialise in particular suburbs or types of properties could use artificial intelligence more effectively than generalists.
“If your agents are more specialised at the individual level (rather than a holistic business level), then you can make your artificial intelligence and chatbots work a lot harder for you,” she suggested.
“This will enable the personal touch while still using the best of what technology has to offer. But if your database spans a significant number of suburbs, the messages you send out become less personal.”
While noting that there is still room for improvement in technology, Ms Reynolds acknowledged that tools like chatbots are “definitely better” than they were three or four years ago.
The challenges of the Great Resignation
Alongside the quiet-quitting trend, there has also been a surge in the Great Resignation since 2021, where employees voluntarily resign because of widespread burnout, which was exacerbated during the pandemic.
The Great Resignation has been linked to a significant shift in employees’ attitudes towards finding a new place of employment, wherein they increasingly demand fewer working hours, more flexibility at work, and higher wages.
Ms Reynolds said that as a consequence of these trends, she has had to significantly increase her staff wages amid labour shortages.
While her agency reduced operating costs by transitioning to a virtually paperless office and offering digital contracts and signing for clients, these savings were offset by the increase in staff wages and costs, she added.
Ms Reynolds concluded that the most significant challenge and opportunity for the real estate industry over the next five years is to use technology and the current disruptive forces to instil a greater work/life balance.
“We really have to look at how we expect people to work in our industry because I don’t think people want to work six or even five days a week anymore,” she said.
“The old way of doing things wasn’t necessarily the best way because I know it was a highly stressful job that didn’t necessarily provide enjoyment from a work/life balance point of view.
“So, the biggest challenge for our industry over the next five years will be to create roles and job descriptions that allow agents and property managers to have that work/life balance.”
To hear more from Zali Reynolds about how you can take advantage of market disruptions and turn them into new opportunities and why technology is critical to driving efficiencies, come along to REB REInnovate 2022.
It will be held at the Pullman Melbourne on the Park on Tuesday, 25 October 2022.
Click here to book your place and don’t miss out!
For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.
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