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It was 1995 when Fairfax first published classified listings online. Since then, property portals have found their niche with technological advances and ever-expanding offerings driving explosive growth. Today, portals are like de-facto gatekeepers between most modern property seekers and real estate agencies.
So, will technology eventually replace real estate agents entirely? I firmly believe that day will never come. For many reasons, which we’ll dive into shortly, real estate agents will always be indispensable.
First, what’s the size of the portal market in commercial terms? A recent IBISWorld report titled Real Estate Services in Australia pegs portal revenues at around $1.1 billion within a $27.3 billion overall industry revenue pool. So, while already lucrative, the obvious opportunities that portals are exploring is how to diversify into adjacencies. Meaning, they’re always seeking ways to digitally replicate functions traditionally performed by agents, mortgage brokers, and even property managers.
However, despite the potential threat that so many in our industry fear, there are three key reasons why technology, or the portals, will never fully replace agents:
- Agents make transactions happen
For most people, the largest and scariest financial transactions they ever undertake are around property. Real estate agents are better positioned within that process to help buyers and vendors find confidence in any transaction and, within this relationship, offer ancillary services.
Australian real estate — particularly in our inner cities — is too variable and unpredictable to make transactional decisions based on technology alone. Agents interact with buyers, sellers, owners, and renters personally and have developed skills to help calm jittery nerves and smooth the way for buyers and sellers alike. Through these close relationships, they are also acutely aware of when a mortgage, conveyancing, or other services are needed and who requires them.
- CRM: The secret weapon of real estate agents
So, agents have one-on-one connections with individual buyers and vendors. Portals look at every buyer in the market nationwide. In contrast, an agent has personally called every one of their likely local buyers for that agency’s 10 properties and established a personal connection.
The second reason technology cannot replace real estate professionals is that good agents grow their personal relationships with the help of their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. CRMs propel an agent’s selling powers by enabling them to manage interactions at scale. They make everything easier — from initial contact to post-sales support, with a single record for every contact across their entire business. In this way, CRMs ultimately increase agents’ productivity and revenues.
CRMs also enable agents to automate their workflows, a process getting increasingly sophisticated with artificial intelligence (AI) going mainstream. Soon, while agents focus on winning listings and closing transactions, AI-embedded CRMs will prompt the agent to offer ancillary services to the right client at the right time. Such timely, trusted recommendations from the agent enhanced via their CRM will have several benefits. It will increase client satisfaction, bolster agents’ market reputation, and even generate additional referral income.
- Social media enables direct lead generation
Content and advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, which boast millions of active users, is the baseline for most real estate professionals today. Social media is a powerful tool for driving direct lead generation, market properties, and building your personal and agency brands.
Social media-savvy agents connect meaningfully with their target audience, showcase their expertise, and generate leads more efficiently. Additionally, agents can link their CRM to their social accounts, allowing them to create, post, and track results.
Using video is even more powerful; social video receives 1,200 per cent more engagement than text and photos combined, according to Biteable’s recent State of Video Marketing report. As agents get better at social media and start using more video, they’ll get even better results.
In conclusion, agents’ personal touch in the transaction process, their use of CRMs, and their leverage of social media are three critical reasons technology won’t replace agents. It will make them better at their jobs, and those who best utilise technology will succeed against those who do not.
Mark Cohen is the vice president of product at MRI Software
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