By Brad Jackson CEO Growth, Inspect Real Estate
We don’t know for sure but the crew at inspectrealestate. com.au (IRE) seem to take it in their stride.
Having largely flown under the radar screen since its inception in 2011, IRE’s software is now used by over 6,500 property management professionals every month to save time and deliver a whole new level of service to clients and consumers alike.
The big news is that IRE are on the cusp of delivering a massive revamp of their sales product so that real estate sales professionals can enjoy many of the same advantages shared by their property management colleagues.
Andrew Reece, Joint Founder of IRE, noted, “We have had a sales product for several years but it is true that we have not given it a lot of attention. Over time, our clients have increasingly ‘demanded’ that we deliver to their sales team some of the same high level functionality honed in our property management software products.
“It’s become very obvious to us that the vast majority of tenants eventually become buyers. Importantly, they will be looking for the same ‘instant response’ experience online in buying a property that they currently experience when booking an airline, a hotel or, in our case, a rental property inspection. They will become increasingly conditioned to that experience. If they do not get them, it is likely to reflect badly on the agent.”
Brad Jackson (CEO Growth, IRE) said “Five years ago I told Andrew IRE would never work in ‘sales’. I was old school saying the sales agents wanted the ‘the personal touch’; they wanted to establish amongst other things, whether the buyer may also be a seller.
“I was wrong. Now salespeople can have the best of both worlds. IRE can respond instantly to any enquiry on behalf of a sales agent (just like we do over 20,000 times per day for property managers).
With inspectrealestate.com.au, the enquirer would receive an immediate detailed, automated and personalised response from the salesperson. This response can include/attach anything the agent nominates (eg suburb reports, testimonials, links, Web Books etc). Later in the day, or perhaps in the morning when the agent is not distracted and is fully prepared, he or she can make personal contact with the enquirer. Undoubtedly a much ‘warmer’ conversation.”
The new sales product will also deliver pre-registration capability for buyers to lock in to inspection times nominated by the agent. If buyers do not use this feature, agents will be able to register buyers onsite. Once a mobile number is in the system, speedy registration at future open homes is guaranteed with a high degree of accuracy in the data and the buyer’s history at the agent’s fingertips.
Agents can quickly send property information including contracts, updates, sales notifications etc. When a property sells, the agent can with a few clicks alert each and every attendee of that result and alert them to other similar properties they have on offer. All of this is completely automated and customised.
Mr Reece said that, “We understand that our clients in many cases want to retain that hands-on personal touch. What we have found, as have 1000’s of our users, is that a system like IRE does not erode the high customer service delivery good businesses seek. The reality is that it enhances it. As one client said, ‘It’s the cherry on the top of customer service’.”
IRE believes that good agents delivering these enhanced levels of service and communication to buyers and sellers alike will be presumed to be market leaders. Sellers will be attracted to them in greater numbers and will feel comfortable to list with them. This has got to be music to an agent’s ears: more listing opportunities with sellers ‘warmed’ to their message and all done automatically with a distinctly professional air to the whole process!
As Mr Reece said, “We are optimistic that the number of property seekers we currently help by booking them in to inspections each week is going to grow rapidly past the current 96,000.”
Brad Jackson - 0412 343 098.