What is the Prediction Economy in Real Estate?

10.05.21 04:46 PM Comment(s)

Written by: Kayley Williams

What is meant by the term ‘Prediction Economy’?

The short version of the term predictive economy is the ability to use tools, ways of thinking and data to develop forecasts that clearly outline future customer behaviour and trends within the marketplace. When operating in a highly competitive market that never closes, predictive actions and strategies can future proof your investment and propel your brand.

At EAvolution21 we were thrilled to welcome industry renowned, international speaker Josh Phegan. Having coached and trained a host of high-performance real estate agents, we were keen to hear his views on working in the ‘prediction economy’ and to discover the tools we need for progressing in the digital era.

Josh didn’t disappoint.

Through a 30-minute session he provided us with a new way of thinking. In order to be ahead of the game (and your competition) how can we interact before the customer needs us to?

Book Demo

“We live in a world that our questions create” – Josh Phegan

Last year when as the pandemic forced all high street agencies to shut their doors the question on everyone’s minds was ‘how do we complete the home buying process virtually?’ With so many areas of buying, selling and renting completed physically, from viewing the property, to signing documents and meeting with tenants, this called for a revolution in the way in which we thought to carry out processes.

With agents force to embrace a hybrid or online approach the demand for CRM software soared. The pandemic also quickly taught us that we needed to evolve our beliefs for what it takes to be a great estate agency. Jim Collins said, “There will be no ‘new normal’, there will only be a continuous series of ‘not normal’ episodes. And he wasn’t wrong.

Josh Phegan quote at Dezrez EAvolution21

Buyer demand – We want it now!

The pandemic didn’t necessarily change our expectations when purchasing something, but it did catapult the need and realisation that we can have almost everything we want at a click of a button with ‘next day delivery’. Such as buying a paddling pool on Amazon or a meal delivered by your favourite restaurant in under an hour. We as consumers are buying with the expectation that what we want we can have quickly. A daunting prospect for an agent where a sale can take months to complete.

So how do we meet buyer demand in real estate? We can’t offer a 24 hour turn around and we can’t know everything at once either. This is where Josh’s tools kick in.

Interacting before the customer needs us – Lesson 1

Josh teaches us that the key to knowing how a person is going to proceed is through predicting buyer habits. In order to do this, we need to look at digital footprint intent. With so many people also choosing to shop out of the 9-5 business hours this means agencies need to be offering a service that can interact and capture lead data when they are away from the office. An effective way to do this is with intuitive software such as Rezi Anytime.

Software that offers a 24/7 online client portal means that users can register for appointments with agents, receive notification emails, browse and save properties that they are interested in and upload documentation to support a sale. This nifty piece of software means that as the agents away the portal is collecting all the lead gen data, building a client profile ready for the agent to approach them offering exactly what they want based on prediction buyer habits.

Software is there to enhance the customer interaction, not remove it. The right CRM can complete the jobs we don’t need to do manually. It’s not taking away the human connection, it’s bringing value to the fundamentals. It’s about tactical thinking.

Book a Rezi Anytime Demo

The most powerful offering is customer service – Lesson 2

When analysing the way in which companies’ market there is often a clear divide between Awareness Campaigns and Conversion Campaigns. The first being a spread of brand identity and culture awareness to gain leads and the latter focused on key marketing that targets a specific audience, generally solving a key problem that they have.

Conversion Campaigns allow agencies to drill down on demographic and understand the opportunities that they have within that market. Josh tells us that the biggest gap in our market advertising is not utilizing the pool that we have already created.

Think like a dentist

He says for example, a dentist wouldn’t just carry out one appointment or interaction with a patient in their lifetime. They rely on repeat custom and make sure that the patient knows to return within an allocated amount of time with the notion that there might be change. And if you’re like me, those appointments go unmissed.

Agents need to be doing the same, he says. There’s a huge gap in the market where a valuer only appears once throughout the home buying process and moves on to the next deal. Josh has highlighted to us that there is a huge trick being missed here. We need to utilize the pool that we have and improve the way in which we utilize our current database for ROI. It’s not just about focusing on new leads. We’ve done the fishing already, we have the catch, now we need to invest in it.

Ways to do this can include follow up services such as nurture campaigns for future instructions and schemes like refer a friend. We need to serve clients in more powerful ways and those methods of interaction are key.

A great tool for creating follow up workflows is Zapier. Last year we integrated Rezi Premium with Zapier and our agents have since been able to set zaps to retarget clients, capitalize on digital footprints and respond to enquiries automatically with the data being utilized by the agent within Rezi.

Book a Rezi Premium Demo

“The future depends on what we do in the present” – Josh Phegan

Future proofing your agency by embracing the prediction economy philosophy means your able to understand what a customer wants and needs before the interaction starts. As covered, this can be done through great software services and intuitive strategies.

With a growth in customers expecting a service that is digitalized, there is no such thing as returning to the ‘old normal’. Clients are now completing more searches, through more companies and expecting a response time that rivals even the biggest names on the market. Therefore, utilising software that can do the work when you can’t doesn’t remove the need for human interaction, it strategically enhances it along with that all important first impression.

Find out more about EAvolution21

Watch the full Josh Phegan’s webinar: