Why some agents are leaving their competitors behind

Since the disappearance of newspaper advertising for estate agents they have been able to play on a level playing field with their bigger competitors. The portals removed the idea of taking lots of pages of advertising to impress the sellers and for over 20 years Estate Agents have been playing on that level field.

But with the emergence of Next-gen software for Estate Agents, some are now leaving their competitors behind and in a complete turning of the tables it is the small independents that are gaining the upper hand faster due to their nimble ability to change as opposed to the slow, super tanker bigger firms that simply can’t make that manoeuvre.

So, what is the big deal for these smaller agents and how are they doing this?

There are several things that are starting to emerge from the data of those early adopters of Lifesycle 2, which was designed to replace the aging CRM’s that agents traditionally use. But first what are the basics of why Lifesycle 2 works differently to the traditional CRM’s?

In a nutshell Lifesycle 2 is an Estate Agency CRM with marketing, automation and tracking built inside it. So not only does an agent have everything from content marketing, social media, and lead gen right through to portal uploads, viewings, and sales progression in one platform but more importantly they have one overall view of how all of it links together.

The reason this is causing such big problems for those left behind is ultimately down to timing.

Because an agent that is using Lifesycle is communicating and tracking potential customers far earlier in the process, they are continuing that process with those agents when they are ready to transact. The agent is also able to see just by looking in their new CRM who has been active recently on their website etc and as such know who to call before any of their competitors.

This goes full circle to selling properties too with buyers registering themselves, getting suggested properties sent automatically and then just presenting the agent with a list of the right people to talk to, to book some viewings.

All of this is leading to a very unfair playing field, but it is set to get even worse for those dragging their old CRM along behind them, as while those systems continue to weigh the agent down, Lifesycle is building up the customers for next year and the year after already!

Just as with the fall of other giant companies from the analogue era, those new nibble, forward thinking agents are almost already out of sight.

The rest? I guess they could always send out some letters!