Virtual innovation during COVID-19

As a fourth-generation family owned business, we have been through recessions, depressions and world wars. The depth of experience gained during historic economic uncertainty strengthened our position and we wanted to be proud of how we navigated this crisis and more importantly, supported our customers.

In the silence of the lockdown small amounts of almost hidden real estate activity were being seeded. The outcomes were in continuance and results of success were heard to a lessening crowd. All transactions and activities relating to the listing and selling of property were to become remote. There was uncertainty around how a transaction was going to take shape, if at all. There were different opinions on what was to be legislated and not even did the 12th hour bell decide the outcome. The real estate and housing predictions became more vocal as times of uncertainty unfolded, and even a degree of desperation, took hold.

We needed to remain agile, and react and respond quickly to an ever-changing landscape in uncharted waters. We needed to ensure we were positioned to carry out real estate agency work in the safest way possible, not only for our members but for our clients/customers and the wider communities.

These were unique times; and not only did we have a responsibility to be vigilant around hygiene and protection; we needed to be able to safely transact real estate.

The Ray White Group has always proudly been at the forefront of technology and now, in unprecedented times we were faced with revolutionising appraisals, inspections, open homes and auctions, whilst ensuring the safety of our valued customers and our own members was the utmost priority.

Our clients and customers have always, and will always deserve the best possible service, despite external factors out of our control, such as a pandemic. It was up to us to be smart and savvy, use all the tools at our disposal and innovate to ensure potential buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants felt confident in our process as much as us in our own delivery.

Offices across the nation embraced new virtual auction methods quickly with skill, with the number one goal in building this platform to provide a system where we kept the emotional connection between auctioneer and bidder, while maintaining physical distancing. Auctioneers and offices were required to adapt to technology which allowed them to thrive in a new environment.

The Ray White Group, in what is believed to be a ‘world first’, was the first to complete an international online auction with the auctioneer in isolation in Brisbane, some 2,288kms away from the picture-perfect property in Auckland, with vendors and buyers in lockdown in their own homes in Auckland and across New Zealand to achieve a successful sale.

Conducting auctions across the digital divide became the new norm and remains a current practice today.

We needed to ensure that we had the ability to attract interest in a property being marketed online with the potential of not being able to carry out physical inspections.

Consumer engagement with virtual and 3D tours soared as we embraced this new world, with salespeople energised to virtually take clients through property via a variety of mobile apps from our One System as well as hosting live virtual tours on social media platforms. We prepared our salespeople with a number of online webinars, resources and equipment guides, for both vendors and agents to ensure professional videography and photography were executed and the right check-lists were in place for all parties.

We adapted our websites for virtualisation, highlighting 3D tours, virtual tours and floor plans together with virtual appraisals which gave customers confidence they could still engage with ease and efficiency. We ensured booking and promoting private virtual tours were seamless with the use of the Homepass app which not only reassured customers from the comfort of their own home they could view the property virtually one-on-one with the salesperson, but to be sent documents and property brochures with the touch of a button via SMS or email.

We pivoted to an online training platform across our entire network; yet another innovation borne of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring we were communicating on a regular basis, and remaining connected with our members. The training content included real estate specific topics, leadership, wellbeing and we invited guest speakers from other industries to share their experiences and insights. To this day, we run a hybrid model of face-to-face and online training to suit our members.

It was important for us to continue to celebrate the accomplishments of our network members. Our international awards were held virtually, with funny man, ‘Vince Sorrenti’ hosting our ‘ISO Awards’ where more than 1,500 members logged on from home to see their friends and colleagues acknowledged for their achievements.

The aim of the ‘ISO Awards’ was simple - comic relief to keep morale high at a time of uncertainty in the world while also allowing us to celebrate success remotely.

Our media strategy, an area where we were shy, took immediate effect. Every day a media release has been sent through to direct contacts that have told the story about Ray White Now. Our dataset coming out of Ray White Pulse became more robust and reliable so we could enable knowledgeable action plans to give confidence to our network members that we, as a company, knew what was happening in real-time and were confident in sharing this information broader.

Enter Ray White Now. Almost like a runway of data, this weekly document finds its way through an analytical lake of information. Our own system has a depth of data that was not tapped to its potential. The path of Ray White Now has embedded language that gives a degree of factual certainty as opposed to questions and commentary that is based on opinion. An insight to provide clarity to all our customers on what is happening in the market now.

The real estate market continued to roll forward and while we made the statement of being the last industry in and the first industry out, no one really took comfort from how much depth and speed remains as a constant in the real estate industry.

We became one of the fortunate industries that can tell a tale of genuine success.

But not all can be forgiven or forgotten in 2020. Close to our hearts we lost good friends, good friends lost their businesses, good friends lost their jobs. Security in 2020 was taken away from many people and their ability to make decisions was paralysed. Our members are an example of a business that came into this relatively strong and came out stronger through agility, adaptability and resilience.

Treena Drinnan, Chief Agency Officer, Ray White