Coach’s Inbox
Advice from industry experts
Brian Buffini Founder and Chairman Buffini & Company™ buffiniandcompany.com Watch Video
Diane Hartley President Institute of Luxury Home Marketing luxuryhomemarketing.com Watch Video
Chris Leader President and Master Trainer Leader's Edge Training leadersedgetraining.com Watch Video
Richard Robbins Co-founder and CEO Richard Robbins International richardrobbins.com Watch Video
W
e asked top real estate coaches to share their insights concerning the industry trends on everyone’s watch lists. Below, you’ll find a variety of perspectives from Chris Leader, Brian Buffini, Richard Robbins and Diane Hartley.
How are you seeing agents disrupt the industry with new approaches to change the game?
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ROYAL LEPAGE LEADING EDGE / 2019
Diane Hartley: While there is always ever-changing tech in the space around us, the true constant of any successful real estate business model is great personal relationships with your clients. Luxury real estate professionals in Canada are certainly taking advantage of the latest tech trends (drone video, geo-fencing, social media), and have displayed a willingness to take risks and become innovators. But, the purpose of any of these digital innovations is to support, not substitute, a high level of service. Affluent consumers place a premium on these relationships and any agent who understands that will be successful. Richard Robbins: The top performing agents aren’t leaning on shortcuts or new innovative technologies to disrupt the industry. They continue to leverage technology, setting their primary focus on real-time, tangible benefits that their clients see immediate value in. Agents who invest their time in interpreting market data and transforming it into relevant insights that serve to educate and help their clients to make informed decisions are the ones who rise to the top.
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Chris Leader: The word “disrupt” is overused and often incorrectly used when it comes to real estate. It implies people or technology are drastically altering or destroying the structure of the industry. New technology is often introduced as a disrupter, but I see it as an enhancer. Agents are using technology to analyze big data, allowing them to hone their marketing. Big data is used to target prospects who are more likely to sell in the near future, allowing agents to strategically reach out to fewer property owners, spend less on marketing, and increase their lead conversion rate. The same goes for finding buyers. Agents use sophisticated data to target digital marketing to specific groups of people and drive more traffic to their listings. Using technology to harvest and analyze big data is moving us into an era of precision marketing. Rather than a haphazard catch-all approach, it’s a laser-beam focused approach to marketing.