Competitors and big-portal players see the opportunity, and they’re coming for your consumers – your past clients, your sphere, and your future clients – aggressively. That’s why brokerages must stand their ground and hold onto those consumer relationships with a better-connected tech-enabled experience across the entire homeownership lifecycle.

Consumers want more from their home buying and homeownership experience. They’ve been trained by the Amazons and the Googles of the world, and they expect the same speed, transparency, and value when it comes to their home experience. To own the future of the consumer, brokerages need a more streamlined, better-connected digital experience across the entire homeownership lifecycle.

Consider this familiar stat from the National Association of REALTORS: 93% of consumers say they’ll work with the same real estate agent again, yet less than 13% actually do. Why is that?

For starters, real estate transactions are clunky. Consumers want a single, trusted advisor they can work with day in and day out, but every step now has multiple parties. There is a lack of transparency that consumers experience right away, and it all feels very disconnected and risky.

Brokers, teams, and agents want to deliver a seamless experience but they get sucked into the transaction minutiae, and they lose valuable opportunities for relationship touchpoints across the process, from before, during, and after transactions. Disconnected affiliated services get involved, and it’s tough for consumers to have one central source of information during the process, let alone five years after the process.

The real estate lifecycle is lengthy and full of attrition — consumers go through a real estate transaction every 5 to 7 years. There has never been a simple way for busy real estate professionals to stay in touch and be wholly connected to their past clients and sphere of influence. It’s messy, expensive, and time-consuming at best. It’s the #1 reason past clients don’t use the same agent again in the future.

Luckily, new technology is emerging to solve that pain. But WHO solves it is the question. It’s the ultimate battle and it’s why Inside Real Estate is in the ring. They fiercely believe this technology must come from the brokerage and be delivered through their agents.

So what’s in it for you? Profitability, plain and simple.

Brokerage profit margins face continued pressure. To defend the traditional Realtor commission, agents and brokers need to up their value prop to compete with the iBuyers / low fee models). A modern tech-enabled consumer experience justifies the fees.

This emerging technology will reduce the cost of acquiring new customers. Portals like Zillow — charging a 25% referral fee for leads in most markets — cut deep into commissions. You need to be able to generate new business with your in-house technology and not depend on third parties to get new clients. Enhancing the customer experience will help drive repeat business that reduces the need to buy new leads elsewhere.

The four R’s (repeat, referral, recruit, retain) will be forever changed. You can expect an increasing repeat and referral business. Even a very modest increase of 10% (we expect this to be much higher) across your brokerage is a massive profitability win. It’s often the key to long-term brokerage and agent sustainability. You can also expect agents to flock to brokerages offering this technology because this will be the experience consumers expect from their agents. Those without it will suffer.

Lastly, brokerages can expect an increase in ancillary services revenue. Holding on to the consumer throughout their lifecycle ensures they can get introduced to more products and services at a higher take rate (mortgage, title, insurance, warranty, etc.).

Preparing for the consumer tech showdown means getting your tech house in order. Does your customer data reside in ten different places? Are your agents using 12 different tools to market and communicate with their contacts? Do you have one common platform or disparate technology that requires a dozen log-ins and different passwords for every task? Executing a lifetime customer relationship starts with a strong foundation. Platforms like kvCORE are preparing brokerages to win the battle for the consumer.

Here are the top five things to do NOW to ensure you’re creating the foundation you need to prepare for the consumer tech showdown:

1. Make sure your tech is operating from one centralized platform.
2. Provide a CRM that offers database privacy to your agents (hint: they won’t input their hard-earned customers without this) .
3. Ensure your platform offers the most modern interface for both your agents and their consumers.
4. Offer a platform built with the most sophisticated behavioral automation available (or you make it easy for your competitors to swoop in).
5. Ensure your technology partner is equipped to drive innovation and take on other companies battling for your customers.

Next, you should be asking questions about your consumer relationships:

• Does your brokerage deliver on the needs and wants of today’s consumers? How is your brokerage meeting the consumer? Do you provide immediate and lasting value to your consumers?
• Do your consumers feel the need to look elsewhere for information regarding their homeownership (whether it’s shopping, transacting, moving, or owning)?
• Are you now offering or preparing to bring affiliated services into the consumer relationship? Are you delivering a one-stop-shop for consumers with affiliated services like mortgage, title, insurance — all under your umbrella?

Inside Real Estate, the industry leader in innovation is ready for the battle. Our clients are our army as we work to ensure brokerages keep control and stay at the center of the lifelong homeowner relationship. We recently released CORE Home, tightly integrated with kvCORE Platform, to bridge the consumer gap. Even better, CORE Home is branded to your brokerage and delivered by your agents. Customers can leverage the solution to manage all aspects of their homebuying experience, from transaction milestones and moving needs to monitor value and manage each phase of living in the house, including their next search and sale. Their interactions with CORE Home are shared with agents, helping them react faster to shifting interests. The tech empowers your brokerage to remain wired to your clients for the long term, ensuring homeowners remain entrenched in the ownership process with your brokerage and agents.
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To set yourself up for lifelong customer relationships, get started with kvCORE today.