Yesterday I was privy to an interesting war of words regarding a LinkedIn post. The two sides ultimately battled over whether a traditional brokerage model or a tech-centric model would fare better in today’s real estate environment. The comments were incredibly revealing with one member of a deeply entrenched, once traditional brokerage clearly pointing out that adaptation is necessary to provide the best service to the consumer and ultimately cement the survival of any company in today’s real estate industry. I couldn’t agree more that a hybrid of tradition and technology best serves the consumer. The traditional broker who turns a blind eye to technology better rethink the ways in which they do business or suffer extinction. Similarly, the tech-centric brokerage that spends all of their dollars generating leads for agents with little concern for the quality of customer service they are providing is also doomed. Both models will fail independently without the other. Let’s take a look at the pitfalls of each:
Traditional brokerage:
- A real estate company that focuses on its brand more than the consumer.
- A real estate company that is highly leveraged with office space and expensive leases.
- The real estate company that continues to make promises to its agents that it can’t deliver due to corporate bureaucracy.
- The real estate company that decreases dollars spent on the consumer in an effort to maintain profit due to high overhead.
- The real estate company who is “trapped in the box” with no ability to truly see “outside of it.”
- The real estate company that claims to embrace change all the while avoiding it like the plague.
- The real estate company that talks the talk but resists walking the walk.
Tech-centric Brokerage:
- The real estate company that puts all focus on its agents with no regard for the consumer.
- The real estate company that spends a majority of their dollars on lead generation for agents and not marketing property for their customers.
- A real estate company that hires agents blindly creating an opaque environment that often negatively impacts the consumer.
- A real estate company that claims that their technology is consumer-centric with only an eye on the company’s bottom line.
- The real estate company that talks the talk but resists walking the walk.
If there is one thing that seems to get lost in the battle of the brokerages to stay relevant and profitable, it is the consumer. There is no substitute for high touch customer service when assisting someone with the purchase or sale of one of, if not the largest asset in their portfolio. Sophisticated consumer friendly technology should be a welcome addition to the customer experience. But high touch and high tech do not have to be mutually exclusive which is why CORE will be launching a new and exciting listings platform that will allow consumers to collaborate with their agents while simultaneously receiving the outstanding high touch customer service for which CORE and its agents are renowned.
