Disruption is bearing down on the real estate and mortgage industries like never before. Billions are being poured into companies leading the way with innovation and disruptive technology.
Many of these companies believe they can marginalize real estate agents and loan officers or even eliminate them altogether from real estate transactions through the leveraging of consumer direct strategies.
The good news, they are mostly wrong. Does Uber take all people out of transportation?
No. However, they punish the weak operators and make them all but extinct in the marketplace. Consumers are willing to pay much more to avoid the dirty feeling of a taxicab or the stale feeling of tired hotels. More than ever, the quality of the experience matters.
Technology brings consumers’ poor experiences to the surface quickly, making alternatives glaringly obvious and a better choice.
After several years of research on the topic, our opinion is the people who deserve to be replaced, will be.
If you, or your company, offer the same old value proposition and customer experiences you always have, the marketplace will punish you by separating you from your customers and giving them better choices.
What is fueling this increasing pace of change?
The answer is simple: millennials don’t want a human being, until they need one.
These tech-savvy and content-hungry buyers bring themselves through the sales cycle and up to the point of sale. They do their research and due diligence prior to reaching out to any real estate agent or mortgage lender.
They have already checked their credit score and know the amount of home they can afford by using online calculators.
Provide An Sales Experience That Helps Buyers
I don’t want Uber drivers calling me every day asking if I need a ride. However, I love knowing I can push a button on my phone at any time and have a nice car and driver provide me the service I need.
While I don’t want to talk to anyone until I’m ready for the service, I find the experience of chatting with some of the more engaging drivers quite pleasant. Those positive interactions actually improve my day.
I don’t want a host or hospitality provider calling me from Airbnb, but I do read their engaging blog posts on different experiences in neighborhoods across the globe I’m interested in traveling too.
They sell the dream of a lifestyle and overall experience. Because they have executed so well in regard to what the marketplace wants, Airbnb has become a global hospitality brand, booking more nights on average than any major hotel brand.
They didn’t follow the standard industry protocols or try to build the next Expedia. They just thought deeply about what the customer wants and added value to the typical experience, and then leveraged technology to deliver the perfect solution.
Key Takeaways
- Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer. What does your typical customer journey look like? Do you provide an end-to-end user-friendly experience? If not currently, align your company objectives accordingly. Think Quicken loans and a boutique real estate firm and a full-time concierge service.
- Provide a seamless experience with a team approach. Financing a home and working with a REALTOR® to purchase a home have always been viewed as completely separate from one another. Adjusting to a team approach resonates very well with millennial buyers. It also has proven to increase both closing and client retention rates.
- Empower sales people in the trenches with your own real estate/mortgage version of Uber or Airbnb. This is a game changer and those that execute first will reap big rewards.
- Build a framework to blend technology with high quality team members committed to serving the customer at the highest level.
