Data can give you the business intelligence to help your business grow. When used with creativity, experience and best business practices, property data can help you identify warm leads and attract more customers. We spoke to top real estate agents across the country to uncover how they use data to run their business. The following are seven ways property data is used by some of the best in the industry.
1. They use data to identify prospects who are most likely to buy
The best leads you can find are those who already have their homes on the market and are looking to switch agents. Armand Aguillon, Principal of Great Gold Coast Homes uses data to find prospects who may be looking for another agent, “I look to see what properties are expiring and I’ll send people a postcard and follow up over the phone.” Most agents will list a property for 90 days. Armand looks for properties that have been on the market for 60+ days, “I find prospective customers who may be looking to switch if their property hasn’t been sold.”
With CoreLogic’s RP Data Professional, you can also access properties that have been listed but withdrawn from the market. Armand targets this segment and reaches out to home owners who may be looking to get back into the market. Andy Reid, Sales Manager and Auctioneer at Stockdale and Leggo says that it’s difficult to argue against numbers, “Numbers don’t lie. You can’t argue with logic. When it comes to data I don’t use it to make myself feel good. I use data to increase my chances of getting listings based on statistics i.e. how long people have been in the property. RP prospector has lots of data and shows you the homes that are likely to sell based on historical data. You can legitimately say to a potential seller that you know four buyers who missed out on another property and ask if they’d be interested in selling.”
2. They use data in their content marketing
Content marketing has been a buzzword in recent years but most agents were using content marketing before it became a hot topic. Ben Jackson, Sales Manager at Metrocity Realty says that sometimes when he is promoting a new listing, he won’t include the price of the property. Instead he will give a flyer to prospects with a list of recent homes sold in the area, “Doing so gives potential buyers an idea of what has sold and prompt them to submit their interest and discuss pricing.”
If you don’t have a content strategy, learn what information your customers are looking for and give it to them.
Nick Khachatryan, Property and Investments Specialist at Realestate Exclusive identifies what their customers value and delivers it via customised reports, “One of the key items clients value the most is the capital gains or property history (purchase price)”, says Nick.
Other secondary items that clients also value in property data are:
- demand for suburb,
- income distribution of the suburb residents,
- rental yields,
- percentage of owned vs. rented properties in suburb,
- property types in Percentages.
3. They use data to look beyond their local area for new leads
Many agents tend to limit their sales and marketing efforts to their local area. However, with comprehensive and relevant data, you could widen the reach of your business. Ben Jackson of Metrocity Realty says, “I’m currently selling properties that are 15km away from my office. With the information I gain from RP Data Professional, I am confident in my pricing and sales approach and will often achieve more than local agents.”
4.They use data to measure their own performance
While some agents are using data to attract more customers and gain leads agents like Stuart Legg, Sales Associate at Remax are using property data to track performance. He uses data to identify his market share, “I look at the properties sold in my area and if I have sold 50% of those properties, I know I am on track. It keeps me honest. If you’ve sold 20 houses in an area but there were 150 homes sold, your market share would be very low. Anything over 50% of market share is an indicator of success to me.” Stuart Legg recently won Ratemyagent.com.au’s 2017 Agent of the Year (Queensland) award and attributes his success to accountability, enthusiasm and setting himself apart from the crowd by standing out.
5. They spend time knowing what data to use and how to use it
Data is only useful to a business when it’s used for a clear purpose, Stuart Legg at Remax suggests agents know what they would like to achieve with data, “There’s a lot of data. Use it to tweak and tell your story.” He suggests using data to drill down your target audience and personalise your communication to them where you can, “People who live in units don’t care about acreage properties down the road.”
Nick Khachatryan of Realestate Exclusive uses property data to drive his marketing strategy. “We gather data that gives us insight into how to advertise or market the property to particular audiences. As an example, if the land or established property is more suited for investment rather than owner occupiers, we will tailor our marketing to investors. We know that investors are interested in redevelopment, renovation, capital growth potentials, yields and rental potentials. As a consequence, we will adjust our marketing strategy and the property description to target investors/developers. We use data to make the property more appealing to a particular group of buyers”, says Nick.
There’s no doubt that data can help you grow and scale your business. Once you have a defined strategy of how you want data to work in your business, you’ll find it much easier to find what you’re looking for.
6. They have systems in place to organise their data
It’s easy to get inundated with data which is why top agents in the industry have systems in place to organise it. Adam Boland, CEO at Elders Real Estate (Redcliffe & Springwood) uses a comprehensive database system called My Desktop which stores the data and manages full customer management. It is CRM technology designed for real estate businesses. Having a robust CRM technology helps Adam and his team create personalised marketing, “Someone who isn’t thinking about selling right now doesn’t need the same information as someone who is looking to sell in next 3 months. If someone is looking to sell in 3 months, they will be sent information about open houses, what has sold…etc. There would be a high volume of contact from our end. For long term prospects, we typically send comprehensive quarterly reports based on similar properties traded in the market. We keep the info as relevant as possible”, says Adam.
7. They use data to negotiate on price
When it comes to pricing properties, Andrew Reeves, Principal at One Agency Reeves Properties consults RP Data Professional to justify pricing and to check homes on the market, “We are coming out of a strong market. Buyers will often question how we came to a price. By using data from homes recently sold and how quickly they’ve sold we are able to justify our pricing.” Andrew recently won Ratemyagent.com.au’s Agent of the Year award in New South Wales and attributes his success to genuine care for clients, confidence and knowledge.
“You need to have a sincere fear of letting people down”, says Andrew.
Having comprehensive property data is often the first step to getting a new client or sale. RP Data Professional is powered by Australia’s most comprehensive property data since 1991. Find out why 9 out of 10 users of RP Data Professional consider CoreLogic to be their most trusted source of property data.*
