Between focusing on the next sale or figuring out how to fill your pipeline, it’s natural to also wonder: where are we headed as real estate agents? What might our day-to-day look like 1, 5, or 20 years down the line? Will there still be a role for real estate agents?

Other industries have faced enormous disruption in 2020 as consumer behavior changed in response to COVID-19 and other tumultuous events. In the midst of people ditching their gym memberships for Pelotons en masse, real estate agents have demonstrated a resiliency and flexibility that bodes well for the industry.

This trend is not entirely unexpected. In fact, it was one discussed in depth last year when real estate executives, brokers, and real estate agents all gathered for Inman Connect to discuss all things real estate. The conference had featured the CEOs of Compass, Redfin, Opendoor, Keller Williams, and Zillow talked iBuying, technology, and what it all means for the future of the real estate industry. The key to a successful future for real estate agents? Defining the best “consumer-model”, and figuring out how to solidify real estate customer relationship management. 

The holy grail in real estate resilience – 100% Client Retention 

During the conference, industry leader after leader came on the stage to tell the attendees how they were “delivering more value”, working towards an “all-in-one solution”, and trying to “make real estate accessible to more and more consumers”. While each speaker had their own strategy on how these things should be achieved, one panelist in particular - Brian Boero from 1000Watt, said it best:

“Whoever figures out client retention, wins.”

Let’s think about that for a moment. If your past clients are so loyal that they will use you no matter what the other options are, does it matter if they search for listings on Zillow? If they defer to you for real estate services, does it matter if they request an offer from OpenDoor? Ultimately, you’re still the one assisting them with their real estate needs.

Those other tools add value and convenience, but don’t necessarily have to replace you. As things become more and more automated, a stellar client experience is going to be the gold standard and differentiator between those real estate agents that continue to have lucrative and fulfilling careers, and those who don’t.

Looking to Wealth Management as an Analogy for Real Estate Agents

Before leaving for Vegas, we spoke with an individual who runs a wealth management firm. His firm advises high net worth clients on where to invest and what to buy. He doesn’t manage any transactions. Instead he works at a more strategic level, providing advisory services to his clients while software takes care of the rest. The clients have access to the same data he has, but he has the professional insight to make sense of what the data means for his clients’ personal situations. His clients are more than willing to pay for that insight, and they pay a lot! 

Such operations provide us with a window of insight about the future of the real estate industry. Our real estate clients are getting access to more and more data. With industry newcomers like Opendoor or Zillow Offers, they can also sell their home with a few clicks (just like buying a NYSE stock). What, then, is our role as real estate industry professionals? It increasingly is about helping individuals make sense of what they’re seeing, shed light on the factors that affect their situation, and advise them while they are making these consequential real estate decisions. As Eric Wu of OpenDoor put it:

“The reality with Realtors today, their role is shifting from project management--especially in our ecosystem, where we're automating a lot of the processes--to advisement." - Eric Wu, CEO of OpenDoor

We agree with Eric. The future is going to have real estate agents that offer full-cycle client advisory services, instead of solely being involved when clients want to buy or sell their homes.

The future of real estate customer relationship management

It’s our view that many of these projections have held true, and helped many real estate agents pivot and thrive despite industry (and economy-wide) disruptions. Over the longer term, the real estate agent is not going to disappear. Instead of becoming obsolete, the role of the real estate agent is beginning to shift towards providing client advisory services, such as:

• Providing assurance,

• Helping individuals make difficult and complex decisions in the midst of uncertainty,

• Helping them maximize their financial health, and

• Providing the expertise needed for strategic real estate purchases.

Technological advancements have the potential to take some of the ‘grind’ out of being a real estate agent, allowing individual agents to focus on other parts of the job and provide unprecedented client experiences instead.

What does this mean for you?

As a real estate agent, your focus should be on generating the client loyalty that keeps home buyers and sellers returning to use your services, and providing great referrals.

It means becoming more comfortable helping individuals assess their real estate needs on a fiscal and strategic level. It means investing in skills that allow you to generate and share high-quality value-added content (or to add individuals with these skills to your team). It means becoming an expert on listening and asking thoughtful questions to uncover the larger picture. Lastly, it means shifting away from solely prioritizing individuals looking to buy and sell right now.

Instead, you’ll want to shift towards high-quality, individualized lead nurturing over a much longer time frame. If you figure out client retention, you ‘win’.

Between future-proofing your real estate business, designing drip marketing campaigns, juggling showings, and staying on top of your leads, you need a system to manage your workload in a stress-free and intuitive way. RealOffice360 is an unbelievably simple CRM, business tracker, and daily planner for real estate agents and Realtors®. Rather being just a data dump for client information, RealOffice360 helps you visually build your business plan, cultivate your real estate database towards your goals, and ultimately keeps you focused on what matters most: your clients and your deals. Get started for free - no credit card required!