- The KW tech experience covers the entire home buying process, from lead generation, follow-up to deal management.
- Apps that automate the agent lead generation process are KW Campaigns, KW Data Labs, and KW Consumer.
PETALING JAYA (October 31): There is a lot of inventory in the market today, and one of the main challenges facing agents is educating sellers on market dynamics and managing their expectations, as well as managing the needs of buyers to obtain the right properties. at the right price.
To facilitate this global real estate franchise, Keller Williams (KW) launched three technology apps this year to simplify the home buying process and equip its agents with the tools to leverage market data to better advise their sellers. and buyers.
At his recent KW Asia Summit 2022, KW Worldwide President Bill Soteroff said that KW is an organization that embraces change as a big part of its culture.
“That’s why we became this tech company, in addition to buying and selling real estate,” he said at the October 26 event at Le Méridien Hotel. here.
In February, KW launched KW, Data Labs Malaysia, a market intelligence tool with access to time-sensitive analytics and data to help sellers accurately value their properties and allow buyers to take informed decisions. This app contains 38 data points that allow the agent to instantly become an expert on an area with access to information such as recently traded property prices, psf price and a quick analysis of the surrounding area.
KW also launched KW Activate and KW 360 in the following months, which provided agents with advanced marketing capabilities.
KW Activate is a WhatsApp automation tool that works with Excel or Google Spreadsheet to send personalized messages to over 1,000 contacts simultaneously. The KW 360 Plus offers the services of professional photographers to capture the essence of the properties, which will be readily available within 24 hours via a link provided to facilitate marketing activities.
KW Malaysia’s Chief Technology Officer, Nicholas Yeap, revealed to an audience of over 1,500 real estate agents at the summit that KW’s software suite has the capability to enable real estate agents to manage, maintain and convert prospects into customers, giving them more control over their data and transactions.
“The KW Central app allows agents to have full control over the entire transaction, including checking what is pending for which transactions,” he explained.
The KW tech experience covers the entire home buying process, from lead generation, follow-up to deal management. For example, apps that automate the agent lead generation process are KW Campaigns, KW Data Labs, and KW Consumer.
KW Campaigns allows the agent to select a listing on EdgeProp.my and quickly and efficiently create a social media campaign, while KW Consumer makes it easy to create a custom landing page.
KW Activate and KW 360 Plus support tracking, while transaction management is made easy through KW Command, KW Central Web and Mobile App, a super app that combines multiple functions, including loan verification for customers and document signing.
Technology in Malaysia still in its infancy
The past decade has seen digitalization and technological change seeping into the real estate market, but the pace has picked up during the pandemic years.
Quickly catching up, KW has reinvented itself, emerging as something of a technology company as it strives to co-develop its digital platform to provide agents with the tools to serve the industry more effectively.
“Technology in Malaysia is still in its infancy. CRM (customer relationship management) tools, for example, are nothing new. They are widely used in many sectors, but in real estate, the majority do not use them,” observed KW Malaysia Group CEO Jonathan Lee during a panel discussion on Market updates and the future of real estate at the top.
KW Japan Regional COO Mark Yamamoto echoed Lee’s observations, adding that despite the growth of proptech in Japan, it is still very “primitive”, but there are opportunities to leverage the CRM technology to reach a broader market base.
The rise of technology has also raised questions about the relevance of the role of real estate agents in the future.
“There is a 0% chance that technology will replace the role of an agent. No one is going to buy a house from a robot. It’s an emotional purchase with complex questions to ask,” Yamamoto said.
KW Worldwide Vice President JP Lewis pointed out that technology may have dominated the search process, but “buyers and sellers are still overwhelmingly working with agents.”
“In this age of information with more access to more information, the role of an agent becomes even more important because people need help navigating through all that information,” he said. declared.
Lewis said innovation in the real estate industry is inevitable and drives more agents to work as a team and focus on regeneration and consolidation to increase the industry’s competitiveness.
Lee noted a similar trend in Malaysia, where collaborative efforts are becoming more relevant to gaining market share.
“What has changed is how you approach the business, and if you don’t engage with technology, you will lose market share to agents who do,” he added. .
