For real estate teams, the future looks bright, though the years ahead won’t come without their share of challenges. In recent months, teams have had to display creativity and resilience amid a shorter supply of homes on the market, economic uncertainty, a global pandemic, and rising technology costs.
CRMs, for example, can cost anywhere from $35 to $200 per user, per month, and that’s not including additional fees for integration software. Compounded over time, these costs can be severe hindrances to a team’s growth.
Over the next decade, teams will need to navigate changing client preferences – with more and more looking for technologically savvy agents – competition from virtual firms, and the threat of nontraditional market participants or “disruptors” trying to remove real estate agents from transactions. Finding the right models and systems to match teams’ goals will also be a growing challenge. Yet, at the same time, teams will become more important than ever in the industry.
“Teams are the future of real estate,” says Jose Medina of KW’s Impact Group in Canton, Ohio, the number one team in the state. “Extremely well-run teams have unlimited potential, and I see them dominating the future of the market.”
Taking control with Command
Building on its 35-year track record of creating successful models and systems, Keller Williams is helping teams face the unknown head-on and get ahead of the curve through its powerful technology.
In early 2019, KW rolled out its end-to-end operational system, Command, and the system has matured at lightning speed. Command is a single platform that can help teams with everything from lead generation to database management, organizing necessary tools in one spot. At the same time, the KW App – developed to complement Command – is streamlining the home buying and selling process and connecting agents and consumers like never before.
“KW is cutting edge in how they approach the real estate market,” Medina says. Jeff Anderson of the Anderson Real Estate Group in Long Beach, California, agrees, adding that “coming to KW was the defining moment for our team. Keller Williams is the place for teams and big thinking.”
The biggest value of this technology, which is available to KW teams at no additional cost, is cutting down on expenses that can cripple profitability. When teams face lower operational expenses, they can reinvest their dollars into building their business and delivering an exceptional consumer experience. Even more, they can increase efficiency while keeping agents at the heart of each and every transaction.
Command for Teams – a one-stop shop
Command lets teams of varying shapes and size manage every aspect of their business in one easy-to-use dashboard. More than a CRM, Command gives rainmakers a suite of interconnected tools that support members, from lead to close to cultivating a lifetime relationship with clients.
“When building out ‘Command for Teams’ we learned that no two teams operate the same way,” shared Jessica Groff, KW Product Line Director. “We needed to build the flexibility into the platform that allows a husband and wife team to work their way and a large mega team to operate very differently.”
This flexibility was achieved through the technology’s many highlights:
Lead generation
Rainmakers can automatically hand out leads to members through lead routing. They can set multiple routes for different days of the week or times of day, for example. Agents claim leads, and leads that are unclaimed in a specified amount of time get passed on to the next agent in the route. Lead routes can also be paused when an agent is temporarily unavailable. Lead routing stats make it simple to make informed decisions about any gaps in the team’s lead routing plan.
Automating workflow
With SmartPlans, teams can automate listing checklists, marketing touchpoints, drip campaigns, and more, giving them more time to dedicate to building their database and connecting with clients. Teams can also group, organize and prime contacts for timely, automated and consistent follow-up.
Managing transactions
With the Opportunities application, collaboration is made easy. Teams can manage offers, documents and communication in one spot, as well as add an opportunity to their pipeline to serve as a record for everything related to the transaction. Other agents can be added to the opportunity, checklists can be created, and tasks assigned with due dates. Additionally, listings, appointments, contracts, closed deals, and forecasted GCI are shown in real-time, creating transparency. Agents can easily collaborate by leaving messages, replying, tagging specific team members (even if they’re not assigned to the opportunity), and pinning or favoriting important messages.
Additionally, compliance has been simplified. Rainmakers can construct checklists, add documents, and easily get them signed, sealed, and delivered to their market center for swift approval.
Customizing reports
No more hours spent creating manual reports. In Command, teams can run intuitive, user-friendly reports to get an overall look at their business. Team leaders can review where leads are coming from, see conversion rates, and compare the database health of the team to see where they stack up with each other as well as other groups at Keller Williams.
Combined, these features empower teams to make data-driven decisions, capitalize on their strongest assets, and convert at a high level.
Enhancing customer service
The KW App – the consumer-facing complement to Command – sets a new standard for the industry. It streamlines the buying and selling process for clients, makes it more interactive, and helps teams stay connected with their clients for longer so they can provide value ever after the deal is done.
Enriched by real-time data, the app gives team members more insight into buyer and seller preferences and activity, helping agents deliver better service to their clients. The Guide feature, for example, is a step-by-step action plan that lets clients buy, sell, and transact in one place, eliminating the frustrations associated with piecemeal solutions.
Team members keep tabs on the types of properties consumers click on and the neighborhoods they’re exploring, helping them deliver more personalized recommendations. For example, the app’s “Collections” feature lets clients create groups of properties they’re interested in. Agents then curate properties for clients, comment on the properties, and make a note of their recommended listings.
Better business decisions
For KW Team Leader Julie Youngblood in Las Vegas, Nevada, both KW’s Command and the KW app have saved her team valuable time and money and helped propel them to the next level. It’s also given team members – and clients – more transparency. Everyone is collaborating better than they have before.
Youngblood joined a KW team in 2001, went solo, and now she’s back to the team model. When she first started her team, Youngblood knew the best way to grow was by having a strong and healthy lead generation pipeline. She funneled $3,000 a month into disjointed tools that helped her keep track of contacts and leads.
“It was very silly and shortsighted,” Youngblood says. “That’s what we thought the answer was. We didn’t have another solution.” When Command launched, she was thrilled. The cost savings is huge, she says, and now, her team is all in. “This is such a game changer for people who are overextended paying for CRMs,” says Youngblood.
Using Command’s Opportunities feature is a much more efficient way to manage current and potential transactions, she says, and it’s also easy to track team members’ progress. With just a few clicks, Youngblood can pull up information on what all of her team members are working on in the next 90 days.
“As a business owner, I can make better decisions about what the whole business pipeline looks like,” she says. “That’s the best part.”
Clients are also happy with the increased communication, she says, which has helped deepen relationships. For example, a buyer receives an automatic email once a home inspection has been scheduled with details on what to expect.
With KW technology, Youngblood, like other Keller Williams agents, is well positioned for the future – even amid expected challenges – and she knows Command will help her team members excel.
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