RE/MAX’s highly anticipated new platform, booj, is launching today, beginning with company-owned regions in 11 states, according to an announcement by the company.
Designed to elevate the experiences of homebuyers and sellers, booj combines CRM, deal and lead management, websites, and more, housed in a single solution, aimed at eliminating inefficiencies and intelligently nurturing opportunities.
“This is a milestone moment for our brand,” says Adam Contos, CEO of RE/MAX. “RE/MAX agents consistently outsell other agents by more than 2-to-1 at large brokerages, and the booj Platform will only strengthen their competitive advantage. When homebuyers and sellers decide to work with a RE/MAX agent, they can rest assured that their agent comes equipped with the tools, training and technology to deliver a professional, efficient and smooth home-buying or -selling experience.”
The Booj Platform
For affiliates of the brand—already characterized by the company’s credo, “Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX”—booj is a gamechanger, addressing all aspects of the business: capturing and incubating leads; closing deals; and driving referrals. Centered on a core CRM, its features include:
- Automated client communications and sphere touchpoints
- Customizable, ready-to-use websites
- Deal management, including integrations with popular software (e.g., DocuSign, dotloop, SkySlope, zipLogix) and real-time updates
- Lead management tools, including lead scoring
With these capabilities, agents can engage homebuyers in interactions specifically tailored to them, based on data-driven insights, greatly increasing their odds of success—and, their ability to consistently duplicate those efforts, fostering referrals and retention.
“The highly customized platform for RE/MAX provides world-class experiences to the consumer, creating a more efficient home-buying and -selling process,” says John Sable, booj’s co-founder and senior vice president of Operations.
booj, an abbreviation for “Be Original or Jealous,” was acquired by the brand in February 2018, with booj’s 70 developers and engineers migrating to RE/MAX in the transition. Since then, that figure has increased to nearly 100.
“Aligning this technology with a real estate network with a global footprint was a first-of-its-kind opportunity and we’re excited to be producing leading technology during this pivotal time in the industry,” says Ido Zucker, booj’s co-founder and senior vice president of Development.
For the development team, consolidation was critical, as was building a consistent consumer experience. According to Jerry Modes, senior vice president of Information Technology at RE/MAX, while a client’s experience is often satisfactory, the challenge is gaining referrals and repeat transactions.
“Seventy-four percent of clients will tell you at the end of the transaction that they will use their broker again,” explains Modes. “What we know is that only 13 percent of people do so—so there’s a 60 percent gap between my last transaction and who I refer you to. It’s a huge disengagement that we feel we needed to address.”
Out of that need, the booj Platform was retooled, built on a central CRM encompassing everything needed to optimize productivity.
“RE/MAX agents are doing 16.3 transactions per year—that’s more than double the industry average,” Sable says. “With all that experience, they want help with their brand and help with lead capture. How can we help them engage their clients not only during the transaction, but post-transaction and earlier on? we can help them retain more of their business and help them make more money.”
Within booj’s branding spoke, affiliated agents can drag-and-drop information, including content geared toward their local market, on their websites—access to analytics included. In choosing to customize their website, agents have the option of five templates, all optimized for search.
“The biggest way we can impact their digital brand awareness is by giving them tools that make them look really good in their market,” Sable says.
To better capture and convert leads, booj contains a Lead Score tool, which identifies leads—and, importantly, their needs and preferences—based on factors like property views and visits. With this tool, agents can communicate with prospects strategically, enhancing their experience and, by extension, their likelihood of transacting. Agents also benefit from a Sphere Interaction tool—a blueprint for client communications that indicates how and when to reach them.
As for managing transactions, booj is deeply integrated with platforms like DocuSign and dotloop, so agents can continue to leverage their preferred software. To improve productivity, agents can check the Deal Pipeline—a comprehensive snapshot of their transactions, both active and upcoming. Critically, Deal Pipeline displays the gross commission income (GCI) on specific transactions, so that agents know not only where they stand, but can establish goals for themselves, as well.
RE/MAX debuted the platform at R4, its annual convention, earlier this year, asking for input as it moved through phases of testing.
“No one knows their business better than our brokers and agents,” Modes says. “That’s why we’ve gathered feedback from thousands of agents along the way to ensure what we’re producing is what our network needs.”
Although initially launching today, RE/MAX is committed to continuously evolving the platform, with an app and new REMAX.com in the works, as well as plans for a rollout worldwide. The brand is in 110 countries, with 125,000 agents. According to the announcement on Monday, after the company-owned region launch, the company will continue with independent regions and then Western Canada.
“This is just the beginning,” Contos says. “RE/MAX will continue optimizing and building on the booj Platform over time. We have an unwavering focus on winning. The goal is to remain the pack leader—keeping people engaged so that a client today, remains a client tomorrow.”
For more information, please visit www.remax.com.
Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia’s online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com.
