Real estate today is not the real estate of two months ago…or even yesterday. Processes and tools are changing quickly. As you incorporate new systems into your workflow, remember to let your clients know about the tools you’ve added. After all, you’re creating a fully digital experience for them. Digital could be the difference between you or your competition securing the client. It could be that thing you need to grow your business, especially now.
Leverage digital tools to build trust and build your business with these ideas:
Offer the benefit of digital earnest money. Almost every aspect of real estate has shifted toward remote work and virtual transactions. Why not send your earnest money digitally, too? Using Earnnest, you can provide your clients with a streamlined way to complete earnest money transactions right from their phone or tablet. Just a few clicks and they’re registered. Just a few clicks more, and their bank is connected. No sensitive banking information is ever shared with Earnnest, and all U.S. banks are available for this connection. A final click and boom—your client’s earnest money is sent securely and compliantly. A quick process like that isn’t just good for improving the quality of the service you provide, it’s also a benefit you can tout to show prospective clients why they should choose to work with you.
Spotlight industry innovators. Every now and then, a technological advancement arrives on the scene—sometimes we call them a disruptor—that helps the industry perform more effectively than ever before. If your new digital system is one of these progressive outliers, be sure to share its importance when you communicate with prospective clients. This way, clients know you’re an innovative business with their interests in mind. For example, Earnnest offers a proprietary payment system that has revolutionized the real estate industry. We provide digital payments with easy reconciliation, automated receipts and banking-level security features that checks and wires just can’t offer. We consider our technology to be a game changer and worth sharing with clients. Innovative digital tools like Earnnest set you apart in the industry.
Describe your ecosystem of efficiency. Each new tool you implement fits within the framework of your larger transactional ecosystem. You’ll want to explain your full digital capacities to prospective clients, so they’ll know just how easy and stress-free it’ll be to work with you. A recent example of implementing one such ecosystem is the Lone Wolf Marketplace, released earlier this month. Marketplace is a curated hub of digital tools for real estate agents and brokerages to plug and play into zipForm® Plus and TransactionDesk. What makes Marketplace a game-changer is its affiliation with more than a dozen technological solutions, (including Earnnest) covering everything from digital earnest money innovations to virtual tours and more. Just as Lone Wolf does, describing each new digital tool within your larger ecosystem of efficiency creates a compelling story for prospective clients.
Strengthen your digital network. Creating digital experiences can also mean forging key affiliations that align you with trend-setting organizations and associations within the real estate industry. At Earnnest, we are an affiliate of Nacha—the organization that develops rules and standards to foster compatibility and integration across a number of key payment systems. We’re also a member of the award-winning 2020 global REACH accelerator program, operated by Second City Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Earnnest is a preferred vendor of the American Land Title Association (ALTA), and we have been mentioned by NAR as a preferred method for sending digital earnest money. Of course, these affiliations will be strengthened even more in person whenever we’re back together again, but they can also be formed online right now—100 percent virtually. Think about the associations and organizations you can join that will position you as the elite real estate professional you are. Then, let everyone know. It’s an impactful way to market your business in this entirely new world.
Rick Altizer is CEO of Earnnest. For more information, please visit earnnest.com.
Great insights, Rick! It’s exciting to watch the industry develop new digital tools.
Thank you for this information on increased technology in the real estate profession of the future. Very useful.