Investing in technology is significant for your business’ future and productivity. With the backing of the right brokerage platform, your business can become more efficient and you can start setting goals based on real data. When you’re looking for a system to streamline your business, there are three important features that you should be looking for in your search: scalability, business intelligence and support. Here’s why:
1. Scalability
Having technology integrated into your brokerage allows you to be more efficient and collect data to help grow your business. You want to look for a system that’s going to make it easier to drive more revenue to your business rather than deplete your funds. But not every technology system is going to be able to keep up with that expectation as you expand. When you invest in technology to help grow your business, you want that tech to scale as you do without having to increase costs and efficiency with the more agents you add.
You need an advanced system that’s going to keep up with all of your agents and their transactions without any downtime. For your brokerage, you should find a platform that makes scaling your business easy while keeping everything in an all-in-one solution—no multiple usernames and passwords to keep track of. That way, you can manage every aspect of your brokerage in one single location regardless of how many agents you start to bring in as you continue to grow.
2. Business Intelligence
In a recent article written by my colleague Michael Swope, he talked about the importance of collecting and using data to set your business up for success in the coming year. It’s critical to understand the capabilities your technology system has when it comes to accessing data. You want to be able to easily access and download all your brokerage’s information at any point in time. If you invest in a system that doesn’t provide you with easily accessible and understandable data, it makes it difficult for you to set worthwhile and attainable goals.
Having accurate data to plan for the coming year helps you to scale your brokerage based on the real numbers you know your teams can achieve. At HomeSmart, our proprietary technology provides its franchises with countless reports they need to determine the health of their business. From one platform, brokerage operators can pull everything from brokerage and agent productivity numbers to title and warranty information to other agents’ contact information and everything in between.
3. Support
Oftentimes, small brokerage owners wear many hats—you’re the recruiter, head of human resources, tech support, customer service staff, janitor and the list continues. As you start to scale your business, more agents mean you’ll naturally have less time to fill all of these roles. If you continue to run a business like this, you won’t have time or energy to focus on growing your brokerage.
When you find a system that can help run a leaner brokerage, you can turn your attention to hitting your goals and scaling your business. For example, at HomeSmart International, we’ve built proprietary brokerage tech that has the capability to automate daily functions like agent notifications and updates, document review, and accounting tasks. Because of this, a recent study found HomeSmart brokerages to run at 67 agents per employee, compared to the national average of 13.4 agents per employee. Having technology that allows for a higher level of efficiency will enable you to bring in more agents, more transactions and expand your brokerage’s footprint.
Scott Hurlock is the senior vice president of Franchise Sales for HomeSmart International, responsible for spearheading the company’s domestic and international franchise growth initiatives including mergers, acquisitions, roll-ins and conversion opportunities. For more information about HomeSmart International, please visit HomeSmart.com/Franchising.
