Chip Collins is one of those leaders who has come out of pandemic times better than before. With his team out of the office for more than a year, Collins—the broker-in-charge/owner of Collins Group Realty in Hilton Head, South Carolina—adapted and modified operations with technology to meet the changing needs of his employees, agents and, most importantly, the consumer. As Collins says, “Wouldn’t it be a shame to have gone through all this and not evolve? Not learn something new that we can employ and be different and better moving forward?”
This is the very attitude that has helped propel Collins to success over his 25 years in real estate, nearly 20 of which has been spent at the firm that bears his name. And the need to evolve to help agents better serve consumers has never been more necessary than during the past year and a half.
“Pre-COVID, we were already a destination where people were telecommuting,” Collins explains. “That accelerated once people were seeking low density areas and outdoor space. The craziness, overlaid with price appreciation, created a lot of mobility.”
It also created a lot of buyer fatigue. “We have to rework some of the nomenclature and the mindset to make sure people don’t talk themselves out of being involved in the market,” says Collins.
Collins has built his business model around what the consumer needs. “We are an industry that is under evolutionary attack,” he explains. “We can’t fight against that, but what we can do is focus on delivering the best real estate transaction and building clients for life by expressing ourselves with care.”
To help deliver on the experience consumers have come to expect—what Collins refers to as “the Amazon effect”—he and his team have leaned into powerful technology, such as BoomTown, which offers CRM, lead gen, lead management and more.
“We’re blessed with a great partnership with BoomTown,” says Collins. “Their tech stack is filled with resources that make the client experience more of what they’ve come to expect.”
And Collins strongly believes that consumers should expect a lot of service for what they pay. “If the commission structure is to stay intact,” he says, “agents are charged with bringing a lot more value to the table—market knowledge and care that goes beyond the sale.”
According to Collins, technology goes hand in hand with a modern consumer experience, and platforms like BoomTown and others, which help automate workflows and communications to clients, help his team provide a high level of value. “Whether it’s a drip campaign or continuity plan, BoomTown triggers your next to-do items.”
The baked-in accountability that the BoomTown platform provides is especially valuable with the many balls Collins and his team are juggling in today’s market.
The technology solutions the company provides have been life-changing for Collins and his team. “It’s all about showing people the value of a piece of technology,” he explains. “You create these ‘aha’ moments…when the team is in synergy with that technology, it translates over to the consumer.”
And the response from Collins Group Realty’s clients says it all. “We get the best accolades from people telling us how quality the experience was,” says Collins. “They saw that we had the answers, anticipated their needs and provided information.”
Ultimately, partnerships like BoomTown help secure ongoing success for Collins and his team. As he explains, “When you look at every transaction, every communication with a caring lens, that’s where our value comes from.”
For more information, please visit www.boomtownroi.com.
Maria Patterson is RISMedia’s executive editor. Email her your real estate news ideas to maria@rismedia.com.
