A new property marketplace is set to launch, aiming to connect agents and movers.
However, it says it has had lukewarm reaction from CRM suppliers.
Only one has supported it, with others apparently declining to provide links.
None of the suppliers has been named by BestAgent which is the brainchild of Charlie Wright, whose earlier attempt to form a new trade body for estate agents, CIELA, ended in failure.
BestAgent is described as a prospecting site, containing every property address in the UK, and intended to make it easier for sellers and landlords to find their agent of choice.
It is said to contain lists of all agents and all properties for sale and to let with direct access to agents.
Wright said: “Agents can’t control their business unless they control their data.
“BestAgent gives all agents complete, secure ‘touch and feel’ control of their data.
“They can control which suppliers can access it, and who they wish to share it with.
“More importantly, all leads, wherever they come from, can be automatically imported with zero data entry.”
He said that any agent branch can activate their BestAgent account in under 60 seconds and will find all their property listings already populated.
Once active, they can access the pay as you go prospecting function, allowing one at a time tout letters to be sent on a pay per click basis to any address in the UK, where owner details are available.
However, Wright said that BestAgent Marketplace will not be released to the public until agents have given their views.
A series of sales seminars starts later this month.
A spokesperson clarified that the new business is not a property portal but a marketplace, saying: “The portal market is already saturated. No one needs nor is asking for yet another new portal.
“Portals are property advertising sites which agents normally pay to advertise properties on. They’re great for property dreamers, browsers and window shoppers. They offer no value-add features when it comes to helping individuals choose the right agent to sell or let their home.
“The Property Marketplace differs fundamentally in that its primary purpose is to make it far easier than it currently is for sellers and landlords to select the best agent for their sale or let.”
The spokesperson added: “BestAgent Property Marketplace is a place for any seller or landlord to more easily invite all potential agents to make a personal pitch, via the marketplace.
“Imagine you need to sell your home, and with one step, you trigger personal approaches, pitches or tenders from ALL agents for your instruction, without having to reveal your contact details, until such time as you have selected which agents you wish to invite to do an appraisal.
“Owners will, for the first time, be able to consider ALL the agents in their area, based on which ones respond to the invitation to pitch.
“Agents will not be charged for this introduction, or even if they get a valuation invitation.
“However, we will be discussing at the conferences with agents their feelings towards a low, sliding scale cost for any instruction they win, based on the asking price of the property, eg £10 per £100,000 of the asking price.”
https://bestagent.co.uk/bestagent-property-marketplace-roadshow-dates-and-agenda/
We do have a problem with data and innovation within crm’s. The crm companies have no motivation to improve.
Once they have u signed up, they know the cost of moving to a different crm is costly and loss of data to risky.
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The main reasons why the CRMs are not willing to come forward is that behind all the pretty front end stuff, the inner workings of the system are 10 years behind where they need to be. I have spoken to many agents who struggle to connect basic APIs to them and it will cost the CRM suppliers too much to start from scratch to sort this. How many times do you hear from agents, “ I reported a simple change months ago and it can’t be sorted?”. What needs to solved is one central source of data now that we’re going to an era of big data as most system out there. Basic contact details in a crm system was advanced in 2004 and 15 years later it has move on from there. Understand big data now and you won’t need to pitch your business as clients will end up using you anyway with the right eco-system and content from the agent
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The arrogance of the CRM systems is astonishing. The irony is that they use the words Customer Relationship in the description of their products.
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