Welcome back to another instalment of our Talk Tech To Me series, today we're joined by one of the leading Directors at SAB Estates, a local estate agent looking to disrupt the industry with some clever uses of technology. We'll be given an insight into the Estate Agency industry as a whole, what SAB's daily tech flow is like and some thoughts for the future. It's been amazing to watch SAB grow in the local community where we regularly see sales and lettings boards (pictured above) popping up all over the place.
Introduce yourself, who are you, what do you do, what does your business do?
My name is Balraj Juttla, and I'm a Director at SAB Estates. We are an independent estate and lettings agency operating across Ealing and West London.
Tell me how technology fits into your daily workflow?
Our CRM system forms the hub of everything we do. From this one platform, we're able to take on new instructions, input all the data and with just a few clicks, have the property live on Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket, Prime Location and even Facebook Market Place in minutes.
It also tracks rent payments and arrears, maintenance issues and includes a shared calendar so everyone in the office can keep track of where they need to be. In addition, we can send reminder text messages and emails to new applicants and even get in touch with old applicants when we get a new listing matching their criteria. It's an absolute godsend and saves us hundreds, if not thousands of hours in administrative tasks a year.
Marketing is another area we've utilised technology, but rather than having a hub that can control all our marketing activity, we employ several niche systems that help us with very specific tasks. For instance, traditional print-based prospect marketing would involve posting leaflets door-to-door, a very speculative strategy with a low response rate. Instead, we now use a SAAS system that tracks all the properties currently available on the market in our area. It collects the addresses for those properties and we can then print off prospecting letters to mail to those addresses in an attempt to explain to the vendor how we can help them sell their property for more than the listed price or find them a buyer quicker if it's a property that has sat on the market for months. It's a very clever piece of software and it reduces a task that could take hours to just a few minutes a week.
Over the last 12 months, we also developed our own SAAS technology, Propel, to further increase our marketing activity. Propel, identifies all planning applications in our and surrounding areas that will require the services of an estate agent. This may be housing developments, properties adding a self-contained annexe, or houses being redeveloped into multiple apartments; all these approved planning applications will require the services of an estate agent to sell or rent the newly developed properties. Once we have the appropriate applications, Propel now extracts the key information we need and creates prospecting letters with our letterhead, ready to be printed and mailed.
It's a great piece of software, saves us many hours of work a week if we were to extract the information ourselves and has opened up a new client base for us.
Tell me how different that would be without technology?
Technology is incredibly important to us and is one of the primary reasons why we can be so successful with such a small team. Non-core, repetitive tasks take us away from what is important to us, and that's building relationships with our clients. So by leveraging technology in the right areas, we can focus more of our time and energy on where it needs to be directed. Estate agency is a very competitive industry and it's important we are open to exploring new ideas and ways of operating to help give us an edge over our competition. Technology offers us such an edge in areas such as marketing, property maintenance and our office administration. Without the technology at our disposal, I am confident we wouldn't be the business we are today. Our staff would be spending more of their time on administration tasks. This, in turn, would impact productivity and damage growth.
Where do you see your business growing with technology in the next 5 years?
Over recent years, we have seen a massive increase in the number of start-ups looking to disrupt the property industry using new technology. Many of these 'proptech' firms fixate on one area, whether that be marketing, CRM, videos or user experience. I think the sector will continue to innovate and, as it matures, the more successful start-ups will expand their range of solutions and acquire competitors to offer customers a broader range of complementary products. One such example would be with our marketing activities; I don't think we are far away from seeing a platform that offers a 'hub' where I can manage not only all my social channels but print and prospect marketing, digital ads and emails.
I also think video will play a larger part in the business in the next 5 years. We have already witnessed with lockdown that videos and 3D walk-throughs can offer a viable alternative to in-person viewings. With just our smartphones, we were able to take videos on properties as well as create fantastic 3D walkthroughs using the Matterport app that were a big hit with our applicants, who appreciated having such a detailed view of the property from the comfort of their own home. While I don't think they will ever replace in-person viewings entirely, it will become more common for agents to insist all applicants view the property 'online' and move to a physical viewing only if they wish to proceed. This will help filter out applicants without wasting the agent's time with an unnecessary trip to the property.
Any tips to share with the readers?
Don't be afraid to try new things. It's okay to be sceptical about new technology, especially if you don' think it's going to provide you with any ROI, but don't let it become a crutch that holds you and your business back. If you come across a piece of technology or software that claims it can help your business in a meaningful way, set some time aside to investigate further. Many companies will offer expert-led demos, free trial periods or discounts for new customers. You may be glad you did.
