With the assistance of a agency using greater than 100 undercover researchers, the actual property tech strategist examined brokers at roughly 30 brokerages. They discovered that greater than 1 in 3 inquiries by no means obtained a response from the agent.
HAPPENING NOW! At Inman Join Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will probably be banished, all of your large questions will probably be answered, and new enterprise alternatives will probably be revealed. JOIN US VIRTUALLY.
A nationwide “secret shopper” operation of undercover researchers discovered that just about half of potential leads from on-line types and open homes had been slipping by brokers’ fingers attributable to low human response charges and inconsistent followup efforts.
Actual property tech strategist Mike DelPrete — who performed the examine with the assistance of a agency that makes a speciality of these “secret shopper” efforts — revealed on Tuesday that 47 p.c of inquiries made by the web type on agent web sites by no means obtained a human response, and 42 p.c of open-house attendees had been by no means requested for contact info by the itemizing agent.
Typically the researcher posing as a consumer did obtain a response, however it was automated. After accounting for these, greater than 1 in 3 on-line type inquiries by no means obtained any sort of response in any respect from the agent they reached out to, DelPrete mentioned.
“Now, in a period of time when everybody’s worried about justifying their commission, what if I showed this to the homeowner that the agent was representing?” DelPrete requested an viewers of actual property professionals on the Inman Join convention in Las Vegas. “That would, in effect, be like the agent saying to the homeowner, who they’re paying to sell their home, ’42 percent of the time, I’m not going to do my job.’”
And it bought worse from there, DelPrete mentioned.
“When the contact information was given, still there wasn’t a followup,” DelPrete mentioned. “At the end of the day, 62 percent of shoppers had no follow-up.”
Even the brokers who did reply to potential consumer inquiries had been sluggish on the draw, DelPrete mentioned. The everyday response got here greater than eight hours after the key shopper reached out to the agent on common.
The examine employed greater than 100 secret consumers and reached out to brokers at 30 brokerages. DelPrete’s greatest takeaway? Shoppers obtained remarkably inconsistent remedy, he mentioned. Some brokers had been nice about responding promptly and offering useful service. Others ignored requests for info altogether — to the potential detriment to their enterprise.
DelPrete argued that brokers spend an excessive amount of time worrying about issues exterior their management — comparable to adjustments to fee practices or the impact of upper rates of interest on house gross sales — and ignoring issues inside their management that might have a significant influence on their companies.
“If someone calls, call them back,” DelPrete advised convention attendees. “No. 2, if somebody texts or emails you, write them back. And third, build a meaningful relationship.”
